Category: Health and Wellness
As part of My masters program I am doing a project on disabilities and their
relation to addictions. I thought there would be a lot of research on this, but
really there is not. I'm looking for any info anyone may have. I would love
firsthand accounts as well. You would of course, remain anonymous. You are
welcome to respond on here, or private message me. My email is
brianna2393@gmail.com as well. Any help would be appreciated.
I would think we aren't anymore addicted to anything more then anyone else.
I'd love to hear your findings or thoughts on it if you learn differently.
There is a theory that there's a higher occurrence of mental illness, depression, and so on in the disabled population. Addiction often comes as a co-occurring problem, so that's why she could be thinking it would be different among disabled than not. I'm not sure how much of that is true, because like she said, not much research has been done about it. It's just a theory I've heard.
This is somewhat of a firsthand account, though it’s been a long time ago. I grew up in a bad neighborhood and witnessed many terrible things that any observant fool could catch on any given day. Druggies and peddlers going about their business is just one activity out of many that I can recall from that time. It was a rare thing to come across disabled drug addicts on the street, and I’m sure this is true till this day. I imagine most disabled addicts who are more or less well-off have their drugs delivered or probably have a hired legman.
So let me begin…
Decades ago I knew an addict who would roll around the city in a wheelchair. He was a vet no older than fifty. His left side was completely paralyzed. His feet were discolored and swollen all the time; he seemed close to having them amputated. Slurred speech, glazed-over eyes, unkempt, bad coordination -- just another indigent. He also had a colostomy bag, so it’s safe to say he had multiple disabilities. The odd thing with addicts is that they seem to drift in and out of bad health, regardless of the regularity of their drug use. There were times when he seemed to be doing better. Other times I’d come across him collapsed next to his wheelchair.
We bumped into each other all the time. I am still amazed at how agile and transient he seemed to be, considering his condition and use of a manual wheelchair. He panhandled at the same place where I got my groceries and cosmetics. He would pop up in some of the most out of the way locales. His buddies would bring him along to their dope hangouts, and I recall finding him in spots that were inaccessible to wheelchair users. Oftentimes I watched him cross busy intersections pushing himself backwards with his one good leg. He got around by this technique.
In addition to heroin, he smoked crack, and a few times I observed him abusing inhalants by resting the plastic bag on his lap and letting the fumes rise toward his face. One thing about him I still cannot forget is the way he would administer all the junk he’d put into his body. He seemed to have developed a method. He went through a whole ritual simply to light up. I can only describe it as a sort of dance in which he had to contort himself a particular way. For instance, when he wanted to smoke up his crack, he would straighten himself up as best he could, incline the right side of his body on his wheelchair, so that he was sort of reclining in a slanted position and with his chin touching his chest. He was unable to completely separate his one good arm from his torso or lift it to his mouth, the other just hanged limp at his side. He would gently aim at his lips to catch it and if he missed, the pipe would fall on his chest and he’d shake himself so that it would roll back down within his reach. It took him a few seconds to get the pipe ready. He had terrible coordination and his movements made it apparent that he had nerve damage or something wrong with his muscles. His friends also assisted him.
I used to ask myself how anyone could sell drugs to someone who obviously already had one foot in the grave. But addicts will find a way to feed their habit, in spite of their physical limitations. Their money is just as good to pushers as any other able-bodied customer. They sell to pregnant women, to children, to their own family, &c.
I once worked on a street that was situated between a halfway house and a dope spot. There was a constant flow of probationers or mental cases that would walk to and fro these locales. The point of being at such a halfway house was to get clean or complete a court-appointed program. Everyone knew these poor souls were engaged in a war to sober up but the traffickers didn’t seem to give a damn.
I saw several other junkies whose outward behavior identified them as oddballs. One tiptoeing guy would go to great pains to avoid stepping on cracks branching out on the sidewalk. Another wore fake jewelry which turned his neck, wrists and ankles green.
From what I’ve seen, drugs and mental illness go hand in hand. Many homeless folks are also dealing with their own demons. Though I cannot observe them now, I know that certain things never change. Probably just the different types of synthetic drugs getting stronger.
