Disabled Talk

Help me move to the land of healthcare, disability programs, and accessible housing!

Wed, 22 May 2013 20:26:04 -0400

There is no doubt in my mind that California will be a huge “land of opportunity” for me (especially compared to Utah)— but in order to GET there and take advantage of said opportunities, I need a little help…

It looks like it will cost $600- $800 to rent a truck and pay for the gas and whatnot.

My family can help physically with packing and loading, but are too broke (or too stubborn…) to help financially. My husband is finding odd jobs from friends and neighbors, we are selling off a lot of our belongings, and we are going to have a huge SALE in the shop starting next week, but I am still worried about covering the total amount…

This move will open SO MANY door for us; D has great job prospects, it will provide a better (and more accessible) education for me, and the availability of medical assistance programs and Medicaid could quite possibly save (or prolong) my life.

Many of my followers have told me to let them know if I ever need anything, and so I guess this is where I come here and beg.

There is a “Donate” button on the bottom right hand side of my blog.

Any little bit helps, and is GREATLY appreciate. I am really hoping that this move will improve our life and make it so that we no longer need to scrape by on Etsy orders and beg for Tumblr donations…

I love you all, thank you so much for your support, whether it is financial or emotional. <3

http://wheeliewifee.tumblr.com/donate

https://www.etsy.com/shop/ThePaperPoppyStore

TW: Suicide, Ableism (against people with BPD), Self-Injury, EDs

Mon, 20 May 2013 23:50:47 -0400

TW: Suicide, Ableism (against people with BPD), Self-Injury, EDs: The following post talks about suicide, ableism against people with BPD, and Self-Injury in depth. Please be warned before you read it, and stay safe.

“Those who take a dismissive approach [towards suicide] make a mistake in the opposite direction. They become blase about suicidal behaviour, often attributing it to manipulation or gesturing on the part of the potentially suicidal person. This problem is acute when it comes to the often misunderstood borderline personality disorder, which is characterized by a long-standing pattern or out-of-control emotions, interpersonal storminess, feelings of emptiness, and impulsive behaviours, including impulses toward self-injury. Some clinicians take a dismissive attitude toward patients with this disorder because they believe that these patients merely “gesture” suicide. In other words, they engage in suicidal behaviours, such a cutting themselves, but do not really intend to kill themselves; instead, they only intend to provoke or manipulate others. I wish this were true, but it is not-approximately 10% of patients with this disorder end up dying from their suicidal gestures…The following quotation illustrates this misunderstanding:

The borderline patient is a therapist’s nightmare…because borderlines never really get better. The best you can do is help them coast, without getting sucked into their pathology…They’re the chronically depressed, the determinedly addictive, the compulsively divorced, living from one emotional disaster to the next. Bed hoppers, stomach pumpers, freeway jumpers, and sad-eyed bench-sitters with arms stitched up like footballs and psychic wounds that can never be sutured…Borderlines go from therapist to therapist, hoping to find a magic bullet for the crushing feelings of emptiness.

This characterization is demonstrably false. Patients with BPD do get better. A persuasive study found that 34.5% of a sample of BPD patients met the criteria for remission at two years, 49.4% at four years, 68.6% at six years, and 73.5% over the entire follow-up. Only around 6% of those who remitted then experienced a recurrence.

The dismissive attitude is dangerous for another reason. A main thesis of this book is that those who die by suicide work up to the act. They do this in various ways-for instance-, previous suicide attempts-and all of these various ways have the effect of insulating people from danger symbols. They get used to the pain and fear associated with self-harm, and thus gradually lose natural inhibitions against it. Clinitians’ dismissive attitudes have the potential to model a blase attitude about self-harm. If clinicians blithely get used to suicidal behaviour, their patients may vicariously do so as well.

…BPD and anorexia nervosa, are of particular interest, because they are among the most lethal of all psychiatric disorders, with the usual mechanism of death (including for anorexia nervosa) being suicide.

Unfortunately, in some clinical settings, patients with the disorder have the reputation for manipulation, including manipulating others through self-destructive behaviours (e.g., “gesturing suicide”), as well as for “splitting” (e.g., pitting people, including clinicians, against one another); some people roll their eyes about such patients, take a subtly or overtly demeaning tone about them, and make disparaging comments.

