Equity Designer Ally for #Healthcare and #Education — Alicia Weinstein

I am a college student passionate about bodywork, massage therapy, and healthcare . I think seeing equity in these industries is important not only in access to care/treatment (particularly within healthcare) but also in access to education and careers. In particular, within massage therapy, there is a current dynamic where demographic plays a role in the kinds of jobs available and the amount of respect the career is given, making the difference between working in a “wellness center” and being considered almost a spiritual practitioner or working in chain massage studios and receiving little respect and often unfair pay, even if the work is of the same caliber. I would like to see more equitable access to training, education, and varying kinds of work, as well as respect and fair pay for those working in all different capacities.

Equity is important to me because I have benefited (and still do benefit) from current structures of inequity, and it is important to become aware how this is the case in order to begin addressing it where possible (and learn to step aside where necessary).

I am not currently working, but within the context of college education, equity and community design would need to address the prohibitive expense of a degree as well as the application process that skews toward those with access to better college prep education and those who can afford application assistance.