Tag: health disparities

Watching the Chainsaw Come For Me

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Cuts to Medicaid and Disability Independence

by Cassandra Brandt

Cuts to Medicaid and Disability Independence- Image of Cassandra - she is sitting in a hot pink wheelchair. She has shoulder length blonde hair with stripes of pink in it, a green shirt, and jeans.

I didn’t have anything to worry about with the threat of cuts to medicaid and my independence, they said. My need is legitimate. My disability is severe.  I’m a C3-4 quadriplegic, paralyzed from the shoulders down. I rely on the social safety nets in place: Social Security Disability checks pay my bills and Medicaid and Medicare pick up my hefty healthcare tabs, frequent cab rides to appointments, and caregiver services that allow me to live independently. If these services are cut, so is my autonomy; I’ll be back in an understaffed institution.

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Text: New Blog Post. "Time Lost to Disability Management is a Health Inequity.' by Annie Carver, Esq. Image of a clock with thousands of little clocks coming out of it. The National Center for Disability, Equity, and Intersectionality logo

Time Lost to Disability Management is a Health Inequity 

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by: Annie Carver, Esq. 

“Health inequities are difference in health status or the distribution of health resources between different populations or groups arising from the social condition in which people are born, grow, live, work, and age.” There are many health inequities that are associated with disability – caused by stigma, discrimination, poverty, exclusion from education and employment, and other barriers within the healthcare system. One health inequity that is rarely named for people with disabilities is lost time, or the time cost associated with being disabled. There is a time cost associated with navigating welfare and healthcare systems, coordinating medical care, and managing personal care and symptoms. On top of that, public inaccessibility and legal barriers isolate disabled people from their greater community; therefore, disabled people often have to navigate the complicated coordination of their care without the support system that many non-disabled people enjoy. These time barriers also tend to disproportionately impact those with multiply marginalized identities, particularly people of color and queer people. 

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