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And Lincoln University will stand by and watch their students deliberately make themselves fat no longer:
A Pennsylvania university’s requirement that overweight undergraduates take a fitness course to receive their degrees has raised the hackles of students and the eyebrows of health and legal experts.
Officials at historically black Lincoln University said Friday that the school is simply concerned about high rates of obesity and diabetes, especially in the African-American community.
“We know we’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic,” said James L. DeBoy, chairman of Lincoln’s department of health, physical education and recreation. “We have an obligation to address this head on…”
Yeah, like DeBoy said. It’s not like the United States government has subsidized corn over-production, it’s not like grocery stores are filled with boxed, canned and frozen food filled with corn derivatives and chemicals, it’s not like cities are planned around car culture, it’s as though poor neighborhoods are filled with fast food restaurants and suburbs with chain restaurants, it’s not as though we are all surrounded by advertisements pushing us to consume unhealthy foods, it’s not as if school lunches American children grow up on are made out of anything but the best, healthiest ingredients available.
No, it is the personal choices of these bad, bad Lincoln University students that lead to obesity. Change an unhealthy system? Heck, why not just blame the already-marginalized obese for their own health problems.
While they’re at it, why doesn’t Lincoln University add mandatory testing and classes for people with diabetes? And people with high blood pressure? How about students with mental health issues? People with STDs? Students with acne?
What’s the difference? Lifestyle choices can affect all of these health conditions. So why stop at obesity?
Surely it is safe to say our obsession concern about obesity, inspite of the fact that Lincoln University does not mandate testing and classes for any other health condition, is just because we are worried about the poor, ignorant college students’ well-being, and has nothing to do with a national pastime of blaming the victims of our greed-based capitalistic system for their own misfortune.
Just like poor people are poor because they are lazy, fat people are fat because they are lazy. As a matter of fact, poor people are often fat, therefore making the laziness descriptor even more apt. Apter.
Basically, I think we can all agree that what brings fatness and poverty together is that both are caused by personal failure, and not larger forces controlled by fabulously wealthy elites who benefit from keeping people poor and fat. I mean, besides government subsidy money, factory monoculture farming, enormous profit from cheap and fatty food, enormous profit from exploiting labor, and a huge benefit to maintaining a downtrodden lower class from which to draw cheap labor, what is there to gain from creating a system that encourages obesity and poverty? Because the very idea is so ridiculous, personal failure is a much more reasonable explanation. I’m sure James DeBoy would agree with me.
Because by mandating special classes to “teach” the obese about how they have failed and how they are personally responsible for the conditions that led to their health problems, he is thoroughly behind me in the fat = stupid and lazy but other health conditions are legitimate crowd.
And nobody, I mean nobody better make a peep to the effect that it is possible to have a high BMI and yet still be healthy. Come on, that doesn’t even make sense! It’s SCIENCEtm!!!
Louisiana Representative Anh (Joseph) Cao was the only Republican to vote for the health care bill:
“I have a constitutional duty to make the right decision for my district whether or not the decision was popular. I had to make a decision of conscience based on the needs of the people of my district. A lot of my constituents are uninsured, a lot of them are poor.”
NYT:Louisiana Republican Breaks Ranks on Health Bill
LA Times: Cantor: No retaliation planned against Cao, only Republican to vote for health care bill
CNN: Update: Lone GOP vote came after call from President Obama
Think Progress: GOP Threatens Retribution Against Cao For Health Care Vote
The Washington Independent: The War on Joseph Cao
Fox News: White House Spent ‘Weeks’ Courting Lone GOP Vote on Health Care Bill
Washington Post: A vote to make or break a career
Lone House Republican backed health bill after abortion was limited
Politico: Shenanigans: Get to Know Rep. Anh ‘Joseph’ Cao
Michelle Malkin: What GOP Rep. Joseph Cao got from Obama
TPM: Cao To Steele: Come And Get Me — Just Remember You Need My District
Did you know that there is a “backlash that glorifies obesity” and that “people celebrate clinical obesity”?
I didn’t, but apparently it’s all the rage with the kids these days according to The Root. The Root, a normally good blog, took the opportunity to bash actress Gabourey Sidibe (star of Precious) for her obesity, because they kindly hope she can “get a handle on [her] health”.
Us Weekly, I would expect. But from The Root?
In an article titled ‘Precious’ and the Pushback and subtitled “Congrats on the role of a lifetime, Gabourey Sidibe. Self-esteem is a beautiful thing. But we should celebrate your performance, not your size. Obesity is a national epidemic.” writer Alicia Villarosa is very concerned that if we don’t repeatedly and publicly censure Sidibe for her weight, everyone in the country will want to be fat like her. Because, you see, it’s a total secret that obesity is bad for one’s health, and society doesn’t already make life miserable for the obese, and if Villarosa and all other Precious viewers don’t speak out now, everyone’s going to mistakenly think you can be fat and happy and successful.
Villarosa goes so far as to berate anyone who would look at her as a role model or who would make a positive comment about her body.
