Category: Social Issues

October is Depression Awareness Month

My last post noted that October was “Disability Awareness Month” and “National Disability Employment Awareness Month.” What I wasn’t aware of at the time is that October is also “Depression Awareness Month.”

The goal of this observance is to focus attention on the symptoms of this mood disorder, its reach and resources that are available to help. The idea is to increase understanding of depression to create a more accepting attitude about it from the public.

A Few Statistics

The statistics about the impact of depression are sobering: According to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP), 36,035 suicide deaths were reported in the United States in 2008. The rate of suicide has increased since 2000. Nationally, the suicide rate increased 2.6 percent over 2007 to equal 11.8 suicides per 100,000 people. This latest rise places suicide again among the ten leading causes of death in the US for the first time since 1998. This is the highest rate of suicide in fifteen years.

Other facts and figures noted by the AFSP include:

  • Every 14.6 minutes someone in the United States dies by suicide.
  • Nearly 1,000,000 people make a suicide attempt every year.
  • 90% of people who die by suicide have a diagnosable and treatable psychiatric disorder at the time of their death.
  • Most people with mental illness do not die by suicide.
  • Recent data puts yearly medical costs for suicide at nearly $100,000,000.00 (2005)
  • Men are nearly 4 times more likely to die by suicide than women.
  • Women attempt suicide 3 times as often as men.
  • Suicide rates are highest for people between the ages of 40 and 59.
  • White individuals are most likely to commit suicide, followed by Native Americans.

Stigma Remains

Suicide is the fourth leading cause of death among those 18-25 and only 44 percent seek treatment. The tragedy is that depression is very treatable. For those with severe depression, a combination of therapy and medication is generally effective. Yet people continue to experience depression in silence; in the workplace, many people endure depressive symptoms, afraid their supervisors will find out. With high unemployment rates throughout the U.S., people worry about being passed-over for promotions, considered a liability or getting laid-off.

The National Institute of Mental Health (NIH) states that approximately 18 million people suffer from depression in America alone. Depression does not discriminate across age, race, gender, or class. Among teenagers it is estimated that 20 percent will suffer from depression at some point by the time they reach adulthood. There are also as many as 8.3 percent of teens suffering from depression for at least a year at a time, compared to 5.3 percent of the general population.

More Reasons to Help

Each year in the U.S., there are eleven deaths by suicide for every 100,000 people. The risk is higher for those over 65. Among seniors, the suicide rate is fifteen deaths per 100,000. Many seniors experiencing depression go undiagnosed and untreated because symptoms are too easily dismissed as those of old age. Families and health care professionals need more awareness about depression among the elderly. It affects all of us; eventually.

Support Veterans and Military Personnel

Increasing awareness, about depression is also a way to support Veterans and military members. A 2008 survey found that 10 percent of U.S. Veterans aged 21-29, had one or more episodes of this mood disorder the previous year. Our service men and women deserve disgrace-free, easy to access treatment for depressive symptoms.

A 2003 report prepared by NIH, predicts that by 2020 depression will be the second leading cause of disability world-wide. Stripping depression of its stigma is critical. To see how much you know about depression, take this quiz from WebMD. To learn more visit Myths and Facts About Depression.

What I Take for Granted: Invisible Privileges

Not long ago I discovered an essay I’d written a few years ago. As October is not only Disability Awareness Month but also National Disability Employment Awareness Month, I thought I’d share part of that essay.

The ADA turned 20 in 2010, and according to the U.S. Census Bureau, 1 in 5 Americans has a disability. With this level of frequency, surely we should be accustomed to disability as part of our mainstream culture but disability is often still seen as something different, and not as the experience of a large and growing minority of Americans. Sometimes this is simply because some disabilities are not visible to the naked eye.

Truth is, the invisibility of disabilities can stem from more insidious reasons: We fail to see people with disabilities as part of the mainstream because they are excluded, either unconsciously or occasionally deliberately. Unfortunately, those of us without disabilities rarely have opportunity to experience being invisible. Nor do we realize what societal privileges we have because we don’t experience disability.

The word “privilege” describes a complex societal phenomenon derived from our interactions with one another. Privilege is always in relation to others; frequently it denotes hierarchy. Privilege often bestows, or is an expression of power. When understood as a privilege, much of our daily experience really is not so ordinary after all. Each day, the majority of us do experience a collection of unacknowledged privileges thanks to our inborn genetics and good health — and because we are able to avoid crippling accident or injury.

What we are fortunate enough to experience can be described as “non-disabled privilege.” Seldom do we take time to acknowledge that over the course of our sociopolitical history, our laws and social policies have fostered a differentiated “system” of rights and privileges that is contingent on the presence or absence of disability. Take a look at the list below and think about which of the listed things you take for granted in your daily life.

