Senate Disability Discussion/Support

With this Sunday marking the 30th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, I figured it would finally be a good idea to try and make a thread where JCC'ers could discuss issues facing the disability community today, as well as offering a place where disabled posters could be open about their lives and support one another. As some of you know, I am disabled, as I have autism, adhd, and ocd. To finish off, here's an article where various disability rights activists weigh on the current moment: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/...sts.html?login=smartlock&auth=login-smartlock

(Note: Please avoid posting "inspiration porn", such as "The only disability in life is a bad attitude". For more on this, I recommend checking out Stella Young's TED Talk "I'm not your inspiration, thank you very much")

 

Non-serious obligatory comment: So do you mean hardships like like businesses trying to make them wear masks?


Not sure what the article says as I can't see most NYT articles, but there is one thing that I've been noticing more after it was pointed out by a friend of mine, which is for how often missing limbs show up in TV/film, it's very rare for them to cast actors that fit that description. He's particularly raised the point that on one level it'd be more pragmatic in many cases because it also reduces the amount of special effects work necessary. The example that comes to mind most was what I thought was a bad performance anyway by Colin Farrell in Dumbo, where he plays a character that returns from WWI having lost his arm. So the whole movie has to be set up about how to have his missing arm be central to the character, but also it feels like it twists some things so that they can justify it seeming like he's got two arms so the whole movie isn't needing special effects.

Not that it's an "every role" thing, but he's made a very strong case that has changed some of my watching of movies to see roles where they make a character be missing a limb in such a way that casting someone missing a limb could likely aid production all around. And he's wondered if that's ever going to be something that society more broadly attaches a value to it as being something that should be considered given how often movies and television like to have losing or missing limbs be a plot point. Though in that regard it comes off much more as a cultural value thing than necessarily in the same line as something like laws like the ADA.

 

Glad to have this thread. I have a physical disability (chronic back pain with fibromyalgia) as well as a mental one (anxiety).

The ADA is the best thing ever. My work has been very accommodating, at least from my boss and HR. They allow me to work from home half the time for my back, per my doctor's recommendation.

The only trouble is, our CEO nixed their plan to also let me work from home if I have an anxiety attack. I don't get this. If HR agrees to something then that should be it... I don't know why the CEO needs a say.

 

@Lowbacca_1977 The entertainment industry as a whole has a massive problem when it comes to disability representation. For instance, I can only think of a handful examples where disabled people were cast in disabled roles period, never mind roles with major screen time/plot significance.

@solojones I'm really sorry to hear about that. My current employer has been pretty understanding of my mental health needs.

 

I am also autistic (something about the phrase “on the spectrum” feels like a euphemism).
Diagnosed twice.

I also think I have anxiety, as my symptoms are sometimes uncontrollable, including my speech being affected.

I have sudden fits of anger and depression that feel like they are getting worse. I took medication when I was 15-16, but I stopped when I felt worse

Spoiler: Disturbing

and also suicidal.

I have had those thoughts since then, but not to the same degree

I’ve worked with different therapists to improve my social and motor skills. However I feel like I’m getting worse in both areas. I am often sensitive to a lot of activity or stimulation, sometimes it doesn’t take a lot.

Thanks very much for making this thread @Adam of Nuchtern


I appreciate how open you and the others seem to be so far here.

 

Yeah, I do think it says a lot that, for as much as I watch movies, the first movie I can think of offhand that clearly had someone with missing limbs cast to play someone who was missing limbs is Harold Russell from The Best Years of Our Lives, and that came out in 1946. The only other one I can think of offhand is Freaks.

 

Well disability payments are laughable. People sometimes ask me why I work if it's so hard when physically disabled... I don't think they realize the most I could get from disability is like $800 a month, which can't come close to paying expenses to live on your own AND still have food to eat.

 

The last 30-40 years has seen a very nefarious assault on any notion of benefits, along with exaggeration of how much people can get, blatant lies around the level of fraud and promoting the "you don't look disabled" mindset.

As for myself, dyspraxic, mostly based around verbal speech but that's hard to spot unless you know what to look for. The bigger duo is info processing and fine motor coordination, which doesn't help on video games. Can also fall over on any surface while stone cold sober.

Add in 50% hearing loss for one ear and the two can generate some interesting effects, like next to zero sound location ability.

 

Just went through the temporary disability rigmarole for my work, somewhat complex and not very fun and had some tense back and forth with the insurance company agent but finally done now. It was a ordeal.

