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Counterpunch: You belittle us, and mock our pride

The Angry Cripple

by The Angry Cripple

06 Jul 05:50am

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Filed under: Angry Cripple, Caring, Disability, Families

67 comments

And now, here’s this week’s second anonymous Angry Cripple, who as you’ll see, is none too impressed with the first one

I am an angry cripple. A real one. Not someone who claims they are “crippled by the system” or gets all euphemistic about it.

Who's going to go in to bat for those who really need it? Pic: AFP

I’m an actual cripple. I use a wheelchair for 98 per cent of my waking life. I have physical ‘deformities’, or so the medical profession has told me since I was old enough to understand. I’m one of those people you see on the street that makes you shift uncomfortably in your coat. I’m stared at, I’m patronised, I’m told I don’t belong among you normal people.

But none of these things are the reason that I’m angry. I’m an Angry Cripple today because, usually, I’m a Proud Cripple. I’m well practiced at ignoring the stares, at challenging the patronising tone, at standing my ground in a world that doesn’t welcome me. I’m not alone. We’re a pretty common breed us Proud Cripples. Sometimes people like to call us activists.

We speak openly about our shared experiences. We exchange stories about the discrimination we face, we laugh about the stupid things people say to us in job interviews or in the supermarket, we share the great moments in our lives when we manage to push down a barrier that’s been blocking us from achieving equality.

We claim the language we use. People with disabilities. Disabled people. Cripples. Freaks. Mutants. We use whatever makes us feel powerful.

We’re Proud Cripples because we fight. We continue the fight of the Proud Cripples who’ve come before us. The fight of Ed Roberts, of Anne MacDonald, and Tilly Aston before them. We learn about, and from, our history and people.

And occasionally I’m an angry cripple because a lot of the time, I cannot access the supports I need. I cannot buy the new wheelchair I need in order to keep my job, and I do not live in a country that funds them. I cannot choose who provides my personal care and when they provide it. I live in a country that tells me I am not as important as all the non-disabled citizens, and that makes me angry.

It is for those reasons that I’m a strong and vocal advocate for a National Disability Insurance Scheme. It is also for those reasons that I was thrilled to the back teeth to see the Angry Cripple column appear on The Punch.

I was hopeful that this would be a space where we could challenge the injustice and the discriminatory attitudes that follow us around every day. That everyday readers of The Punch would start to see that people with disabilities deserve and demand respect, and that you’d join us in supporting a better, fairer system for my people, because our current situation is not sustainable.

I’m disappointed.

Today I’m an Angry Cripple because I’ve just read the column above, in a space I believed to be about exposing the injustices in our lives and speaking up for our rights, from a carer who expressed a desire to kill herself. We’ve heard that before, more than once.

For the last five years I haven’t been able to open a weekend paper without reading that my people have ruined the lives of their families. I’ve come to expect it there, but not here. Not in a space that’s supposed to give my people a voice.

I am not unsympathetic to the carer’s situation. I know the system sucks, and that you are treated unfairly by the government because your daughter has a disability. They’re not supporting her, so you’re struggling to meet the needs that should be met by the government of this “lucky country”. But statements in the media saying that your life is ruined and that you want to kill yourself do not help any of us.

What they do is foster prejudice and hatred towards people with disabilities, prejudice and hatred that my people are trying to fight. It beats us down. It knocks all the pride out of us and it makes us feel ashamed.

It’s like we’re overhearing you tell the rest of the country that our lives are to blame for your suffering. Because while you’re saying that the government must support you better, you’re also saying that your lives would be better without us in them. That is the message you’re sending to us. And I say “us”, because while I am not your daughter, I am her people.

We are fighting for her rights too. There is a perception in the carer community that people with physical disabilities are only interested in fighting for our own rights, that we don’t care where our brothers and sisters with intellectual disabilities, or with more severe physical disabilities than our own, end up. We do. If you’ll stop silencing us with shame, we can show you.

We want to work with you, and learn from the carers who know first-hand what would best support those of us who cannot speak for ourselves. If we stand together, we can present a strong, powerful front.

