132: Lupus Advocate Cass Rush

Uninvisible Pod with Lauren Freedman

Cassandra Rush is a lupus advocate born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. In 2012, after a two-year battle with an undiagnosed illness due to being uninsured, she was finally diagnosed with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (lupus SLE). Two years later she was diagnosed with lupus nephritis. An “accidental advocate”, she speaks out about the broken US healthcare system, with a particularly detailed lens on medical racism and systemic bias. She was recently selected as a subject in the documentary series Trust Me, I’m Sick (now streaming on SoulPancake), wherein she shares about her life with lupus. And she’s on the pod to tell us even more.

Tune in as Cass shares:

• how she was gaslit at the early onset of her illness
• that she was 22 when she first got sick
• that her diagnosis has brought her to the brink of her own mortality
• how her battles with health insurance have caused emotional distress over ongoing debt
• how her diagnosis brought her closer with her mom
• how her diagnosis has affected her mental health
• how the COVID pandemic has played into systemic ableism
• how her diagnosis has affected her plans for the future
• the irony that accommodations have readily been made available in the workplace because of the pandemic, but that the disabled community has been requesting them for decades
• access issues in healthcare, from financial obligation to racism

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