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thewildeman2
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04 Mar 2009, 11:18 am

This is my newest article that I am posting in all my blog areas and discussions:

I often find myself wondering when people will learn that discrimination is wrong. Even people who preach that they don’t believe in racial discrimination, that I have met, have turned right around to discriminate against a mental disability. Are they really that different? I don’t believe they are. Think about all they have in common. You don’t choose what color you are, you’re just born that way, end of story. You don’t get to choose what afflictions you get either, you often get born with them too. Seriously, what would happen if you could choose? You certainly wouldn’t choose to be anyone who is going to get the short end of the stick, would you? So why do you punish those who do? Don’t they have enough problems? Do you think this would be their choice any more than yours? No.
The worst part is that, when you discriminate, you are doing incalculable damage. How? Simple, stigma destroys lives, careers, and families. I was one of those people whose career got flushed down the toilet for sake of others pitiful stigma. I had a job that I loved dearly. It was so close to something I had wanted to be ever since I was a child. I was an Animal Control Officer. I conducted investigations, prosecuted cruelty cases and rebuilt the license and rabies program. I still have news paper clippings from a human life I saved and I brought in an average of 9,000 a month revenue to the program (that was not paid for by taxes). I was the local reptile expert, sought out by the media for advice on snakes and lizards. I trained new officers and often got called at 2 am for advice on calls. I wore my Sgt stripes with pride and my reviews reflected that.
Then I was diagnosed with bipolar disorder on top of PTSD from an abuse childhood. They didn’t care about the PTSD, but the bipolar diagnosis was too much for them to bear. Never mind that it never stopped me from doing my job and doing it well. Never mind that my diagnosis wasn’t even complete since I also have autism. I was no longer worthy of my badge. So I was investigated, harassed, punished, docked, and even outright stabbed in the back. I had no choice but to leave my job with a fake smile on my face (for sake of terror).
How far were they willing to go? In my last review I was denied my merit raise because I was supposedly “afraid of dogs”. It was my sixth year. No, there was nothing in policy and procedure on being afraid of dogs, and I’m not. They printed over a thousand pages of internet visits off the computers and accused me of being at them. No, there was no internet security and everyone used the same computer. They had such a mad on for me that it raised eyebrows, but no one would help me. They were all afraid.
I tried to sue, but even that was sabotaged. I still can’t get justice to this day. As if that weren’t bad enough, I tried to get a new job, but found that I was black listed. Anyone who called to see if I worked for the city was told that I was unstable, don’t hire. That was the last straw, I fell hard and even tried to take my own life. I am permanently disabled because of them.
That was Lincoln, Nebraska. Now I live in Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Think about it. How many lives do you think were hurt because of those events? Not just mine. My wife, my children, my friends, my wife’s family, we had to leave.
Because one of the people involved was a crazed neighbor with a criminal record, we were relentlessly harassed where we lived. Horrible and dangerous pranks were used on us and the police wouldn’t listen because I was the officer who fell from grace and tried to sue their employer. What kind of pranks? How about used needles in our lawn? How about soggy condoms hanging from our front door? Let’s not forget the death threats, and threats of physical violence. Let’s not forget people yelling obscenities at my son who’s 7 now.
This was only in 2004-2006. If you can read this, and still think that discrimination can’t hurt you, you’ve got a lot to learn. Just posting a comment on the internet about someone with a condition can get someone hurt. It may not even be the person that the comment was about. I’ve seen that happen. I read a friends blog once where they were jumped because of what someone read on the internet about someone else. Ignorance is contagious and once it starts to spread, it’s like a wildfire.
That’s what happened to me. It made me and my family targets for nasty ugly people, just because they could get away with it and believed things that weren’t true. A person could post on the net how horrible Joe is because he has a condition. Bob reads it and believes what he reads. His neighbor Sam has the same condition. Bob now hates Sam. And so it spreads.
I really never wanted to reveal this around here as we have met difficulty moving here just because we’re new. But the simple fact is, that I have to face what the City of Lincoln did to us for the rest of my life with no possibility of justice EVER. Everyone who ever checks back on my background will come across them, and they will say things about me that are horrible and untrue. It really doesn’t matter that I have my employment records to show because judgment will be passed before they are ever looked at. So I am not allowed any defense. So, you tell me, is stigma harmful? Can discrimination for a mental condition hurt you? You tell me.


