Further Light and Knowledge

Pray tell, what do you consider disabled? Tourette's syndrome, perhaps? I have bipolar disease, and have written a good deal about it. It's an interesting disease, and most of us are fairly smart, but man, when the brain acts up, shit hits the fan in ways you cannot comprehend. I also have 3 auto immune disorders, but control the pain factor with narcotics. Weed can be helpful, at times. But I'd dare anybody to live with my brain for one fucking month and do a better job than I do. Bipolar disorder with psychosis, and auditory hallucinations. Lots of fun.

I don't know, but I always felt like it was just a childish hang up. I need to confront it; it's not a shortage of empathy, but maybe too much.

In my experience, it just means you haven't been around disabled people much. If you don't have actual regular and meaningful interactions with them, it's scary because we identify with people around us, and they're people with often broken or nonfunctional bodies. But once you're around a disabled person for a while, they just become a person and the discomfort goes away.


Exactly. I have a friend with cerebral palsy, and it was very hard to get used to being around him and his wheel chair. But he's really just a guy stuck in a shitty body.

Not me, I'm kinda more relaxed around disabled folks, is that a weakness?

I was flying from San Fran to Calgary last night. There is this guy in the row in front of me, on the other side of the isle - buddy doesn't have any arms. This might sound weird, but by the end of the flight I want to hug this man. I didn't talk to him, don't have a clue who this guy is but he made me happy. I was enamoured with him, having watched him throughout the flight. Obviously he used his feet to manage everything. I won't mention each thing he did, but you'll get the idea when I say he was remarkable. He read a magazine, operated his iPad, scratched his forehead, straightened his headphones, turned off the mother-fuckin light above his head, and the dude was so positive.

So maybe this guy is a bit of an all-star when it comes to the best & worst in the disable community (kwim). And maybe that makes somebody feel even more uncomfortable. But this guy was so easy to like, I think after the same two hour flight all y'all would have felt right-as-rain with our armless wonder.

I don't want to gush overly, an over-gush is always unseemly. And if I was prone to romanticize this affair I'd probably then suffer an insufferable tendency to be overly solicitous toward disabled folks. I know there are lots of other remarkable limbless people that have mastered incredible skills in order to compensate. Just like the blind develop better hearing - this is a part of how people adapt remarkably.

My in-laws are paid by the government of British Columbia to look after three severely disabled guys, they live together in the same home. I've looked after these guys when my in-laws needed to vacation. We have a regular riot. So there you have it, I'm quite evolved when it comes to hanging and banging with the disabled. Haaaa! But then I struggle to enjoy comfortable relationships with some non-disabled folks?

I have friend in the San Fernando Valley with CP, lives in his wheelchair. One night he went out for a 6-pack of beer. When he left the house he was already drunk. Buddy gets pulled over for a DUI, I shit you not. LAWL. Anyway, it always cracks me up when he tells that story. I love this guy cause he's just so down to earth. I think Todd is totally on to something, it's mostly about familiarity IMO.

I won't take your dare.

I'm fucked up, and I want to keep my brand.

My mom has been handicapped since birth, so I've never had issues like many. The last time I went to a new doc I was filling out a family history form and my wife noted that I had forgotten to check the 'physical handicap' on my maternal side. I looked at her and said 'my moms not handicapped?' and was really confused. She said 'what about her arm and leg?' D'oh! As a child of a handicapped person I will admit a hint of scepticism when people say 'I'm on disability because...' and they list something my mom has never been able to do. My family is rather harsh on the modern disabled claims that seem to be growing.

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Covering your body in jello pudding and answering the front door should NOT be a crime....and that's my defense.

Uncomfortable around crazy people? I'm bipolar, with some psychosis, and auditory hallucinations. Welcome to my world sometime. And they laughed at me as a kid because I rocked back and forth beating my head on the wall, sometimes for hours on end.....Wonderful mormon parents. After insurance has kicked in, stupid fucking pricks, I wind up picking up $1000.00 for monthly meds, so I can act like the rest of the fucking world.

Two people may have joined the church after reading something I wrote.

Reminds me of the mountains "The Breasts of Sheba" in The Librarian: Return to King Solomon's Mines.

My home is super cluttered, so much so I don't usually let people in. It's largely a result of depression, and unwillingness to get rid of stuff that used to belong to my wife. Funny thing is, at work I'm pretty tidy. I guess I'm able to section off a few hours each day during which I do my job, and focus my energies on those few hours, but after I get home, I go "kaput."

Re: disability, I'm glad it was pointed out that mental illness is a disability just as much as physical disabilities. My mother suffers from severe bipolar disorder. For many years she was undiagnosed, and therefore untreated, and it wrought havoc on her life. (Actually, it's amazing she did as well as she did, but that's because she's a great person! ) Once the doctors diagnosed her and found an effective treatment, she's done much, much better. But still, depression can be a very real challenge for her. Right now she is depressed, and that is affecting her ability to complete physical therapy after her accident. When she's depressed, she can't push herself as hard as necessary, and can't deal with the pain. So she is seeking ECT (electroshock) treatments, because those work really well for alleviating her depression.

My therapist (I have bipolar also, though not as severely as my mother) has cerebral palsy, and is confined to a wheelchair. At first I was a bit uncomfortable, but he put me at ease. He used to play wheelchair tennis, and his upper body is really BUILT! Interesting thing is, even though my illness is mental and his is physical, we've found that we have a lot in common when it comes to our emotional responses to our challenges, so using his experiences dealing with being in a wheelchair, he can help me deal with my mental illness.

Now that is TRULY shocking!

whenever i see a story about someone dying in a car accident, i look to see what time of day it happened. if it was after midnight, i just assume there was booze involved.

I'm pretty much an anti-gun, pacifist, liberal pinko
Two weeks ago I went clay pigeon shooting for the first time. I really liked the adrenaline rush of firing a shotgun.

My mom fixed Chicken and noodles for dinner tonight. As I was dishing up some for my oldest (9) I hear out of his precious mouth, "I love to eat nudes!!!!" When I tried to explain that what he had said was inappropriate, my youngest (almost 7) defended him with, "It's just a shortened form of noodles mom." I can't help but feel I'm either doing a great job with education for their age or I should be teaching them something I haven't.......

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Handle every stressful situation like a dog....
If you can't eat it or hump it
Piss on it and walk away.