HandiHeathens

I just put a pluggety plug for this in badheathens, so forgive me if I'm preaching to the choir here.

I have a new community, madheathens. I'm not trying to take away from this community at all. However, there are many communities on LJ for Heathens, and many communities on LJ for psych issues, but only one for disabled Heathens that may or may not be psychiatric-related. madheathens is specifically for psych-issued Heathens, and/or Heathens living with someone's psych issue. Membership is moderated, to keep out trolls and flaming asshats, and I encourage you to join, vent, rant, seek support, etc. I am here.

Hi and hello.

In case anybody is wondering, the reason why I deleted my previous posts to handiheathens is because we were infiltrated by a troll, and I didn't feel like having the intimate details of my psychiatric symptoms being mocked by an Xtian scumbag.

I promise not to delete this entry.

This is a re-introduction of meself, as well as some insight as to where I'm at now in terms of my disabilities and how they relate to my Heathenry.

( Cut for being lengthy, and for possible triggers.Collapse )

As the significant other of someone with Asperger's, when I read something like this, I see red. This was sent to me via the Orange County Asperger's Yahoo! list, here we go:

A woman and single mother named Stephanie came in to your restaurant on the 23rd and was treated with such intolerance and ignorance, I am joining with other parents of autistic children in the complete and total boycott of any of your restaurants. I am also the single
parent of a 15 years old with autism and no other food chain has ever acted as deplorably as you allowed your employees to act in this situation. I may have taken a harsher tone, but intolerance to anyone -- is intolerable:

Your actions are, in my mind, like asking a person in a wheelchair to leave because they cannot fit in your booths.

You should not only send a written apology to Stephanie and her son, your entire company should donate to Autism Awarness, train your employees so they can inform other patrons, learn empathy and charity, and send a letter demonstrating these actions to all autism
support groups.

We will share your intolerant and discriminating behavior with everyone we know, in my case, not only will it be family and friends, but all the educators and educator support persons who work with autistic children on a daily basis.

Shame on you for putting profits over people -- and you call yourself a family restaurant.

(name not reprinted to protect privacy)

Dear Management,

We are writing you on behalf of Stephanie and her family. You will be getting a letter from Stephanie regarding the actions of the General Manager and Sheila at this restaurant.

We are a family also dealing with Autistic Spectrum as Stephanie's family is dealing with. Autism in some form impacts 1 in 150 children in the US at this time.

Very clearly the actions of your General Manager to ask the parent and child to leave the restaurant when in fact the child's behaviors were due to a lack of service on the part of staff at this restaurant is unacceptable.

This is a 4 year old child with limited language that was hungry and didn't understand that food passing by him was not for him. If the General Manager and server understood this and gave the child some type of food or snack the outcome would have been different. Many children
with Autism have very specific tastes for food and limited choices. Finding a place where the child enjoys the food and atmosphere is hard enough without having a staff that is not understanding.

Making Stephanie take her child out of the restaurant crying with no food is not an acceptable solution to the problem.

Please know that we are 1 of many families that have been made aware of what happened at this restaurant. We are now choosing to not visit this specific restaurant from this point further and to make it known to friends and family that this particular location is not disability
friendly.

We feel given this incident, all of the staff at this location and across your chain should be given Autism awareness training. April is Autism awareness month and given the actions of your staff, we feel there needs to be more compassion and understanding for families
dealing with Autism by staff in your employment.


The restaurant here is Applebee's.

I will be joining in the boycott of Applebee's, not that I really eat out anymore anyway, but this is ridiculous and unacceptable, and if you love someone on the autistic spectrum, I think you should do the same.

K thx

x-posted to my LJ
x-posted to handiheathens
x-posted to asbp

x-posted to my journal

Ok, well I mentioned that I have a seizure disorder. Ok, big deal right? Well yes actually it is. I'm on SSI because of it. And I've had it since I was 2 years old. So it's pretty well colored the way I grew up thinking about the world, how I functioned in it the whole ball of wax.( this is all about how I grew up with seizures and how it brought me to asatru and the evolutions within asatru todayCollapse )

Bi-Polar And Asatru
What does it mean to me to be bi-polar and asatru? Well there are a few things it means. It means that I have some serious cycles in my life that other people don't. I have what I like to think of as my 'normal' cycle, when all my life is what I feel to be balanced. I'm at my peak of productivity, and emotionally I can handle the hardest problems without panicking in a visible manner. Note, I do say visible, as there is never a point in my life that I don't have some level of panic disorder going on. But ok. Then we have the depressive time.. This is a period where almost nothing gets done because motivation is null. I don't see myself doing well and thus I can't. Hel, there are times I don't brush my hair for days, why? Because I just cease to give a rat's ass. I become argumenative for the simple reason it gives me purpose. If I can argue with someone I'm doing something.. It's messed up, but it's me. Honestly I think I'm headed for a downswing right now. Why do I say this? Because I'm very argumenative right now and I'm not getting a lot done, I'm still taking care of myself but my appetite has increased and this is usually a sign of depression for me. I am trying hard to keep it to healthy foods though. That's at least a sign I haven't gone over the edge yet because I'm caring for myself on some level. Then of course there is Mania. Mania is really easy to notice and identify, I can't stay still, I can't stop talking, I get snappish, at times this translates to nasty/argumentative, and sleep goes out the window. I also lose the ability to study as my attention span goes bye bye. This is my least productive phase in some ways. And my most predominate. Also, panic attacks are at their height here.

Why am I writing this entry folks are going to wonder? Well there are a few reasons.. One, I needed to sit down and do some self diagnosis. Two, I needed to break it down in a way my friends would understand as to what bi-polar is and how it affects me.. Obviously this is the bi-polar aspect.. Now comes how it affects my spirituality. Yes, you knew it was coming didn't you??

