Healthcare and Disabilities - Essay Example

Health Care and Disabilities The essay aims to address the underlying concepts between health care and disabilities and to identify the relationship between health care, disabilities, and sociology. Furthermore, this essay also reflects personal experience with health care and disabilities and how it relates to the understanding of sociology. Health Care and Disabilities Understanding Concepts of Health Care and Disabilities The sociological view of health care and disabilities relates to the concepts of cultural belief, lifestyle, and social dimension (Miscellaneous).

Sociology has broadened the society’s understanding of health care and disabilities and has explained an in-depth view of life based upon sociological dimension. Understanding the underlying concepts of health care and how it is applied in everyday life is crucial in identifying the relationships between health care, disabilities, and sociology. Health care is intertwined in sociology because it encompasses the effect of health care concepts and issues such as the role of health and sickness, medicine, social stratification and inequality, and funding of health care.

The society view health care, particularly medicine as a way of coping illness, gaining profit, and analyzing structure(Miscellaneous). When a society views medicine by structure, it means that symptoms are associated with a certain disease. For instance, when someone hears voices and declares one’s self as a shaman, the society might interpret that this person is crazy. In health care, the concept of being healthy or sick can be explained using the interactionist view where health focus on physical, social, and spiritual aspects, and functionalist view where health depends upon the ability to perform societal roles(Miscellaneous).

Social stratification has influenced health care and conflict arises when people struggles for scarce health care resources and inequalities. The increase demand for medicine in health care has led to the professionalization of medicine. However, monopoly of medical practitioners prevail and payment in exchange of diagnosis, which hindered the underserved population to avail health services. With this, the society view delivery of health care services as a commodity rather than as a right because of increasing cost and non-profit insurance company.

The government has taken action to resolve the social inequality by establishing the Medicare and Medicaid in the delivery of health care. On the other hand, the society constructed ideas of healthy body as fit and non-disabled. The social stigma associated with disabled individual has exposed them to discrimination towards work and high poverty rates(Miscellaneous). Media has played significant role in shaping the society’s view of disabled and must be cautious in delivering information that may negatively affect the disabled persons.

Appearance indicates gender role. The success or failure of a woman to fit as a mother depends on appearance and men, on the other hand, view completeness as a sign of being tough and competitive. With disabilities, the society view women as unfit to be a mother and men as unable to perform societal roles of being a breadwinner of the family. Relationship between Health Care and Disabilities In order to understand the relationship between health care and disabilities, it is essential that similarities and differences are identified.

Health care and disabilities were the same in terms of societal expectation or construction, discrimination and inequality, group oppression, and functionalist view of society. The society views health care and disabilities only on the positive side which has led to the oppression of many groups in terms of health care access. Likewise, the idea of being fit and healthy oppressed the disabled persons and hindered them of access to health care services. Discrimination and inequality in health care, particularly those of the poor and disabled was a substantial relationship.

The functionalist view adds another social inequality to the oppressed and disabled as the inability to perform roles according to societal expectation classify them as unhealthy individual. As for the differences, I noted that health care and disabilities differ in interactionist view and role of media. Health care considers the physical, social, and spiritual well-being of a person while disabilities focus mainly on the idea of being fit or the physical state. Media plays an important role in shaping the society’s view of disabled persons whereas personal experiences shape society’s perception of health care.

In general, the societal influence linked health care and disabilities. Application of Health Care and Disabilities in Real Life Situations Understanding the relationship between health care and sociology and how it affects real life situations seems like a puzzle to me at first. I don’t know where to start and how to find connection until I got into a situation where I was strongly amazed that relationships really exist.I thought that what was discussed only exists in books and history. When my mother and I went to the hospital for general check-up, there were six of us waiting for our names to be called.

I noticed that the two persons who arrived earlier than us hold a Medicare. The assistant instructed them to wait further because the doctor will check first patients who are not holding Medicare. The two persons with Medicare felt bad but have nothing to do with the situation because they badly needed medical help. I suddenly remembered our discussion and I thought that this exactly demonstrates health care as a commodity and that federal funding of health care usually suffers from social inequality or stratification because recipients were often the oppressed individual.

The other scenario I experienced was with disabled persons. Television always portraysfit and slim bodies as healthy and most of the children today adapt that kind of perception. My sister is adhering seriously to her diet because of the fear of getting fat and the thought that society may laugh at her. As I went to school, I also observed children who laugh at someone with crane or crutches and other persons with disabilities. As a sociology student, I came to understand that this is the reality we have to change and that media should be cautious on how they influence even young children about how we view disabled persons.

References Class Notes. (2011). Health Care. Class Notes. (2011). Disabilities.