Maggie's Farm

Re: the mentally ill. Agree with you AVI. Nothing as therapeutic as work for pay. Yes, volunteering is great for the soul and the spirit (provided one has the basic necessities and a modicum of independence), but being able to support oneself and not need charity can be life changing for the mentally ill.

Our disability policies (which have tended to reward more con artists and ambulance chasing lawyers than those patients most in need of help) have suffered from the laws of unintended consequences, just as have other forms of social welfare.

Our country has a strange attitude towards the mentally ill and disabled. Flashes of generosity and genuine sympathy, tho usually confined to the "cute kids" or those disabled who seem pitiable and no threat. Flashes of unreasoning fear, which is linked to denial. People can feel good about the Special Olympics, but freak out when waited upon by a higher functioning someone with an eccentric manner in a store. Every time some murderer like the messed up kid at Virginia Tech does something awful, the populace shudders at the dangers supposedly posed by the mentally ill.

To my mind, better mentally ill and moral, than "normal" and criminal. The latter group thrive in our society (I know, I know, the Bible weeps at the prosperity of the wicked, so it is no new thing). Reflect for a moment on how Jesus called the wicked to repentance and amendment of life, and healed the sick and told them to pick up their pallet and walk (and presumably get a job). But our society seems better at excusing the past sins of the wicked (particularly if, like Millken, they are so delightfully rich and generous to worthy causes) than at giving the mentally ill a chance to work and support themselves.

Given the high degree of social skills increasingly demanded in even the most menial jobs these days, it is actually tougher now for someone slow, or depressed, or obsessively pacing and muttering or hyper to hold a job than in the past. We talk a good game about accommodation, but we are more tolerant of a sullen, non-English speaking helper at the counter with forged documents than of a native born American with a decent IQ, willingness to work and perhaps some awkward and/or disturbing manners and things to say.

If one more person tries to encourage me about my autistic kid by saying "Just look at how successfull Temple Grandin was!" I will puke. Not everyone wants to design slaughterhouses for cattle (she brilliantly figured out, from her own sensitivity to touch, sound, etc. derived from her own autism, what might calm and ease the sufferings of cattle on their way to be slaughtered. It enormously helped the meat packing industry. Or if people say "Look at all the millionaire geeks with Asperger's in Silicon Valley". It's about as patronizing and narrow as if I were to say to some anxious black mother "Don't worry about your boy and preserving him from bad influences, everything will turn out fine! Just look at how many black sports figures are making millions a year! Why look at that fine upstanding fellow, Vick, wasn't it...." The point is, citing those who win the employment lottery insults those with different skills and less blind luck.

Virtually everyone in my family of origin is
"crazy" but all of the ones who have been able to hold onto paid employment steadily have managed to stay married, be good parents, contribute to their churches and communities and not mooch off anyone. Those who have once fallen off the work track have only deteriorated mentally, socially, etc. And it is not necessarily a function of severity of mental illness. You should have heard the ravings of some of my great aunts and uncles....Being a professor at an Ivy or the CEO of one's own multinational business can, of course, cover a multitude of sins, but the point is that if one can be useful, and if people can appreciate one's energy and brains and commitment, mental illness need not define one. This was the beauty of the movie "A Beautiful Mind" for capturing (albeit somewhat Hollywoodized) the mystery and courage of a spirit that illness could not distract from seeking the light, and seeking to share that light with others.

In the community where I presently live, hedge fund founders fawned upon by their church governing bodies loot money from people's life savings. Their pictures at charity events with smirking bleached blonde trophies clutter up the papers. They are presumably mentally healthy. But when somebody wants to put a group home for the mentally ill adult children of families from this community, the neighbors unite and hire high powered lawyers to fight it for years. Bad for property values. Who knows what THOSE PEOPLE might do.....Nice!

The one thing that encourages me is the sure and certain knowledge that our God cares more about our moral character than our emotional stability, about our industry and our effort rather than which worldly successes we rack up. So I can tell my relatives smarting from the prejudice of the not-yet-diagnosed to just "Make like a rhinocerous, skin-wise, at least!"

Sorry to rant.