A person’s experience with healthcare is largely dependent upon who they are. The health care system is racist, transphobic, ableist, and upholds white supremist ideas of what healthy should look like. If you are a multimargnialized person your experiences with health care providers is more likely to riddled with bias and discrimination.

Fat bodied people go in for routines checks ups and health providers lecture patients about BMI and how they need to lose weight. Often their weight or BMI has nothing to do with their reason for making an appointment. Native and indigenous communities seeking emergent medical care often have to confront assumptions about alcoholism from providers. The health concerns of Black women and pregnant people are notoriously ignored within medical institutions which leads to more negative outcomes for patients. Black people also face higher risks during pregnancy. According to a 2019 study, they are 3–4 times more likely to die from pregnancy-related causes than white people in the U.S.

I think people aren’t educated enough about the spectrum of experience with Neurodiversity. In my opinion, when we hear about neurodiverse people we don’t view them as people with different experiences or different brains who require environments that offer unique approaches to understanding information. We instead project ourselves onto them and view them as an abled body person with a lack of motivation. For instance, instead of acknowledging that someone with a neurodiverse diagnosis may need accommodations to complete work or school related task someone might assume they are being lazy or making excuses because they don’t want to complete the task. 

The pandemic has emphasized the urgency for understanding disparities and barriers to health care for multimargnlized communities. White supremacy is woven into the fabric of this country which includes medical institutions. People should not feel gaslit, shamed, or ignored by when they go to the doctor. We shouldn’t have to constantly prove that our lives have value. Where are people suppose to go when they need medical attention if they don’t feel supported their local providers?