Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Sorry if you were offended, here is the point reworded

[Racheli Gai (racheli]

Hi Melanie,
I so agree with you, both on the issue of lack of correlation between  
social dysfunctionality
and economic class, and also on the point that mental illness and lack  
of ability
to function socially are separate things.
I've experienced, both in my community and elsewhere, people who  
suffer a mental
illness and yet are fine community members, while there are those with  
regular jobs,
etc. etc. who have been incredibly problematic (and sometimes  
impossible) to work with.


Racheli.



On Jan 23, 2010, at 1:41 PM, melanie griffin wrote:

> As someone who works in the mental health field, I know there is a  
> lot of
> misunderstanding and stigma related to mental illness. Obviously,  
> since
> Abraham Lincoln, Virginia Woolf, Patty Duke, Vincent VanGogh, and  
> many other
> famously functional people have had serious and persistent mental  
> illnesses,
> and could nonetheless qualify for mortgages, the two groups (those  
> with
> mental illness and the underemployed) are not the same group. Same  
> with
> those who perpetrate violent acts or are victims of violence and  
> those with
> mental illness.Because poor people have fewer resources to hide and
> accommodate and treat their illnesses, they are more visible when they
> display symptoms; poor people are also disproportionately  
> represented in the
> prisons, but nobody would say that they are less moral than rich  
> people.
>
> It's probably more accurate and helpful to name the behaviors that  
> make
> someone unable to function in community, and inaccurate to say that  
> poor
> people have more of those behaviors. Having a habit of running  
> around with a
> knife threatening people, whether motivated by anger, psychopathy, or
> paranoia, is not a welcome behavior in a family, community, or  
> workplace and
> might lead to a less than ideal work history. It's also important to
> remember, too, that people who are mighty dysfunctional at home can  
> be seen
> as normal at work (vis., just about every serious perpetrator of  
> domestic
> violence I've ever known) and vice versa (the ideal family man or  
> woman who
> is a monster of a supervisor)
>
> It's true that some people with mental illnesses don't do well at  
> work and
> can't sustain a good credit rating; it's also true that some can.  I
> understand that there are behaviors that preclude working well in  
> community.
> Can we stick to describing those behaviors and not make assumptions  
> about
> how much money you should or can have if you don't exhibit those  
> behaviors
> or call people crazy????? The original point, that those who are  
> poor do not
> have whatever it takes to survive in community, may have some  
> statistical
> support, but certainly does not apply to any given individual and  
> strikes me
> as elitist. Excusing it by saying poor people are crazier than rich  
> people
> just makes it worse. Finally, i think the real issue is that people  
> who are
> poor or even middle class can't afford to live in many communities,
> including many cohousing communities, and that's just a fact. It's not
> because they have character flaws or mental or physical disabilities.
> Melanie