Yes, Sidibe is a promising performer, one who’s already generating Oscar buzz. So if we just stick to her acting, kudos. But if we’re talking about her size—which has become part of the conversation—are people delusional? A five-foot-something woman tipping the scales at over 300 pounds is not something to celebrate. That’s SUPER fat, and no matter how passionately you argue the opposite, medical science will pull the plug on that position: Your health will suffer from carrying such an extreme amount of weight.
Then she plies us with helpful health advice that no one could have possibly thought of themselves.
So the message is to be the healthiest you. That means not hauling around a mountain of excess of weight that limits activities and invites health problems. Nor does it mean starving yourself or over-exercising to the brink of cardiovascular failure. It’s about being comfortable in your own skin and loving yourself, but always striving to be better. If you’re overweight, say yes to dropping some pounds, but do so with an emphasis on obtaining better health.
DEAR FAT PEOPLE: ALWAYS BE TRYING TO LOSE WEIGHT. ALWAYS. DO NOT HAVE A CAREER. DO NOT BE SUCCESSFUL. AND DO NOT, DO NOT PASS GO. Also, please stay out of public view, because as soon as someone sees you there’s going to be an OBESITY CRAZE!
cease to resist, giving my goodbye
drive my car into the ocean
you’ll think i’m dead, but i sail away
on a wave of obesity
a wave
wave
i’ve kissed mermaids, rode the el nino
walked the sand with the crustaceans
could find my way to mariana
on a wave of obesity,
wave of obesity
wave of obesity
wave
WAVE OF OBESITY
wave
whew… uh… so we had a little interlude there. Um, as I was saying…
Do we really need an article in the Root reminding us all to fat-shame Sidibe?
Feministe brought this article to my attention. No fat-shaming in the comments please! If you want to learn more about size acceptance, take a look at the Size Acceptance section of my 101 page.
Dallas artists create an action in support of universal health care!
Just another anti-gay hate crime.
From the Queens Chronicle:
[Jack Price] went to a 24-hour deli on College Point Boulevard and 18th Avenue around 3 a.m. to buy cigarettes. He told police two Hispanic men made reference to his homosexuality, calling him “faggot” and other names.
Police said Daniel Aleman, 26, and an accomplice, Daniel Rodriguez, both of College Point, beat Price after he left the store. Price was able to crawl home 10 blocks away and call police.
…[T]he NYPD says he suffered collapsed lungs, all his ribs broken and he underwent surgery on his spleen and had a metal plate placed in his jaw.
Fun drinking game: take a shot of something fruity every time this article uses the phrase “openly gay”.
A beauty pageant that requires plastic surgery.
From Deutsche Welle:
[G]oing under the knife was a requirement for the 50 contestants of Miss Plastic Hungary 2009.
…The competition was the first beauty show requiring substantial plastic surgery in order to qualify.
…The cosmetic surgeons of the top three contestants also received prizes for their work.“I think this competition was long overdue,” photographer and jury member Marton Sizpal told the Associated Press.
“It is time for Hungarian women to care more about their appearance,” he said.
In-f’in-credible. I really don’t know how to respond to news like this. Your response?
Republicans defend Sen. Jim DeMint by saying he’s like Jews who “take care of the pennies.”
From Gawker:
Bamberg County GOP Chairman Edwin Merwin and Orangeburg County GOP Chairman James Ulmer wrote the Orangeburg Times and Democrat to defend DeMint in a newspaper editorial Sunday that said he was not funneling enough funds to local projects.
“There is a saying that the Jews who are wealthy got that way not by watching dollars, but instead by taking care of the pennies and the dollars taking care of themselves. By not using earmarks to fund projects for South Carolina and instead using actual bills, DeMint is watching our nation’s pennies and trying to preserve our country’s wealth and our economy.”
Wow, Jim, you’ve got some great friends. And the votes of antisemites everywhere. Well, at least the ones in South Carolina. Edwin Merwin, huh? For a guy with “win” twice in his name, he’s awful full of fail.
Roger Ebert is so goddamn awesome.
I am naive enough to think that universal care is obviously good.
…The fallacy of the free enterprise argument is that it assumes corporations are motivated to bring about the public good. Corporations are motivated to maximize profits for shareholders.
I highly recommend you read the whole post. Via Kate Harding.
Late on the draw, but I feel that this is an important issue, so [fill in obvious cliché here].
A bunch of awesome disabled feminists have recently addressed the ableism present on popular feminist site Feministing. Read about the sequence of events and those involved at this ain’t livin’.
If ableism is an unfamiliar word for you, you can learn more at my 101 collection page.
From Manitoba, Canada:
“We had asked for funding so we can get organized and to ensure medicines, hand sanitizers and other preventative kits were in place but, instead, we are shocked to receive the body bags,” Chief Jerry Knott of Wasagamack First Nation said. “Is the shipment of the body bags part of Canada’s preparedness plan for all Canadians? Is the body bags a statement from Canada…?”
“It really makes me wonder if health officials know something we don’t,” said Grand Chief David Harper.
