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capri0mniOkay, so I'm writing up a post about cerebral palsy -- a sort of addendum to the story of how the doctors decided to snip my Achilles tendons.
These things take forever to write, because, apparently, it's impossible for me to post anything without wandering down the primrose path of Google Searches. So that's how I found this: Living With C.P from the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy. For the most part, it's pretty straight forward, with minimal scare statistics.
But just when you get lulled into a sense of security that the "Service Professionals" who wrote the guide (how much you want to bet theymostly all have Able-Bodied Privilege?) actually get it, you come upon a gem paragraph like this:
My reaction to the first half: "No Sh--, Sherlock! Did you come up with that all by yourself? You must be so proud!"
My reaction to the second half: "You did not just come to that conclusion after that opening statement. ... No, wait, you did. I hate you, and your entire tribe. May all the cookies turn to ashes and hair in your mouth, and may all your underwear become infested with centipedes."
There! Now I feel better!
These things take forever to write, because, apparently, it's impossible for me to post anything without wandering down the primrose path of Google Searches. So that's how I found this: Living With C.P from the Ontario Federation for Cerebral Palsy. For the most part, it's pretty straight forward, with minimal scare statistics.
But just when you get lulled into a sense of security that the "Service Professionals" who wrote the guide (how much you want to bet they
(quote)
It can be frustrating for adults to deal with a health care system that appears to have little knowledge or interest regarding the changing needs of aging with a disability. A positive attitude makes a big difference, and developing relaxation techniques and coping skills can have a beneficial effect on mental and physical health.
(unquote)
My reaction to the first half: "No Sh--, Sherlock! Did you come up with that all by yourself? You must be so proud!"
My reaction to the second half: "You did not just come to that conclusion after that opening statement. ... No, wait, you did. I hate you, and your entire tribe. May all the cookies turn to ashes and hair in your mouth, and may all your underwear become infested with centipedes."
There! Now I feel better!
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Date: 2012-09-12 06:20 am (UTC)*tears hair*
This is my translation:*
Date: 2012-09-12 07:07 am (UTC)with respect and dignity. So get in front of that mirror, and practice your breathing and smiling exercises. Remember to Stay Angelic (or else)!I'd have preferred it if they'd included a line or two of practical tips for Dr. Ignoramus, such as:
If you can, bring friend or family member with you into the examination room. They can corroborate details of any symptom flairs, and help you remember questions you want answers to. And if you still feel you have trouble communicating with your doctor, they can help you hide the body.
*the language in this booklet is of the sort that's so common to Intro-to-Condition_X pamphlets, it should have a name: [somesuch]-speak. But I can't think of one.
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Date: 2012-09-12 09:16 am (UTC)Are you aware of Barbara Ehrenreich's anti-Cult-of-Positive-Thinking work? It might cheer you up! ;-)
From this more general interview @ alternet.
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Date: 2012-09-12 05:46 pm (UTC)No, I'm not familiar with that work, but I may look it up (right now, I've decided, though, that it's been far too long since I've read fiction for pleasure, so I may indulge in reading that, first).
I love your new definition of "Hysteria," and I was trying to think of a similar word relating to how doctors respond when their patients have a disability... But the problem is, the very existence of the disabled is denied so vigorously, there isn't even a word to excuse "our problems."
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Date: 2012-09-12 07:04 pm (UTC)Therapy: what disabled people need after the doctors have finished with them.
And remember that as long as you have a positive attitude and aren't indulging in any of that "coping" nonsense then you'll be fine! NEXT!
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Date: 2012-09-12 09:22 pm (UTC)Therapy: A systematic approach to exercise* designed to increase a patient's flexibility, so as to make it easier for them to be folded into preexisting categories.
*these exercises can be physical, mental, or activity-based.
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Date: 2012-09-12 10:05 pm (UTC)1. Therapy: what disabled people need after the doctors have finished with them.
1a. Physical therapy: a systematic approach to exercise designed to increase patients' flexibility, to make it easier to cram them into predetermined categories.
1b. Occupational therapy: a systematic approach to activities designed to keep patients occupied more cheaply than treatment.
1c. Psychological therapy: a systematic approach to indoctrination designed to inculcate the cult of positive thinking, and overcome realism.
I dunno. Something like that. /tired
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Date: 2012-09-12 11:19 pm (UTC)*Hands you a pillow, and fuzzy slippers*
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Date: 2012-09-13 11:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-13 05:10 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-14 10:11 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-14 06:55 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-13 02:43 am (UTC)I'm very interested to read that positive thinking was developed as a response to Calvinism, because in my experience the positive-thinking doctrine is enmeshed with Calvinist thinking, or perhaps the two are inversions of each other. AFAIU Calvinism says we're all deservingly doomed to hell and bad things happen in our lives because we're bad people, while positive thinking says that by effort of being a good enough person we can cause only good things to happen to us, and by extension anything bad that happens is caused by personal failure to be sufficiently positive.
It's the bad side of positive thinking that damaged me. Not only the idea that only good things can happen to good people, but being told that since I was lucky enough to have heard of the positive thinking doctrine, any problems that came about as a result of my negative thoughts were self-inflicted... and even that I secretly desired bad things to happen to me and subconsciously attracted them into my life on purpose.
