Left behind? — Scope | Disability forum
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Left behind?

kenny
kenny Community member Posts: 74 Courageous
How do other disabled people feel about being left behind? All my old school mates family members etc are now married with kids, or living with partners, they have jobs, drive cars, bought houses, done all the things that my disability holds me back on. I am 32  still live with my parents and feel that my life has not moved on in the way that normally happens , do others ever feel like this? Are you stuck in a time warp. Have all relatives of a similar age moved on , and where once you was close to them they have other interests such as family, jobs careers. I sometimes feel that I am just the same as I was in life ten years ago. No new opportunities seem to come the disabled persons way!



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  • [Deleted User]
    [Deleted User] Posts: 740 Listener
    The user and all related content has been deleted.
  • kenny
    kenny Community member Posts: 74 Courageous
    That sounds good, you have done well, I am trying to move on but its not always easy!
  • bendigedig
    bendigedig Community member Posts: 254 Pioneering
    @kenny
    Hi,

    I think I understand what it is you have been experiencing.  

    The bottom fell out of my world in about 2009 and Ive never been the same since. 

    Any disabling factor whether its mental or physical is irrelevant can affect sombody in ways no one else can understand.....  Often we try to give advice to help people because we feel for them and wish to help.

    Somtimes though, no words are enough to get you to see things differently and so shake off the mental chains that tie us to the anguish we feel at our seemingly insurmountable circumstances.

    Time takes on a whole new significance if we are in a state of depression.  Im not suggesting that you are depressed but Im guessing  that if you are not then you arent very far off it.  

    In recent years Ive been no stranger to depresion.  It wasnt until I finally discovered what it actually is and what it does to you that I cried apologetically for being angry with my wife after she had suffered with it years before and I "just couldnt understand what she was going through".

    The fact is nodody can give us a magic fix to the problems that you have related here.  There is little others can do to help us.  We just have to keep on keeping on.  Hopefully with time and the continued support of our loved ones we can get through things.

    There is nothing truer said though.... You can only increase the probability of success and happiness by incresing your interaction with the world...  Im not saying take on a John O groats to lands end epic journey!  We do though, like Dannymoore said need to create openings for ourselves.  NOBODY will do it for us...  Things are tougher than ever these days..  There is far less of the milk of human kindness about I am afraid.

    I do know how you feel though.  Although I have some of the things that you wish to have in your life, I too have objectives that seem to be out of my grasp.  This can be infuriating and seem so unfair....  Often it is unfair.  Dwelling on it though creates negative thinking and feeling...  Doing as much as you can about the percieved problem is the key..  Even if you dont achieve success....  Its all about how you spend your time!  If you never achieve the objectives you wish to achieve, as long as you have tried then you will know that you did all that you possibly could.

    While you are at it you will find other things that bring light into your life.  Having high expectations from life in our current world is a recipe for unhappiness I think... I know this from bitter experience.  Try and celebrate what you have now,  dont be to distracted by what you do not have in your life.... This is such unhelpful advice, I know,  unfortunately it is a universal survival aid ! :)

    I wish you all the luck in the world.  Not many will realise the extra burden you are carrying with you on lifes journey.  I hope that one day you are able to get where you want to be :)  In the mean time, know that at least here in this particular online community that you have some excellent travelling companions :)
  • kenny
    kenny Community member Posts: 74 Courageous
    Thanks benefited, yes I have suffered depression, I have been down to the bottom and back up again, and yes who can blame us? Trapped in a body that won't work, what girl wants a guy who can't go to toilet unaided? Who can't drive her anywhere , or take her for a stroll? Yes I do do things, I make the effort, but don't really feel included, I'm just the disabled guy, who people pass the time of the day with to make them feel better! As you say the milk of human kindness is very rare, so all we can do is face each day , we as disabled people have a mountain to climb every day of our lives.
  • bendigedig
    bendigedig Community member Posts: 254 Pioneering
    @kenny
    Im afraid I dont know what it feels like to be physically disabled.  Like you though, I know depression.

    There is a very strong chance that I will become physically disabled in the not so distant future though as a lot of the people on my Dads side of the family including my sister have or had Arthritis.  My old fella was in a chair for the latter part of his life with crippling pain and all the fun that goes with that.

    Im getting it in my feet, knees and hands at the moment. My dad did too in his forties.

    I've worked in a care home so I know about the "hidden" side of physical disabilities..  Its no fun mate is it?

    A lot of people really haven't the faintest idea about what other people go through just living their daily lives.  To some degree or another though mate, there are people who do know what you are going through..  I know that nobody totally understands what another goes through but many have a grasp of what it is to be both you or I.

    In many ways meeting people that understand what our lives are like can be of bennefit...  You can cut through all the **** and get on with the business of getting to know somone.  I think.

