Diabetes And Discrimination

In today's New York Times is a fascinating article about discrimination faced by diabetics in the workplace. I had no idea diabetics were discriminated against, but it sure sounds like a lot of the same crap people go through in the workplace who have depression and bipolar disorder and anxiety and so on. The article is a real eye-opener for me, and I strongly recommend that everyone read it. America can be so fucked-up.

Not to go all self-referential here, but two years ago I wrote this about the struggles faced by people with mental illness trying to normalize theirs lives and get jobs and such just like American society demands of us—and diabetics:

"Once, I decided to be honest with an employer about what was going on and what I was up against. This was in 1993, when I worked for San Diego City Schools. It was one of the stupidest things I've ever done. A month later, the district, at my boss' urging, declared me a threat to the students and tried to fire me. They had only their paranoid bureaucratic fantasies and ignorance about the illness for evidence. It took a year, but they got rid of me.

We do far too much of that in this society. Our compassion stops where the workplace starts. We toss aside thoroughly decent people over this illness. That isn't right, nor is it smart. If things don't change, the implicit promises that we've dangled before people like Rodney [a man I profiled in the article], of a better life, are meaningless. The time is right to get over the stigma of mental illness. So many working Americans now take antidepressants that it's an open secret in companies large and small. I bet there isn't a company of more than 50 employees in the Seattle area where at least one person isn't taking psych meds.

So why does mental illness remain such a basis of discrimination? And why is it that people of power, money, and privilege who take psych meds (you know who you are) can, in turn, ignore people like Rodney when they come looking for a job?

What are we so afraid of? We're afraid of taking a chance. What if something bad happens? Well, for that matter, what if something good happens? Something good can happen. It did for me. We can't know unless we try. And if we don't try, how can we expect people like Rodney to try?

Researchers keep talking about a cure for mental illness. They say that in the future Rodney will be able to take a pill once a day and kiss his mental illness goodbye, with no side effects. Others pin their hopes on gene therapy. Some of them say it will be within a decade.

That would be nice, but in light of previous cures, I'm not holding my breath. But I do think it's reasonable to hope for a time when America accepts people who have had the misfortune of a chronic mental illness as full-blown members of society. A day when someone like Rodney Plamondon can get a job without hiding the fact that a piece of his life is missing. For Rodney and me, it would be the best revenge."

Looks like there are some diabetics who'd like a similar revenge.