P.A. Friday's Blog, page 2

Guilty – Of Being Ill

On 2nd July 2001, Barry George was convicted of the murder of Jill Dando. In 2008, after the conviction had been overturned in 2007, a retrial acquitted him. From the very moment he was found guilty, analysts such as Joan Smith of the Independent (in her article I'm amazed at the Dando verdict. Aren't you?) had suggested the conviction was unsafe, relying as it did on one dubious piece of forensic evidence, but mostly on the character of George himself. Unlike cases such as those of Dr Crippen, where the people who knew the murderer remarked that they would never have thought him capable of hurting anyone, it seemed that everyone who had contact with Barry George found it quite believable that he had killed the TV presenter. His past didn't help, either: an acquittal on a charge of indecent assault was quickly followed by a conviction on a similar charge, and a couple of years later a conviction of attempted rape. He was, in short, a peculiar man with a previous history of crime. But that didn't make him a killer.

To a great extent, the general public wanted George to be guilty. Wanted to think that it was possible to spot a murderer a mile off; that it was only 'crazy' people who commit crimes; those with evident mental illness or disability. Whilst this is a comforting idea for the majority of people, it is not only verifiably untrue (research into crime data in Sweden between 1988 and 2000 demonstrated that 19 out of every 20 violent crimes was committed by a person with no mental illness) but can be positively dangerous for those who live with mental illness. Because the flip side of this assumption is the belief that anyone who seems 'abnormal' or 'unusual' is a potential criminal. And if you are struggling with mental illness, the last thing you need is to be suspected of named or unnamed crimes. Andy Bell, from the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health, points out that "although schizophrenia is associated with an increased risk of violent crime, the proportion of people with schizophrenia who commit violent crimes is still very low (and they are much more likely to be victims of violent crime). The main risk factors for crime tend to be poverty, family breakdown, drug and alcohol problems, and not mental ill health."

George's arrest and subsequent prosecution is by no means the first time that someone with acknowledged mental difficulties has been accused of horrific crimes with little in the way of physical evidence. Stephen Downing, a teenager with learning disabilities, was convicted of the 1973 murder of Wendy Sewell and spent 27 years in prison. Because he would not confess to the crime, he was ineligible for parole; a year after he finally left prison, his conviction was quashed by the Court of Appeal as unsafe.

The fear of mental illness and disability reflects badly on society as a whole. If there is a stigma about physical disabilities – and, as a wheelchair user, I can assure you there is – there is an even bigger one when it comes to mental illnesses. Anna, a woman with both physical and mental illnesses says, "I have a problem with anxiety, but I don't want to see a doctor for an official diagnosis because of the way I have been treated in the past by others when I've talked about having a mental illness. I suffered from depression soon after I became disabled; and I found that people's reactions to me changed more (and more negatively) if I told them about the depression than if I explained my physical disability."

Red, who has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) after her partner's suicide admits that she fears prejudice, particularly in the work place – "Who would employ me if they knew?" she asks, damningly. Pookie agrees. "I know I can work despite having Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder," she says, "but employers may take a different view." Andy Bell says that often people with a history of mental illness find themselves at a severe disadvantage in the job market. "Many people are put off even applying for jobs for fear of discrimination. Others find they are questioned about gaps in their career or they have problems with Occupational Health questionnaires before being offered jobs." This attitude not only discriminates against those with mental health issues, but also robs employers of potentially excellent workers.

What causes people to react with such fear and suspicion to those with mental disability or illness? Red suggests that it is the idea of 'otherness' that one fears; the difference to a perceived norm. "I think we humans have a real problem with our need to create the division of 'us' & 'them'." Claire, who joined a self-help group to help her with depression, says that she found it uncomfortable to be around other people there, some of whom had more severe mental illnesses. "I'm made very nervous by people who don't play by the "normal" rules of social interaction because I find interacting with others hard and changing the rules scares me. I suppose society's influence is that people are encouraged to hide their little ways and behave according to norms, and you grow up expecting things to be a certain way." Bassan, however, as the relative of a woman with severe mental illness, thinks there may be more to it: she avoids her aunt for fear of being sucked into the same thought patterns: Bassan says, specifically, that she sees some mental illnesses as "contagious," and that "shutting [people with] them out is self-preservation."

What can be done to change attitudes, and not only make life easier for the many people who live with mental illness, but also make it less likely that miscarriages of justice will happen? Pookie says that more and better information would be a good start. "Scotland started a campaign a few years back which really helped me; I am now starting to be more open about my illness after the higher media profile." Leona, whose anxiety disorder went undiagnosed for many years, adds "I think people being more open about their mental illness would go a long way to making it less taboo. As long as people with mental illness continue to act like it is a shameful secret, the public at large will continue to treat it like a shameful secret." Kay comments that "experiencing symptoms myself has made me more understanding – though enforcing symptoms on everyone to promote empathy is probably not a feasible solution!"

