Peer Response Jessica Rios
Illness is intrinsically bad for human beings and any other living species. The onset of a
disease leads to the development of psychological, emotional, as well as physical distress.
Sickness has an immense impact on the patientàidentity since it results in suffering which has
the potency to dehumanize, devalue, and degrade someoneàself-perception. Identity is an
imperative aspect of the life of an individual since it has immense implications on the quality of
life (Solomon, 2012). For instance, illnesses like leprosy rendered their victims stigmatized in
society, and unable to enjoy the identity of being ill. On the other hand, HIV leads to the
stigmatization of infected persons, a phenomenon that negatively affects their identity. However,
there are incidences in which an illness’s identity benefits some people. There are some ill
individuals who confess contentment in their condition and do not wish to recover from it.
However, sickness does not dignify its victim but subjects them to a situation of perpetual
suffering, pain, and discomfort.
Individuals who benefit from bearing an illness identity mostly suffer from the secondary
gain factitious disorder. Some of the benefits that individuals having this disorder enjoy as a
result of having an ill identity include being permitted off days at work, and being accorded
financial compensation. However, diseases are conceptualized to be a bad phenomenon in most
societies, hence individuals having infections cannot consider their condition as a positive
identity situation. For instance, there are some cultures in which some illnesses were associated
with evil, which definitely harms the identity of the victims of the infection (The New York
Review, 1978). In addition, sickness results in clinical manifestations that may be uncomfortable,
and shameful for an individual to portray to the public. As a result, sickness cannot confer a
positive identity since it derails an individual from having the potency to enjoy their normal
lives.
References
Retrieved The New York Times Magazine. (1994). Defiantly
Deaf. https://www.nytimes.com/1994/08/28/magazine/defiantly-deaf.html
Retrieved from The New York Review. (1978). Disease as Political
Metaphor. https://www.nybooks.com/articles/1978/02/23/disease-as-political-metaphor/
Solomon, A. (2012). Far from the tree: Parents, children and the search for identity. Simon and
Schuster.
Peer Response Carson Hess
To deny oneàability to perceive a presumed llness)s to deny a fundamental part of their
definition of self. It is not guaranteed that those afflicted with illnesses such as deafness or
autism perceive such illnesses to negatively impact their life. In fact, MJ Bienvenu, referring to
deafness, explained, t is no more a disability than being Japanese would be(Soloman,
1994). This suggests that perhaps deafness accounts for a great deal of oneàpersonal perception
of their very own culture, and to deny the right to identify with this culture is unjust and churlish.
References
Solomon, A. (1994, August 28). Defiantly deaf. Andrew
Solomon. https://andrewsolomon.com/articles/defiantly-deaf/

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