Bad Cripple: Miley "Critics" Getting It Wrong

So, Miley Cyrus is getting support and defense from some damn odd corners over the "tiny strokes" joke.  The people that have experienced TIA/micro-strokes and their allies are getting the "you humorless fucks" bullshit from such people. I heard or read four just yesterday, before I even engaged with this story so this mean ignorance is not isolated enough to blame just one or a few jerks with links. 

Well, when a micro blood clot or dozen takes away your children's name or you ability to do math or tie a shoe - you can come and tell me how fucking hilarious it was for you. When your spouse wakes up and gives you a blank stare or screams because they do not remember you, tell me how fucking hilarious you both found it. When it is followed by massive stroke, you can tell me how it is to laugh while drooling into a cup.
Oh, and for the people whining that the disabled should give up their rights to peace and privacy and "educate" the public, the UK Stroke Association did that in their letter. Educate your own damn selves, quit telling people that are having enough trouble with strokes and all to Google That for You.

I am sticking with the "not funny" camp that neuro-atypical people get shoved into when no one wants to validate our experiences. This is not the only incident of ableism of hers going on right fucking now. There are a lot of folks trying to let her know, like Sinead O'Connor, that this is unacceptable, but she keeps doing it anyway with the minimum, petulant apologies. Mainly because a bunch of heartless fucks that think strokes will never happen to them are backing this bullshit. This is not killing Hannah Montana, this is socially irresponsible fucking garbage.

If you want to insist this kind of oppressive bullshit is funny: fuck you. It is fucking brain damage you petulant pusillanimous fuckwits. It takes away random parts of your life, some you will never get back and can signal more massive strokes. I am almost ready to say that I am happy to hit folks with a baseball bat until you get some yourself so you can know how not fucking funny it is. Sympathy via the application of sudden, satisfying force. 

On Planned Parenthood, O’Donnell, and Beck

So, unless you store your head under a USian rock, you know that Planned Parenthood was, and is, under attack by the right wing here in the US. You also know that the Democrats to an all-to-rare stand on that issue and the EPA. Online, and in the news, there were plenty of well-spoken, well-written testimonies about Planned Parenthood. Out of all of them, I found Lawrence O’Donnell’s piece on The Last Word to be remarkable, and perhaps able to reach both those directly and indirectly concerned with Planned Parenthood.

Blog note: I am an avid (rabid?) watcher of MSNBC. It is on most of the time in our home. I am also someone that often criticizes the station when I feel it gets things wrong, or when it adds to the oppression of some to the benefit of others. I am also one of those never-satisfied liberals that always thinks that we (humans) can and should do better in all things. That the fight to acknowledge each others humanity is ongoing and it is the one fight, above others, that is worth fighting, always. So, potential bias and definite perspective stated, we should move on…

The Last Word piece is here, and you should watch it: “Rewriting Lies on Planned Parenthood.” The original lie came from John Kly, and was definitely worth rewriting. Our host offers up insight on how the echo chamber works, and how it can ruin a person’s perceived integrity. What I noted with great interest was what came next – a reading of a letter from a friend dependent on Planned Parenthood. What was in the letter mirrors the feelings and needs of thousands of women in the US. O’Donnell’s reaction rang true to me and I have great respect for the courage it takes to show those moments of vulnerability. Our culture does not encourage those moments, and actively discourages them from men in particular.

Of course, the piece did not go without some criticism. This is Glenn Beck, and Lawrence O'Donnell’s response to Beck’s response to O’Donnell: “Defending Planned Parenthood.” According to Beck, only “prostitutes” that need “400 abortions” use PP. O’Donnell is able to put that down with ease, and far more grace than I could have mustered, to be sure. Other noteworthy content includes a meta commentary on the nature of commentating on television which would be well worth watching by itself.

Planned Parenthood’s response to Glenn Beck’s hateful claim is here: Planned Parenthood Press Release.

Although I want to dedicate an entry to it shortly, here is my CrowdRise Planned Parenthood fundraiser:  Lizz Winstead’s “Planned Parenthood, I am here for you!” Tour.
 

I had more to say, but I think I am out of spoons.

