Just to get a bit of perspective on my own trials and tribulations:Respect, sympathy and stigma

Just to put things in perspective vis a vis my recent glums...here's something to consider which brings to mind people who are far worse off than me:


Goldfish has written such an eloquent piece about how 'impairment is a morally neutral aspect of the human condition' and hence anti-stigma campaigns about disability/impairment are virtually bankrupt because the only place they lead to is pity and sympathy when what people with disability want and need is respect and acceptance.



She's right, of course. The anti-stigma stuff doesn't work at all and the sympathy and pity is no help to someone with a chronic illness or a mental illness (which Goldfish goes on to discuss) but it's hard not to feel sympathy, distress when you see someone with mental illness in a pitiable state.



I say this because in our little country town there was a thriving drop-in centre for people with mental health issues. When I was still at work I developed some projects with them too, so I saw the place from the inside. It was warm, welcoming and had well trained and experienced staff who offered a wide range of formal, informal and creative opportunities. Best of all the people who used the centre loved it, appreciated it and for many it was the centre (pardon the pun) of their lives. It had a warm inclusive feeling and was like a family.



A year ago, the funding was pulled. Nobody understood why and nobody but the people in charge of the finances at the Health Authority wanted the service pulled. There were petitions, demonstrations, articles in the local paper...all to no avail. The place closed and the worst fears of the community and the people who had used the Centre were realised: people in the town who had mental health issues had almost nowhere else to go; at least nowhere that was open six days a week, 9-6 with an open-door policy. So what do we find ? We find what I witnessed yesterday.....



There are two men, in particular, who wander about our town and the surrounding countryside all day and some of the night. They have mental health issues and probably problems with alcohol and drugs. To me, they are not scary or frightening. I feel genuine concern for their welfare and worry whenever I see them, but then I've 'worked in mental health' (as the saying goes). In the old days these fellows would have almost certainly found a welcome at the Centre and they would likely as not have used it. Many similar people were regular users in the old days. No doubt they are attached to some residential facility even now but as they are deemed to be no danger to anyone and deserve autonomy they are free to wander where and when they will. This is right and proper but when you see these same men filthy dirty, talking to voices, gesticulating and, yesterday, spending much of the day under the bushes by the petrol station looking lost and terrified like frightened, wounded animals you wonder what has happened to the world and who on earth really cares for these guys.



They do deserve respect but they deserve dignity too and there's no dignity for them as they are. They are shunned and ridiculed, pitied and feared. Left to their own devices how can they ever hope not to be stigmatised or understood. You can spend all the money you like on anti-stigma campaigns but until you work on the core care needs of people like these men it's all a waste of effort and money.