Question

Identify an additional challenge or stigma not included in the post that you would like to have. Provide rationale as to why you feel that challenge or stigma is essential to consider as well.

I will be discussing Parkinson's Disease (PD). "PD introduced by James Parkinson in early 1800s is described as shaking palsy" (Trevisan, 2019, s. 7.1). Further observation now describes PD as some form of Paralysis. Parkinson's symptoms can range from depression to dementia. There are five stages to Parkinson's Disease. Stage one is where one may experience mild symptoms, whereas Stage five is more intense where one may not leave their bed. Although PD is rarely genetically passed down, research shows that environmental triggers cause PD. Unfortunately, there is no test for PD diagnoses, which leads to misdiagnosis. The issue with PD is that the symptoms are often mistaken with older age. As mentioned, there is no test, so doctors examine the problems and apply the process of elimination. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) "prohibits discrimination from people with disabilities" ("Americans with Disabilities Act | U.S. Department of Labor", n.d.). Under ADA, one with a disability can apply for Employer Assistance and Resource Network in Disability Inclusion (EARN) for free. EARN educates employers on the hiring process of an employee with a disability. EARN also provides a website for job seekers with known disabilities. "Social Security pays monthly benefits to individuals who are unable to work for a year or more due to a disability" ("How You Qualify | Disability Benefits | SSA", n.d.). Under social security, you have to meet their definition of disability, and they require one to have worked long enough and recently. The issues with these acts are the diagnosis of PD. PD is often delayed in diagnosing. Which means that one may not even know they have the disease. The problem is that a person may not even realize they qualify for these acts. A person may not even be allowed; they are unaware of having the disease. Unfortunately, one may go years without knowledge of their condition resulting in negative outcomes for the patient. These adverse outcomes range from quitting their job due to their illness or possibly being laid off due to lack of knowledge from the employer. An employer may mistake an employee's disease with lack of work resulting in firing and hiring someone with more motivation.

Answer 1

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second-most common neurodegenerative disorder in the United States. Most people diagnosed with PD are age 60 years or older, however, an estimated 5 to 10 percent of people with PD are diagnosed before the age of 50. Approximately 500,000 Americans are diagnosed with PD, but given that many individuals go undiagnosed or are misdiagnosed the actual number is likely much higher. Some experts estimate that as many as 1 million Americans have PD. Of course, given the progressive nature of the disabilities associated with PD, the disease affects thousands more wives, husbands, children, and other caregivers.

There is no single definitive test for diagnosing PD in a living person and there is no way to track disease progression on a biological level.

As for other chronic and progressive disabling diseases, PD drove patients to experience stigma day after day. From patients’ point of view, stigma appears as a complex construct with multiple undesirable facets. This emerged from the plethora of expressions linked to stigma used by patients addressing PD: shame, disgrace, embarrassment, feeling dishonorable, and feeling awkward, terrible, or horrible, and so on.

Stigma experience arises also from the hindrances to communication and relational life imposed progressively by PD. Indeed, the relationship with the others becomes complex and contradictory since the PD patient has to find the right balance between contact and distance .

Another main reason of social stigmatization is linked to common belief that PD is a disease only for old people; this prejudice may be strong in society, including family members