But it’s hard to stand with you while you chip away at our dignity.

And that’s why, as you wrote, “some people with disability are enraged when family carers are allowed a voice in this space”. We’re enraged because you’re making us ashamed. My people have an uphill battle to develop self-esteem in a world that shows us deep disrespect around every corner.

It’s almost impossible for us to continue to hold our heads high while you talk over the top of us about wiping our arses until you’re 95.

So, our hackles go up and we object to your voice in this space, because your messages don’t allow us to be proud. It is not because you are able-bodied, it is because your messages counter ours and reinforce our shame.

What people with disability in this country need are allies, not guilt trips.

If you let us be the proud, dignified people we want to be, then we’ll stop getting outraged about your voice in this space. We will welcome the extra volume your voices bring to the fight for a better deal for all of us.

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67 comments

Show oldest | newest first

    • S.L says:

      06:11am | 06/07/11

      I’m not sure if both arguments are opposing in this disabilty debate but you both make good points.

      Reply

    • Cathy says:

      09:43pm | 06/07/11

      Crap. I NEVER said that my beautiful daughter has ruined my life! I make the point that until Australia becomes a nation that cares for its own, families are expected to provide that care until death and expected to do so in poverty and mate it is not easy and sometimes it takes you to places emotionally that you never thought you would go!.

      It is unhelpful to expect that my daughter’s life should be totally dependent on me given that we fund every man and his dog, every winger, every ‘cause’ from green tree frogs to multiculturalism, to elite athletes,  and those fully capable of looking after themselves.

      We live in a society that funds perfect children to have perfect opportunities, we give money to those who are doing extremely well. We provide money so that healthy and successful people can buy a house, while accommodation of any kind is a dream to some.

      What we do not do is assist those who need supports. But we will fund just about everyone and anyone in the form of government largesse, except of course those needs are the greatest.

      I accept some of your points but the reality is, if your disabilities outweigh your abilities you are damned in this so called ‘lucky country’.

      Get rid of the chip, I was making a point that this broken and fragmented system discriminates against the families it relies on as well as the people who need support!

      I am not enraged that you are having your say, I may not necessarily agree with you but hell, that’s life. Pay me the same consideration because believe me mate; my life is a bloody struggle just trying to keep on top of it all.  You have a disability and I am sorry about that but I do not but I am as disabled by the system as you!

      I despair, you despair and the reality we should not as a nation prefer to pay for the lucky rather than the needy!

    • atthepub says:

      06:16am | 06/07/11

      Loud applause for this column. That was very brave and I’m with you all the way. This is not a column for winchers and whiners, sad as their story may be. If it doesn’t add anything constructive to the debate .. well hold your tongue.

      We all know that life is hard for carers, hey that’s why we’re trying to improve life for people who may not be as able to take care of themselves.

      What people don’t seem to get is that we’re all in this together. We are either a carer or disabled or funding through our taxes. And often enough the ones called the most able throw up the biggest hindrances for their fellow human beings. Try define ability .. it’s impossible. We’re all lacking somewhere and just gotta make it all work together.

      Reply

    • MC says:

      10:40am | 06/07/11

      I wouldnt really say brave, they are posting anonymously.

    • Cathy says:

      09:48pm | 08/07/11

      We ARE all in this together and the people who cannot see this tend to be people whose disabilities are physical rather than intellectual (before some jump on me I do not mean all).

      The writer above seems to be employed and seems to have some level of funded care in order to achieve this. I wonder if this person reaps any benefits from working or does it without net gain?

      What would the writer say if all of their income was necessary to pay for their own care? I would suggest he/she would be bellowing from the rooftops but it is expected by the author that I should be grateful that I must pay for my daughters care in order to work without being able to claim a tax deduction or additional assistance.

      I am not the enemy, I am an additional voice trying to help Australians understand how broken the system is. I told a part of my story in order for people to understand how deeply people are effected, not to belittle the personal struggles of people who have disabilities themselves.

