Systems of Support or Surveillance?

Systems of oppression are pervasive, interlocking and inform one another in all fields of life. Similarly, doctors who have more than one marginalized identity also faced greater barriers and discrimination. For example, Diana Cejas, who is a Black and Latina disabled physician has said in an interview:

 “For a lot of physicians of color, and trainees and medical students, the bar is so high. We have to be perfect. People already expect that you don’t know what you know, they expect you only got in for affirmative action. So you’re having to prove you can do the work, you’re intelligent, you know what you’re saying and doing.” (Lu, 2021)

 This shows that even though there are systems in place to support and forward the rights of people who are marginalized such as affirmative action, intersecting marginalized identities can make it extremely difficult to access these systems holistically. Another example of such an instance can be seen in the tweets of Black disabled doctor Justin Bollock who is an Internal Medicine Resident and lives with bi-polar disorder. Talking about the Physician Well Being Committee/Fitness for Duty Process(FFD)which is supposed to be in place to support doctors, they had to say the following about it:

Support or Surveillance?