Stating the Obvious on Medical Costs

In editing this piece, I realize that it is fairly hot and heavy handed. I simply cannot apologize for my vehemence, but now you know that it is there.

Many don’t take prescriptions because of the cost

I saw this on abbyjean's Tumblr.

Wow, LA Times, really?!? Gee, next they will find out that people break compliance with follow up or specialist visits due to money or circumstance. Holy fuck, do folks really have their heads buried quite that deeply up their own asses?

Yes, people want to follow up with their doctor’s orders, recommendations, prescriptions, suggestions, and referrals. This is why low income folks have such terrible compliance levels. Fucking hell. I can think of three big roadblocks right off the top of my head: no money, no time off from work or childcare, and no ride. We can dig deeper: some people are neglected and abused, at home and maybe at previous providers. Have you shamed a patient away because they were fat, slutty, or sloppy*? Did you do it with some snide comment in the hallway you thought they couldn’t hear?

We want to get better, just like everyone else does, dammit! There’s just a lot in the way that you cannot see, because you see a diagnosis waiting to be made, not a whole person. Can you just take one damn minute before you put your hand on the blasted door knob, and deliberately employ a gestalt point of view for just sixty bloody seconds? Are they seeing you on Medicare, Medicaid, or their own dimes? If the patient has transportation programs, sliding scales, pharmacy discounts, and/or drug manufacturer discounts available to them do they even know? Because it is just as bad as having no options if you do not know they exist.

Sure, maybe you and your staff just cannot handle trying to keep track of that on top of every thing else you have to manage. I get that, I really do. So help the economy by hiring someone to do it for you – all they would need is a high school degree, some empathy, and some tenacity. With the additional people you can help, maybe it will even cover an additional employee.

* Fat, slutty, or sloppy were just a few adjectives I have heard office or hospital staff use regarding patients. I offer no judgments to folks that are fat, appear to numerous sexual partners (people suck), or folks who have a hard time bringing themselves around to what their community considers acceptable appearance standards. Neither should their damn medical professionals!

Pain: Attitudes

**Likely to become the first part of a series of articles about multiple posts about pain, pain management, and whatever related issues stay in my head long enough to write about them. I thank you for your indulgence! On another note, this post is rather more stream-of-consciousness that I would like, but I decided non-linear writing was better than none at all. It may take a while before I really find a voice and style for me.**

Pain is a complicated issue. Depending on what you are dealing with, and your own personal tolerances, almost anything can cause pain. It cannot be objectively observed or measured. It is difficult to categorize, although we have tried: intensity, duration, origination, any sense of cause, and various descriptors (shooting, throbbing, stabbing, etc…). What I want to discuss here is attitudes about pain.

Often, before I even mention pain to others, I have to overcome classic attitudes I have internalized, the largest being “is this important enough to bother someone els with it?” followed by “am I being a wimp?” I have found that the fear of wimp-dom keeps many people from talking about their pain at all, or at the very least only to those people that are trusted. If I do not trust you, I will never bring it up at all, or I will bypass a pain related issue by making a weak overall health generalization, if forced (which I hate, thank you very much).

Having discussed this with other people in person, frequent reading about pain issues (particularly involving health care professionals), and my own personal experience, I find one major impediment to the acceptance of a personal declaration of pain. In the US, acknowledging pain is a de facto admission of lack of personal fortitude.*

Pain is pain, and if you have it, you already know that. If you have chronic pain, then you know that there is nothing in your life that it does not touch: emotional health, relationships with others, concepts of self and the ability to function at all to varying degrees. External responses to pain can vary from case to case. If you are screaming in pain with part of your tibia sticking out of your leg, the people around you will have two goals: one is to seek help for you, and the second will be to get you to quiet down. This quieting is multifold; to keep you coherent and avoid shock, and to comfort the unease other people feel at you displaying your pain. If you have chronic, invisible pain, you will likely be dismissed altogether, and experience a very uncomfortable social atmosphere as people (both internally and maybe even externally) wonder if your pain is ‘legitimate.’ If you talk about pain, people often seem uneasy and hurry to change the subject.