In some clinial settings, mental health professionals harbour demeaning attitudes toward people with BPD. I recently read a hospital progress note for a person with BPD that stated, “This patient is certainly not getting treatment from me.” One reason for sentiments like this is belief that these patients merely “gesture” suicide. In other words, they engage in suicidal behaviour…only…to provoke or manipulate others.

If only this were true. Those with BPD have a 10% lifetime rate of death by suicide; at least 50% of people with BPD have made a minimum of one very serious suicide attempt; and among those with this syndrome, an average of over three lifetime suicide attempts has been reported. Further, history of previous attempts among people with BPD is a stronger predictor of completed suicides than for any other diagnostic group (e.g., 65% of suicides among those with BPD have made a prior attempt; 33% of suicides among those with major depression have made a prior attempt). Through repeated self-injury, people with BPD become practiced regarding suicidal behaviour and may thus become…competant about suicide. Moreover, a common and pervasive sense of self-doubt and feelings of alienation and abandonment are very likely to instill perceptions of being a burden and create difficulty in belonging. As a consequence, suicide risk is usually elevated in patients with BPD.

-Why People Die of Suicide, Thomas Joiner, pp 20, 195-196

(Please forgive some of the repetition, it’s a bit choppy since I used two different parts of the book. I have BPD, and there’s a lot of stigma and falsehoods out there about this disorder, and both those factors have a direct human cost. People with BPD are already extremely vulnerable to suicide-I’ve attempted suicide, with degrees of severity up to very, 5 times-and we’re especially vulnerable to uncaring and dismissive treatment by mental health care professionals, as well as stigmatizing media about us that portrays us as violent, unhelpable, and abusive. Often people with BPD already have a distorted view of ourselves and of our relationships with others, and stigma can push us over the edge or prevent us from getting medical care we desperately need. There is a human cost.)

chroniccurve said: There’s a service dog chat by an expert going on at the World Autoimmune...

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:53:13 -0400

chroniccurve said: There’s a service dog chat by an expert going on at the World Autoimmune Arthritis Day FB page right now. I bet it would be relevant to anyone with physical (possibly psychological use too?) disability!

I have a service dog! You can send them my way. In the meantime, if they live in the U.S., all dog...

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:52:46 -0400

I have a service dog! You can send them my way. In the meantime, if they live in the U.S., all dog related expenses—vet bills, food, training, etc.—are tax deductable!

— railerat

Hi, is there anyone with a service dog who could give me some advice? I’ve been considering...

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:23:00 -0400

Hi, is there anyone with a service dog who could give me some advice? I’ve been considering looking into getting one, but I’m reluctant because the disabilities I want one for also make it potentially difficult to take care of a dog, i.e., vet bills since I’m on disability, walking them enough, grooming, training, keeping them fed, etc. I’m not really sure what I’m looking for but any advice would be nice!

-anon

Anon, I’m not really sure what to tell you, and unfortunately none of the mods here have service animals, so maybe some of our followers with them could help you out?

Hi, my names Matt and I have Osteogenesis Imperfecta. At school I’m called a fake because I...

Mon, 20 May 2013 21:21:28 -0400

Hi, my names Matt and I have Osteogenesis Imperfecta. At school I’m called a fake because I can move my legs and on good days walk with assistance. I want to thank you for this amazing blog.. I can sympathize with a lot of the posts and they make me feel like.. I’m not alone out there. This blog really helps put everything into view for me. Thank you.

-mostlymyfavoritegames

♥♥♥!

Personal Medical Summary Form

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:01:49 -0400

Personal Medical Summary Form:

blitheslife:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3511458/Personal%20Medical%20Report%20Summary.pdf

Hey spoonies, I made this quick pdf because I needed something where I could summarize my symptoms, treatments and tests. The pages are mostly blank but each can be printed as many times as you need (for example there’s room for 4 tests but you could print the page 3 times and have room for 12).

I made this so I could have something remotely professional looking to bring to my GP when asking her to look into possible diagnoses for me.

