People With Mental Disabilities

[Jaden]

Hi! I tried to do a search for this topic but it kept coming up as an SQL error. If there's a topic about this already made, please direct me! My connection is slow tonight and liable to give out if I move the wrong way.

Anyway, I work at a company that takes care of people with mental disabilities. We have homes that they live in and my job is the "Direct Support Staff" that help the people to live as independently as possible. We take them out into the community, encourage them to interact positively with people. I enjoy this job, though I don't see myself in it in a few years from now. But so far, I've found it an entirely enjoyable job. There are days it's entirely awesome and then there are days it's entirely miserable. There a lot of things about it, though, that irk me - mainly how people seem to avoid interacting with the individuals at all costs, even employees of stores I take them to! Then there are people who think they know how to handle situations where the individuals have behaviors and end up getting in the way of my job to de-escalate the situation and try to keep the individual calm and remain as rational as possible despite whatever situation has set them off in the first place.

Also, even employees here have been terminated from the job for exploiting the individuals. A few months ago one of our employees took $200 from one of the individuals and there have been suspected sexual exploitation. It really irks me that the people who are supposed to help the individuals end up exploiting them.

The job itself doesn't pay well at all. People who work this job don't really make ends meet. One of my co-works was working for three different companies and still barely managed to scrap by. It's part of the reason so few people want to have this job. We have a lot of trouble finding people to work and even greater trouble getting people to stay. We had someone walk out on us because they didn't read the ISP and BSP of the people they were looking after as they were supposed to and was therefore unaware that one of the individuals tended to get very violent during behaviors and was caught off guard.

What I want to know is what will happen to the people with mental disabilities in a post-revoluationary world? Will there be very little change in how society handles them or may there be a brighter, better future for them? What about the workers who work to help them live more independently?

[Demogorgon]

Well I think looking after those who are not well enough to look after themselves deserve the fullest support possible from society. Similarly those who can more or less manage independently but need a spot of assistance getting there should certainly be able to expect that.

A socialist society would not be worth its name if it did not provide all the help it could to those who required it.

[19Rocketman82]

i feel that a far too paternalistic attitude is taken toward the supposedly 'mentally disabled'...except in a few extreme cases these individuals are coddled and made to feel inferior to the so-called 'normals'

it is dangerous to start making distinctions in mental ability...that is what fascists have done...i have met many individuals who were considered 'mentally disabled' who were in fact quite functional

my point is that iq and mental ability are social constructs...stupid and bright are social constructs...capable and incapable are social constructs...they are constructs because they cannot be defined without relationships...comparisons with other 'so-called normals define these categories...they are 'disabled' if they can't meet up to a particular set of tasks or live a certain way...who decides what these criteria are

just some thoughts

[spartan]

my point is that iq and mental ability are social constructs...stupid and bright are social constructs...capable and incapable are social constructs...they are constructs because they cannot be defined without relationships...comparisons with other 'so-called normals define these categories...they are 'disabled' if they can't meet up to a particular set of tasks or live a certain way...who decides what these criteria are
Yes but are they useful social constructs?

Are they needed and wanted by the majority of the people who might not fit into this specific social construct? (Which doesnt make it right as the majority of Germans wanted the Nazis at one time :( ).

I agree that some mentally disabled people (Me being an example) are quite high functioning and dont really need any help as they are quite happy living the way they do (Which as long as it isnt hurting anyone means there is no need for help and assistance).

But the fact remains that there are some people in society who need these, sometimes quite unfair, restraints as they can be a real danger to themselves and to others especially when people are un-educated about this specific persons condition and can react violently to something that this person does.

[Dimentio]

It depends on what kind of society the post-revolution society will be. I tend to think that we would have more resources both to offer the disabled a more fulfilling life, and to monitor that the personnel is doing it's work properly.

I think some things could be done immeaditily.

For example, instead of having the bureaucrats employing the assistants, let the disabled chose their assistants. Create a model where the users are those who are deciding. Of course, that does not account for all who are disabled.

[RedAnarchist]

I would like to see, where possible, more people with mental disabilities taking a far more active role in society, because they are not lesser humans or anything, they have a disability like everyone else does. I agree that some may need unfair restraints on their life, but the majority should be treated as if they were normal people.

And IQs are not very useful - I once did four IQ tests in one afternoon. I got 107 on the first one, then 109, then 119, then 142! Also, mine is about 126, but if the IQ test was more mathematical, I would have a far lower score.

[JWG]

I'd like to hear responses if the said individual in handicapped in a way he can not function any job.

Such as paralyzed.