“Don’t send us body bags. Help us organize; send us medicine.”
Chief David McDougall of St. Theresa Point First Nation said, “We can acknowledge we also received body bags in our community. To me, this is an ominous sign that the government is predicting a grim outcome.”
Canada’s Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq, who is herself an indigenous Canadian, has ordered an inquiry into the little snafu.
Here is the St. Theresa Point First Nation press release on this topic.
I would like to echo Chief Knott’s question: Is the shipment of the body bags part of Canada’s preparedness plan for all Canadians? Or just the First Nations people? And, of course, why would that be?
Insurance companies have used the excuse of “pre-existing conditions” to deny coverage to countless Americans. From cancer patients to the elderly suffering from arthritis, these organizations have padded their profit margins by limiting coverage to patients deemed “high risk” because of their medical condition.
But, in DC and eight other states, including Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming, insurance companies have gone too far, claiming that “domestic violence victim” is also a pre-existing condition.
…In 1994, an informal survey conducted by the Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that 8 of the 16 largest insurers in the country used domestic violence as a factor when deciding whether to extend coverage and how much to charge if coverage was extended.
It is clear that insurance companies refuse to police themselves. It’s up to us to call on Congress to take action now to pass health care reform and end discrimination against patients with pre-existing conditions.
UPDATE: The National Women’s Law Center has just confirmed that in April, Arkansas actually passed a law prohibiting insurance discrimination against domestic violence survivors…
By Maria Tchijov
Please email, tweet, facebook, repost, and reblog this. This is cRaZy shit and people need to KNOW. BTW, I love the invisible hand of the market.
HAVE YOU HUGGED YOUR INVISIBLE HAND TODAY?
Crap loads of interesting stuff going on in this here world:
Trans Methodist Minister Finds Acceptance from his Congregation. Via Box Turtle Bulletin.
Acting Like Native Americans Is a Cult German Hobby.
Canadian Christianists Oppressed by the Teaching of Religion in Public Schools. Don’t worry, that doesn’t make sense to me either. Essentially, it appears they are angry their children are learning that religious besides Christianity exist.
Baptist Preacher Says of Gays: “I Hope You Get Brain Cancer”.
Actress Openly Discusses Her Schizophrenia. I think it is awesome she wants to be public about her mental condition. Yay!
Islamophobia Claims a Life in London. The elderly Ekram Haque was killed by a gang of whites in front of his 3-year-old granddaughter.
Sudanese Journalist Convicted of Wearing Pants. Lubna Hussein’s subsequent actions show true courage and solidarity. Holla!
The Wall Street Journal kindly reminds us that Christians are terribly, terribly oppressed in America. And are totally not the dominate majority who enjoy state privileges that non-Christians could never dream of.
by Bill Quigley & Davida Finger
0. Number of renters in Louisiana who have received financial assistance from the $10 billion federal post-Katrina rebuilding program Road Home Community Development Block Grant – compared to 116,708 homeowners.
0. Number of hospitals in New Orleans providing in-patient mental health care as of September 2009 despite post-Katrina increases in suicides and mental health problems.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in murders per capita for 2008.
1. Rank of New Orleans among U.S. cities in percentage of vacant residences.
2. Number of Katrina cottages completed in Louisiana as of beginning of 2009 hurricane season under $74 million dollar federal program.
33. Percent of 134,000 FEMA trailers in which Katrina and Rita storm survivors were housed after the storms which are estimated by federal government to have had formaldehyde problems.
35. Percent of child care facilities re-opened in New Orleans since Hurricane Katrina.
35. Percent increase of demand in 2009 at emergency food programs in Orleans and surrounding parishes, “an increase pinned on the swelling ranks of under-employed and rising food, housing, and fuel costs.”
50. Ranking of Louisiana among states for overall healthcare.
52. Percent increase in rents in New Orleans since Katrina.
52. Percent of federal rebuilding money allocated to New Orleans that has actually been received.
60. Percent of children in New Orleans public schools who attend public charter schools.
88: Percent of the 600 New Orleans residents who will displaced by proposed new hospital complex who are minorities.
160. Number of units which will be public housing eligible in the new St. Bernard area after demolition and rebuilding. St. Bernard was constructed with 1400 public housing apartments. Only a small percentage of the 4000 families in public housing in New Orleans before Katrina will be allowed to live in the new housing being constructed on the site where their apartments were demolished.
27,279. Number of Louisiana homeowners who have applied for federal assistance in repair and rebuilding after Katrina who have been determined eligible for assistance but who have still not received any money.
30,396. Number of children who have not returned to public school in New Orleans since Katrina. This reduction leaves the New Orleans public school population just over half of what it was pre-Katrina.
63,799. Number of Medicaid recipients who have not returned to New Orleans since Katrina.
65,888. Unoccupied addresses in New Orleans. This is 31% of the addresses in the City and nearly as many as Detroit, a city twice the size of New Orleans.
128,341: Number of Louisianians looking for work.
