The Mentally Disabled and Independence -- A Severe Critique (By Mr. M. Svartgold)
Updated: Feb 9
(Disclaimer: The guest posts do not necessarily align with Philosocom's manager, Mr. Tomasio Rubinshtein's beliefs, thoughts, or feelings. The point of guest posts is to allow a wide range of narratives from a wide range of people. To apply for a guest post of your own, please send your request to mrtomasio@philosocom.com)
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Inclusion and real integration of the mentally ill into a 'healthy' and 'normal' society, is best by having a visible disability. People with disabilities often face discrimination and exclusion, especially in Israel. It is true that most of them have problems getting drunk in order to acquire financial independence... where it will be possible to rent an apartment and live. And they owe a bigger budget from the state. Because it violates their rights. For example, how will a single traumatized person who is not self-employed and lives in their parents' house at the age of 30 or 40 find a job?
In all places of employment, it seems that people with disabilities have started to be integrated. 21.3% of the workforce in the U.S is made up of people with disabilities. However, it is unclear how many of these people have mental illnesses.
Employers are generally good at providing appropriate accessibility for people with disabilities, such as larger text for the visually impaired, devices that record what a person says and turn up the volume, and elevators. However, the attitude towards the mentally disabled is still negative and not adapted to each and every individual.
There are mentally disabled people who have been evicted from their homes or have been the victims of severe sexual assault and must now live alone. The Housing Authority provides assistance of 770 NIS per month in the central area. However, the most basic apartment for such a person would cost at least 4,000-7,000 NIS per month. What does a person who lives with their parents at the age of 40 look like? How does the company treat them? How do they view themselves? How is a woman who was sexually abused in her family treated, even until the age of 40?
Does this increase her integration and security in society? Is the attitude towards her really appropriate? Will the National Insurance really give her the allowance she deserves or will they take advantage of the fact that she is alone? Or with parents who just want to hurt her but are comfortable with her in their home keeping their secret from a very young age.
Is the integration of the mentally disabled really adapted to each case?
Can the mentally disabled really be real with society being so judgmental?
It is clear that the budget for the mentally disabled is very low. The hard drugs that most of them take have negative effects on some of them, but there are also some positive effects. However, do they really live with dignity? A rehabilitation basket requires every mentally injured person to go to a psychiatrist regularly. That is, while the physically disabled, who earn almost twice the allowance to take care of themselves, have special services, additional assistants, and more assistance from the state in housing. They do not need to take care of themselves every day or every month. There are easier times.
Why do mentally disabled people have no control over their lives? Why do they have to take pills that sometimes don't always suit them? Medication with disgusting taste that can make them puke? And every few months, many of them have to give the rehabilitation basket as proof that they are seeing a psychiatrist and that he is responsible for them. He/she can do anything they want. They can also impose a guardian over them, which can hurt them even more.
As a need to belong in society, a mentally injured person must find an apartment for themselves. How many mentally disabled people have their own apartments? Do people with mental disabilities have the option of a mortgage? Depends if you are not discriminated.
The mentally disabled from the military are a given. Belonging to the normative society is important for the mentally disabled primarily work. The need to work in order for them to be able to leave their parents' house, who do not necessarily take care for them. The cases may vary. There are those who hurt them, for example.
But is it a big wish? To have at least a 2 room place to live in? It won't necessarily be just handed to them. And it is also not certain that it will be with good and accommodating neighbors, who would only deteiorate their mental condition, further. That's why they need to work like everyone else in society, if they are capable of work, despite the hand they've been dealt with.
[23.7, 10:50, a quote from a woman named Iris:] "Does normative society truly include the mentally disabled and give them an average salary equal to that of non-disabled people? After all, mentally disabled people receive natural treatments, medication, and professional treatment from a psychologist or psychiatrist. Some people even go to a private psychiatrist and pay at least NIS 1,000 just to receive appropriate treatment. Why is it?"
Why did the Israeli Ministry of Health issue a directive to combine all mentally disabled people with only other mentally disabled people, and not with the mentally or physically disabled or autistic people? Why is there a kind of separate and distinct category in their consciousness?
Viewing people with mental disabilities as defective is not necessarily correct. There are many intelligent people with mental disabilities. In fact, their differences can often give them creativity and skills in certain areas.
Why is it that almost every murderer or r**ist who is caught goes to a psychiatrist and is released from prison? Why are they then mixed in with ordinary people with mental disabilities who have never committed a crime? Why is this such a dangerous inclusion? Why do certain authorities always talk to people with mental disabilities in a slow manner, as if they were incapable of understanding?
Do you think this helps them? I think it insults them far more, instead. Why are some mentally disabled people suspected for misdeeds? Are all people worthy of such suspicion? Why, after all their expensive treatments, some of which are also physical, they remain outsiders?
Is the attitude towards them based on generalizations and reassurances to the public that a person murdered because he went to a psychiatrist once and is probably a person with a psychiatric diagnosis? What is this fake reassurance? Why are people with mental disabilities who do not function at all mentally disabled since they must exist and survive?
These are all questions that need to be answered. The opportunity that has been given to mentally disabled people to work is excellent. However, even this has a limit. They are only allowed to earn up to NIS 5,300 gross, including travel expenses. As a rule, the cheapest apartment to rent is NIS 4,000 per month. This is how you ensure that independence is taken away from mentally disabled people who also need to be alone. They cannot be with their parents all their lives. If they earn more, the state takes more money from them.
In the past, there was no possibility for mentally disabled people to work, and they were essentially imprisoned in asylums. This was not always healthy for the mentally disabled person, and it may have even contributed to their mental problems.
A rehabilitation basket for the mentally disabled encourages work in sheltered factories, but the welfare wage for autistics, for example, is 11 NIS per hour. That is while while for the mentally disabled it is only 4-5 NIS. This situation does not encourage any progress, and there is no opportunity for progress like this.
Why is the treatment provided only by a psychiatrist and psychologist and there are no other alternative treatments? Why is there no speech therapy? Because there are mentally disabled people with speech problems... this also costs money, but the budget is low.
Also, some 18-year-old adoptees are required to reach a state of well-being without a mental health problem in order to receive information about their biological parents. This is the case at least in Israel. Some even hide this information from these adult children. This also shows the difference between the mentally disabled and ordinary people, and indicates a different attitude.
Why is there no transportation for the mentally disabled who do not have a car? And all this is only if you work through a rehabilitation basket.
Why is there no tailored aid that does not just push for development but also for increased aid? Why do some mentally disabled people go to a private psychiatrist, while others go to a psychiatrist from the cash register?
Mr. Rubinshtein's conclusion: Should we see beyond the social stigma, and beyond the disability, we will be able to better include the mentally ill into society's ranks. Should we do it, they can contribute to society far better, using the benefit of their work. Thus, equal opportunity is imperative for the individual and collective, human potential.
