To wonder why cancer is classed as a disability?

[Whatwhy]

My eldest and I were filling in forms for disability for Uni. We then found a paragraph that said if you had cancer for more than a year you could claim disability allowance even if now in remission/clear.

My eldest had cancer for over a year and won't be given the all clear for 10 years but is medically fit. I know people who have had skin cancer and had the treatment and are now clear, and the same with breast cancer.

I don't understand how having had cancer is now a disability - I understand in the past that Cancer was a death sentence and no one survived but now people are being cured.

I also don't get why its a disability once you've had it for a year, in our case for 18 months and particularly the first 10months that's when they were disabled not the last 8 months.

AIBU to think that Cancer is not a disability? It is an illness. The same way something like meningitis is an illness. It can cause disability in some cases but is not a disability.

You know being classed as disabled is to protect people from being unfairly treated or discriminated against? And to allow people to make reasonable adjustments to make their life fairer? So in terms of university some students may be allowed to start lectures later have rest periods extensions on work if they are particularly ill at that time,
It doesn't matter if you are the individual don't think it makes them disabled it's to benefit them in the long run and give them a level playing field.

Wow I really didn't get that from your OP whatwhy.

Sanfairyanne - not intentionally goady, not faux surprise actual surprise, and it's in AIBU because I didn't get why and therefore wanted to be educated if others disagreed as to why.

I don't think a person who'd had cancer for less than a year would be ineligible to apply, actually. Not if they were suffering from side-effects that would impact them long-term. It sounds like it's just a daft line on a form.

Also, don't forget what a poster upthread said - your DC benefits by having cancer taken into account, for things like getting deadlines extended if they have to travel for a check-up appointment.

Disabled Students' Allowance (DSA) is not administered by Universities, other than the O U. It's administered by funding bodies such as Student Finance England, Wales etc. To qualify you need to have a condition that is a disability under the Equalities Act, and cancer is automatically classed as a disability. If you are eligible for DSA then you have an assessment of your support needs for higher education, and if the cancer or its treatment is not having an impact on study then there wouldn't be any support. The decision to have cancer included is hard-won, following a lot of people not being able to access support they needed. (I work as a Disability Officer at a University and previously administered DSA).

I feel sorry for OP here. She's asking a genuine question.

Having witnessed someone have cancer treatment for longer than a year, but now clear for 4 years and few side effects I can see what she means.

My nan had skin cancer for many years, no side effects apart from the odd mole needing removal, no chemo or radiotherapy.

Those people trying to be MN police telling people where they can and can't post are ridiculous.

I don't think it was a stupid or goody question at all! I have a friend who had cancer as a teenager and who asked the very same question when she saw it on a form at our workplace.

I obviously didn't explain myself why and that's resulted in the responses I've had.

i get the level playing field and like I say we are grateful for it because of disabilities. But how I had interpreted the online sheet which was obviously wrong was for other disabilities you had to justify why you needed it, if you had cancer for less than a year you couldn't apply, but if you had cancer for more than a year you could apply regardless of current disability status now.

That's what I couldn't understand but it's been explained to me, that if you've had cancer for a year or more you can apply but have to explain current disability status which makes sense.

But what I don't understand is if you had cancer for less than a year but have ongoing problems why you can't apply, but maybe you can and that's just not mentioned on their page.

Just to clarify not the sheet was wrong my interpretation was wrong,

That is a very good point op.

When I applied for Disabled Students Allowance they tried to 'cast the net wide' to find physically disabled students a) to allow them to assess their needs - assistance isn't always financial, it can be time, support or people based. It was always based on an individual assessment of needs. And b) to ensure they had statistics to show they were inclusive. The number of disabled students (especially with physical disabilities) when I was a uni was incredibly low and they were desperate to work out how they could attract disabled students to improve those numbers . As a student I helped with numerous careers days for 6th formers with severe illnesses & disabilities to show how they weren't necessarily a barrier to uni, these were arranged by the student disability service. It was often felt that some people didn't come forward because they didn't realise there was support if they needed it.

The treatment can continue to affect the person long after its finished.