143,193. Fewer people in New Orleans than before Katrina, according to the Greater New Orleans Community Data Center estimate of 311,853, the most recent population estimate in Orleans.
9.5 Million. Dollar amount of federal Medicaid stimulus rejected outright by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal which would have expanded temporary Medicaid coverage for families who leave welfare and get a job.
98 million: Dollar amount of unemployment federal stimulus dollars rejected by Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal that was available to bolster the unemployment compensation funds to assist 25,000 families in Louisiana.
900 Million: Dollar amount paid to ICF International, the company that was hired by the State of Louisiana to distribute federal Road Home rebuilding dollars.
?. Current vulnerability to storm-related flooding. The Army Corps of Engineers continues work to provide protection from a storm surge that has a 1 percent chance of occurring any given year. However, Katrina was a stronger storm than the system under construction is designed to protect against. Because no updated indicators exist on land loss, coastal restoration and mitigation of flood risk due to human engineering, tracking recovery is, at best, challenging.
Davida Finger is a social justice lawyer and clinical professor at Loyola University New Orleans. Bill Quigley is a human
rights lawyer on leave from Loyola now serving as legal director at the Center for Constitutional Rights. A version of
this article with sources is available if you write to the authors c/o quigley77@gmail.com.
Welcome to The Exciting Times, a collection of news items that caught my interest!
*There has been another anti-Latino hate crime in Patchogue, New York, a small town with a history of anti-Latino violence, including the murder of Marcelo Lucero. This time a Latino mad was beaten and robbed by a gang of white men. White dudes: get your shit together over there!
*One of the first things I ever blogged about was that Oklahoma had passed a law mandating ultrasounds for women seeking abortion. Ultrasounds are commonly given before abortions, but it is unusual for the government to mandate normally elective medical procedures. My problem with this that it is almost assuredly just another ploy to make abortion less accessible, and it amounts to mandating medical rape.
Well, HUZZAH, because the law has been repealed! Though kind of on a technicality, and might be back again next year. Apparently the law also included a set of rules mandating that doctors go over the ultrasound with the patient and describe to her how much like a baby it looks. Can’t wait to see this one come back next year.
*Canadian citizen disowned and left in jail in Kenya. The woman, Suaad Hagi Mohamud, had immigrated from Somalia to Canada and is a naturalized citizen. For some reason her passport was “challenged” when she was trying to travel from Kenya to Canada this May. She was detained in Kenya, and when she appealed for help from the Canadian consulate, diplomat Liliane Khadour denied Mohamud was Canadian, claiming falsely that she had “carried out conclusive investigations” and determined that “the person brought to the Canadian High Commission on suspicion of being an imposter is not the rightful holder of the aforementioned passport.”
All’s well that ends well, right? Am I right? Well, Khadour has been “recalled” and Mohamud, after three months, the help of friends, and DNA testing, proved her identity and returned to her country.
*Don’t miss The Women’s Crusade in the NYT Magazine this week. Though I don’t agree with every statement in the article, there are plenty of intriguing points made. For example:
It appears that more girls and women are now missing from the planet, precisely because they are female, than men were killed on the battlefield in all the wars of the 20th century. The number of victims of this routine “gendercide” far exceeds the number of people who were slaughtered in all the genocides of the 20th century.
and
[I]t is emerging that male domination of society is also a risk factor [for turbulence and violence]; the reasons aren’t fully understood, but it may be that when women are marginalized the nation takes on the testosterone-laden culture of a military camp… Indeed, some scholars say they believe the reason Muslim countries have been disproportionately afflicted by terrorism is not Islamic teachings about infidels or violence but rather the low levels of female education and participation in the labor force.
ANNNNnnnd finally:
*Need some fuel to win health care arguments with your backwards-thinking relatives and coworkers? Here are some numbers for you to take a gander at, comparing health data collected from the US, the UK, Australia, Canada and New Zealand. One of these countries doesn’t have nationalized health care. One of these countries also shows significantly worse health and health care than the others. CAN YOU GUESS WHICH??
Thank you soulbrother v.2 for this insightful piece. He explains the connection between whiteness being used to convince poor white farmers to stop protesting against rich landowners alongside poor black farmers in the 1800s, and whiteness being used to play working class white people to protest against health care for the poor. (Almost twice as many white people than black people are impoverished in the USA.)
Looking at the debates through a race lens, things like a town hall participant attacking a poster of Rosa Parks and people comparing health care for the poor to white slavery start to make some sense. Very weird sense, but the trail of bigotry begins to come clear.
And yes, the poster-holder specified white slavery. What do you think that’s supposed to mean?
Monica at TransGriot sez the good white folks at the town halls are protesting…
…at the behest of conservative K Street lobbying firms, Faux News, right wing hate radio, HMO’s who want to stay between you and your doctor and continue to make obscene profits off the current broken system and the GOP who gets paid mad loot to thwart any meaningful legislative reform as they’ve done for decades.
Once again you information challenged people are being played, manipulated, hoodwinked and bamboozled again to vote against your own economic interests because you’re ’scurred’ of the current occupant of the White House.
