Apologies all for lack of posts in a whi…

Apologies all for lack of posts in a while; it has been an incredibly busy time for myself and many other service-users/patient-activists/people-of-experience in the Lincoln area!!

It is looking very likely we will be working in partnership with the NHS in Lincolnshire and Lincolnshire County Council to continue providing our self-referral co-operative Service User Self Help (ShUSH) but for 7 days a week. We will also be part of a group that will increasingly take over the building as a multi-use involvement centre focused on improving people’s mental health. Of course at the moment I can’t trust statutory organisations as far as I can throw them, but the fact they seem so optimistic in keeping us in the building I guess says a lot about how things have changed in the area. It fits into the Tory Toff’s “Big Society”, too.

I am now part of a group that will document the outcome of this “co-production” onto video. Hopefully we will be able to say how positive the whole experience of taking control of our own services has been, but there’s nothing to say we won’t completely lay into them with a negative film if they decide to put barriers to us either. I would be hugely interested in putting the entire source footage online so people can see we’re being honest, and so people can put together their own versions of the film if they so wish as well.

I was extremely, extremely shocked by the rudeness and aggressiveness of some people today. My brother, a colleague and I were sitting in the Lincoln Drill Hall Cafe talking about plans for a film on Mental Health problems, whilst also delving into some funny ideas and the usual mindless bollocks we talk about.

This guy and his wife were leaving the table next to us. As he left he came up to me and said, very passive-aggressively, “I hope you are proud of the fact you ruined our lunch” and walked off. I was left utterly speechless.

What, exactly, was it I said that was so ruining to their lunch? Was it the fact we were talking about mental health and mental illness in the open? Was it the fact we talked about attitudes to mental health in the 1950’s compared to now? We also talked about how some words are stigmatising in how they are used, as well as the problems with self-stigma. Or was it the fact I was talking about the fact that, when drugs were legalised in other countries, drug use actually went down and rehab rates went up? Or were we just speaking too loudly?

Although I was left feeling extremely upset for a while, what fascinated me was the whole group dynamic after this “man” suddenly left. Had I been on my own the event would probably ruined the rest of my day as I would just constantly be dwelling on it. However, with friends (and family) around me I guess I was able to test out those assumptions of whether I was bang out of order or not. Actually, we came to the conclusion he was the one more out of order, as he was not willing to debate what we had done wrong or why, he left us with that comment to do nothing but make us feel bad. Had he had asked us to keep a little quiet if that was the problem, or disliked something we said and asked us about it, then maybe we would have been left feeling apologetic and wanting to be a little more accommodating, as well as more understanding of his needs in comparison to our own.

As he left it, he came across as an extremely ignorant and discriminatory, that obviously feels that these issues shouldn’t be talked about in public. And if those are his views than he should think very carefully as that kind of attitude won’t get you very far nowadays. It is already illegal to discriminate against those with mental health problems (in theory) due to the Disability Discrimination Act. Believe it or not, those that have experience of mental health difficulties have lives and rights as well as any other person.

So, if he is out there and can actually use the internet, what exactly was the problem? Because right now you come across as an old fart that is discriminatory and doesn’t like freedom of speech.

Why the NHS is important to me (posted on 38degrees.co.uk)

As a sufferer of the disability bipolar disorder, if it wasn’t for the NHS I would be raking up fees in doctors expenses and prescriptions as I would not be covered for a pre-existing condition with health insurance. What’s more, I wouldn’t be able to work without the support of the NHS, so I wouldn’t be able to earn enough to afford the health fees and would therefore be of no use to society whatsoever.

Although there are issues of participation and annoyances with huge office spaces with hundreds of admin staff when it’s difficult to see any sort of health professional, I firmly believe we have the best health service in the world. Now is not the time to start breaking it up because of it’s few problems; instead we should be proud of it’s achievements and build on the strengths of the NHS.

This story was posted to http://labs.38degrees.org.uk/wall/nhs to help stand up for the NHS, before the government breaks it beyond repair.