Fatigue, pain, swelling, breathlessness, psychological issues...

Cross post with lacks who says you can have help if less than a year if necessary. Good to hear.

OP misunderstood a probably badly worded form and asked questions. I don't think there is any need to be rude to her about it.

Lancs not lacks blooming predictive text

It does all sound a bit confusing. I presume that if you have had cancer for less than a year and are now in remission, you can still apply but the difference is you won't automatically get it (i.e. you will be assessed).

Thanks for the clarification, LancsHotPot.

the year thing is bizarre, but other than that cancer is classed as a disability for about a billion reasons, not least because of the protection offered under the equalities act.

the form sounds very odd, I really don't understand the year thing at all unless it's like the DLA statement where the effects must be lasting for 6 months or more?

'AIBU to think that Cancer is not a disability? It is an illness. The same way something like meningitis is an illness. It can cause disability in some cases but is not a disability.'

Nah, it's just a huge cause of death.

FFS. I sometimes really hope some of the things I read on here are wind ups.

Your eldest had cancer treatment for a year and you really don't understand?! You met no one whilst in the onco unit?

'I don't understand how having had cancer is now a disability - I understand in the past that Cancer was a death sentence and no one survived but now people are being cured.'

Get fucking real.

You can get DLA immediately if you are terminal. You can get it after 3 months if not.

My daughter got it.

Then she died. Her cancer is a death sentence. Many types are. There are no survivors for some forms.

And you really met no one whose child did not survive?

That's amazing. My daughter was in hospital for 7 months and 29 days from her diagnosis till her death.

That was nearly 3 years ago and in that time twelve of the children we knew of from that unit have died, too.

Expatinscotland I am sorry the post has upset you.

I did not say that no one dies from cancer, and I am well aware that people are still dying from cancer, I said it was not the death sentence that it once was and that some are now being cured from it.

I am also very sorry to hear about your daughter.

I was also saying why is it cancer more than one year on the student disabilities rather than from day one that the cancer is an issue not from one year.

I do get the anger and the hurt in your post and I am glad the DLA paid out immediately.

We did not apply for DLA we were not even aware we could at the time.

And didn't think to ask the Student Disabilities Office?

Honestly, whatever.

Common sense would tell you that posting stuff like 'I don't understand how having had cancer is now a disability - I understand in the past that Cancer was a death sentence and no one survived but now people are being cured,' and similar is going to be something a lot of people find upsetting, as evinced by the number of responses you got from this thread.

And the DLA didn't pay out immediately. We had to wait 3 months. We applied because the CLIC social worker told us about it. Your child was in a paed onco unit and you received no advice regarding DLA, grants, etc?

I am disabled and a student but having looked at DSA in the past I didn't feel I was eligible as it is only for specific items that would make studying more expensive for a disabled person for example software to convert text and speech for a blind person.

If the usage of the allowance is subject to rules about how it is used then I can see that they can be more accepting than some other definitions in regards to what they accept as disability.

I get DLA and I've had DSA as a student, DSA is much easier to get ime. You can get DSA for dyslexia with no other health issues, but you probably wouldn't get DLA for that. But both allowances have an assessment which focuses on your needs - care/mobility needs for DLA, and study needs for DSA. So if you have no study needs arising from your disability then nothing will be awarded. But I think the thresholds are certainly lower - I had friends on my course who got expensive Macbooks with specialist software, but their dyslexia wasn't so awful that they struggled to read or anything, they could write essays etc.

I've had family members with cancer and they've continued to work through it and fully recovered within a year, so I can understand that in some cases it probably doesn't give rise to many more needs than other illnesses. It all depends how you're affected by treatment, but that applies to many illnesses. I have an illness that is quite common and many people don't claim any sort of allowance for it, but it affects me to the extent that I get highest rate DLA and I got close to the max amount of DSA available.

For a good 3 years after cancer, my partner was unable to work full time. His body was just depleted, he tired easily and I think he had depression from the trauma of nearly dying.

Not to mention the physical effects of a colostomy bag, then dealing with a reversal (urgent and regular diarrhea, reactions to some foods etc).

Not all cancer will result in disability but many can.