And Did You Know, “57% of Republicans either believes or is uncertain about the veracity of the “death panel” claim”?
Now, where ever would they get such an idea? Could it in any way be related to the fact that 65% of Republicans believe Fox News is reliable or that:
Even more interesting, perhaps, is how many Republicans only get their info from Fox, as compared to the other cable networks. A surprising 74% of GOPers “never” watch CNN, and an even higher amount, 89%, never watch MSNBC.
?
“Terrorist fist-jab”, “secret lesbian high school gangs”, birther-movement fueling Fox News. Is. Considered. Reliable by these people.
Sooooo…. is this health care “debate” becoming the 21st century elite’s attempt to divide and conquer the disempowered by race like innumerable incidents in the past? If so, they are showing remarkable success. Of course, there always seems to be enough white people who are eager to find a new excuse to be publicly racist, and politicians seem quite willing to dog whistle them to the fore at the slightest indication they may be useful.
I swear to GOD, Democrats and the Obama Admin have NO SPINE. They are preparing to give in to angry, incoherent mobs.
Every human has a right to health, and that includes health care. Private insurers do not operate on this foundation. They only provide health care so long as it makes a profit for the owners. Health is not a commodity. It is a human right. Ability to pay should never determine whether you get a long life or not.
When will we see a politician who is a friend of the poor?
The thought that it is “downright evil” to provide health care to the poor?
Linking health care coverage for the poor to Nazism?
“Keep your government hands off my Medicare”?
“True fascism… is happening in this country today”?
“Hitler…called his program the final solution. I kind of wonder what we’re going to call ours”?
And then there’s this, which also leaves me dumbstruck:
During the town hall, one conservative activist turns to his fellow attendees and asks them to raise their hands if they “oppose any form of socialized or government-run health care.” Almost all the hands shot up. Rep Green quickly turned the question on the audience and asked, “How many of you have Medicare?” Nearly half the attendees raised their hands, failing to note the irony.
At another point, a small business owner who supported health reform asks the audience how many people in this room “do not have health insurance of some kind.” Only one hand seemed to be raised. “I think the people who are objecting,” she noted, “are the people who have insurance.”
Recently, I had medical adventures of the first order.
Background: I am distrustful of doctors, as I have a long and sordid history of being treated poorly by them, from disrespect to careless misdiagnosis to open homophobia.
I also don’t like my access to health and health care to be controlled by my ability to obtain expensive health insurance from corrupt companies who care not for my health, and by uncaring professionals who treat me dismissively but take my money and go home to lifestyles ten times more comfortable than my own. I don’t like to have to go to a new doctor and beg for my needed medications in the hope they will deign it acceptable every time I move.
Anecdote: I once visited a doctor who made me wait in an examination room for 45 minutes, stopped in for five minutes, stared at the wall the entire time I spoke to him, and, while still refusing to even look at me, recommended I undergo an expensive and invasive procedure. Once home, I researched my symptoms on my own and discovered that procedure was not necessary or recommended for patients with my condition. I talked with my parents about my poor treatment, at which point I learned that my father knew this doctor. I found out later that the doctor was embarrassed to learn whose daughter I was and apologized profusely to my father for the way he treated me.
THAT IS SO FUCKED UP. He would have treated me like a human if he had realized I was related to someone who had the ability to affect his professional reputation. Instead, I got treated like a “regular” patient, and apparently, as he expressed embarrassment regarding his behavior, he knows this treatment is unacceptable but does it anyway when he thinks the patient has no power. But why?
Present day: I moved from across the country to New York. So I had to go through the whole no insurance/obtaining insurance/finding new doctors rigmarole again. I live in the United States and have a modest income, so this means I have the opportunity to be fucked while not on insurance, have a very limited selection of doctors once on insurance, and be exploited by insurance and the doctors when I actually seek health care. I also have the opportunity to pay enormous out-of-pocket costs for anything not covered by my insurance.
First I sought mental health care, as I am affected by debilitating anxiety when not on meds. Meds must be prescribed by a psychiatrist. I needed to find a psychiatrist fast as I had spent a long time unemployed, and therefore uninsured, had gone off my meds, and was experiencing a precipitous decline in mental health.
I called the Callen-Lorde Community Health Center, the LGBT clinic, but they didn’t take my insurance. I grew worried because I had experienced homophobia from mental health workers before, and it does not help my mental health problems. They recommended another clinic, where I went to see a general practitioner. She refused to prescribe my meds and said I needed to go to a psychiatrist. But though the clinic accepted my insurance for the GP, it wouldn’t accept it for a psychiatrist.
So I searched for lists of LGBT-friendly doctors in New York City. None of the names I found were covered by my insurance. Days were passing and I was getting worse.
I started calling every person listed under “psychiatry” on my insurance company’s website. I called five a day. I mostly left messages, and few called me back. Whenever I did talk to someone, they told me I would have to wait one to two months to get an appointment. That was not possible in my condition.
