Is it racism though?

Racism. We are talking about this ALOT at the moment and I was talking to a colleague today at work about how deep rooted and effecting this can be when you live as a minority on a daily basis. It is something that is on your mind, in your decisions and interactions all of the time.

I run a first aid training company and we have delivered 1000's of courses over the years. Something that we have in our resources are pictures of injuries, accidents and examples of rashes and illness signs BUT there is a distinct lack of pictures of skin belonging to ethnic minority people! What is so important is the fact that some of these examples could be life changing.

One of the most scary illnesses that parents can encounter is meningitis and although the rash is often one of the last symptoms (if it does indeed come out at all - normally bacterial meningitis with meningococcal disease) I found it hard to find images of the rash on darker skin.

Think about what you know of Meningitis pin prick rash that is often reported and will potentially look different on white skin and you probably won't recognise the above image. It is also important to understand that there a many more symptoms of meningitis which are non specific and so can be very difficult to recognise. This isn't a recognition post.

As we know there are already disparities in the health care system and the lack of knowledge across the board in terms of the education of health care providers, including doctors and nurses who are ignorant of the differences and this in itself could lead to a misdiagnosis.

Now some of you may read this and think that of course its not racism! Some of you reading this will categorically recognise this as one of the many microaggressions that are present in our society and one of which you understand to be potentially dangerous.