The Right to Intellectual Health

Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz fought fiercely for her right to study, read, and engage in intellectual pursuit despite institutional opposition. This concept extends healthcare justice beyond physical treatment to include the protection of cognitive liberty, educational access, and freedom of thought. In healthcare systems, intellectual health encompasses the right to understand one's condition, question medical authority, and access information for informed consent. Sor Juana's tradition demands that healthcare justice recognize patients as thinking subjects, not passive recipients. This includes protecting neurodiversity, supporting mental health through intellectual engagement, and ensuring marginalized communities have access to health literacy and critical knowledge. True healthcare justice requires dismantling barriers that prevent people from becoming knowledgeable participants in their own healing and wellbeing.