How do you keep calm?
Submitted by L33tchica.
WHAT MAKES YOU THINK I KEEP CALM, YOU SORRY @#$%!!! WAS THIS A JOKE?! ARE YOU MAKING FUN OF ME? HUH? ANSWER ME, YOU COWARD!!!!!
j/k
I like the freedom I have found, which actually I've always had, to decide for myself how I want to be defined. I like choosing for myself with Whom and with what I will identify.
That's not to say that there is no Truth in who I am. The truth, the absolute truth, is I am created by God for relationship with God in the image and likeness of God.
I like the freedom to choose that Truth. I like the freedom to decide for myself to identify with Christ and allow Him to transform my identity.
I like that freedom verses being defined by others who and what I should be. Verses being defined by others by my abilities and disabilities. Verses being defined by my faults and gifts.
I read a post at Disabled Christianity this morning which talked about a woman who, when asked if she had a disability, replied, "I used to have Down syndrome." To her people with Down syndrome were treated differently and ostracized. However, at this point in her life she is a part of things. She's a part of her church. She sees herself as a "normal human adult", as she would say. Therefore, in her conclusion, she must not have Down syndrome anymore.
I suppose it would be good if she recognized that, yes, she does have Down syndrome and learn that there is no shame in that and that it doesn't make her 'different'. It would be just as good if the rest of us learned that, too- if the rest of us learned that men and women with Down syndrome are, indeed, "normal human adults".
But I think it's also very good that she is choosing her own identity and does not define herself by her disability. She has that right to decide for herself whether or not to identify with her Down syndrome. A "normal human adult' is a valid self-definition.
I've discovered the secret to successful blogging is keeping one's posts short, sweet, and to the point. The End.
From the article, "Opening minds, and Congregation Doors, to the Disabled" by Audrey Dutton :
We were really trying to find a vehicle that would be helpful in making positive changes in the community in the area of having congregations be more welcoming and more inclusive,” said Lenore Layman, special needs and disability services director at the partnership.
The partnership’s goal was to ‘‘create a culture of inclusiveness” for disabled people and their families — a culture that many synagogues are now adopting, according to Layman.
‘‘There’s been so much in the secular world” that regulates disabled access on a physical level, Layman said.
Layman said the ‘‘culture” of inclusion — how to speak to someone who is disabled, include them and accommodate their needs — is something all houses of worship should work to create.
My brother made a comment the other day, as we were discussing my 'job' of caring for an older woman during the day, that he would hate to be live to be in his 90's, as has this woman, Mrs. B, and have to have a babysitter. Not long ago, I would have laughed with him and made some sort of comment of being in agreement with the idea. But since I've been with this woman (for almost a year, now) I wonder why exactly we feel this way.
I wonder why Mrs. B herself, makes comments such as, "I'm good for nothing" and "I'm more trouble than I'm worth" when I'm helping her complete a task. I wonder how it happened that we as a whole society, as have many societies and cultures, have put so much value in what we are able to do and in what we are able to contribute to our fellow human beings, that when we aren't able to 'do' anymore and when we feel we don't have anything to contribute any longer, we feel our existence no longer has any meaning.
I wonder why Mrs. B, as have I in the past, and probably many of us, speak of any present helplessness in our lives in the same way we speak of sin in our lives. We confess the state in a shameful tone of voice and manner. We expect to be criticized for not doing enough to change our present state.
It has to be terribly painful for Mrs. B, a once active farmer's wife, mother of eight, and daycare cook to no longer be able to work and to care for others. I'm sorry she feels so much shame in that. But should she?
Could it be pride that leaves us feeling shameful? Pride in our work and our accomplishments? And since we often put our very identity in our work and in what we do, pride in ourselves?
In a very basic way, Mrs. B has to set her pride, if it indeed is pride that causes her shame, aside and admit she needs help and to allow others to help her. She is physically unable to do most of her skills for daily living. If she didn't ask for and receive help, she would, without exaggeration, die.