Please let me know if you would like something added or amended so it can be more useful to you and feel free to spread it around.

darthveghder: Today I found out Windows has a built-in speech recognition program! You can use it...

Sun, 19 May 2013 01:59:21 -0400

darthveghder:

Today I found out Windows has a built-in speech recognition program! You can use it to type Word documents, browse the web, or just navigate your computer generally. It’s useful if you have a hard time typing, or just (like me) get very distracted staring at a screen for a long time.

I’m using it to type up a paper and it’s helping me just get my thoughts down without constantly being distracted by the internet or my need to constantly rephrase and revise everything.

It’s called Windows Speech Recognition, just type that in your Start Menu search bar!

Exercise doesn't help depression, study concludes

Sat, 18 May 2013 21:58:15 -0400

Exercise doesn't help depression, study concludes:

tooyoungforthelivingdead:

A study into whether physical activity alleviates the symptoms of depression has found there is no benefit.

Research published in the British Medical Journal suggests that adding a physical activity intervention to usual care did not reduce symptoms of depression more than usual care alone.

This contrasts with current clinical guidance which recommends exercise to help those suffering from the mental illness, which affects one in six adults in Britain at any one time.

I thought this was true and all - fuck yeah, randomised controlled trials!

Wheelchair Etiquette

Fri, 17 May 2013 18:25:41 -0400

once-she-decided-to-fly:

I’m so frustrated with people thinking it’s okay to move my wheelchair without permission.

If I’m not in the wheelchair, I guarantee that it’s strategically placed so that I’ll be able to get back to it, and you shouldn’t move it.

If I am in the wheelchair, moving it for any reason (out of the way, to get my attention, to use it to intimidate or bump into other people, or even just to have fun) is the same as grabbing an able-bodied person and shoving them around.

I’m not always opposed to other people moving my wheelchair. Sometimes it’s really in the way or there’s an actual need for someone to move me, like when we’re dancing. 99% of the time, though, if it needs to be moved, I can and should be the one moving it myself.

If it needs to be moved, just ask — but if I still say no, don’t do it anyway. That’s how people get punched by a cripple.

Fuck Yeah Roleplay Advice: Since it has become an issue, I removed part of the guide How To...

Thu, 16 May 2013 23:35:00 -0400

Fuck Yeah Roleplay Advice: Since it has become an issue, I removed part of the guide How To...:

fuckyeahroleplayadvice:

Since it has become an issue, I removed part of the guide How To Roleplay An Evil/Psychotic Character.

Does this fix those I’ve offended? No it does not.
Does it fix the fact that there are originals still floating around? No it does not.

Though, I don’t want people to be offended. That was and…

Last post about this, but I just wanted to thank you for the further edits. I found the original post really hurtful, but I’m honestly grateful that you listened to your criticisms, owned up, and changed it. It’s a rare occurrence, and I truly appreciate it.

(TW: suicide) I’m also extremely sorry that you’ve received messages saying that you should kill yourself, and I hope you know that we don’t support that and that’s it’s never right or okay to say that to someone, especially when you have no way of knowing if they have mental illnesses or other issues that might be exacerbated by it.

youneedacat: [Graffiti that says ATOS KILLS.]

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:41:31 -0400

youneedacat:

[Graffiti that says ATOS KILLS.]

fuckyeahroleplayadvice: Since it has become an issue, I removed part of the guide How To Roleplay...

Thu, 16 May 2013 19:12:00 -0400

fuckyeahroleplayadvice:

Since it has become an issue, I removed part of the guide How To Roleplay An Evil/Psychotic Character.

Does this fix those I’ve offended? No it does not.
Does it fix the fact that there are originals still floating around? No it does not.

Though, I don’t want people to be offended. That was and never will be my intention, cause it was far from it. It obviously did damage nonetheless and I cannot fix that.

If you guys see this, if you could delete the previous guide post and reblog the amended one, I would be grateful. I don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or make them feel awful about themselves.

I apologize for what I’ve done. I know I messed up and I am sincerely sorry.

First, I’m really appreciative that you listened to criticism and changed the post. But, while I’m really glad you took out what you did, you’re still equating psychosis with evil which is really hurtful and even dangerous to those of us who live with it.

