*sapphoq healing tbi
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
Stuff that annoys me, stuff I am happy about
A list in no particular order inspired by a blogger who wrote a list of how to annoy an aspie. Unfortunately, I can't find the link to that particular post at the moment. When/if I do, I will add it.
If you have a brain injury and not all of the stuff on my list annoys you, that is okay.
Write your own wish if you want to.
If you don't have a brain injury and not all of the stuff/most of the stuff on my list annoys you, that is probably okay. Write your own. I don't have the monopoly on being annoyed and some of the stuff mentioned here is not specific to folks with disabilities.
So here goes:
1. "Oh yeah, I have that too." Unless you also have atypical neurology, NO YOU DON'T.
2. Repetitive forms.
3. Too loud, too bright, too scratchy.
4. The world requires multi-tasking for almost everything. My ability to multi-task has shit the bed and ain't coming back.
5. Cognitive art therapists who claim to have degrees from "schools" which are suspected of being diploma mills and reported as such when Googled.
6. Anyone who insists that said cognitive art therapists are loved by gazillions of fans. That whole being loved thing is the emotional stance of infants.
7. Medical doctors who do not listen.
8. Expressive aphasia sucks.
9. "You are a person WITH a traumatic brain injury." No asshole, I have a t.b.i.
10. Referring to t.b.i.-ers or survivors of t.b.i. as t.b.i.s. Uh, hello. We are not our labels. We are not alcoholism, broken legs, or brain injuries. [See number nine.]
11. VESID. VESID sucks. [VESID is called o.v.r. in other states.] And by the way any vocational rehabilitation counselors who may have stumbled across this post, disabled people do NOT spend all of their time home watching television. Even people with developmental disabilities do NOT spend all of their free time home watching television. Your sheltered workshops are a modern form of slave labor and an abomination.
12. Being talked down to by professional "helpers" who don't help.
13. Dealing with the mail order pharmacy.
14. Fatigue.
15. A body that does not bend due to neurology.
16. Inadequate pain management.
17. "The brain rewires itself." Yep, it does. The result is a dirt road where high speed freeways used to exist. And when the neurons don't connect up correctly, say hello to permanent central nervous system tremor.
18. There is a reason why I am not working. Not working does NOT obligate me to be your fetch and step. If I felt well enough to do you all those favors you seem to think I am capable of doing for you, I would be working. So bugger off.
19. Perception problems and visual disturbances getting in the way of a variety of activities.
20. Happy happy joy joy 12 step people who assure me that their g-d wanted this to happen to me as part of some masterful plan. Please take your mental masturbations elsewhere. I have enough of my own.
21. Automatic assumptions that my anger is somehow bad or dysfunction and needs healing. When I want your opinion, I will ask you. And besides, you are not my shrink.
22. Unclear directions.
23. Not enough help to do the things that I can no longer do.
24. A-motivational syndrome-- mine.
25. A social security disability system which denies disability to those of us who have worked all of our adult lives and now can't as well as to people who are on chemo for crying out loud. Along with worker's comp and "no fault" [we ain't paying cuz it ain't our fault] auto insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, and in laws.
***
Stuff I am happy about: being alive, being abstinent, my friends, my family, my dog, my cats, my frogs, the stuff inside of me that enables me to keep striving.
sapphoq healing t.b.i.
If you have a brain injury and not all of the stuff on my list annoys you, that is okay.
Write your own wish if you want to.
If you don't have a brain injury and not all of the stuff/most of the stuff on my list annoys you, that is probably okay. Write your own. I don't have the monopoly on being annoyed and some of the stuff mentioned here is not specific to folks with disabilities.
So here goes:
1. "Oh yeah, I have that too." Unless you also have atypical neurology, NO YOU DON'T.
2. Repetitive forms.
3. Too loud, too bright, too scratchy.
4. The world requires multi-tasking for almost everything. My ability to multi-task has shit the bed and ain't coming back.
5. Cognitive art therapists who claim to have degrees from "schools" which are suspected of being diploma mills and reported as such when Googled.
6. Anyone who insists that said cognitive art therapists are loved by gazillions of fans. That whole being loved thing is the emotional stance of infants.
7. Medical doctors who do not listen.
8. Expressive aphasia sucks.
9. "You are a person WITH a traumatic brain injury." No asshole, I have a t.b.i.
10. Referring to t.b.i.-ers or survivors of t.b.i. as t.b.i.s. Uh, hello. We are not our labels. We are not alcoholism, broken legs, or brain injuries. [See number nine.]
11. VESID. VESID sucks. [VESID is called o.v.r. in other states.] And by the way any vocational rehabilitation counselors who may have stumbled across this post, disabled people do NOT spend all of their time home watching television. Even people with developmental disabilities do NOT spend all of their free time home watching television. Your sheltered workshops are a modern form of slave labor and an abomination.
12. Being talked down to by professional "helpers" who don't help.
13. Dealing with the mail order pharmacy.
14. Fatigue.
15. A body that does not bend due to neurology.
16. Inadequate pain management.
17. "The brain rewires itself." Yep, it does. The result is a dirt road where high speed freeways used to exist. And when the neurons don't connect up correctly, say hello to permanent central nervous system tremor.