I, on the other hand, can hide some of my helplessness fairly well. I can put up a wall of pride filled with 'my' accomplishments of God's recent healing in my life and my new maturity and growth as a Christian and let no one in on any ongoing or new areas of pain, struggles, addictions, etc. But with the very basic example of Mrs. B set before me, I can see SO CLEARLY that relying on myself and my 'works' is absolutely foolish! Mostly becaue, she is a visible reminder that it was in my admitting my weakness and in receiving care from God and others in places where I was absolutely powerless to change that God helped me. He met me and provided His accomplishment of healing, maturity, and growth in my life.
But, like maybe Mrs. B does, even though I've learned to recognize my need for and ask for help, I still feel prideful and ashamed of my helplessness and my inability to do as much as I once could do or would like to do.
Working with Mrs. B, though, has helped me grasp the abstract concept of what it means to put my identity and my very sense of being in Christ, verses what I can do for Christ. I'm learning to embrace helplessness to receive help and find out who I really am. I am not what I do! I hope Mrs. B and my brother find the same kind of freedom.
I'll admit, I had to watch this video a couple of times to really understand it. I knew God used suffering for good, but I'd never thought of God as redeeming suffering. Sin, sure, but suffering, too? But the idea is begining to make sense to me, and I feel amazed and humbled by the character of God. (Watch the video here or on YouTube with links to the rest of this talk.)
Show us what makes you want to get out of bed in the morning.
I am SO glad this is being addressed.
Drugs Offer No Benefit in Curbing Aggression, Study Finds
By Benedict Carey
Published: January 4, 2008The drugs most widely used to manage aggressive outbursts in intellectually disabled people are no more effective than placebos for most patients and may be less so, researchers report.
The finding, being published Friday, sharply challenges standard medical practice in mental health clinics and nursing homes in the United States and around the world."
the article continues
"In the study, Dr. Peter J. Tyrer, a professor of psychiatry at Imperial College London, led a research team who assigned 86 people from ages 18 to 65 to one of three groups: one that received Risperdal; one that received another antipsychotic, the generic form of Haldol; and one that was given a placebo pill. Caregivers tracked the participants’ behavior. Many people with very low I.Q.’s are quick to anger and lash out at others, bang their heads or fists into the wall in frustration, or singe the air with obscenities when annoyed.
After a month, people in all three groups had settled down, losing their temper less often and causing less damage when they did. Yet unexpectedly, those in the placebo group improved the most, significantly more so than those on medication.
In an interview, Dr. Tyrer said there was no reason to believe that any other antipsychotic drug used for aggression, like Zyprexa from Eli Lilly or Seroquel from AstraZeneca, would be more effective. Being in the study, with all the extra attention it brought, was itself what apparently made the difference, he said.
“These people tend to get so little company normally,” Dr. Tyrer said. “They’re neglected, they tend to be pushed into the background, and this extra attention has a much bigger effect on them that it would on a person of more normal intelligence level.”
In my experience as a direct care giver and medication aide working with men and women with developmental disabilities, administering antipsychotic medication for those who exhibited aggressive behavior was very much the norm. Behavioral management techniques were attempted, though sometimes more half-heartedly than others, depending on the agencies I worked for. However, in almost all individuals displaying aggression, medication was the preferred method of managing behaviors.
I very much agree with part Dr. Tyler's statement about the people in this study getting so little company normally, that they are neglected and tend to be pushed into the background, and the extra attention from being in this study has a big effect on them. (Though I don't, as he does, believe it necessarily has anything to do with their low intelligence. This kind of attention would have a big effect on anyone.)
I'm not surprised that those who received the placebo had better outcomes than those who received the real medication. Antipsychotic drugs are powerful. They make one's head cloudy and can alter a person's reasoning skills which makes other behavior management techniques such as verbal prompts and positive reinforcement very difficult.
I'm not discounting drugs for those who truly need them, and indeed there are people with developmental disabilities who also have various mental illnesses, including psychosis, who do benefit from these kinds of drugs. But giving someone in one's care uneccesary medical treatment is called abuse.
Show us what you're looking forward to in 2008.