      We are all disabled by the system and until this is understood and accepted by those who are not soley reliant on family, nothing will change.

      I too am a staunch advocate for both people living with disability but also for the families who love, support and provide care for them.

      I do not begrudge my daughter, I love and adore her, but that does not mean that I will accept the status quo that says my life, my struggles and my choices are neutralised by that love.

    • John Terry says:

      06:45am | 06/07/11

      ‘my people’ ‘my people’ I think it is you doing the excluding. Stop being so sensitive, if you look around the majority of people give greasy looks to anyone walking down the street they do not know. It is hard to be a carer they have a right to speak their mind just as you do but you wish to silence them because they are not ‘your people’

      Reply

    • KH says:

      07:59am | 06/07/11

      I think you have a rather large chip on your shoulder, because that is not what I got out of the other article at all.  All I took away from it is that there should be better services for people with disabilities - for them, and for the people around them.  I certainly didn’t think it was the daughters ‘fault’ in any way.

      Reply

    • Meagee says:

      08:45am | 06/07/11

      That was exactly the feeling I got from this article KH. It sounds like this particular person has a grudge against the world. In my experience in this area, the vast majority of people in this country (real people, not politicians) try as hard as they can to do the right thing by ALL people. Sure there are some that dont, but this writer just proves that there are probably a few disabled people with a bad attitude as well. I know the governement should do more (we all know that) but there are so many areas where the government should be doing more to help people in many areas of society but that is more of a reflection on our inept politicians than a reflection of everyday people’s attitudes.

    • gb says:

      10:01pm | 07/07/11

      Totally agree KH. All the first column was saying was that govts should not be allowed to getting away with providing such poor services and supports for the parents (and other close family members) of people whose degree and type of disability means they need full-time, lifelong care - from someone! The reason many people with disabilities lead full, active, happy, dignified lives is because the people who love them - usually a close family member - willingly devote much of their own lives to ensuring it. Vast numbers of carers’ lives are inextricably interlinked with vast number of people with disability’s lives; yet on top of everything else carers’ have to put up with, now some chippy, hyper-sensitive person with a disability wants them just to shut up and vanish into nothingness altogether? Simply because they dare to speak the truth? Don’t think so!

    • BL says:

      08:12am | 06/07/11

      One of my best mates is in a wheelchair and compaired to him you are nothing but a negative, bitter and twisted individual. I think you need to take a good hard look at yourself and your attitude. And you think there’s hatred and prejudice against people with disabilities? What utter bullshit. You have no idea what its like to be discriminated against on a daily basis, which I have been all my life,  so dont sit there on your highn horse and accuse everyone of looking at you funny and “hating” on you, because the reality is much different and it’s more about your own attitude and your own negative feelings of self-hatred that is tarnishing your perspective of everyone else.

      Reply

    • VVS says:

      08:45am | 06/07/11

      I agree about the OP being negative and bitter.

      My best friend is in a wheelchair (been so since a football accident in 2000) and that hasn’t stopped him with anything. In fact, it makes him strive harder.

      He went and got a job in London, married the girl of his dreams and is doing very well for himself. I expect the reason being his upbeat attitude, and not expecting everyone to feel sorry for him and give him handouts.

      I’ve met other wheelies (through him, especially those at the PA hospital while he was there for over a year) with equally upbeat outlooks.

      Life is what you make it, regardless of what it throws at you. Being angry all the time aint going to change that.

      I do read your articles (most times) and genuinely feel sorry for you. But I believe that you are a big contributor to how you feel.

    • jay-ded says:

      09:05am | 06/07/11

      My sentiments exactly BL.  I work with disabled people and I’ve never met a more upbeat bunch in my life.  I think the only negativity here is coming from the writer.  Angry much?

    • Fi says:

      10:08am | 06/07/11

      You guys realise that this guy could suffer from an entirely different disability, right? Just because you know someone who is completely ‘normal’ except they can’t walk doesn’t mean you know everything about what it is to be disabled.

    • Reg says:

      10:36am | 06/07/11

      @ Fi

      He very well could suffer a different disability.

