My Medical Records on the Projector

I walked into the conference room and realized the projector was displaying my private medical

bills for everyone to see while they waited for the meeting to start. I stood in the doorway

with my hands gripping my notebook so hard my knuckles turned white watching as my coworkers whispered

about the costs of my specialist visits and the nature of my recent leave of absence.

The silence that fell over the room when they noticed me was heavy and suffocating,

and I felt a wave of cold humiliation wash over me that made my ears ring. This was sensitive

private data that I had only shared with the HR director. Seeing it used as a backdrop for pre-meeting

small talk felt like a total violation of my basic human dignity. The HR director,