Yearly Review of 2007

When I wrote my report on 2006, it mostly concerned what I expected to change in 2007 – because I ended the year on a crossroad in my life in many respects, and with many uncertainties about the next year. Particularly, 2006 ended just after I had had my admission interview at mental health Apeldoorn. [...]

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Walking While Blind (and Autistic and a Former Psychiatric Inmate)

A while back, Joel of NTs Are Weird had a post about how police treat you differently once they find out you’re autistic. I responded with a comment about the way police treat me once they find out I’m blind. Ever since I started going places on my own, I’ve had the fear of encountering [...]

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Thoughts after a Discussion with a Nurse

It’s still as bad as it always was – at least, on average. When I was first committed, most of the time I felt just plain numb, and there were a few moments when I felt really depressed and a very few when I felt relatively good. Now, there are more moments when I feel [...]

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Thoughts about Expressing Emotions

Since being on the psychiatric ward, I’ve been accused of throwing objects for fun, or being funny about serious issues such as suicidal ideation, because I had a smile on my face when coming to the nurse. And today, I laughed a short while after a fellow patient had told us he has cancer. In [...]

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Physical Illness Blamed on Psychiatric Disorder

There is someone on my ward who is very physically ill, but it’s pretty much being ignored because the doctors aren’t sure whether it’s a general medical condition causing the problem, or if it’s a result of her psychiatric illness. A few months ago, there was a TV show on medical malpractice, and they had [...]

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Commentary on Forced Medication

Of course, patients aren’t being informed, but as far as I can tell, a girl on my ward was medicated involuntarily today. It’s not that I agree with her on the accuracy of her diagnosis. She hasn’t told me her diagnosis, but she disputes it, and, judging from what she’s told me and other people, [...]

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“You Can’t Behave Like This in Society.”

Last Thursday, I had my treatment plan discussion. Gerda and the psychologist were present, besides the ward psychiatrist, my doctor, one of my primary care nurses, the recreational therapist and me. I at first wasn’t too happy having the psychologist present – since I hadn’t expected him -, but his opinion was a strong factor [...]

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Girl with Down Syndrome Placed in Time-Out for 24 Days

I regularly write about unethical treatment of people with developmental disabilities, such as inappropriate use of restraints or aversives. However, it is mostly far away in the United States where these things happen, and I hear about them from online friends, and write about them because I don’t care where in the world disabled people [...]

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Psychiatric Updates

I’m still in the psychiatric hospital. Still on the closed ward, because the open one is full – so I will be moved there once there’s a bed for me. A few weeks ago, it was pretty much decided that I would stay in the hospital till we’ve found a better living solution. I’m not [...]

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