On Abuse towards the Disabled and our Challenging it in All Forms in Glastonbury
By TGDPLF | Saturday, November 26, 2011, 11:04
We have decided we will not read any more posts or comments
from authors where their original post or comments have been filled with hatred
and spite towards any of our members. If
people are prepared to say they understand perfectly well what we are saying we
will take them at their word and assume they knew exactly what they were saying
when they posted their vitriolic replies.
We do not want to fill our consciousness with their spite and hatred and
neither their excuses for it.
People are given a picture of this town as being a town of
healing and this is especially perpetuated by those who make a living from this
myth. There is no doubt that people can come here and experience healing,
(after all people can experience healing anywhere), but this does not make it a
town of healing. And our experience as
disabled and/or elderly people is that this most specifically is not a town of
healing at all. It is a town where "spirituality" is for sale. And our group is
composed both of incomers and indigenous people.
We cannot possibly as disabled people get any comfort or
help from any of the belief systems and all manner of permutations thereof that
believe it is our "karma" to be disabled or that we "attracted" it or that
there is some "lesson" our soul needs to learn from it. This all translates basically to we "deserve"
it and that is abusive and patent nonsense. In fact bad things happen to good
people and people can be the victim of their genes, circumstances or accidents
and completely absolved of any blame whatsoever and deserving entirely of
compassion. That is our philosophy.
In fact we do not really care what anyone believes because
after all there is freedom of thought.
But we do mind when those beliefs lead to behaviour that is abusive in
that people are making money by claiming that they can help disabled people "heal"
by rearranging their DNA or that they can
mediate on a big crystal and make those who are lame able to walk. And it is
abusive simply because they are fraudulent practices because they do not work and
they make money out of desperate people. (By the way if you can produce
scientifically validated evidence of such a "healing" taking place here in Glastonbury
we will retract our claim. Until then we
stand by it).
Even worse that those practitioners who may actually believe
they have these supernatural powers are those who just cynically exploit the
vulnerable and desperate. And we suspect
there are more of the latter than the former in Glastonbury
given that there is absolutely no regulation whatsoever. And we note that many
of the so-called "healers" when ill themselves go to conventional doctors. We know because we see them sitting in the
NHS surgeries along side us. Most people when ill in the first instance these
days go to see a doctor or at least a qualified complimentary therapy
practitioner – not a priest or a "healer". This is usually the port of last
resort. In other words the land of the
desperate.
We are putting up this post because we are fed up to death
of our email box being full of emails from people who have been hurt by this
town and it's so called "faith" healers. (You'll heal if you have enough "faith". Pay us anyway. If you do heal it's our doing. If you don't it's your fault anyway because
you didn't have enough "faith". Money for old rope really). Or emails from
people who are terminally ill from say cancer and get told by a "healer" that
they brought it on themselves because it is their "karma".
Of course if people really want to believe it that it is
their prerogative – but we do not and we believe people ought to know what they
may get if they come here desperate for a physical cure and what will pass as "compassion"
from some people.
We are not talking about "spiritual" healing in this sense
or where people are made to feel better.
We are sure that occurs. We are
talking about where people offer to physically cure people, (which they do),
and then fail to do so. Even some fundamentalist Christians do this so we are
not just focusing on the belief systems that promulgate "karma", "attraction"
and "lessons" etc. But at least the fundamentalist Christians don't make money
from it – it just doesn't work that's all and hope is dashed. The liberal
Christians we note do not promote "faith" healing for physical cures only for
spiritual healing. And that we cannot fault.
We hope that people do find what they are looking for coming
here but be aware you may also be very hurt and in no way physically cured and
for that you may be blamed also.
By the way we also have members who have no faith in
conventional medicine and only use qualified complimentary therapists although
most of us rely on the NHS for the simply reason that it is free at the point
of delivery.
And in finishing we will again say that the people who help
us most are the ordinary people in Glastonbury
but the people of any belief systems that help us most are liberal
Christians. (In fact they constitute most
of our voluntary drivers).
Most of us agree whether we are religious, spiritual or
otherwise with the ethics of Jesus. We
are not promoting Christianity at all but if you have been hurt because of some
belief systems that teach you that you are to blame for your disabilities we
will quote this so you can have some comfort:-
John 9:1–7
Jesus Heals a Man Born Blind
9 As he
passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. 2 And
his disciples asked him, "Rabbi, who
sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?" 3 Jesus
answered, "It was not that this man sinned, or his parents.."
Of course what is meant here is
that the man is not disabled as the result of sin not that his parents or he
had never sinned because Christianity teaches that all have sinned. Romans
3:23 …"for all have sinned"…
By the way the three people who have collaborated to write
this article are not Christians but we acknowledge that liberal Christians have
been the most compassionate people towards our group of those who believe in
religion/spirituality in Glastonbury.
Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it!
The Glastonbury
Disabled Peoples Liberation Front.
Comments
Confusions??