Non-Disabled Privilege

Economic

  1. I can spend my money without having to get someone else’s legal approval.
  2. I don’t have to risk losing my benefits if I have too much money
  3. Businesses don’t refuse to let me shop in their establishment.
  4. Whether I use checks, cash, or credit cards, my visible disability will not work against the appearance of financial stability.
  5. I can take a job with an affirmative action employer without co-workers suspect or think I got the job because I have a disability.
  6. I can go shopping alone most of the time, pretty well assured that I will not be followed, or harassed with very personal, or nosy questions.

Education & Employment

  1. My career and employment choices are not questioned.
  2. People don’t question my academic ability when I want to go to college or technical school.
  3. I don’t have to register with the DSS office and get special services so I can try to do my best in school.
  4. Nobody requests medical information or does a least costly and a minimal compliance analysis before working with me to determine educational or employment accommodations.

Civic/Religious Participation

  1. I can access polling places and voting equipment and exercise my right to vote.
  2. I can cast my vote in secret without asking others to fill in the ballot for me.
  3. I can go to church (transportation and building access are available).
  4. I can aspire to positions of leadership and have opportunities to serve in leadership positions.
  5. I can go home from most meetings of organizations I belong to feeling somewhat tied in, not isolated, out-of-place, outnumbered, unheard, held at a distance, or feared.

Social/Interpersonal Relationships

  1. I don’t have to call ahead to make sure a restaurant; theater or other public facility is wheelchair accessible.
  2. I am presumed to be intelligent, capable, and able.
  3. I don’t have people talk to me as though I were a small child
  4. Waitresses talk to me, *(not to my dinner companions about me) and my meal and beverage choices,
  5. Others don’t get upset or panic if I have a date, boy(girl)friend.
  6. No one questions my competence or sanity.
  7. Nobody tells me I shouldn’t get married.
  8. People don’t patronize me.
  9. People ordinarily don’t stare at me.
  10. I don’t find myself only in the company of other disabled people; I have friends who don’t have disabilities and they know me well enough not to treat me as different.
  11. I am welcomed and wanted at family gatherings and events.

Transportation

  1. Buses don’t pass me by.
  2. I don’t have to use paratransit services
  3. I have the choice to drive (or not)
  4. My freedom to come and go is not restricted by whether there is an accessible vehicle available.
  5. My freedom to come and go is not limited to the days and hours the transit service operates.

Insurance & Medical Care

  1. I don’t have riders attached to my insurance policy
  2. I can get insurance including major medical, life, and dental.
  3. I don’t have Medicare/Medicaid as my primary insurance.
  4. I can be sure that if I need legal or medical help, I will receive it in a timely manner.
  5. My health needs will be fully evaluated and not assumed as “merely” because of my disability.

Decision Making

  1. I can make choices and decisions in my life without having to discuss them with a group of people.
  2. I don’t have to have a payee, conservator or guardian
  3. Others don’t tell me that: “They know what’s best for me.”
  4. Others don’t make decisions for and about me.
  5. Other people don’t worry about whether I have an alcoholic drink (medication interaction).

Privacy

  1. I’m not a client of a human services agency and the subject of discussion during staff meetings.
  2. I don’t have strangers ask me if I can go to the bathroom by myself.
  3. I don’t have strangers ask me if I need help eating/feeding myself.
  4. I don’t have people telling me I’m brave, courageous and/or an inspiration.
  5. I don’t have others thinking it is a major catastrophe if I stumble or fall; they realize it is an accident.
  6. I don’t have strangers comment on my gait, appearance, stature or speech.
  7. I don’t have strangers, family members or caregivers talk about me as though I were deaf, or not in the same room.
  8. I can have privacy – I don’t have caregivers, service providers etc. in and out of my home.

Housing & Facility Access

  1. I don’t have to drive my wheelchair in the street if there are no sidewalks, or curb cuts.
  2. I don’t have to wonder if my guide dog or service animal will be welcomed.
  3. I can go to a movie (or other public event) and know there will be a bathroom I can use.
  4. I don’t need to have my home modified or remodeled so I can move about easily or be able to enter/exit it
  5. I don’t live with the fear that I may end up in a group home or nursing home if my care becomes too expensive or funding dries up.
  6. If I should need to move, I can be pretty sure I will be able to rent or purchase housing in an area I can afford AND will want to live in.
    1. Wherever I chose to live, I don’t have to FIRST make sure that:
    2. It is on a Transit line
    3. It is on first floor
    4. It is handicapped accessible
    5. The handicapped accessible features are actually suitable for me and my needs;
    6. It is close to shopping, work and church
    7. The leasing company will accept Housing/Section 8 vouchers
    8. The leasing company won’t object to my service animal
  7. I can be reasonably sure that my neighbors in such a location will be neutral or pleasant to me.
  8. I can go to a shopping mall and I am able to maneuver through the narrow isles in the shops and get in and out of the dressing rooms.
  9. Family members make sure I can actually enter their homes (accessibility issues).
  1. I don’t have to wear braces, wear special shoes, or other use other types of adaptive devices
  2. I don’t need to have adaptive equipment or tools to be able to do basic tasks.
  3. “Off the rack” clothing fits me reasonably well; I don’t need to have specially made clothing or wear clothing not appropriate for my age or sense of fashion.

