United We Stand

I'm hoping that our next U.S. president will make the changes needed to find value in what more people can do so that more people's efforts can be recognized and utilized.

Although there are many things that I don't know about what would be required to restore the U.S. economy, I have seen some things that don't get factored into nearly enough politicians discussions of the issues and I don't feel it is discussed enough on the Internet.

As an autistic person, and just as a person, I reject many of the stereotypes that I think society uses to try to rob people of their status of being a person. Trying to rob people of this status works against all efforts to understand people that are treated as less than people and it prevents society from understanding the best ways to empower them.

Too often people are taught to believe that those who are not listened to really have no voice that is valid....so the cycle continues.....

It seems that often the ideal of having the best formal education and the best status in the community before people have something valid to say prevents too many people from ever achieving those things because they are never recognized in the first place.

Too often it seems to me that people want people to be more responsible and all they show to those people are the obligations of responsibility. That doesn't encourage responsibility. It just puts more division among everyone. With power comes responsibility and with responsibility comes advantage. People won't be encouraged to take responsibility if those who seem to have the advantages that come with it only use those advantages to should on those who are seen to be less responsible. That doesn't seem like a very appealing ladder to climb.

From my view, humanity is often not served when people who have economic status are not willing to listen to those don't. While this unwillingness is of course two-sided, it often does seem to me that people who have the better status (whether earned or unearned) have more opportunities to influence public opinion. I feel that needs to change to provide everyone more opportunities.

I don't think that complaining and having a bad attitude is any more likely to be the result of any level economic status.

People who are provided public assistance have more opportunities than those who are not provided that on either side of the economic ladder. Unfortunately, what I see that doing is creating strife among those who work for low wages and those who have no wages or get an organized type of public assistance. It doesn't need to create strife. I believe what is needed is unity and more understanding. It has become too convenient to believe that it is overly idealistic to think this is worth working toward. I think it is overly idealistic to believe that the human race will survive without it.

Pulling yourself up by your bootstraps is very rare in today's economy. While I know there must be financial status incentives to encourage everyone to do their best, what are considered entry-level jobs, shoestring businesses, and small reasonable loans are not seen are rarely considered.

It seems completely impractical to me convince one person that they are actually considered part of the same human race by society when they have little or no opportunities when they see other humans elevated to the status of royalty and seemingly unlimited financial resources.

I think it is unfortunate that many have been convinced in the United States and in other countries that the average middle class American lives in suburbia and has a reasonable working income. Too many people are not factored into that average.

Most people know that the ideal of empowering people with disabilities in the U.S. using government funding was heavily influenced by the physical injuries that soldiers got on the battlefields during wars. However, those in the psychiatric system are given little if anything other than being labeled as unworthy. However people get into that system there has to be opportunities to move beyond it. Otherwise it seems safe to assume that this is not the goal.

It seems to me that if the goal of psychiatry was really to promote mental health, our present psychiatric system would have already be evolved enough to be better equipped to deal with the post traumatic stress of soldiers, we wouldn't have military vetrans living on our streets, big Pharma would not have the kind of influence that it does in over medicaiting and so many people, and more than one quarter of those in our country who are considered disabled for psychiatric reasons would actually be choosing the psychotherapy that is offered to them based on the merit of that therapy.

Too many of us have been hurt really bad by the psychiatric industry. Encouraging people to not start down this path is good but don't forget that along with this ideal there are too many people who are on these meds to take them away tomorrow without serious consequences or some practical alternative.

Rehabilitation needs to be reserved for those who have been traumatically injured or convicted of crimes. Learning disabilities and learning differences don't require rehabilitation, they just require aid. Why would it be called rehab if system that failed to meet the need in the first place is not looked at or asked to change? That puts all of the responsibility and blame on the person so that the system isn't seen as needing to change.

Minimum wage jobs cannot be considered entry-level jobs if most of the people who have those jobs change jobs at least four times a year.

With a failing economy, many of the problems in our society that had been conveniently hidden will become much more evident. People who had previously survived without the aid of government resources will be asking for it. This can't be ignored. Serving each person according to their needs and encouraging responsibility along with recognising more diverse abilities is the answer. However, nothing like it already exist.

Too many of the resources that are needed have only become financial resources because people have been using money to deal problems that they should be using their hearts and minds to deal with.