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Home / Thoughts / Sean's Thoughts / A little history

A little history

Written by Sean on Saturday, March 4, 2000

In the news, we recently heard about a surgeon in Britain who performed amputations on a couple people who’d requested it, despite having “nothing wrong” with their leg. There has been a short rage over this in the media. “Interviews” were granted, quotes were taken, and total incomprehension was evident to those “in the know”. Words such as fetishists were heard. Mentally Ill is the other concept that came up. My first reaction at reading this was to think that: “They just don’t understand”.

But then I started thinking. Perhaps it might not be such a bad concept. Let me dig a little at this, give a little history and/or background. Bear with me :-)

The following is not meant to go into a debate as to the differences between illness and disability. I shall use the term Mental Illness (MI) as used in several laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). Under that law, and in the various factions of the disability community, there are a few disability categories:

• Physical disabilities
• Sensory disabilities
• Cognitive disorders
• Mental Illnesses
• And a few others

Historically, people who are blind, and wheelers have been the more active advocate in the disability community. Though outside this community, it is not well known that the Blind have been very active and managed to get more services and benefits than anyone else. So that leaves us with wheelers…

So people with physical disabilities have been screaming high and loud to get access, to be treated more equally in society. Some changes have happened, and that’s good. Now, people with MI are joining the other disability groups to form a vaster disability community (in as much as over 60 million people in the US of A alone can really be called a community).

There is still a huge amount of prejudice against people with physical and sensory disabilities. Yet, prejudice against people with MI in society are even worst. To whit: the jokes about “retards”, the references about people acting strangely as being in need of their medication, the list goes on. One can understand a quadriplegic, it’s a visible, physical, palpable “problem” (then again there are lots that just don’t get it, though that’s another issue). But a MI? Hey, you just have to get a grip, do something about it and you won’t have a problem.

To some extent, this prejudice is present within the disability community, though that’s changing slowly. As society’s asked to allow equal access to buildings/whatever, people with MI’s are starting to ask for their own accommodations to be able to participate fully, and it is getting more accepted and better understood.

What has that got to do with wannabeism and a portrayal of this as being mentally ill? Well… I’ve thought and heard from several people over the years that being a wannabe is a disability too. This is the argument most people think allows us to “pretend”, that justifies us in our activities. We’re disabled and using a wheelchair is the tool we have to mitigate our disability.

Clearly, being a wannabe is not a physical thing. If we want to keep thinking of it as a disability, we don’t have much choice but to call it a mental illness. So, do we embrace this label of MI? Because if we do, it might just be one of the only way to be accepted by the majority of the disability community. But then, it implies we’d have to deal with the stigmas attached to MI’s. Of course, this is not something that would happen overnight. I doubt very much that most members of any segments of the disability community are ready to deal with wannabes, even under the guise of a mental illness.

I know… I know that there are a lot of my visitors that won’t like this thought. I also know that putting this thought up is opening up future mis-quoting as happened in a ridiculous so-called research paper a few years ago. Yet, perhaps I am not the only one to think that way. As a matter of fact, someone told me just recently something to the effect that:

in my mind, a person who is devoid of mental illness has a brain that functions optimally leaving their mental processes free to pursue the life they desire anything that takes that away is mental illness. (keep in mind, this is my personal framework only) my wannabe desires take away my mental freedom in the extreme - it keeps me from being free to function in the world the way that I would like to me, that’s a disability [this addresses] the question of “is wannabeness a mental illness” for me personally

People argue that disability has to be cured. That in and of itself disability is bad. Chris Reeves is so focused on finding a cure. He’ll walk again. Yet, he can’t even breathe on his own. His disability is the cause of his problems, right? Or is it perhaps that disability in and of itself isn’t the problem, that the problem surfaces when the disabled interacts with society and society’s mindset that disability is wrong.

Our mental illness needs cured. Or does it? And if it can be cured, why would we NOT cure it? I really don’t believe we can cure this thing, as in totally remove it and erase it from our beings. But if we could, why would we not do it?

So do we need a cure, or do we need to be allowed to alleviate the issue by using a wheelchair, or getting an amp, like someone with bipolar disorder would be using meds to control their swings.

Another friend said recently that:

A cure … and with that, the implication of something that is wrong and needs to be fixed. I guess that’s the first problem I have, to get a ‘cure’ you have to be ’sick’. If that is what it takes, guess I’ll have to be ’sick’.

I like this idea of accepting this in order to achieve a goal. The goal is either being able to use the braces, the wheelchair, to get an SCI or an amputation. The ultimate goal would be to have this accepted in society, or at lest tolerated.

And then, there’s those of us who’d resent the label of mental illness. Do we hate the mentally ill label so much because of the strong stigma in society against MI’s? And if you do resent the label, think carefully. Because saying it’s not ok to have a mental illness is only a very short hop away from saying that being an amputee or using a wheelchair is not ok. Which is a very short hop away from saying being a wannabe is not ok. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, if you expect acceptance, you ought to accept first. Accept yourself?