I found a walk-in psychiatry hospital. I took off work and went. They told me there were too many patients and that I would have to try and come back another day.
I started crying every day. Getting up and going to work was a herculean effort. I started missing work as my mental health deteriorated and I couldn’t handle my duties. I stopped going out to see friends or purchase food because my social anxiety had taken hold too. The thought of leaving the house caused panic attacks that made me think I was dying.
I called a mental health emergency helpline. They told me they couldn’t get me an appointment unless I threatened suicide or that I might harm someone. They suggested I try the walk-in clinic I had already been turned away from. I begged for more options but they said they had none.
I discovered my insurance had a special mental health phone number. I called it, but they said the same thing as the other line. I had to threaten suicide or harm, elsewise they weren’t going to get me an appointment, and I would just have to wait the one-two months to get an appointment on my own. But I begged for help until the lady relented and said if I called at least ten more providers and still couldn’t get an appointment, she would help me.
So I called a dozen more psychiatrists. No one would give me an emergency appointment. I called the insurance line back and spoke to the same lady. She told me that she might be able to get me an emergency appointment in Long Island. I explained that I had no car and couldn’t travel outside of the city. She said that was very problematic, but she would think about it and would call me back.
Surprisingly, she called me back with a phone number for a “Dr. Z” (not his real name) and told me she thought he might have openings. I called him and he did.
I was very uncertain about seeing a random man about sensitive but vital mental health needs. I was also deeply afraid of confronting more homophobia. Until I looked him up and observed that among his specialties were anxiety and LGBT issues. I began to hope.
Last Thursday, at a licensing rules hearing for Nebraska psychologists, the topic of debate between the Nebraska Psychology Association and the Nebraska Catholic Conference was a “convictions of conscience” rule that would allow psychologists (and possibly counselors, social workers, and marriage and family therapists) to “refuse to treat — and refuse to refer clients — because of religious or moral convictions.”
At Amplify via Evil Slutopia
Nebraska, we need to have a talk. For starters, WTF!!?? Why is the Nebraska Catholic Conference even attending Nebraska Psychology Association hearings? I don’t recall them being a medical organization or an authority on the field of psychology.
And also, where will this “conscientious clause” stuff stop? I don’t normally head down the slippery slopes, but come on, at this point we’re getting a little crazy. First some doctors don’t want to perform the medical procedure known as abortion. Ok, fine, give them a choice to opt out. Then religious hospitals don’t want abortions occurring anywhere in their facilities, even when medically necessary… getting away from the spirit of the Hippocratic Oath there. Then some pharmacies don’t want to carry emergency contraception, because they misunderstand the science behind it and consider it abortion. Uh, we tried to compromise on that one, but they weren’t hearing it. Problematic. Then certain pharmacists didn’t want to dispense ANY contraception because they decided it was all immoral/secretly abortifacient. Here we are fully detached from reality, and now the somewhat kooky “morality” of certain pharmacists may be codified to trump the morality of patients in every case. Flat out objectionable.
We move from these mounting “conscientious objections” that just so happen to only effect sexually active women (how random and coincidental!) to Bush’s move to allow any person, even remotely involved in healthcare, to refuse to treat and refuse to refer any patient for any reason so long as that reason is based in religious belief. Of course, women and queers were the intended victims of this creepy bit of federal rule-making. Obama did away with this rule.
But this is all why I’m freaking out and thinking that maybe this time we ARE headed down that slope.
Because now, it seems, Nebraska Catholic leaders would like to extend the creeping fog of healthcare refusals to psychologists and possibly other types of counselors. Awesome… they must be thinking, “Guys, I’ve got a great idea. Let’s create a rule, you see, so that when people are seeking mental healthcare services, if their concerns have anything, you know, to do with female ‘troubles’ or homosexuality, the practitioner can legally discriminate against them. To protect the psychologists’ conscience and save them from going to hell for helping out a fellow human being. It’ll be great! That’ll learn those harlots and homos! What’d ya say?”
Not cool. Nebraska, you gotta do the right thing here. At this point, the matter is merely up for discussion. But your Catholic Conference would like to actually change the psychologists’ code of ethics to perversely make it “ethical” to discriminate in this way.
It’s got to stop. Now.
Consider yourself warned.
This story brings tears to my eyes.
[Rev. Fred] Winters deflected the first of the gunman’s four rounds with a Bible, sending a confetti-like spray of paper into the air in a horrifying scene worshippers initially thought was a skit, police said.
…Winters had stood on an elevated platform to deliver his sermon about finding happiness in the workplace — titled “Come On, Get Happy” — and managed to run halfway down the sanctuary’s side aisle before collapsing after the attack, Cunningham said.
Autopsy results showed that Winters was hit with one bullet that went straight through his heart…
What a tragedy. It appears that the culprit, Terry Joe Sedlacek, may be suffering from mental illness caused by Lyme Disease. No one wins here.
For those that pray, the First Baptist Church of Maryville (Illinois) is asking only for prayers.