Andy Bell, however, says that no single method will suffice. "We need to tackle prejudice and the discrimination and harassment that follow with the same force that race equality and disability rights campaigners have employed: i.e. a mixture of work with the media, improved legal rights and enforcement, social contact and skills training for line managers at work."

Meanwhile, we can only be grateful to campaigners such as Don Hale, editor of the Matlock Mercury, whose work assisted in getting Stephen Downing's conviction quashed, and Michelle Diskin, Barry George's sister, who was instrumental in getting George's case referred to the Court of Appeal. Until the stigma of mental illness has been reduced, society needs people – as well as organisations such as MIND and the Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health – to fight for the rights of those with mental disabilities to be treated with understanding and basic human dignity.

More Information

MIND (The National Association for Mental Health) http://www.mind.org.uk/

Sainsbury Centre for Mental Health (Mental Health Research Charity Currently Focusing on Employment and Criminal Justice Issues) http://www.scmh.org.uk/

Department of Health (Details of the Mental Health Act 2007) http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Healthcare/Na...

Condemnation of the ConDem Nation

The Conservatives and Liberal Democrats came together riding on the back of the wave of a financial deficit which apparently looked set to wipe out the country. (Apologies for the rather orgasmic nature of that sentence – I am, after all, an erotica writer!) Still, they said, even with this our government alliance can produce a 'fairer Britain'.

Fairer Britain? Oh yeah? For whom?

George Osbourne's emergency budget was shown by a study to cost  the poorest families up to six times more than the richest. The proposed reform of benefits is likely to hit the disabled and vulnerable first and hardest. The axing of child benefit for families earning more than £44,000 will rebound mostly on women, who already suffer under Britain's unequal society.

Oh yes, give me the explanations, the excuses. Something has to be done. Everyone is suffering. Except that those who already struggle to cope with our unfair society are those who are suffering most. Tell me, how is that fair?

And explain patiently to me that if a family is earning £44000 then they don't need child benefit. Even if it is the father who earns the money, and the  mother who may depend on the child benefit to have any money of her own (which yes, is often the case, even these days). When women have been able to use their years of claiming child benefit to count for contributions to National Insurance, and now will presumably lose that benefit alongside the present money.

Then, when you're done explaining about that, let's move onto the welfare reform. It is intended that the system should be 'slimmed down' – which in most people's language means 'cut'. And although you may also tell me that there are lots of false claimants, I would counter this by pointing out that there are a hell of a lot of people who deserve but do not get benefits. This number is only likely to increase. And… you remember that 'urgent' need to plug the financial deficit? Even Ian Duncan Smith, the proposer of this new benefit scheme, acknowledges that it will cost a vast deal of money in the short-term. Long-term thinking? Last I heard (apropos the 'emergency' budget etc), we really desperately needed short-term money. Except, it seems, when there's a chance of making poor people poorer, in which case, let's go all steam ahead and never mind the cash crisis.

A fairer Britain? If you're male, reasonably well off and healthy, maybe.

Green Parenting

1. Change Your Ideas On Nappies.

Okay, in a perfect world we'd all be putting our babes in reusable nappies (and doing even more loads of washing than we already are), but realistically for most of us, that's just not going to happen. Instead of thinking, "I can't do that, so I can't do anything," think again. It's worth checking for local reusable nappy laundering services: if you're worried about the cost, rest assured that compared to the cost of buying disposables week after week after emergency-trip-out-at-midnight-because-the-baby's-just-pooed-in-his-last-nappy… well, put it this way, the price begins to look quite reasonable. AND the companies come to you – think 'Tesco Direct', the nappy version.

Unfortunately, it's also true that not every area has a local nappy laundering company. After days of scouring the internet for any information on it, I discovered that my fine plans for reusable nappies were in tatters. No one (and frankly, I can't entirely blame them) was willing to take away smelly nappies and replace them with beautiful, freshly laundered ones. Failing this, there's still another option that is at least green around the edges – biodegradable disposable nappies. Not, I grant you, as great for the environment as reusable, but a darn sight more practical. 'Nature' nappies are not only mostly biodegradable, but also (and this is important) widely available in shops like Boots and Mothercare – places you'll be visiting anyway. What's more, they are not (as you are no doubt suspecting) extortionately expensive. They're a similar price to name brand nappies, and work just as well.

2. Don't Dress Your Child In White.

Huh? What difference can this possibly make to the environment? One word: washing. Getting white clothes clean requires putting the washing machine on at a higher temperature, and using more electricity. Dress your kid in red, help the earth, and save some money too. Who'd have thought it could be that simple?

