After Linnea Duff learned at age 45 that she had developed lung cancer, she practically encouraged people to ask if she had ever smoked. But in the eight years since, her feelings have soured considerably on the too-frequent question, and she’s developed an acute sense of solidarity with fellow patients: smokers, former smokers, and never-smokers alike.
“It’s just so inappropriate,” says Duff, who believes that people with other serious illnesses don’t field so many intrusive queries. “Would you ask someone, ‘Did you eat too much?’ or ‘Did you have too much sex?’ ”
I have been an addiction professional and social worker since 1994. I started blogging in 2005 as the Clinical Director at Dawn Farm. I no longer work at Dawn Farm and am now the Director of Behavioral Medicine at a community hospital, and a lecturer at Eastern Michigan University’s School of Social Work.
Views expressed here are my own.
Keep in mind that the field, the contexts in which the field operates, and my views have changed over time.
View all posts by Jason Schwartz
One thought on “Blame and illness”
Although the general stigmatization of people with cancer has significantly decreased over the years some malignancies are worse than ever (e.g. lung cancer, cervical cancer, melanoma). It seems to me this is just another reflection of the significantly increased amount of stigmatization by the American public of anything that differs from them or their view of the world. Among many additional things, people are severely stigmatized for their sexual orientation, diseases they have, political views, religious views (not just Muslims), economic status, ethnic background. It isn’t just a matter of disagreeing with someone it has become an issue of you are wrong and I am right and you chose in some way to have this “wrong condition”. This certainly appears to result in us becoming more and more isolated in our own little “pods” of like thinkers.
Although the general stigmatization of people with cancer has significantly decreased over the years some malignancies are worse than ever (e.g. lung cancer, cervical cancer, melanoma). It seems to me this is just another reflection of the significantly increased amount of stigmatization by the American public of anything that differs from them or their view of the world. Among many additional things, people are severely stigmatized for their sexual orientation, diseases they have, political views, religious views (not just Muslims), economic status, ethnic background. It isn’t just a matter of disagreeing with someone it has become an issue of you are wrong and I am right and you chose in some way to have this “wrong condition”. This certainly appears to result in us becoming more and more isolated in our own little “pods” of like thinkers.