(Mis)Understanding Sufferers with Rare Health Problems

Abstract

The Constitution of the World Health Organization in conjunction with the United Nation's Declaration of Human Rights Article 2 declare that health is a human right no matter a person's background or socio-status. I would like to suggest that "biological condition" be included with race, religion, political belief, economic and social condition because it is culturally constructed like these other categorizations. Numerous studies are conducted on how race, religion, and socio-economic position can lead to marginalization from the biomedical field. However, it is often overlooked how one's biological condition can lead to similar exclusion. Ethnographic research was conducted through field study and personal interviews. Supporting research was found through secondary sources. The way society and the medical field (mis)understand us continues to be highly problematic. Doctors, patients, and society must acknowledge the myth that Western biomedicine is omniscient in order to minimize the marginalization of sufferers of rare health problems. The pain caused by cultural marginalization can be as equally debilitating as the biological disease itself. If we can deconstruct this marginalization and reimagine a new way of addressing rare health conditions, then those afflicted by these illnesses will suffer a great deal less.