Disablity and Mental health.

I was going to post this to Linked In but now after some reflection I didn’t and I feel it’s much better to hear Let me know what you think we see that people need to be aware that I am feeling this way and I see that this comes from a place of not being heard and seen. I can’t remember the last time that I felt seen or heard and got told I did something well, I got pitied or yelled at for doing things wrong, or breaking procedures/policies I didn’t know existed.  So, let's jump into it.

So I was on this platform and I have been posting my content for a while and I do need to consider what I post given that this is a site for professionals and job seekers designed to connect them. However, I am seeing, and much to their credit disability activists posting their content and I don’t have much to do with my “activism” community in my area.  I thought that I would explain why why I don’t like the term “activism” and prefer spokesperson, as it gives a much more dignified tone and much more scope to the person doing the hard work of breaking the last of the glass ceilings for people with disabilities as we struggle to get the care we need and many taxpayers are funding in many cases.

There are a couple of reasons is what does an “activist” even does in the modern age when woke even to the ultra-progressive side of politics is a bad word, we see that we need to steer clear of activism and I see that when the work is done and equality is achieved there is a “professional victim” status that goes along with being disabled that is a bad thing.

Don’t get me wrong I see that there is a long way to go before arriving at that point but I don’t want to feel like I am back in high school due to not knowing the social structure of this “community.”  This community that I see ironically judges those who are higher functioning enough to run their own business or have a job as this is seen as a bad thing, but there is a push for people with disabilities to be included in the workplace and community and to move away from “sheltered workshops” and move towards disability service run enterprises where people get a far cut or fair wage.

I also see that my strongly living out my values of your disability isn’t an excuse ( but is a valid reason) sets me automatically up at odds with people for most of their lives being told that they are special because they have a disability, mental health condition, or chronic illness. Many people do and we have to play by the same rules as everyone else I see that people need to realize that there need to be consequences for people breaking the rules.

It's also why I see that people see some disabilities as a bad and a moral failing as there is nothing more annoying than a Sheldon-like autistic person who has never had to suffer the consequences of his actions and turns into a spoilt child and I know that this seems harsh but to achieve equality and I am talking about equality and not equity as what is the point of removing every barrier to working and giving jobs based on quotas I would be much happier if I got the job on merit and that the fact that I had a disability was part of that merit than a person who could do the role much better than me got it.

We give children challenges so they can grow and it should be the same for adults with disabilities to be able to grow and have challenges as well.   I know that some people don’t understand consequences and do act out but we need to support these parents to do their best to enforce consequences and to work with these children to provide alternative learning options and this then gives them a sense of self-worth and pride and a want to make society better and how can we make society better when everyone has been told that they are special and the rules don’t apply to them. 

I do strongly believe that we need people to speak about disability and I am not trying to gatekeep disability but to see where the activism stops and the professional victim starts as there are many amazing people with a disability that have made there life a success and deserve our admiration, this leads me to my next point of that some activists do have people supporting there efforts and have the ability to be fiscally independent and others are reliant on government income and help from charities as well.

I also see that some service providers are actively trying to prevent people from speaking up and are still in the mentality of believing that people with a disability need protection and someone to speak for them, but if they amplify the lived experience of disability it would be much better for everyone and to be able to understand disability would be amazing and I am not trying to hate on disability activists and believe they are sorely needed but need to remember that there are many different points of view and to start taking responsibility for what you are saying and doing as it’s a reflection on the whole community as well.

In my first proofread of this article I realized that it came from a  large sense of frustration of not being able to see content from disabled creators promoted on LinkedIn and I am seeing articles about the need to talk about neurodiversity, loneliness, reasonable accommodations and what do all of these words actually mean to me very little.  Let's call it what it is disability and mental health accommodations. But due to woke, we are afraid to say what we mean so can we stop dancing around this and call it what it is disability accommodations as well, and can the “activists” that are also on the platform start using whatever format they prefer but let's call it what it is and what others understand it to be as well.

Disability is a lot for even support workers and caregivers to understand so how do we expect potential employers to understand it when the wording keeps changing as well?  So let's create some respect by giving them the words they understand and can use when hiring people with disabilities.

I also felt that this video made a lot of sense to place here as I see that mental health can cause disability but it's not talked about how to prevent it in the first place in having trauma-informed care and being able to have a say in who we have supporting us as well.  I see far too many providers who are still feeling like they can control their clients and not moving toward a collaborative approach.