Allergies as Disability: The Pros and Cons

Often, when people find out I am allergic to peanuts, they say: “How do you live without peanut butter?!”  My response is:  “Well, it’s kind of a life-threatening allergy. So…”

Allergies are more of a win than a burden for me. Yes, it can be an annoyance to manage my allergies when I am going to eat out, go to people’s houses for dinner or have business lunches and dinners. That being said, I am pretty satisfied with the idea that I am always endlessly conscious of what I am eating.

I am used to reading labels, asking about ingredients and knowing everything that is in my food. In efforts towards choosing healthy lifestyle options, this is an easy cross-over for me. I have no new habits to form when reviewing foods. Along the same lines, one of the cons in having allergies means having to put out the extra cash for specific foods because of the foods I can or cannot eat.

The idea of labelling people with allergies as having a disability has been brought up in various sectors of society. I feel this would be an interesting concept. I am not sure how that would change lifestyles or benefits (medical) for people with allergies; but it would be nice to have a similar qualification for a tax deduction based on the extra costs that can be associated with purchasing allergen free foods, for example. Another pro of having people with allergies be labeled with “a disability” is the potential for it to create more black and white legislation towards issues like dealing with allergies on airplanes and allergen free areas at sporting venues (to name but a few possibilities).

There are some potential conflations that may come with being labeled with a “disability.” Unfortunately, people may have a hard time identifying something as a disability when it sits outside more traditional physical or mental issues. Allergies are comprised of neither of those, at least in a straightforward sense. So I can understand the frustrations people with allergies might have if others were to equate their disability with having a physical or mental rather than as a stand alone category. As a person with allergies, I have to manage my allergies daily so I do not consume things that will put my life at risk. So I remain unsure how having myself recognized as a person with an allergic disability versus person with allergies would change daily management.

Personally, I am okay with having allergies. Would life be easier without them? Yes. But I have them and, if there are ways that we can lessen the burden financially and socially for people with allergies, I am personally all for that.

Joanna