18. There is a reason why I am not working. Not working does NOT obligate me to be your fetch and step. If I felt well enough to do you all those favors you seem to think I am capable of doing for you, I would be working. So bugger off.
19. Perception problems and visual disturbances getting in the way of a variety of activities.
20. Happy happy joy joy 12 step people who assure me that their g-d wanted this to happen to me as part of some masterful plan. Please take your mental masturbations elsewhere. I have enough of my own.
21. Automatic assumptions that my anger is somehow bad or dysfunction and needs healing. When I want your opinion, I will ask you. And besides, you are not my shrink.
22. Unclear directions.
23. Not enough help to do the things that I can no longer do.
24. A-motivational syndrome-- mine.
25. A social security disability system which denies disability to those of us who have worked all of our adult lives and now can't as well as to people who are on chemo for crying out loud. Along with worker's comp and "no fault" [we ain't paying cuz it ain't our fault] auto insurance companies, health maintenance organizations, and in laws.
***
Stuff I am happy about: being alive, being abstinent, my friends, my family, my dog, my cats, my frogs, the stuff inside of me that enables me to keep striving.
sapphoq healing t.b.i.
Labels: a.b.i., accessibility, acquired+brain+injury, tbi, traumatic+brain+injury
¶ 2:45 AM 0 comments links to this post
Monday, February 18, 2008
Broken Things
I.
It was cold outside, but not that cold. Still, the ice hadn't fully melted and pissed-off-woman wasn't real good at maintaining an upright position on the slick stuff, even with the fancy smancy ankle braces. The dog required walking and so p-o-w headed to the abandoned building where the roof overhang kept a bit of sidewalk free from the troubling stuff. P-o-w parked along side the building so she didn't have to slide across the parking lot to get to the sidewalk in question. Three women, two golden retrievers, and one schipperke were heading for the same sidewalk. None of the dogs were attached to leads. Two of the women were dragging their goldens along by the collar and the third had picked up the schipperke and was cradling him in her arms.
P-o-w stuck her head out of the car window. "Are your dogs friendly?" she asked. The three women looked at her. "Friendly?" p.o.w. repeated while pointing to the two goldens and the schipperke. "No," one of them spoke up at last. Undeterred, p-o-w parked her car in front of the targeted sidewalk, where the small party of women and allegedly unfriendly dogs had just been heading. They turned around and left. That was their right. And indeed their obligation if their dogs truly weren't friendly and they weren't able to control them.
P-o-w hung the required placard on the mirror since she had just created a parking space. She hooked up the dog and grabbed Benjamin Copernicus Galileo (the cane). She locked the car. She and the dog walked. The dog was happy and p-o-w smiled.
II.
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"No."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"No. We happen to have the two most vicious golden retrievers with us right here. And the schipperke is a little daemon."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"We are afraid of other dogs."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"We are afraid of you because either you intend to kill us or your disability is contagious."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"We aren't friendly. We don't want to talk with you at all. Your need for an accessible place to walk your dog inconvenienced us."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"We really just wanted to be alone in this wide space and you weren't invited."
*Epic fail*
III.
Pissed-off-woman stamped out letters in the snow. The letters read: F U c k U 4 J U d g i N g M E . She and the dog walked. The dog was happy and p-o-w smiled.
sapphoq healing tbi
It was cold outside, but not that cold. Still, the ice hadn't fully melted and pissed-off-woman wasn't real good at maintaining an upright position on the slick stuff, even with the fancy smancy ankle braces. The dog required walking and so p-o-w headed to the abandoned building where the roof overhang kept a bit of sidewalk free from the troubling stuff. P-o-w parked along side the building so she didn't have to slide across the parking lot to get to the sidewalk in question. Three women, two golden retrievers, and one schipperke were heading for the same sidewalk. None of the dogs were attached to leads. Two of the women were dragging their goldens along by the collar and the third had picked up the schipperke and was cradling him in her arms.
P-o-w stuck her head out of the car window. "Are your dogs friendly?" she asked. The three women looked at her. "Friendly?" p.o.w. repeated while pointing to the two goldens and the schipperke. "No," one of them spoke up at last. Undeterred, p-o-w parked her car in front of the targeted sidewalk, where the small party of women and allegedly unfriendly dogs had just been heading. They turned around and left. That was their right. And indeed their obligation if their dogs truly weren't friendly and they weren't able to control them.
P-o-w hung the required placard on the mirror since she had just created a parking space. She hooked up the dog and grabbed Benjamin Copernicus Galileo (the cane). She locked the car. She and the dog walked. The dog was happy and p-o-w smiled.
II.
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"No."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"No. We happen to have the two most vicious golden retrievers with us right here. And the schipperke is a little daemon."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"We are afraid of other dogs."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"We are afraid of you because either you intend to kill us or your disability is contagious."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"We aren't friendly. We don't want to talk with you at all. Your need for an accessible place to walk your dog inconvenienced us."
"Are your dogs friendly?"
"We really just wanted to be alone in this wide space and you weren't invited."
*Epic fail*
III.
Pissed-off-woman stamped out letters in the snow. The letters read: F U c k U 4 J U d g i N g M E . She and the dog walked. The dog was happy and p-o-w smiled.
sapphoq healing tbi
Labels: accessibility, attitudes, fable
¶ 8:27 PM 0 comments links to this post
