Hi Judy and everyone
Judy, there are many privileges in having a disability that is not
immediately noticeable to the observer BUT do you ever wish you had a
big sign tatooed on your forehead (with a doctor's signature of course)
saying "Disabled - don't ask!"?
> Thanks to John Storey for the clear and useful explanation. Definitely one to
> print out and keep!
>
> And thanks to all the people who wrote offlist to clarify this issue.
>
> Underlying it all - no surprises - is still the necessity for contant pressure
> to increase our share of the 'cake'.
>
> I'm interested in this issue from the POV of being affected by a marginal
> disability - Asperger's syndrome and as the parent of a child with a more
> severe case than mine.
>
> People with AS have difficulty with turning thought into action - (inertia) -
> with seeing the overall picture of what needs to be done, rather than stimming
> on one tiny detail, are disorganised, unable to plan, often dyspraxic,
> sometimes aphasic....
>
> It used to be called "laziness" and people with AS usually have a history of a
> lifetime of abuse, for 'not trying hard enough".
>
> It's exactly the same situation as the one Mairian horrifyingly detailed in
> her post today about ME. The legacy of psychologism/ freudianism, whose abuses
> people with the new disabilities are actively engaged in documenting. (Thanks
> to people with these new disabilities, the days of psychologism are numbered,
> and we can look forward to having this scurvy priesthood off our backs..)
>
> On the one hand, I feel that in a situation of limited resources, it's wrong
> of me to even dream of getting help, since it deprives people with much more
> demanding mobility/ age/ etc impairment, whereas for me, at age 48, surely,
> I'm on the verge of finally 'getting organised' any day now.
>
> On the other hand - I'm not coping with the chaos. If I ever committed suicide
> about anything, it would be the endless waves of ever more demanding housework
> (due to our duty to bail out capitalism by buying ever more things we dont
> need).
>
> I can imagine that in an extended family situation, (when working well) ,
> something like mild AS can be integrated and compensated for and not be seen
> as a disability, but as just another eccentricity.
>
> But since the extended family seems to have been permanently exploded by ...
> (fill in your favourite theory/ capitalism) ... there is a vaccuum that has to
> be filled - something must take its place ... and it may be reasonable to
> expect the state as nominally our agent of distributive resources to make sure
> everyone gets what they need.
>
> Some hopes! but I need to find a justification for why I need homecare.
>
> Judy.
>
> If I could just find a place in the chaos, I'd organise a housework co-op!
>
>
Best regards
Laurence Bathurst
School of Occupation and Leisure Sciences
Faculty of Health Sciences
University of Sydney
P.O. Box 170
Lidcombe NSW 2141
Australia
Phone: (62 1) 9351 9509
Fax: (62 1) 9351 9166
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
Please visit the School's interim web site at
http://www.ot.cchs.usyd.edu.au
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Not one shred of evidence supports the notion that life is serious
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