USians seem to have a Puritanical view of admitting to feeling pain, or having the audacity to *gasp* complain about it. This admission is seen as a lack of fortitude, or of character. Let me unequivocally state that there is no moral failing in feeling pain, nor in seeking help to alleviate it. None. Nada. Zero. You do not have to take any flak/guff/grief from anyone, including health care professionals, about insisting that you are in pain and need help. With the exception of medical professionals, you should not ever have to prove to anyone that you are experiencing pain. The health care system is more likely to take your pain seriously if they can find an underlying cause. Otherwise, you may be out of luck until they do. Be insistent, and do not let others negate your analysis of your own body and situation. You do not have to justify the use of any pain aid; not OTC analgesics, not opiates, not woo. Whatever works for you works for you, and may you have luck in finding that quickly, with a minimum of backlash.

Chronic pain =/= less of a person.

I have been in chronic pain for over a decade, from various and numerous causes, and have seen these attitudes consistently. So consistently, in fact, that when I do not see them, I tend to ask if the person in question has themselves has experience with (or with someone else with) chronic, unrelenting pain. Only a very few have acquired any sort of understanding without such experience.

I cannot begin to measure how much pain and misery I put myself and by extension, my family, through due to my own unwillingness to acknowledge that I needed help. Then I had to spend months convincing my health network of the truth of this. I think that talking to docs and whatnot about pain will probably be another post.

*I know I am both generalizing and specifying in ways that may be problematic, and I am interested in knowing how this plays out in other areas.

In My Inbox: Ball Memorial Hospital

Indiana Equality mailed this out this morning:

A transgender woman and her partner and child are alleged to have been inhumanely treated, dehumanized and disrespected while making a visit to the emergency center of Ball Memorial Hospital in Muncie.

On July 18, 2010 the transgender citizen was coughing up a large volume of blood and was taken to the hospital by her life partner.  Despite the fact that the intake personnel were shown the individual's Indiana state identification which had her female marker in clear print, she was entered into the hospital's system as a male.

The staff allegedly ridiculed the transgender person, loudly referring to her as "IT". Her life partner was apparently asked by individual staff members, with raised voices, if she was a "He-She".  The patient also claims that she was quizzed about her length of time as a "Transvestite" when she clearly identified herself verbally and through official documents as a Transgender Female.

"It appears that a grave injustice may have been perpetrated against a transgender citizen of Indiana, as well as to her life partner," stated Vivian Benge, President of the Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance.

Ms. Benge continued "This situation is particularly discomfiting as Ball Memorial is the hospital where Ball State University students go for emergency treatment.  There are a number of transgender BSU students, as well as other minority students, and they should not have to fear humiliation and refusal of medical care in the emergency room."

The transgender woman is suspected to have a lung condition that may be the cause of mass bleeding and oral expulsion of blood.  Yet, according to the individual, Ball Memorial Hospital refused to provide treatment, with the accompanying statement to the effect of "we do not know how to treat someone like her".  This happened after a long wait to be seen by a physician.

As leaders and advocates for the protection of transgender civil rights, Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance and Indiana Equality urge Ball Memorial Hospital to conduct a thorough investigation of these allegations.

"If the events are proven to be true, we call upon Ball Memorial Hospital to take appropriate actions with the hospital employees involved and to institute policies, procedures and staff training that will ensure that such discriminatory actions are not again perpetrated, " stated Jon Keep, President of Indiana Equality.

Click here for a copy of the letter by Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance and Indiana Equality to Ball Memorial Hospital.

The Indiana Transgender Rights Advocacy Alliance (INTRAA) is a statewide advocacy organization working to create a society that values and protects freedom of gender expression and the right to gender self-determination for all. For more information about INTRAA, please visit the organization's website at www.intraa.org.

Organized in 2003, Indiana Equality's mission is to end sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination in Indiana.  For more information about Indiana Equality, please visit the organization's website at www.indianaequality.org or call (888) 567-0750.

Test Video

This post is to both promote this The Young Turks video on this blog, and the article that they reference. Also, it may give the reader a taste of my politics. *cough, cough*

Hmmm, I cannot seem to find a good embed option, so here you go!

Busting Healthcare Myths