Philosophizing with Jay: Equality vs Equity
Hello everybody it’s Jay, your well adjusted Office Manager here at Dr. Super’s House of Health!! This is a blog take-over!!! When Dr. Super started out, and soon after bringing me on board, her goal was to run a Chiropractic Practice as ethically as possible. In fact it was one of the first things she made sure we were on the same page about when she hired me. The way we have operated since then has involved putting ethics and patient care at the forefront of what we do, with an added interest of being able to stay in business. We have done our best to find that middle ground of giving what we can to our community, while still taking care of ourselves. While this all sounds wonderful and honkey-dory, we have had a small amount of resistance to how we chose to run the business. This has led to quite a few conversations between Dr. Super and myself about the ethics and philosophy of business. We do not dismiss any criticism and have used it to solidify our beliefs and goals. To make sure we are all on the same page, I am taking over the blog to explain to our patients what we believe and the logic behind those beliefs. So welcome, my friends, to PHILOSOPHIZING WITH JAY: Equality vs. Equity!
Equality and equity sound very similar and are sometimes incorrectly used in place of each other. They are actually VERY different words. Equality is, as it sounds, the act or idea of being equal. It means that everyone gets the same opportunities and resources. For example, equality would be if I had some friends of mine over for dinner, Xavier, Selena, and Ezra, and I gave everyone exactly one helping of food that were all the same size and portion. Equity is a little more complex. Equity is the act or idea of giving people the opportunities and resources to achieve the same outcome as everyone else. Equity is much harder to achieve since it requires that each person gets treated differently based on their personal circumstances. Equity would be having my friends over again, but I gave Xavier two helpings of dinner because I knew they skipped lunch. Then, I gave Selena one helping with slightly larger portions, because she had to take an early lunch at work. Finally, Ezra only nibbled at the sides because they had eaten just a little while before coming over. The goal was to make sure they were full and nourished, but what they needed was different.
Knowing these differences may lead to considering which idea is more fair. Fairness, however, is often considered subjectively which makes it hard to determine what actually is fair. For some people “fair” would be everyone getting the same amount of food for dinner, but for others it is giving everyone different portions based on their need. I think this comes from sometimes feeling hurt when someone else gets something that we don’t get. This is a totally natural and valid feeling, however it is important to remember that just because someone else is given something doesn’t mean that you are losing anything. In fact, when it comes to equity, the reason someone might need to be given something that isn’t available to you, is that you may have been given something else in the past that they were not. This could be a job with a higher salary, not having a serious illness or disability, or any opportunity along the road of life that someone else did not get. It reminds me of the old adage, “Life’s not fair!” In a way this is correct, there is truly no way to balance the scales of your life compared to someone else. Too much of that is outside of your control to be able to even it out. This is also generally said when we feel sad or jealous of others, reinforcing that the idea of “fairness” is subjective and emotional.
After considering all of this, Dr. Super and I concluded that life isn’t fair, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to make it equitable. The beautiful thing about the world we live in is that we are all different. We all have different personalities, abilities, experiences, and circumstances; some of which impact our lives negatively. So we do our best to incorporate equity into the business side of things. For our patients, we host our Adjust-a-Thon events so that we can offer free care to those who can’t afford to see a Chiropractor, we have a sliding scale for our veteran patients as well as those on Medicare or Medicaid, and we offer packages and discounts throughout the year. For our employees, we have late cancellation and no-show fees to cover what they would be paid for the time that was reserved. We appreciate the understanding from those patients who may not benefit from all of our policies that when others do benefit, we are not taking away from you. Our prices are set to be as affordable as we can make them while still running our business and allowing us to be equitable. Practicing our business this way helps us do our part in giving people access to the health care they need and giving them a better chance to be healthy.
Hopefully this helps everyone understand our decisions and the thought process behind our prices and policies, even if you don’t agree with us. Something I have learned over many years working in customer service is that not everyone will be happy with me, but that sticking to my principles and treating people with kindness will make others and myself happier. I believe that what we do here is good, full of purpose, and beneficial to everyone involved. I believe in our philosophies and in our patients appreciating what we can do to improve their lives.
Thank you for philosophizing with me :) Have a SUPER day!!!
Jay :)
“Equity vs. Equality: What’s the Difference? | Online Public Health.” GW-UMT, 5 Nov. 2020, https://onlinepublichealth.gwu.edu/resources/equity-vs-equality/.
“Equity vs Equality: What’s the Difference? - San Diego Foundation.” San Diego Foundation, 21 May 2021, https://www.sdfoundation.org/news-events/sdf-news/equity-vs-equality-whats-the-difference/.
Minow, Martha. “EQUALITY VS. EQUITY | American Journal of Law and Equality | MIT Press.” MIT Press, 1 Sept. 2021, https://direct.mit.edu/ajle/article/doi/10.1162/ajle_a_00019/107229/EQUALITY-VS-EQUITY.
“Illustrating Equality VS Equity - Interaction Institute for Social Change : Interaction Institute for Social Change.” Interaction Institute for Social Change, 14 Jan. 2016, https://interactioninstitute.org/illustrating-equality-vs-equity/.