    I've learned that, as men, often our preconceptions of what women want from us 
    is largely nothing to do with what is actually going on!  I'm not you Kenny but Id say that worrying that you may not meet the expectations of the next woman you are into is really an exercise in futility.  Do you know what I mean?  What I'm getting at is that we are who we are...  And the only woman thats going to want to be with us is the one that is interested in just that,  who we are.

    As far as driving cars and knocking nails in and cutting down trees and buying pork bellies before selling orange juice in order to make millions on the stock exchange is concerned.... Well, we just do what we do, dont we?  If we are lucky that is.  I dont necersarrily know if "what we do" actually defines who or what we are?  I think this is an important distinction.

    Oh, by the way Im not spending time with you to help me feel better..  Gods teeth!  Id need a bit more than that I can tell you! Ha ha :)

    I trully dont know if I will ever be at peace with myself or the world.  All I know is that the best and happiest times of my life are when Ive found the freedom to do things that have been personally rewarding.  

    I'm pretty sure Kenny if you can find somthing rewarding to do then this is somthing that you will be able to build on mate.  Is there anything like that in your life at the moment?

    If you want company and you dont mind listening to me just give me a shout.  Im never that long away from being on my ipad.  

    Like you (Im guessing). For reasons that ar far beyond my control I do not work.  I did work.  I miss it very much.  I felt like I had a purpose when I was working.  Now, without distraction Im subject to terrible bouts of over thinking and I find myself stuck in repetitive non productive behaviour on a daily basis.

    Im socially isolated.  I rarely have conversation with anybody other than my wife and son. I see a guy that comes to my house from Autism Initiatives once every couple of weeks and thats about it.  If you want to talk to me you are more than welcome...  I cant promise that will cheer you up though!  Weve all got our daily mountain to climb if you know what I mean  ;)
  • kenny
    kenny Community member Posts: 74 Courageous
    Thanks bendigig, its good to know I am not alone in how I feel, and how disability affects us, wether mental or physical, yes I go to the gym and find that physically that makes me feel better, and try to become fitter and healthier, although I will always be confined to a wheelchair. Yes I would love to work, to have a purpose, to feel useful, to feel I can be of some use to somewhere or something. But that will probably never be an option for me. Sorry that one day you may become a sufferer of arthritis, but who knows what's around the corner? I too am an overthinker the mind sometimes will not keep quite! If only people could see beyond  the disability , but I find they don't want to be lumbered with a ♿ wheelchair, and fetching drinks from the bar etc.so socially it is very frustrating, because we do not have friends just people who pass the time of day!
  • bendigedig
    bendigedig Community member Posts: 254 Pioneering
    @kenny
    I dont do social media.  I come on here and thats it.  
    If you ever want to chat Kenny just give me a shout.  I promise I wont ask you to fetch the drinks ;)

  • kenny
    kenny Community member Posts: 74 Courageous
    Haha ok Bendegig the drinks will be on you!
  • the_velvet_girl
    the_velvet_girl Community member Posts: 107 Courageous
    I know what you mean about feeling left behind. I recently moved back home to the area I grew up in and I assumed I would spending time with my mates and going out a lot. However, the majority of my mates are now settled down with kids and although they still text me, they can't or don't want to do anything due to family commitments. I can't drive and need to rely on my mates picking me up for evening events as the public transport is limited near me. I'm considering taking a voluntary job as a way of meeting new people as I don't have many colleagues in my main employment.
  • kenny
    kenny Community member Posts: 74 Courageous
    I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels it!
  • bendigedig
    bendigedig Community member Posts: 254 Pioneering
    @kenny

    Ha Ha.

    I used to drink quite a lot Kenny.

    Now, not so much.  Im a Robinsons High Juice man these days.  Until I stopped drinking alcohol I never realised how much Squash I hadnt been drinking!

    Recently I went to see Lloyd Cole.  I had two pints and the best part of a bottle of wine.  It wrecked me.  I hadn't touched a drop of booze since the New Year.  I was extremely surprised at just how affected I was.

