Ethics and Race by Naomi Zack

Author:Naomi Zack
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2022-08-27T00:00:00+00:00

DISABILITIES AND MENTAL ILLNESS

One in four Americans and one in nine working-age adults has a disability. The rate for working-age adults further varies by race and ethnicity. African Americans are the most likely to have a disability (14 percent) followed by non-Hispanic whites (11 percent), Latinos (8 percent), and Asians (5 percent). This disparity results from a complex interaction of socioeconomic and environmental characteristics. The likelihood of having a disability increases with age. Six percent of young adults ages eighteen to twenty have a disability, compared with 22 percent of adults near retirement, ages sixty-one to sixty-five. Chronic medical conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure, back pain, anxiety, or depression can lead to functional limitations over time. In addition, the cumulative effects of inadequate nutrition and health care, or unsafe working conditions and other risk factors, such as continuous stress, increase the risk of disability over the life span. The lifetime disparities in disabilities by race widen with age. At ages eighteen to twenty, African Americans are slightly more likely to have a disability than non-Hispanic whites (7 percent compared to 6 percent), but among those sixty-one to sixty-five, the disparity grows to 50 percent (30 percent compared to 20 percent). Younger Latinos have a lower rate of disability than non-Hispanic whites. But by age fifty-five, the rates are equivalent (15 percent) and older Latinos (sixty-one to sixty-five) are more likely to have a disability than non-Hispanic whites (23 percent compared to 20 percent).

Mental illness disables a person and prevents them from carrying on with responsibilities and obligations. They may disturb others, be a danger to themselves or others, show an inability to care about others, or lack an ability to reason logically or attend to reality. A mentally ill person is not the same as someone who psychologists call “worried well.” The worried well may experience life disruptions that cause grief, sadness, or anxiety in their lives, they may have “bad days” emotionally, or they may worry more than is rationally required. However, the worried well fall within psychological averages for moods and behavior that rule out mental illness.

Mental health care, including talk therapy, counseling, and psychotropic medications that alter brain functioning and mood, is in short supply in the United States. There is a short supply of both diagnosis and treatment. Many people who would like to get mental health treatment for themselves and their loved ones are afraid of being judged. According to “America’s Mental Health 2018,” a report issued by Cohen Veterans Network and the National Council for Mental Wellbeing, based on a study of five thousand adults, the main problem was simple access to mental health care. Seventy-six percent of respondents claimed that mental health was as important as physical health. Over 56 percent sought or wanted help but did not believe that services were available to them. High cost and insufficient insurance coverage were primary barriers. Over three-quarters did not think that mental health services were available for everyone and almost half reported having to choose between paying for mental health care and buying everyday necessities.

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