Cerrie Burnell hosts a children’s show on BBC television called CBeebies. She has been the subject of a recent spate of parent complaints. Not because of her performance. Because of her disability. She was born without the lower section of her right arm.
The Independent reports:
One man said that he would stop his daughter from watching the BBC children’s channel because Burnell would give his child nightmares.
…[S]ome of the vitriolic comments on the “Grown Up” section of the channel’s website were so nasty that they had to be removed.
“Is it just me, or does anyone else think the new woman presenter on CBeebies may scare the kids because of her disability?” wrote one adult on the CBeebies website. Other adults claimed that their children were asking difficult questions as a result. “I didn’t want to let my children watch the filler bits on The Bedtime Hour last night because I know it would have played on my eldest daughter’s mind and possibly caused sleep problems,” said one message. The BBC received nine other complaints by phone.
Outrage! Outrage! Outrage!
Fortunately, many more people have contacted BBC to express their support. Now I don’t have to bang my head against a wall to fall asleep tonight. Read the rest of this entry »
Image from the Icarus Project website
As I struggle with maintaining mental health in my life, I can’t help but feel that “getting help” for mental illness means little more than a consumption of a certain set goods that are culturally designated as “help”. My mental health seems to be a commodity I can buy, and therefore if I am low-income, I cannot afford mental health. I’m looking for a new paradigm, and I have lots of questions!
Is mental health and illness something internal or external? Individual or collective? Curable or incurable? Biological or environmental? Static or dynamic?
How can I be in charge of my own mental health, i.e. hold the power to my own well-being? Access to psychiatrist visits, pharmaceuticals and therapy all depend on your socio-economic class, your geographic location, and your ability or inability to trust psychiatrists and therapists and drug companies to have your best interest in mind. I do not believe I struggle with my mental health because I am queer, or because a psychologist tells me I had a cold mother… I don’t tend to believe anything these people tell me, because I am not convinced they have my best interests in mind, but yet they control my access to medicines I may want to use. Is there another paradigm for addressing mental health?
The Icarus Project seems to think so:
The Icarus Project envisions a new culture and language that resonates with our actual experiences of ‘mental illness’ rather than trying to fit our lives into a conventional framework. We are a network of people living with experiences that are commonly labeled as bipolar or other psychiatric conditions. We believe we have mad gifts to be cultivated and taken care of, rather than diseases or disorders to be suppressed or eliminated. By joining together as individuals and as a community, the intertwined threads of madness and creativity can inspire hope and transformation in an oppressive and damaged world. Our participation in The Icarus Project helps us overcome alienation and tap into the true potential that lies between brilliance and madness.
I see the obvious connections between mental health liberation and social justice. It is easy to recall countless instances in the history of modern psychology and psychiatry of abuse towards those already abused by society: pathologizing women, gays, trans people, people of color, the poor.
I was recently introduced to an extremely useful metaphor by Janet Foner, an international leader in the psychiatric survivor movement as well as co-chair of Support Coalition International, the broader coalition whose purpose it is to eliminate what many of us call “Mental Health System Oppression” (MHSO). The metaphor is that MHSO acts as a STOP sign on the road to liberation from other oppressions (e.g. racism, sexism, adultism, …).
…Even a brief exposition of Mental Health System Oppression must make mention of the so-called Federal Violence Initiative. This incredible program, more aptly known as the “Racist Violence Initiative,” was put forth by Frederick Goodwin, director of the National Institute of Mental Health (NINH). This initiative includes ongoing research “into the supposed biological basis of inner-city violence and includes proposals for biomedical social control. Our U.S. government asks “Are Black People Genetically Violent?” and plans a psychiatric screening program which would lead to mass drugging of innocent inner-city children, the vast majority of whom are young people of color. The National Science Foundation, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Justice Department are all involved. Elaborate pseudoscientific language, and much of the federal government’s effort, goes into obfuscating and/or directly denying this initiative’s clearly racist intent. Meanwhile, “research” has begun in Chicago.
So I don’t have all the answers to my own questions. I am not 100% anti-psychiatry, nor am I 100% convinced that there is no biological basis for mental illness. I do not believe that all pharmaceuticals are bad. However, I am convinced that when we look at the history of psychiatry in the West, we see a very troubled field of knowing. Historically, the way Westerners labeled mental illness, defined who had it, and treated those who had it does not lead one to feel trustful of mental health professionals- especially when one belongs to one or more groups who have been singled out for especially cruel treatment at the hands of mental health professionals. I continue to seek new ways to be healthy and to be a full person. I still look for ways to feel like a real person even when those around me clearly do not share all the mental experiences I have.
Looking for insights, answers and inspiration has led me to a bunch of interesting websites, which I will provide here for the curious. A description from each website follows the link.
“We are a website community, support network of local groups, and media project created by and for people struggling with bipolar disorder and other dangerous gifts commonly labeled as “mental illnesses.”