There’s a common misperception that psychosis means evil or violence acts, but the actual definition is an inability to perceive reality correctly. It includes symptoms like hallucinations, extreme paranoia, and delusions. There are no criteria for violent or hurtful acts associated with psychosis.

So again, I’m thankful you took out most of the references to mental illness, but I’d really appreciate if you didn’t equate psychosis with evil or violent actions. We’re already some of the most vulnerable in the mentally ill community because we’re perceived to be violent and threatening (not to mention how disorienting the symptoms themselves are).

Thanks.

(TW: Ableism against people with MIs) Fuck Yeah Roleplay Advice: How To Play An Evil/Psychotic Character

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:30:00 -0400

(TW: Ableism against people with MIs) Fuck Yeah Roleplay Advice: How To Play An Evil/Psychotic Character:

fuckyeahroleplayadvice:

Had a few questions about this, and this post is going to be a long one, so be prepared!

First and foremost why is your character evil?

This is a question you’re going to want to ask yourself a lot.

Taking a closer look, here are a few things to consider:

Is it in their DNA/Relative to a…

We almost never reblog things that we disagree with here, but honestly I was upset and disgusted to see this.

You write,

Do your research. If someone approaches you and they have an illness that you are portraying and they tell you that you are not portraying it appropriately, be mindful and respectful.

So, hi, I experience psychosis. I find this post completely inappropriate and frankly, pretty fucking hurtful. If you want me to elaborate more, I can, but for now I honestly just really want you to know that this isn’t okay and that yes, it hurts.

Poor Horny Cat: hierophilic: Thanks to everyone who signal boosted for my stun gun and...

Thu, 16 May 2013 02:06:42 -0400

Poor Horny Cat: hierophilic: Thanks to everyone who signal boosted for my stun gun and...:

hierophilic:

Thanks to everyone who signal boosted for my stun gun and assisted in me being able to get it. I was able to get back to the hospital, safely this time, and I am recovering but I have another issue entirely.

I need to get to an orthopedic and a neurologist. There is something…

So, I really need money for insulin. {Boost?}

Thu, 16 May 2013 01:31:41 -0400

inriri:

I was recently diagnosed as a Type 2 diabetic, it runs in my family. Unfortunately, I’ve been removed from my family’s insurance plan and they won’t pay for the insulin, or the doctor’s appointment/tests that diagnosed the diabetes.

I have 30 days to pay for the appointments, which I’ve already partially paid for out of savings.

My insulin, which I need two vials of per month, costs 45 USD a month. I’ve already dipped into my savings and used all the graduation money I’ve gotten so far, but still need money to buy for the next six months (I am a broke ass college student).

If you could, any amount of money you could send would help. You can either send by money order (message me for address) or through PayPal. Even a dollar helps. Thanks in advance, and please boost this. :(

youarenotyou: why do people say that the “loved ones of a person with [mental illness]” are...

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:56:24 -0400

youarenotyou:

why do people say that the “loved ones of a person with [mental illness]” are “forgotten”

you know how many books are out there for “how to deal when your partner/family member has [mental illness]”

all we hear all the time is how much of a fuckin burden we are. i’m sick of being told those who love me are doing me a favor or that they’re “suffering” for loving me when i’m the actual person suffering. hell no

flaresof-fibro: Why is a chronic illness shitty? Because it is chronic, not lethal.You have to live...

Thu, 16 May 2013 00:50:53 -0400

flaresof-fibro:

Why is a chronic illness shitty?

Because it is chronic, ~~not lethal~~.You have to live through it, find a way to cope everyday, work out how to do as much as you can to make life meaningful….without tipping over your body into meltdown.

We get better days, but it is still chronic. It doesn’t leave, it just stays with us in a variety of strengths. You don’t know how your body is going to handle tomorrow.

(Image text: Disability Problem #141: “How do you go to...

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:13:00 -0400

(Image text: Disability Problem #141: “How do you go to the bathroom?”)

(Image text: Disability Problem #140: It’s great to see...

Wed, 15 May 2013 22:09:59 -0400

(Image text: Disability Problem #140: It’s great to see youre out of the house! (from a stranger)