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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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04 Mar 2009, 11:23 am

nevermind...



Last edited by ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo on 04 Mar 2009, 1:15 pm, edited 1 time in total.

thewildeman2
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04 Mar 2009, 11:32 am

I think I have a pretty good handle on who it does and doesn't hurt. Did you read my post, or just skim it? Your response makes it sound like discrimination is natural and A-okay by and "anatomy of society" standpoint.

I'm not talking about people in non-preferred groups just "getting hurt". I'm talking about entire lives completely DESTROYED.

This isn't beaurocratic politics, it's about people making judgments with no evidence at all and acting out on that to degrees that are harmful.

Please don't take a sliver of my post and comment on it, you lost the entire context of what I was talking about. Thanks.


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ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo
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04 Mar 2009, 11:37 am

thewildeman2 wrote:
I'm not talking about people in non-preferred groups just "getting hurt". I'm talking about entire lives completely DESTROYED.

Oh please. You have absolutely no idea how much discrimination I have gone through in life. You have no idea what it's like to be me. I made a comment on reality, I didn't mean anything personal by it.



lelia
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04 Mar 2009, 11:52 am

Thewildeman,

I am so sorry. The neighbor is insane, not you. Oh my goodness.



thewildeman2
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04 Mar 2009, 1:10 pm

ooOoOoOAnaOoOoOoo wrote:
thewildeman2 wrote:
I'm not talking about people in non-preferred groups just "getting hurt". I'm talking about entire lives completely DESTROYED.

Oh please. You have absolutely no idea how much discrimination I have gone through in life. You have no idea what it's like to be me. I made a comment on reality, I didn't mean anything personal by it.


I made NO claim of knowing you, I responded to your comment that came across in a belittling fashion. I don't need facts of reality quoted to me, I didn't ask you to be my teacher. Please stop and try to consider how your comment could come across.


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Anemone
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04 Mar 2009, 1:24 pm

I suppose we need reminding every now and then not to talk about other people's conditions without their permission just in case we set them up for something like this.

thewildman2, if you have time on your hands and can do volunteer work, I'd bet either Noah's Wish or EARS would love to have you sign on. (I hope I'm not wrong in this.)

And we have had one victory: Michelle Dawson won her case against Canada Post after they discriminated against her.

Bad, sad issue. :( :evil:



thewildeman2
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04 Mar 2009, 1:35 pm

Well, I have done some, right now, I am networking my first book in order to help families and kids. I have a permanent head injury that messes with how long I can do a lot of things. But thank you, I am working on my health too, no giving up either.

Thank you for the input, I will still look into the organizations you mention.


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Sallamandrina
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04 Mar 2009, 1:45 pm

No, I don't think discrimination will ever disappear. Most people seem to take pride in their prejudices (some call them principles) and a lot of those that consider themselves open minded are just as ignorant and hypocrite.

Stories like yours make me so mad and sad in the same time - it's just a small thing for them to flaunt their half-baked opinions and "ignarrogance", but the impact can be so devastating. I'd like to see this kind of people on the receiving end for a change.


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Last edited by Sallamandrina on 04 Mar 2009, 1:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.

LivingOutsideTheBox
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04 Mar 2009, 1:45 pm

Reversing the issue, how the heck do people, in this society, even still pick up the very concept of inequality!?
The idiotic notion that variation among people means some of the people are flawed isn't just illogical, it's counter-intuitive.

This generation is cool, this continent too, having fridges, a complex economy, the internetz, but there's so much CONFLICT.. I'd much prefer to've been born either in the year -5000 or 5000. Bigotry is...euh.....Well the worst flaw of humanity. It SHOULD not exist. But it does -_-

The fact that most people are intolerant by pavlovian response, instead of being disctiminating by choice, is even more stingy, because it's subversive, but it's a start. People TRY..We fail, usually, but most TRY. We're not out of the woods yet. But I wish we were.



thewildeman2
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04 Mar 2009, 1:49 pm

Agreed on both counts


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