…Together, we call for new space and freedom for extreme states of consciousness, and alternatives to the medical model and the traumatic legacy of psychiatric abuse. We recognize that we live in a crazy world, and insist that our sensitivities, visions, and inspirations are not necessarily symptoms of illness. Sometimes breakdown can be the entrance to breakthrough. We call for more options in understanding and treating emotional distress, and we believe that everyone, regardless of income, should have access to these choices.”
“The Law Project for Psychiatric Rights (PsychRights) is a non-profit, tax exempt 501(c)(3) public interest law firm whose mission is to mount a strategic legal campaign against forced psychiatric drugging and electroshock in the United States akin to what Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP mounted in the 40’s and 50’s on behalf of African American civil rights. The public mental health system is creating a huge class of chronic mental patients through forcing them to take ineffective, yet extremely harmful drugs.
Currently, due to massive growth in psychiatric drugging of children and youth and the current targeting of them for even more psychiatric drugging, PsychRights has made attacking this problem a priority. Children are virtually always forced to take these drugs because it is the adults in their lives who are making the decision. This is an unfolding national tragedy of immense proportions.”
Theory for the Liberation of the Psychiatrically Labeled
Mental Patient Liberation Front
“For Freedom and Democracy for All – End Psychiatric Abuse Now!”
“Critical psychiatry is part academic, part practical. Theoretically it is influenced by critical philosophical and political theories, and it has three elements. It challenges the dominance of clinical neuroscience in psychiatry (but does not exclude it); it introduces a strong ethical perspective on psychiatric knowledge and practice; it politicizes mental health issues. Critical psychiatry is deeply sceptical about the reductionist claims of neuroscience to explain psychosis and other forms of emotional distress. It follows that we are sceptical about the claims of the pharmaceutical industry for the role psychotropic drugs in the ‘treatment’ of psychiatric conditions. Like other psychiatrists we use drugs, but we see them as having a minor role in the resolution of psychosis or depression. We attach greater importance to dealing with social factors, such as unemployment, bad housing, poverty, stigma and social isolation. Most people who use psychiatric services regard these factors as more important than drugs. We reject the medical model in psychiatry and prefer a social model, which we find more appropriate in a multi-cultural society characterised by deep inequalities.”
A big list of resources!
“Freedom Center is a support and activism community run by and for people labeled with severe ‘mental disorders.’ We call for compassion, human rights, self-determination, and holistic options. We create alternatives to the mental health system’s widespread despair, abuse, fraudulent science and dangerous treatments. We are based in pro-choic harm reduction philosophy regarding medical treatments, and include people taking or not talking medications.”
“In a spirit of mutual cooperation, MindFreedom leads a nonviolent revolution of freedom, equality, truth and human rights that unites people affected by the mental health system with movements for justice everywhere.”
“This site offers an alternative perspective to the bio-psychiatric industry, and to the millions of psychotropic prescriptions written for children and adults. We really do have natural, built-in ways of psychological healing. With attention and adequate resource, anyone can reemerge from even the greatest distress and most extreme states of mind.”
I’m tossing this little post out there because I want people who are able to remain comfortable during this economic downturn to get a glimpse of the choices that some people face when money and jobs disappear. I’m not whining for the sake of sympathy… if I went totally broke I could probably find friends and family to lend me money until I found work. But nobody really wants to go that route.
I’m facing a tough choice: how to maintain my mental health while unemployed, uninsured, and running out of savings? Previously, when on health insurance, I would go to a psychiatrist regularly, get a prescription, and fill it at the pharmacy.
Then I quit my job and moved. As I began my job search, the economy tanked. My circumstances changed rapidly. Finding, vetting and paying for a new psychiatrist is not an option. Even if money were no object, I am not thrilled about learning the hard way (again) whether my psychiatrist is a homophobe or not, whether s/he will say that I had a distant mother, and that made me queer, and that’s why I struggle with mental illness.
I started splitting my last pills in half, to make my final prescription refill last longer. Then taking them every second day instead of every day. Still no job- but the symptoms started coming back. Friends have offered to split their prescriptions with me- something I can’t accept, because it isn’t fair for them to put their mental health on the line for the sake of mine- there is no net gain.
A friend from out of town visited. She’s in herb school. We talked about doctors controlling my access to mental health care. I could probably afford to pay for the pills alone, but I would have to see a new psychiatrist first and convince them to write a prescription for the same dose of the same medicine that was working for me before. Though it is likely the psychiatrist would write the prescription I need, it is not given- they are in control, they could decide not to. We talked about how money was impeding my ability to get the care I needed, care that if I go without, will eventually impede my ability to find and keep work, leading to a really crappy cycle I want to avoid.
She suggested I try herbs. They are commonly available and require no prescription or doctor visits, i.e. no one controls my access to them. They aren’t cheap, but the expense seems small compared to the alternative of going unmedicated.
So I’m trying it. You have to take them more frequently, and in larger quantities. The therapeutic effects that I previously got from a single tiny pill per day I now get from hundreds of drops from tinctures spread throughout the day- it kind of makes me feel like I’m on a constant drip.
So far, so good. We’ll see.
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