Oh! We realise now where our posts may have been inconsistent. In some we have said we have found healing here and in some we have said we have not and we realise that could be confusing so we will clarify the point.
We have indeed found caring, which some people may think of as a healing quality, from the indigenous people of Glastonbury, the Salvation Army and liberal Christians, many of whom volunteer for us.
However we have not found "healing" from those "healers" and "spiritual" people whose belief systems incorporate "karma", the "law of attraction" or that disabled people are meant to learn some "lesson" from their disability. We have experienced the very opposite from them
So that's cleared up.
As to being spiteful and full of hate towards other posters we think what you may mean is that we have stated facts that have been uncomfortable for people to read. However if people feel we have ever stated a fact that cannot be substantiated then they are welcome to sue us for defamation of character. We have not stated any untruths.
What is more unpleasant than the reporting of unpleasant treatment is the unpleasant treatment itself. We think most sane people would agree.
The Glastonbury Disabled Peoples Liberation Front
By TGDPLF at 15:03 on 26/11/11
ReportI do not believe that you have 30 members who take turns at being Admin of your group. The posts written by your admins are so similar in their format that I can't believe they are the works of more than 2 people (and I think in fact they are from just one person!).
Reading through your postings on this site you often (but not always) come across as antagonistic and bullying at times. I think your reaction to the posts of Simone were bang out of order as well as being hypocritical. That in itself does very little to help the cause of disabled people. Your intentions may be militant ones but alas you come across poorly in your arguments and alienate people.
Hopefully the person you have (allegedly) recently employed following your requests on this site will have the skills and qualifications to genuinely assist your members because you seem to be failing them miserably on here, and probably elsewhere too if you adopt the same attitude.
By cardinal_sin at 14:49 on 26/11/11
ReportWell all we can comment is that we do not know of any of our posts that are ranting, or incoherent, or full of spite or hate towards any other posters. In pointing out that we find some peoples belief systems are abusive towards disabled people and that there are people in Glastonbury who take money off the desperate with empty promises that are then not fulfilled and that some groups help us while others do not, we are not promoting hatred and spite - just pointing out the facts.
We may not always be able to provide posts that are up to PhD standards but we have pointed out that we give everyone in our collective the chance to post and comment including those who are autistic and brain damaged. Most people make allowances for these situations.
We are a collective which means that there is no division between administrators or users. Everyone gets the chance to be an administrator and it changes every week depending upon who is on "duty" that week. Of course in a group of thirty people there are going to be variances of opinion but we share a broad philosophy. And that is that short of making a personal contribution to your own disability, (for example getting drunk and driving and disabling yourself in a car accident), you are not to blame in any way shape or form for your disability and you deserve compassion. Many people have emailed us to thank us for this comforting, (and in our opinion true), view having been exposed to blaming philosophies in their past.
We do not think the previous post is incoherent. It is perfectly rational in its arguments even if the sentiments are disliked by some.
As to not being taken seriously that may be your reaction but it is certainly not the reaction of the many people who email us with support and seeking advice. We have not had one single hostile email since we have been posting. About 98% of our emails are supportive and/or asking us for advice and they are substantial in number. Of the remaining 2% they are mainly from healers who assure us that they do not believe in that which we find offensive and that their healing talents come from God and they work. They produce no evidence for it when asked, (on physical cures that is – because that is what they claim), and they offer to heal us for free. We think they are well intentioned but misguided. Too many of our group have been disappointed in the past by such promises and to have ones hopes raised again and again and then let down is psychologically destructive.
We have checked the terms and conditions concerning submissions and we do not think we have infringed them in any way.
Far from doing disabled people no favours our group formed originally because Glastonbury's officials were doing us no favours and now we have people wanting to join our group. Yes we are militant and for that we do not apologise. But we get results. We win tribunals and our people are getting the benefits and services they need. Unfortunately that is the way it is these days. Disabled people are having to fight to get everything they should have as of right. The people in our group are far better off than they were before they joined.
We know some people prefer to think of disabled people as objects of pity rather than of them as militant activists but we are the latter. We want rights not charity. Some of use charity but that is a reflection of how desperate our circumstances have got, not an endorsement on our part about the institution of it. Most of us have worked all our lives and paid taxes so we could be looked after if we did become disabled and many of us are still working so we think that the State should play it part in the social contract. We dread the idea of the Big Society.
Well we've got to go now. The transition from Incapacity Benefit to Employment and Support Allowance has begun in earnest for the long term disabled in Glastonbury and that means we have another fight on our hands.
Onward and upwards!
TGDPLF
By TGDPLF at 14:15 on 26/11/11
ReportAs you post all your comments under the umbrella TGDPLF I don't know if I can take this one seriously. Is it the work of an admin or a user who is once again ranting incoherently? Or are they one and the same. Very strange (and contradictory) messages come out of your posts which are often filled with hatred and spite towards other posters on here. Double standards methinks and it really does disabled people no favours I must say!
By cardinal_sin at 11:19 on 26/11/11
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