When Rosa parks was told to go to the back of the bus she was given no explanation and there was no discussion to be had. She simply belonged to a classification of people that were believed to be inferior so therefore she was obligated to accept unfair treatment and if she did not she could face criminal charges. For us looking back it is ludicrous and unscrupulous. But for those at the time it was simply the societal norms and expectations.
Today people with TBI's and psychological disorders are treated similarly. We are figuratively expected to go to the back of the bus and tolerate the fear, misconceptions and unfair treatment of us because we belong to the classification of people that are currently believed to be inferior. And if we do not comply we may even face criminal charges that would otherwise never be allowed to even be filed. It is asinine and ludicrous and yet it is happening...
In my PSY 1010 course book, the 5th edition of Psychology in Daily Life by David Myers and Nathan Dewall, it makes clear (and is backed by research) that psychological disorders do not increase risk of violence nor do they predict who is likely to do harm AND that "People with disorders are more likely to be the victims than the perpetrators of violence" (pg. 396)
It is documented and it is known, that people who have certain psychological disorders are highly vulnerable and overwhelmingly non-violent yet we are all lumped together and overgeneralized to be threatening and dangerous. Then all you have to do is bring up one of our disorders and you can get away with all manner of abuse and mistreatment.
But then, the very same book -that defends people with psychological disorders- makes overgeneralizing statements like this, "Better predictors of violence are the use of alcohol and drugs, previous violence, gun availability and - as was the case of the repeatedly head-injured and ultimately homicidal National Football League player Aaron Hernandez - brain damage" (pg. 396)
And automatically victims of atrocious domestic violence and injuries from events completely out of their control are lumped into the same category as drug and alcohol abusers and homicidal people. Which leads to and somehow justifies them being discriminated against -because they can be predicted to be violent. So people fear and/or poke and instigate and then accusingly declare, "see, they are violent" even if "they" are acting the way any person would act if they were being mistreated similarly.
Most of us are fighters, that's how we survived, but that does not make us violent. I am not violent. Nor are many people with TBI's. In fact, for many, the TBI can actually decrease aggression and for those that it has increased violent tendencies for, due to neuroplasticity, it is quite possible they can overcome it.
I know this because I have overcome a lot that TBI has been the cause of. For example, I stopped bloodying my hands on a punching bag many, many years ago because I had overcome the anger and aggression the first TBI had caused. The punching bag, a resource, was the only victim of my aggression. We are human and humane and, when we are fighting to stay that way, it is neither human nor humane to label and predict then stigmatize, ostracize, and punish us for your fears and misconceptions.
The second TBI did not cause violence or aggression at all, it seemed to take any and all aggression out of me, even assertiveness. Since that TBI, I have had to do the reverse; utilize neuroplasticity to help me fight and keep fighting when I had nothing left in me and was fading into just that; nothing.
Sigh...
My plight continues. But I will not quit.
No comments:
Post a Comment