3. There's No Need For Every Day To Be Bath Day.

It's amazing, but you'll discover that kids don't die if you don't make them wet every night. I know children have the ability to find every possible bit of dirt, but flannels and soap and a quick all over sponge down will keep them acceptably clean even without a bath. And yes, I too have read all the parenting books that insist that a consistent bedtime routine is absolutely necessary, but in fact you can manage to keep most things consistent. Getting into pyjamas, bedtime story, milk and teeth cleaning can all happen. Some nights they'll be preceded by bath time and some nights they won't. Children are more adaptable than you think.

4. Pick Your Own Fruit.

Growing your own produce is being tipped as The Way to make a difference in your eating habits. Well, nice as that might be (I know people who do it, and it is tasty), most of us just don't have the time or energy (or in my case, the ability to keep anything in the plant world alive) to do this. But there are still local farms around that offer the opportunity to pick your own fruit; and in August/September time, blackberries are out there growing for free! Yes, it's more time consuming than just buying a load of strawberries or apples from the supermarket, and probably not something that you could do every week, but from time to time take the children along and make a game of it. Most kids enjoy picking fruit, especially when there's the opportunity to put it straight into their mouths, as well as into the container. It's cheap, it's fun – and it's less hassle than trying to remember to water every day and then looking sadly at your demoralised raspberry bushes and wondering why they never seem to produce anything.

5. Let's Talk Clothing.

I know the babygrow in Next is gorgeous, and the one in Baby Gap is just your tot's colour, but honestly? Is your child going to be deprived if he's not Toddler of the Year at the 2010 fashion show? The truth is, small children (and not-so-small ones, if they'd but admit it) are not going to have their childhood blighted by wearing (oh, the shame!) second-hand clothes. Look in charity shops; swap with friends whose children are different ages. Children's clothing is not a competition. By the time your daughter's climbed a couple of trees in those nice new trousers, you'll be hard pressed to tell the difference, no matter what label they started with. You're not being cheap, you're being green. Embrace it!

Wheelchair Chic

Have you ever noticed that clothes look and feel different when you're sitting down rather than standing up? That pair of jeans which seemed just the right length when you were standing in front of the mirror show an unnecessarily large amount of sock or ankle when you're sitting on a chair. When you're sitting down, the dress which clung sexily to your curves when upright makes your not-all-that-big-thank-you stomach look as if your baby is due soon. I could go on – about belts which dig in ...

Where The Buck Stops…

When I started university in the dark old days of 1996, I was informed in a letter that I needed formally to 'declare' my disability. Which seemed fair enough, really, so I went along to do so, only to be told that I wasn't in the right place, but should go somewhere completely different on campus. "Oh bother," thought I, and plodded off. To be told that I still wasn't in the right place and should go somewhere different. And when I went to the third place, they said that I shouldn't have...

Cecilia Tan – Owner/Editor of Circlet Press

1 So, tell us a little bit about Circlet?

I started Circlet Press when I was still pretty much fresh out of college. I had been working at a respectable, venerable book publishing house for a couple of years at that point, but I'd always thought of myself as a writer and was trying to get published myself. The more time and energy I spent on other people's books, the further from my dream of being a professional writer I was getting, but I didn't realize that at the time. What I did was...

Free Fiction: Illusions

"They called it the Cornish Riviera in the magazines."

Maisie had imagined sun – hot, baking sun, beating down on white sandy beaches full of smiling people. Like the South of France, only better, because you wouldn't have those foreigners who didn't understand English (not even when you repeated yourself, louder). Not this dank, dismal excuse for a holiday resort, where even the ice cream vans sold hot chocolate and the vendors wore jumpers and scarves.

Bill had been very good, making the...

Pubs, Clubs and Accessible Toilets

 They have those low desks in banks now, made for wheelchair users and I applaud this, I really do. It's nice to feel that somebody, at some point, realised that being a wheelchair user does not mean that you're not allowed money.

Although possibly the cashiers were just fed up with saying "But that doesn't look anything like your signature!" and having disgruntled people snap back at them "Well, you try writing on the arm of a wheelchair – it's not that easy, you know."

Of course, things have ...

Learn From Your Children

A wonderful thing about children is that they are extremely accepting of disability. This is not to say that they are not interested in the differences between people – they certainly are, much to the embarrassment of their parents! But what parents often don't understand is that their child's innocent captivation with differences is very rarely a problem for the disabled person. I've had plenty of kids stare with undisguised curiosity at my wheelchair, and as far as I'm concerned, it's not...

The Bananas World of Teen Publishing

I wrote this story, you see, quite a while back, and bizarrely I've not been able to find anyone to publish it. Not 'bizarrely' because I wrote it, but bizarrely because… well, who could resist a title like How I Accidentally Fell Over A Crate Of Bananas And Ended Up Saving The World? Um, most publishers can, it seems! Mind you, they must have a long habit of resistance built up so maybe it's not their own fault. But still. I shall share a snippet with you all, and if you can possibly think o...