Before experiencing vision loss, I tended to overlook blind people. But the one I first paid close attention to was a panhandler who bore all the symptoms of an addict -- bad teeth, tracks, chain-smoking, tweaking, and stuttering. I even think he had been born that way because he exhibited many tell-tale signs such as rocking back and forth, strap-on shoes, and other mannerisms that adventitiously blind people do not show. He sat outside of a liquor store rattling a can of Folgers coffee full of money. I once saw two cops on foot patrol standing by watching him and he was unaware of their presence. They didn’t seem to want to trouble him. He was from a nearby homeless shelter but when he felt the urge he’d sneak into a known drug alley and did his thing. Many indigents went there. What was interesting was that he knew where to go and how to be secretive about his use of illegal drugs. Such persons have accomplices; they are helped by other addicts. They also must have their own jargon to avoid detection.
Anyway, I hope that this gives you a small idea of how a disabled person might go about getting his or her fix.
Two things to clarify.
I have no personal experience with addiction.
One last thing I would edit in my previous post is that the guy who wore jewelry on his ankles, neck, ears and wrists probably added about 27 kg to his actual body weight. A constant smile on his lips with intense eyes. It's a wonder how he didn't strangle himself. He had what was probably like one-hundred phony chains hanging from his neck, dozens of cheap watches and bracelets on his wrists and ankles. Even the earrings and finger rings were turning his skin green.
thank you so much. So far I have found that addiction is higher, along with
mental illness in the blindness community. There is just not very much research
on it. Tripping into the light is a good memoir I found written by a blind junky,
as he calls himself. I've found a few studies, and a couple firsthand accounts.
It's quite fascinating to me.
Yes, interesting. Post as you go.
Okay, hang on. This does not prove that addiction is higher amongst the disabled. Anyone can be addicted the same as anyone else. I don't see the link.
Just from what I know from talking to other blind people, I find many of them don't have hard drug problems but love to smoke and drink. Especially the ones who have been sheltered all their lives and do not have employment. Before anyone jumps down on my answer, yes this happens to sighted people too. I just know a hand full of blind people who just want to collect disability and smoke 2 packs a day and pretty much stay drunk.
Does caffeine count?
Well, I know some working able people that do exactly the same.
They call them working drunks, or druggies.
We have plenty functioning on pills daily that are behind the desk at your local business, or even your doctor.
Think of all the anti depressants that are prescribed now.
A few years ago, people didn't get a prescription for it, but it seems like lots of doctors just despense them on general exams.
Feeling a little down, let me prescribe this.
I am also interested in the link.
Doctors don't just give that out. They'd get in deep shit for handing out narcotics.
Two things. Margorp, I think Wayne was referring to doctors frequent overprescription of anti-depressants, not saying they give out narcotics. No, they don't. You're correct, they'd get in deep shit for that. But he's right in saying that they do all too frequently prescribe anti-depressants. They tend to do it as a first line of defense, even before testing for any underlying physical health problems, or recommending counseling or other alternatives besides drugs. To Wayne and Margorp, yes, mental illness and addiction do exist in the non-disabled public. The link, in theory, is that because disabled people deal with things like unemployment, isolation, family problems, bullying, lack of opportunity, and such things on a higher scale then the general public, as a result they may deal with mental illness and/or addiction in higher numbers than said general public. I'm not sure what I think of or believe about that theory, I'm just saying that's the link.
I am not necessarily saying the issue is worse in the disabled community.
Instead, I am saying that it does exist in the disabled community, and we have
the right to treatment just like anyone else. The sad part is thought that it's
not available to us. If we tried to get to an AA meeting, the first issue would
be that we couldn't drive there. The second would be if we took a cab or other
public transit, it would be difficult to find the room in the church. Then any
materials the group used, big book, hand outs, so on, would be in print. So if
anyone who is blind had the problem, they have less resources to fix it.
Additionally, there are treatment centers for the deaf all across the country. I
believe there are six or seven, but that resource is not available to us. As a
counselor, it makes me sad that the opportunities are just not out there.
Similarly there is very little research about the issue. Additionally, Sister Dawn
is absolutely right about the link.
Okay. I understand the link, or what is seemingly the link.
But, I wonder don't the general public suffer for other things just the same.
Mental illness would be the first, or just access, then liking something, then addiction?