 

I have a whole lot of mental disabilities. OCD, dyslexia, ADHD, Anxiety. From my experience. And I know this differs for each person but Anxiety and OCD are by far the worst. But all you can do is take one day at a time. It’s worked so far since my anxiety and OCD really started in 2012. Hell I have even gone a whole year without basically any OCD or Anxiety. Although that streak was broken it really gives me hope that it won’t control my life.

even though I do have severe ADHD. To the point that it’s hard for me to sit still for more than 30 minutes. at the very most. I have never really seen it as challenging. Dyslexia is not that big of a problem as I was lucky enough to get into a school which helped tremendously with it. My brother not so much. He is 23 and still has trouble reading anything past a road sign. It’s different for different people. All disabilities are weather physical or mental.

 

Yeah, I've heard alot of horror stories about the UK's treatment of disabled people on benefits. Think the United Nations once said it qualified as a human rights violation.

Speaking of that:

 

Watching a PS5 vid was funny tonight, one of the points was 3d audio. The idea is you can 'hear' people in a room in a game, without having to 'see' them.

Sounds cool, probably be so for 99% of players but, for me? Chances are good that I will be that 1%!

 

On the other hand, people with visual impairments will be benefitted greatly by that I would think.

 

Being more serious - Yep. In theory, it should help everyone, even me - my sound locating ability is low but it's not zero.

The haptic feedback could also link to this.

 

Not even $800. It's $783. Nobody can live on that.

 

I do okay on disability, but I have family members who are financially able to basically take care of me. Medicare is much more valuable to me than the money. Which Trump "defunded" today, I believe. Since that would actually be Congress' job it's sort of like King Canute telling the tide to go out, but hey, you've got to give him credit for the vicious spite he put into it.

 

Global pandemic... Trump defunds medicare. Great guy.

 

I don't, so I have to work in order to survive. The best I can say about disability is, it's better than nothing, but definitely not enough.

 

I have a question that I've been debating whether to ask about here or not, but here it goes.

I'm a manager at an education nonprofit -- I manage our partnership with one of our 6 schools, and manage the team of mentors/tutors for that school. It's a team of about 8 who help students in grades 3-5 with math, reading, writing, and social/emotional learning, each paired with a classroom. I have a new team for the new year. One person on my new team is partially blind and uses a walking stick, and I think we have everything we need to support and accommodate her. I also have another person on my team, she's very smart and kind and hardworking, who is also partially deaf and has a speaking impairment due to her jaw not developing as most do from before she was born. She's able to hear mostly fine due to her hearing aids, but it's difficult for others to understand her when she speaks, including myself. We may continue to work remotely, which would help her by being able to use the chat in Zoom and Google Classroom more to mentor and tutor students, but I also worry not only about how she'd work with students if we go in-person but also how accepting teachers in the school would be to have her in their classroom. This person hasn't asked for any accommodations at work yet, but I also don't know what we could offer this person, I don't think my organization has hired someone who might have these specific support needs in the memory of anyone currently working here. I don't want her to feel singled-out or anything other than fully supported, but I'm not sure how to support, especially since she hasn't asked for any. And I'm just worried about some ableist attitudes in my school in general, admin and teachers who won't even try to be supportive and last year was trying to force good people on my team to quit by being overly-critical. Does anyone have advice or resources for how I can navigate this, being as inclusive and supportive as possible, that's empowering to her? I hope I'm wording this right.

Let me also tag @anakinfansince1983 since I know she's also in education.

 

Sadly, it's not new. Some people have the idea that the existence of para-sport and the Paralympics mean every disabled should be at that level. By the same standard every person should be able to out-run Usain Bolt over 100m.

 

My brother was diagnosed with autism in 1965 and my son was diagnosed with it in 2005. In terms of schooling, the ADA made a tremendous difference in what was provided to my son as compared with what was provided to my brother. My son got so much more assistance and understanding, and kindness.

But there is a long way to go with what comes after people age out of the public school system. He gets SSI and Medicare, which is great, but the fact remains that if he hadn't been fortunate enough to be born into a family who could assist him financially, he would be looking at a constricted life of poverty.

What will happen to him after his father and I are dead keeps me awake nights. The money will be there, but I have to figure out ways to protect him from beyond the grave and guess correctly as to who in his life can be trusted. My brother has sometimes been taken advantage of by the unscrupulous.

 

Very belated reply but I hope some of the others were able to give you some help. I didn't have anything to give you as:

- I don't know the US education system

- The main issues you look to be dealing with appear less reasonable adjustments for your team members and more unreasonable other people.

One other thing you're hitting sounds like destructive criticism. The kind of feedback that the likes of Simon Callow popularised, all while claiming that it's just "honest".

 

Used the disabled parking I have temporarily for the first time today, at Arrowhead for a special Chiefs practice. That part went ok, and my ADA seats were fine, but getting all the way up there was a chore. And they didn't have anyone to take us door to seat. Definitely going to email them about that.