When a president's health matters — and when it doesn't

This debate is not nearly as simple as it might appear

Franklin Delano Roosevelt is not the only president who felt the need to conceal his health troubles.
(Image credit: Getty Images)

Jasmine Sturr has a rare form of Parkinson's. While earning her undergraduate degree in chemistry and planning for a career in medicine, she had brain surgery — twice — and recently had a feeding tube permanently placed into her stomach, due to an atypical side effect. But this 21-year-old is also an extremely smart and compassionate person. And it bothers her when she hears people muse that Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton's cough must mean she has Parkinson's — and that this would make her unfit to be president of the United States.

"Hearing Parkinson's disease used as a slur against Hillary is honestly deeply hurtful," said Sturr, who lives in the Los Angeles area. "Even if she had a disability, and I do not believe she does, using it to make it seem like she could not serve as president... is plain offensive. You are actively harming the community and reinforcing the false idea that disabled people are exactly what society has deemed us: less than."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.