As to transportation, or getting to centers, the disabled get to the source of the acciction just fine.
Even the general public normally doesn't seek out help until someone pushes them to do so, or they wake up and decide.
Seemingly, the same treatment centers are just as good for us as them?
Right on the anti depressants. It seems to be the first treatment, not getting to the cause.
This also, on the side you are looking at, might be a cause too.
Doctors simply not relizing the disable are able to get addicted.
Little or no access again?
That is a question?
Truly interesting discussion.
as much as I typically feel judgment calls that doctors make are not always the right ones, I think they should be given at least a little slack as far as their eagerness to prescribe medication to their patients. think about it: in medical school they're taught to prescribe, prescribe, prescribe. so then, is it any wonder that many of them don't think outside the box? not really, depending on what's truly important to that doctor (whether it be numbers of patients he sees, or care given to his patients). sorry if that's a little off-topic, I just felt it was worth adding.
also, I am still not convinced that addiction/depression/mental illness is more prevalent in the disabled community. I think to some of us it seems so because we deal with those things on a much larger scale in some ways. it's like the argument of "is there more drama here on the zone or in real life?" there's drama everywhere you go, but it can sometimes seem more so in some places than others because of the size of the community in question.
Chelsea, you bring up an interesting point. I will say, however, that even if they're taught to prescribe, prescribe, prescribe in med school, they're also supposed to be taught to think, and those two things kinda run into one another. Saying it makes sense that they do it? Fair enough. Saying that they should be cut slack? I dunno about that. We used to teach all kinds of outdated stuff, and while the mistakes being made might have been understandable at the time, that doesn't mean they ought to have been made.
One must be responsible for one's judgments and decisions, as far as I'm concerned. Don't act before you think about it; if you do, and harm results...well, maybe you didn't mean it, but that doesn't mean you can't be blamed for it.
This is a sort of interesting topic in general though. I'm not sure if addiction is of greater prevalence in the blind/VI community, but my money would be on yes.
This is mostly because people who aren't blind or VI have problems, but those who do have even more of them (potentially, anyway). We may often be better armed to fight adversity, but we're also dealing with said adversity more, and some of us don't do well under the strain.
I don't think addictive personalities and the like are any more common though. I just think that addiction in general - and perhaps mental health issues - are slightly more common in the blind/VI community than elsewhere. For every one sighted person who has an addiction that isn't coffee, or a mental disorder which needs therapy or medication, there are dozens and dozens who don't. And yet, you hear often of blind people with one issue or another aside from their blindness.
I think we always seem to here about other issues from the blind and otherwise disabled because it is pointed out more. I think it's just easier to lump people together and say "not only is he blind, but he has (insert the issue)." It's how people cope with this phantom called disability.
I think that's right on margorp. it's a coping mechanism to lump people into categories, then make assumptions based on what those categories represent in most people's minds.
"he has cerebral palsy" means he probably can't complete daily tasks on his own or speak for himself...even though he only has mild cerebral palsy. that's just an example of perceptions people have, especially when you stick in the words "cerebral palsy." however, if you add the word "mild" before "cerebral palsy" you'll be okay.
I bring that up to say that we can attach labels like this to people all we want, but really, all they serve to do is further isolate us rather than help us progress and move forward.
yes, labels hold us back.
So is me saying that I'm blind, or someone else saying that I am, a label? I personally don't think so. It's simply what I am. Is saying that I have bipolar disorder a label? again, some would perceive it to be, but I don't. Getting diagnosed finally allowed me to educate myself about what I was dealing with, and learn the skills for living with and managing it well. I know people have different opinions about what constitutes a label, and what is just a fact, or a characteristic.
A fact about a person is far different then a stereotype. A fact about a person is not a sweeping generalization about a whole group.
Me personally, I find that most blind people I know have a very all or nothing aditude. Find a game they like, play it all the time or not at all. Find a drink they like, drink it heavily or not at all. decide you like weed, smoak your life away or not at all. I can get like that with my projects. Sometimes when I am onto something, I will sit at the computer for hours trying to figure it out then get angry when someone tries to pull me away from it. I am a lot better now, but I have seen this everywhere.
Interesting observation. You see this as common behavior?