Relating to Others with Disabilities
Relating to others with disabilities is often difficult. If you
have a mental illness the only sources that understand you most
times in the mental health experts, and sometimes they fail. I
cannot count on 90 peoples' finger and toes how many patients
told me that mental health experts were not helping them. The
patients were complaining about the medications and treatment
they were receiving. The problem may have lain between the
patient and therapist, since sometimes patients do not do their
best to listen and follow instructions.
Other times therapist does not do their best to listen and hear,
what the patient is telling them. Regardless, something is not
working, so we need to learn effective strategies that help us
to relate to disabilities. Often when a patient is complaining
there is a source that lead to that complaint. In some cases
were the diagnose is affected by pretense (certain disorders
cause patients to complain even if there are not a problem),
while most disabilities there is a source and reason for the
complaint. Here is part of the problem. When the person has a
source of complaint, they are often ignored simply because they
have a mental illness.
You are exaggerating is often the sentence used when a mental
ill patient complains. In most cases this is not true, since
mental ill patients are often more aware of their surroundings
than the so-called normal minds. Schizophrenias, psychotics,
drug-induced disorders, and a few other types of mental
illnesses include symptoms of hallucination, voices, delusions
and illusions. The patients will complain that their voices are
telling them to do something, and although this is a degree of
pretense or misunderstanding, it is important to listen since
the patient is subject to harm him or her self as well as others
around.
When a person has an illus ional state of mind and voices
outside the head, then there is no room for disregarding the
patient. However, when a patient does not have symptoms listed
above they often are vigilant, and can explain what is happening
to them. One other problem is the therapist or others around the
patient will often attempt to disconnect the patient from his or
her complaint. In other words, they will tell the patient what
the problem is, and avoid hearing what the patient is telling
them. Reading between the lines is the best solution for
communication and understanding, however most people read
between their own lines when communicating. I cannot stress the
disadvantages this action causes, since communication is vital
for humans to get along and understand one another.
Dialect often plays a role in failure of communication, since
we are all different and few of us can understand dialect.
Therefore, one effective method of communicating and relating to
disabilities is to grasp hold of dialect and learn how to read
between the lines of the patients. It is important to continue
consistent understanding strategies to help the patient cope
with his or her symptoms. Another great strategy is "Role-Play."
Role Play is great since the patient can look inside his or her
self through a separate pair of eyes while examining the cause
and action of the problem. Stepping outside of your own mind
helps you to see between the lines, and helps the patient to
grasp hold of the solution in front of them.
For example, the patient may be living a harmful lifestyle that
triggers their symptoms and is unaware of their actions and
behaviors. If the patient includes all elements of the problem
in the picture and views it with an open mind or another eye,
then the patient will most likely see the cause of their
problem.
This method is also effective for helping the patient see who
was a part of their symptoms, such as the person may have been
abused which caused the persons symptoms to a degree. If that
person comes to accept the problem then that patient can move
forward in life successfully. Acceptance then is the other issue
we must address to learn, and relate to disabilities, as well as
relate to everyone around us.