Media/Public Image

  1. I can turn on the television, open the newspaper or look at other print publications and see people with disabilities widely represented.
  2. I don’t risk being a poster child for someone’s charity (pity) drive.
  3. Others don’t generally claim to represent my views. (It is common for persons without disabilities to be spokespersons for disability projects–even projects that endorse self-determination.)
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From Camp Shriver to the Special Olympics World Games

“Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

Special Olympics motto

Mention Camp Shriver and it is likely you will get a puzzled look. Mention Special Olympics and chances are people  will be familiar with the term, and even they may not know exactly what Special Olympics is all about. The forerunner of Special Olympics, Camp Shriver was started by Eunice Kennedy Shriver in 1962 at her Maryland farm, Timberlawn. It all began when a woman from Bethesda, Md. called up Eunice and told her that she was having trouble finding a summer camp for her child with intellectual disability. The child wouldn’t be accepted into a mainstream camp, and, at that time, the public education system couldn’t figure out what to do with special-needs children never mind supply them with summer activities. Then another woman told her almost the same thing.

Begun as a day camp, the first camp hosted 34 children whom Eunice had invited by asking special schools and clinics in her area to provide names of special-needs children who might be interested. Eunice also recruited high school and college students to act as counselors. The camp gave participants the opportunity to explore their capabilities in a variety of sports and physical activities. The Camp Shriver concept – that through sports people with intellectual disabilities can realize their potential for growth – began to spread, and in July 1968, the first International Special Olympics Games were held in Chicago, Illinois, USA. One woman’s vision is now a global movement that today serves 3 million people with intellectual disabilities in nearly 200 nations around the world

This year, the International Special Olympics games are being held in Athens, Greece, June 25-July 4, 2011.    The Athens event is being called “The Olympics before the Olympics.” (The 2012 Summer Games are scheduled in London, UK.) In Athens, the 13th Special Olympics World Summer Games will host seven thousand athletes from 180 nations. Thirty sports will be represented over twenty-two venues. Despite the political and economic strife taking place in Greece, the games are expected to take place with minimal disruption. The organizers call the Games the “biggest sporting event in the world this year.” The Games began with a glittering opening ceremony, featuring probably the most famous disabled recording artist in the world, Stevie Wonder.

Every two years, thousands of Special Olympics athletes worldwide come together to showcase their athletic skills and celebrate the spirit of Special Olympics. The Games alternate between Summer Games and Winter Games and bring public attention to the talents and capabilities of people with intellectual disabilities. The Special Olympics World Games help to change attitudes and break down barriers that excluded individuals with disabilities from the mainstream of the community.

Team USA which will represent the United States consists of 317 athletes and 126 coaches including management team members. A training camp was held March 27-31, 2011 at San Diego State University. The camp offered a variety of coaches meetings and sport-specific training for athletes in athletics, aquatics, basketball, bocce, bowling, bicycling, equestrian, golf, gymnastics, kayaking, powerlifting, sailing, soccer, softball, tennis and volleyball. The camp at SDSU was the first time many of the athletes united with their Special Olympics World Summer Games coach and other athletes from all over the nation who will be joining them on their trip to Athens.

On Wednesday, June 22, President Barack Obama announced the designation of a Presidential Delegation to Athens, Greece to attend the Special Olympics World Summer Games. The Honorable Dr. Jill Biden will lead the delegation. The delegation includes: The Honorable Daniel B. Smith, U.S. Ambassador to the Hellenic Republic, Department of State; The Honorable Ann Stock, Assistant Secretary for Educational and Cultural Affairs, Department of State; The Honorable Kareem Dale, Special Assistant to the President for Disability Policy; The Honorable Micki Edelsohn, Member, President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities; Mr. Bart Conner, Olympic Champion in Gymnastics, Special Olympics Executive Board Member; and Mr. Kenneth Melvin, Special Olympics Global Manager.

In Athens, the birthplace of modern sport, where the true values of competition were born, the talents and skills of Special Olympics athletes will remind us what the World Games are really about, all who participate are winners in their struggle for respect, inclusion and unity.  To follow the Games, visit, http://www.specialolympics.org/special-olympics-world-games.aspx