(Ugh. I haven't tried to talk about this, or found anyone to talk about it with, for many years. Sorry,
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Date: 2012-09-13 03:31 am (UTC)*Toddles off to find it*
We're not here for your inspiration by Stella Young (July 2, 2012).
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Date: 2012-09-13 07:45 am (UTC)...that image of the kid drawing a picture with the pencil held in her mouth instead of her hand? That's just the best way for her, in her body, to do it. For her, it's normal.
That bit really made me go click in my mind.
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Date: 2012-09-13 05:46 pm (UTC)So, anyway, during one of the rides to class, the security officer who was driving confessed that I was "such an inspiration" to her...
I looked at her blankly and said: "Thanks, ...I guess." 'Cause the thing is: I was living on campus. Whenever I was hungry, I could go to the cafeteria and eat food I hadn't cooked, off dishes I wouldn't have to clean, in buildings I wouldn't have to worry about maintaining... and I could stay late in the library if I had to study without having to worry about negotiating a traffic jam on the way home.
Meanwhile, I'd learned from this woman that she was going back to school as an adult learner, while holding down a job, so she could get a better job. She had four kids at home, whom she had to care for and help them with their homework before she even started on her own. Her roof had recently started to leak and she had to arrange for a repairman to come and fix it.
...And yet, I was the "Inspirational One." Because all the stuff she had to do in her day? Well, that's just all normal aspects of life as an adult with a family -- comes with the territory.
But because I get around with wheels underneath me, I'm not normal, so anything I manage to do that's even close to normal is "Extraordinary."
"It's almost like they're people!!"
If you don't mind me promoting myself, here's a song I wrote about it, a few years back, and made into a YouTube video back in March: Simply Human.
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Date: 2012-09-13 11:37 am (UTC)I come from an abusive family so the Cult of Positive Thinking and "you create your own reality" nonsensers infuriate me. Luckily, I also infuriate them because I'm the most naturally upbeat and chipper person EVAH and yet I had cancer very young so I'm living proof that their lies are unrealistic rubbish.
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Date: 2012-09-13 05:58 pm (UTC)(So where did the saying: "The good die young" come from?)
Anyway, there is one twist on the "Positive Thinking" affirmation that I do like -- someone gave me a bumper sticker with it, as a "Secret Santa" stocking stuffer in college:
"Smile! (people will wonder what you've been up to)."
"Turning that frown upside down" as act of subversion and social trickery FTW!
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Date: 2012-09-14 10:18 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-14 06:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-14 07:04 am (UTC)I knew this system of belief didn't work, but it's all wrapped up in itself in an Emperor's New Clothes way which permits no opening for disagreement, especially when I was a child with poor debating skills. You'd think situations like yours would rock the foundations of the ideology a bit, but pretending you don't exist/brought it on yourself is so much easier...
I'm not smug but I can fake it in a good cause.... ;-)
Date: 2012-09-14 10:05 am (UTC)Yes, people who base their beliefs about the world on faith rather than fact are not open to fact-based logic. We can disprove their faith-based hypotheses with fact-based logic and they'll choose not to change their faith-based beliefs. I do, however, think it's important (although NOT any one individual's duty in any particular situation) it's pointed out to positivity cultists that people who prefer reality-based philosophies aren't obliged to share their faith (and I think it's important to call it "faith" rather than letting it go at "belief" cos we all have beliefs but some are more fact-based and some are more faith-based).
Nonetheless, there's enormous potential for schadenfreude in seeing "positivity" cultists become aggressively negative towards me and then point their negativity out to them, while I remain relentlessly cheerful* and smiley, and they twist in the wind desperately trying to deny their blatant negativity. Although I kindly refrain from pointing out that according to their faith their negativity towards me will probably result in them dying of some hideous disease, lol.
* Note: my relentless cheeriness is probably a result of non-standard brain-wiring and has nothing to do with my moral state, exactly as I used to be fat because I had a slow metabolism whereas since I had cancer I'm thin because I have a faster metabolism (some cancer survivors find the opposite) and has nothing to do with my moral state. :-)
(Factual aside of factualness: although stress caused by external factors such as poverty and/or illness and/or other social disadvantages has been shown to effect physical health in all groups of apes, including humans, studied for this. Positive thinking by, for example, black people doesn't make racism against black people go away or make black people less black though, obv.)
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Date: 2012-09-12 02:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-12 05:35 pm (UTC)I am, particularly pleased, I must say, with my "ashes and hair" curse. Because even if it doesn't literally come true, it will stick the association in their mind for a while, and take some of the pleasure out of eating cookies (and this includes the metaphorical "I-Serve-the-Disabled!" Praise Cookies that professionals come to expect from the public).
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Date: 2012-09-14 05:11 am (UTC)FWIW people with mental illnesses are fed shit like that too. If I could do that on command I wouldn't need the damn pills, now would I?
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Date: 2012-09-14 05:58 am (UTC)Right! Precisely.
Of course, the cynical part of me says they don't really believe that... They would just love it if their patients. Because the more we doubt our own attitudes, the less we'll doubt their God-like power.
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Date: 2012-09-15 04:08 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-09-15 04:44 am (UTC)