How does bi-polar disorder affect my spirituality? How does my spirituality affect my bi-polar disorder? Well I'm glad you asked.. Here's the way I see it.

Asatru has some very structured values. This is a very good thing in some ways for those with bi-polar disorder. We need structure. We need something that we can hold to even in the hard times and go "this, this is what is important". For example the nine noble virtues. Now for a lot of other folk the NNVs are probably nice concepts that they think about once in a while. For me the the NNVs, are extremely important, they're something that I look to and say, "where is this in my life right now?" If I have not made space for what I am looking at then I need to make space for it. The structure is important to me. There are particular virtues that I hold on to every day. For example, self-discipline/discipline to me is a very important virtue. Without this discipline it would be easy to let a lot of things in my life go. And sometimes I do.. But in the main, this forces me, even in the midst of depression or mania to get my ass in gear. You can't fight every second obviously but you can give it the best try possible. And that is part of Independence. If you don't fight for yourself and give the best fight possible, nobody else is going to want to support your fight. End of story. People get tired of 'poor me' stories, no matter how ill you are. You have to take up your weapons, even if those weapons are medication, drs. and what all, and keep at it. Sometimes they're more effective than others, because medical science hasn't got it all right yet. And also because the brain is such a tricky part of us, it's the most complex organ in the human body.. Gods know we're blessed that there's something they can do if we give them enough information to work with.. Otherwise.. Nothing. One of the things that I want to explain here is this.. I am not only bi-polar, I also have a seizure disorder, but, it does not have as huge an impact on my asatru experience at this point in time as my bi-polar disorder because it is thoroughly under control and I have not had an active seizure in over five years going on six or so..Early in my asatru experience it had a totally different impact on it and my asatru practice was very different from what it is now. That may well be a seperate entry.

One of the things that I want to do more than anything, as a disabled heathen is to build a chain of disabled heathens who can encourage and strengthen each other throughout the United States and abroad. I think that if we did that we would become stronger as whole than any single part. I want network that can't be broken. Am I a dreamer? To me this would be the greatest of expressions of TROTH. Well that's today's entry on being a bi-polar heathen.

x-posted(with minor differences) to my journal.

Ingeborg S. Nordén, author of her Norse Heathen Pages and who writes on LJ as isnorden & isnorden_sv has been in a rehabilitation center this summer, being treated for intractable pain (a complication of a lifelong condition).

The last time I spoke to her, she was in the process of re-applying for disability insurance; she has been at the center long enough that her original claim period has been exhausted, yet the physical therapists state it is not safe for her to return home (she lives alone). Wishes of weal -- of luck and health would be warmly welcomed and are in need.

She has very much enjoyed and would greatly welcome phone calls from those with generous long-distance plans as well as cards and letters. There are many older people in the center who have frequent visitors -- children and grandchidren. She lives alone, and her nearest relatives live hundreds of miles away. Also, the center is a a very Christian environment; she could definitely use emotional support from her heathen friends.


Ingeborg S. Nordén
Willows Rehabilitation Center
41 Rickel
Sun Prairie, WI
53590
tel: 608-837-8529

She has *very* limited internet access (web or email) at the rehab center, on those infrequent and brief occasions when she can borrow the social worker's laptop, which is why she has been out of contact for so long.

~*~

As well, during the move between the hospital and rehabilitation center, she lost her Othala pendant (this one from Stenormen)-- one purchased during a fondly remembered trip to Sweden and which had much personal significance and luck attached to it. If anyone could help her replace it, it would be a *great* boon to her.

All the best to y'all, and thanks for reading this. Feel free to pass this along to others.

x-posted to my personal journal, asatruar, badheathens, handiheathens

edit: someone has purchased the replacement pendant for Inge. Thank you leornere. :>

i hope this is Ok here, if not just deleat but i saw a need becaue so many bp people were posting in schizophrenic journals and bp with psychosis was being ignored in bp communities. so i created bppsychotic to discuss and support eachother with psychotic symptoms and bipolar disorder. :)

Referring to the Disabled

71. The lame rides a horse, | the handless is herdsman,
The deaf in battle is bold;
The blind man is better | than one that is burned,
No good can come of a corpse.

As Memorial Day approaches we look at ourselves and find fault with every little thing that we can, what 'removes us from the warrior model' that is so prevelant in Asatru. We are the ones who have been told that due to our disabilities, we don't make the grade. Or that's the story, right? Wrong. There are other Asatru out there, who have no physical,emotional or mental handicaps who acknowledge that warrior-hood is not something which is simply earned on the 'battlefield' which has been cast as military might. We have a daily battle which we fight. We fight the pain in our bodies,we fight for stability, to keep the world in focus and to make everything 'work'. We are warriors of the heart and of the blood, every sinew in our bodies, every breath we take, every ounce of determination we have is focused on our very being. We fight personal etins, we conquer jotuns which others can but imagine, scale mountains, reach the peak of pain, fall into the depths of despair. We force ourselves off the floor, make ourselves cognizant day after day when the world is a foggy place after seizure after seizure, when breathing is a challenge and taking another step a victory. WE ARE WARRIORS! We have our place among those who have their names numbered in Valhalla's halls. We shall stand proud, upon feet that will do as we command. There are Asatru out there, today, who give us our due. How do I know this? Because these people are in my kindred. I have heard them say that we are HEROS. We are not to be shoved to the side, but honored with all the rest. So, this Memorial Day, as you prepare to honor the Einherjar, count yourselves among them, give yourself the place which you deserve, do not turn your face in shame at the challenges which you have been given to strive against stand proud. You are warriors in spirit, in body and in deed.

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