[19Rocketman82]

what does it matter if a social construct is useful or not...all social constructs are useful to someone...race is useful to racists...gender to sexists...and mentally disabled to those who wish to opress demean or control the 'mentally disabled'

i agree with red anarchists that more should be done to recruit and actively involve those with so-called disabilities into the movement...the movement must be universal if it is to exist at all...otherwise it is completely self-contradictory

i don't believe at all in the validity of iq tests...they are merely another way that people are labeled and controlled by a number...what can a single number say about anyone - nothing

im not sure i follow your argument about iq spartan...you said that iq tests are not useful and that you go several different scores in a single day but you affirm that your actual score is 126...also you state that your a math weighted test would have lowered this...does this mean that you believe in the concept of g or that you believe in the gardnerian multiple intelligences or believe that iq is nonexistent

ive read a bit on iq and would like to get some input from others about this issue...specifically is iq or g real...is it false yet useful social construct

also if iq cannot be quantified and ability may only be described in relation to a certain tasks is it not the case that anyone who seems incapable has merely not found a proper role within the movement and society

thoughts?

[RedAnarchist]

Originally posted by [email protected] 02, 2007 05:28 pm
im not sure i follow your argument about iq RA...you said that iq tests are not useful and that you go several different scores in a single day but you affirm that your actual score is 126...also you state that your a math weighted test would have lowered this...does this mean that you believe in the concept of g or that you believe in the gardnerian multiple intelligences or believe that iq is nonexistent

I did an official one in real life (not an Internet one) and got that score. I would get a lower one if it was more mathematically inclined because I'm shit at maths.

[19Rocketman82]

fair enough...but what are your actual thoughts on the existence or nonexistence of general intelligence, multiple intelligences and their actual application to anything other than forms of discrimination and control?

[RedAnarchist]

Originally posted by [email protected] 02, 2007 06:23 pm
fair enough...but what are your actual thoughts on the existence or nonexistence of general intelligence, multiple intelligences and their actual application to anything other than forms of discrimination and control?
I believe that intelligence is something we all possess but it is unique to each individual. For instance, someone who can play football with the skill of a Brazilian is athletically intelligent. He or she may also have different intelligences - they may also be a great singer, or have some sort of qualification in the sciences.

IQs are often used to show the supposed intellectual superiority of men over women, white over black, rich over poor. This is because they are often biased in a way that is advantageous for rich, white males.

In my opinion, IQ tests are useless, and we should try not to measure an individuals intelligence, but instead encourage the growth of their intelligence.

[19Rocketman82]

my argument against intelligence is from more of a scientific standpoint...if something cannot be measured and has no real effects then it does not exist...this is the same reason that i don't believe in esp and telekenesis

on the other hand if we can say that intelligence exists - either in general or in particular - and that it has real effects then there must be a way to test it...there must be the possibility of a real test of iq

[lombas]

People with needs and their guardians should be able to address their local village or town assembly for help.

No state needed, just people.

[Jaden]

Thank you for your responses so far! Plenty of you have made interesting posts and reassuring. Though there are still some things I'm a bit concerned about.

First let me say, this isn't a conversation about their level of intelligence. Their intelligence is relative, usually, to their disability but there are some individuals we deal with who are very apt at learning and are very clever but they still have challenges in communication, emotional control and are prone to behaviors that endanger themselves and others. We have people with autism (we mainly deal with people with autism, and these individuals are the ones I've mainly worked with which is why I make references to them. There are, of course, many other mental disabilities but as far as my line of work, I am most familiar with autism so I apologize for my lack of variety in examples!) who are quite high functioning but not fully verbal so in their interactions with people assistance is needed to help others understand what they're communicating. Or a lack of development in their brain causes them to be near uncontrollably impulsive, or they are yet still unable to make some important decisions. Their means of communication and some functions are just impaired by physical ailment, mental ailment, or a combination of the two.

My concern for people going to the community to help is that a lot of the parents of the people we take care of don't even want to be involved. There are some that are very involved but the majority of the parents are actually the reasons (negative reasons) that the state has turned over these individuals to us. If there is no family or the individual with the disability is incapable of communicating that they want help or realize they may really need it to go to the community, will there be action to seek them out? How would we deal with that?

Also, I wonder if anyone thinks there would be enough people willing to do this job. Even now, I'm at my job at another house because we're having staffing problems. I already work full time and usually have the weekends off. I'm willing to work it, though, because this type of job is definitely a team effort. We're getting the short end of the stick on finding people who are ready to work with the individuals and with the team. It's very frustrating! And if no one's forced* to work this field in a post-revolution world will there be anyone?


*- by forced I mean that they are not in the economic situation that they need to take any job they can, not that we would be pushing people into field of labor that they don't want to do.