Stereotypes and discrimination regarding Sickle Cell Disease
Stereotypes are expectations and inferences that have been linked to an individual or a group, culture, or a medical problem. Prejudice is more disadvantageous or a view that links or categorizes a group of people separately from others. In the community, these biases and stereotypes have continuously been applied against specific persons, making them feel hated or feeble when faced with various circumstances in their lives. The concentration in this context is on Sickle Cell Anemia disease persons that are subjected to multiple stereotypes and discriminations, resulting in them feeling unwanted and different from other members of the society. There is evidence of stigmatization among adults and adolescents that have the Sickle Cell Anemia condition. Accordingly, there is famous negative handling or profiling and stereotypes and discrimination based on the health-related situation. There are prejudices and stereotypes meted against the adults and adolescents of SCD on the basis of their skin color, condition of the disease, socio-economic status, delayed growth and puberty, and also having severe and severe pain that requires management with opioids. These are varying conditions for adults and adolescents.
Stereotypes and Prejudices in Adolescents and Adults Living with Sickle Cell Disease (SCD)
The adults and adolescents with SCD in various parts of the universe have experienced severe kinds of discrimination and prejudice because of their medical condition. For instance, Africa is one of the regions with high negative profiling of the SCD, where more than 70% of the youth have experienced the worst expectation in life compared to their peers in the same class in other regions (Bulgin et al., 2018). The majority of the people have the impression that the youths will not live to be adults. Notably, this is one of the worst kinds of stereotypes that have been experienced in any segment of the world. When an individual is affected with the condition, they are assumed to die before reaching adults despite the fact that many of the affected persons have survived the stereotypes linked to the situation is worse and hence resulting in many incidences of stigma, which is unnecessary. These associated stereotypes have led to patients suffering from adverse conditions like social exclusion, intrinsic shame, concerns regarding disclosures, and expected discrimination.
Similarly, the discrimination against female patients has also occurred and been linked to the imagination that the condition is a death sentence, and hence nobody is interested in associating with them in significant activities of their lives. Additionally, it has been noted that the close to seventy-five percent of the affected females in brazil have reported being sexually impaired because of the stigma they have faced due to the SCD condition (LaTasha et al., 2019). Hence, their partners leave them and get affected more because everyone believes they are sexually impaired after being diagnosed with the condition. There have been reports of sexual impairment among the females with the condition emerging from the impact of the pain and discrimination, which is also linked to the adverse feelings the experience when in an intimate relationship. They get rejected by their intimate partners, which breaks them, leading to harmful situations at all times.
The effect of Stereotypes and Prejudices on Treatment Options and Care Decisions
The medical attention provided to the patients is affected adversely by the stereotypes, stigma, and prejudices, resulting in difficult times in the treatment and management of the problems. The impact has been observed among the men and women in the class of adolescents and adults where painful experiences accompany their treatment and controlling the condition during the hospital care because they are also subject to stigmatizing situations because of the state they are suffering from. Additionally, the affected persons have passed through difficult occasions, which precede the incidences of pain and stress linked to the disease’s influence on mental health perceptions. Various cases could have an impact on hospital visits and care to the patients. These cases culminate in stigma and stereotypes, among other popular issues that may jeopardize the treatment and care management process, making it complicated and difficult (Nadirah et al., 2019).
Furthermore, the donors and nurses also face injustices emerging from the treatment and management of the SCD. Accordingly, this has resulted in the increased pain and suffering for the affected persons since they cannot receive the appropriate care from the persons expected to provide the best care. Additionally, it has been noted that the affected individuals aged between 4 and 25 years also face prejudice in schools in the UK as they are termed to be lazy and even prevented from taking water because their condition is considered to be a health hazard to the rest of the population (LaTasha et al., 2019). Many people have also given accounts of negative thoughts and views concerning the condition and the conditions of the well-known patients, especially adolescents and adults. Moreover, many of the affected persons experience a cost-benefit analysis to ascertain if it is easier to open up regarding their condition at the schools or experience unknown experiences and discriminations (LaTasha et al., 2019). It is critical for education and enlightening of the masses to make them understand that the affected individuals require love and care so that they can recover without facing prejudice and discrimination.