    Its the first time that Ive been to a gig for as long as I can remember.  
  • kenny
    kenny Community member Posts: 74 Courageous
    Maybe you should go to a few more gigs, learn to live again a little?
  • bendigedig
    bendigedig Community member Posts: 254 Pioneering
    edited April 2017
    @kenny
    I dont know if I will ever live life in the same way again.
    I used to Teach.  I spoke out about somthing relating to our local infrastructure where we live.  In a very short space of time after that my work was taken away from me.
    In the same time frame I was assaulted by one of the people related to the matter I spoke out about.  I was then stitched up by my assailant and blamed for the whole thing (he had a witness).  I did nothing to provke the attack and I was arrested.  I deffended myself in court.  It dragged on well over a year.  The Police and legal system where we live is so corrupt.
    I hadnt been having an easy time of it as I had been dealing with Parental death and we had had an ectopic pregnancy too.
    To top it all recently they have been trying to ruin my wifes carreer too.
    Ive tried to challenge them by going progresively to the highest authorities in the land.  There has been no success.  The people that I have upset are too powerful and influential.
    I wont go legal here as I know the judiciary and legal infrastructure locally will rule in favour of those my complaint is against.  I cant get any help from anywhere.  Ive been blackballed.
    No,  my life will probably never recover from what has and is happening to us.
    Having Aspergers, for me, means I find it impossible to reconcile the injustices that we have experienced where we live.  As a consequence I suffer with PTSD
    Going to gigs, pubs, stuff like that.  Socialising etc is a thing of the past for me...  My life is ruined.  We have a mortgage to try and pay and we have a Son to love and raise.  Thats it.
    I know I sound maudlin but Im afraid thats the way of things.  Im aware that things could be worse but as for everybody, its the massive sense of loss and the injustice of it that affects the individual according to what they themselves know.  Adjustment is just not possible somtimes.  Im better than I was though...  I tried suicide twice but in both instances, fortunately,  I was probably too drunk to have done it right.
    I dont think its a good idea for me to drink alcohol anymore,  where once it was pleasurable and good fun.  Now it just does bad things to me and probably exaserbates an existing depression.
    I know how to live Kenny.  Its just Ive had my life robbed from me.  Essentially through corruption.  There is no justice.
    You have to have hope though dont you?  I hope that one day we will be through all the **** weve experienced living here and that we will escape to somthing better :)
  • Dasiydo
    Dasiydo Community member Posts: 93 Courageous
    I have be left behind because of my dyspraxia and hard hearing recover from mealth health one my groups going to seaside and as have not got money I broken I lie say group I going on Holiday to Disneyland Paris but not going really I busy as her look after my mum with broken shoulder and busy looking after my pets cats Sydnee and Annabel. I have going out with group because all can speed is 3 per day and all other friends got more money at now turn out do not go out anymore and I feel sad because me and my cats Sydnee and Annabel going have move house again but want live by sea can not see any reason stay in Staffordshire's
    V.shaw
  • bendigedig
    bendigedig Community member Posts: 254 Pioneering
    edited June 2017
    @Dasiydo

    Im very sorry to hear how things are for you at the moment.

    Things are going to get very tight for us soon money wise too.

    Its a massive issue in life isnt it?


  • kenny
    kenny Community member Posts: 74 Courageous
    Bendigedig sorry you have have had so much sorrow, but don't let them win, keep fighting, I do it all the time  doors are closed on me people don't answer their phones, but somehow each day start all over again!
  • kenny
    kenny Community member Posts: 74 Courageous
    Daisydo hope you feeling better sorry you had to lie to your group, how is it you have no money? Do you get benefits? Hope you and your cats are ok, where would you like to live?
  • Sam_Alumni
    Sam_Alumni Scope alumni Posts: 7,671 Disability Gamechanger
    Hi @kenny I don't think you are alone at all in feeling isolated/left out and @Dasiydo I think lots of people understand the financial difficulties.

    I have a chronic illness and an ostomy bag and so there are times where I simply cant join in with the things Id like to do, I think I have definitely lost friends since getting very poorly 4 years ago.  They were fair weather friends and only interested when times were good.  But it makes me feel lucky to have the real friends who stuck around.

    Posts like this are great though because it makes you realise that you arent alone, there are lots of members here who have such a lot of experiences and can help offer support to others.  
    Scope
    Senior online community officer
  • Dasiydo
    Dasiydo Community member Posts: 93 Courageous
    Thank you for your support but with cut back things going get wose for now going with flow see if can find any  Animals Crouse at the farm just need find new home for me and my pet cat Sydnee and Annabel where I would like live need caravan near seaside and cabin stay in wood cabin like my summer house I love my summer house
    V.shaw
  • iza
    iza Scope Member Posts: 703 Pioneering
    edited April 2017
    Hi All, I can see you are supporting each other well here. 
    @kenny do not worry about your disability. I would like you  to look at my post: https://community.scope.org.uk/discussion/31040/favourite-hobbies-films-and-books
    I just recommended two lovely books which could inspire you. Please look at the book written by Nick Vujicic.



    There are women who do not worry about people leaving on wheelchair at all.  Nick was afraid too that he will never find his loved one. 
    Now he is happily married to healthy woman and is the father to two lovely children. 
    Sometimes we all are afraid of what we do not know. 
    My mum had few strokes last year and become wheelchair user as well.
    My mum leaves in another country and I was responsible to look after my mum during my home time visits. I was very afraid how I will menage myself to look after paralysed mum all week without anyone help. 
    Gosh I was really freak out.
    Somebody told be "one step in a time" and it really helped. I not only managed well to look after my mum but at the same time I take all responsibilities to support  home and looks after my child. 
    So the fear has got big eyes but once you need face new situation you are popping into new role. 
    I am sure there are women who will be more brave and happy be part of your life as well. 
    You just need to believe in it. 

    Happy Ester to you 

    Iza 

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