Disability Denial and Rheumatoid Arthritis
Do you ever wonder why being declared disabled while having rheumatoid arthritis seems almost impossible? I know I have. Oh, and to be clear I do not have a good answer.
Recently I read an article about Dr. William Osler and it reminded me of the hardship we face in being approved for disability. Perhaps you will also find some understanding based on what happened to Dr. Osler.
Who is William Osler?
William Osler is a famous French-Canadian medical researcher. He was a transformative figure in medicine. He championed the very things we in the rheumatology community have come to rely on. For instance, he is credited with advancing the medical axiom, "The good physician treats the disease; the great physician treats the patient who has the disease."1 His thought about the importance of the patient was formed in the 1800s, long before most medical establishments ever thought it was the right thing to do.
That's not all. Dr. Osler was such a profound teacher that Hopkins proposed to name a new hospital after him.1 This man was a giant among physicians of his time. Unfortunately, the hospital was not named after him, and many other honors were withheld all because of an infamous thought/joke made during one of his speeches.
His infamous speech
In a speech to the facility and some students at Johns Hopkins, "Dr. Osler briefly referenced a science fiction novel envisioning a future in which men are forcibly retired, killed and cremated in their 60s."1 Dr. Osler was 55 at the time, and it is said that everyone in the room plainly understood that he was making a self-deprecating joke about the fact that he would soon turn 60. Further, what he was advancing was a system of retirement benefits that would allow older workers to live while making room for younger workers. Thirty years later, Franklin Roosevelt would propose and see through the passage of the Social Security Act, so one might say that Dr. Osler was well ahead of his time for the bulk of his speech.
But how did this misunderstanding of what he was saying get blown out of proportion? The answer is lack of context. The day's newspapers carried the sentiment that people over 60 should be extinguished. Those papers failed to mention that his premise was that to avoid such a fate, the country should instead look at ways to provide a way for people to retire, be given back a small amount of money, and then be allowed to contribute how they want.
A terrible misunderstanding
Unfortunately, before anyone in the room that evening thought it might be a problem, papers across the country picked up the story and were off to the races. Senators condemned him for the statement, and hundreds of letters came pouring into Johns Hopkins demanding he be fired. The court of public opinion convened and passed a verdict of guilty. The phrase 'oslerize' entered the lexicon as shorthand to suggest killing the old.1
Osler spent the remaining part of his life explaining that what was reported was not what he meant. It was a losing effort.
What is the connection to RA?
I mention this in a forum about rheumatoid disease because of the lasting impact it has had on our society. If we can look back and say who popularized the belief that the old or infirm should be cast aside, it can be echoed back to the speech of Dr. Osler.
Many of us have applied for and been denied access to the disability systems of our countries; we are just used to the physiological defeat we feel when we get these denial letters. When I got that first disability denial letter almost 12 years ago, I was crestfallen.
Feeling "Oslersized"
I knew I was eligible, but I saw in black and white that I was not disabled, not suitable, trying to get one over on the system. What was fair would be to 'oslerize' me after reading that letter. This is amazing since I was not familiar with the term at that time. It is funny how something you have never heard of can impact you.
We are sometimes made to feel less than. Told we are not what we know we are. If, for some reason, you ever think that you are being pushed to the side just because you have RA or denied the benefits you know you should get, I ask that in your anger you do not blame yourself. Instead, I suggest you blame Dr. Osler. Yes, he might not be a suitable person to blame, but he has taken loads of grief already and I promise his career will not suffer by adding more.
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