      That’s not the point. The point (which I find it hard that you could miss) is that the others are saying that having a negative, woe-is-me attitude is not going to help anyone in the situation.

      The nature of the diability is irrelevant, though clearly the author seems to function normally mentally (a well written piece), so if it reasonable to assume his disabilty is something physical.

    • Jade (the other one) says:

      08:21am | 06/07/11

      Why should the government (my tax dollars) support carers or the disabled more than anyone else?

      It’s unfortunate that they have been born with their disabilities, but really, it is the responsibility of the family to take care of them.

      I would much, much rather see my precious tax dollars go to supporting the children in care, and in juvenile detention, who are emotionally disturbed, or suffering from a host of mental illnesses as a result of profound abuse from those who are meant to care for them - their parents.

      You from the disabled world should think yourselves lucky that you have carers to speak for you when you cannot speak for yourselves, people to support your rights.

      All I hear from the welfare lobby and child protection groups is support for the parents, keeping families together, and parental rights. I never hear about the rights of the child - because the adults in those children’s lives don’t have a desire to speak for them.

      You need to realise that you are far luckier than many Australians, and that part of that reason is the advocacy of your carers.

      Reply

    • Stephy says:

      09:46am | 06/07/11

      “I would much, much rather see my precious tax dollars go to supporting the children in care, and in juvenile detention, who are emotionally disturbed, or suffering from a host of mental illnesses as a result of profound abuse from those who are meant to care for them - their parents.”

      Speak for yourself. They don’t need funding, the laws need to be changed to stop them being so protected. The carers should be allowed to restrain them if they’re violent, they should be arrested when they set fire to cars, and the excuse “oh, but they’ve come from a violent past” should NOT be used to dismiss their crimes - which can be numerous and frequent. If a carer gets beaten up, they should be allowed to defend themselves without losing their job. Meet some of these kids first, the no-hopers that foster families won’t even take. Then tell me you want to throw more money at them.

    • F73 says:

      10:12am | 06/07/11

      Thankfully attitudes like this are in the minority, most Australians being compassionate and decent people.

      I do wonder, if you are ever to become disabled Jade, will you expect your family to give up their jobs, income, ability to pay the bills, in order to care for you full time? Anyone at any time can acquire a severe disability - accidents, MS, Motor Neurone, stroke, even food poisoning can cause severe brain damage. No-one is immune from disability.

    • Jack of Id says:

      10:47am | 06/07/11

      Totally agree with Stephy, here.  Who’s going to pay for the side mirror ripped off my car the other night by these poor little darlings who should have been at home at 11pm?  The government?  Your precious tax dollars, Jade? No…it will actually be my hard earned dollars and having to take time off work to fix the car while MY taxpayer dollars is funding these little maggots to destroy my property.

      Are you going to feel sorry for me just because those poor little hand me out darlings with the “disturbed” background have made it dangerous to transport my innocent baby around?  Should I be getting your precious tax dollars because now I’m “disturbed” because of the disturbed little darlings?  Should my innocent baby be put in danger just because some “disturbed” little darlings decided they were bored?

      Caning instead of funding, I say.  Let the funding go to people who don’t have a choice, such as the disabled.

    • Maria says:

      09:56pm | 06/07/11

      Not all people with disabilities have families to care for them (this autistic with ABI was forced out of home at 15 and trying to deal with multiple daily seizures and potential brain surgery alone at 20). Some people with disabilities have abusive families or abusive partners. Some of us have disabilities *caused* by abuse (this autistic with ABI? - a lot of the ABI c/o my violent father). Some people with significant disabilities find themselves attempting to care for even more disabled aging parents, or disabled children or partners. And do you want to guess the percentage of homeless people with a disability? (hint: very high). Yes, we’re all so lucky - not.

    • Jade (the other one) says:

      04:42pm | 07/07/11

      @Stephy, having worked with children who were juvenile delinquents, or in foster care, and seeing the effects of their violent and drug addled upbringings, I am advocating not throwing money at them, but removing them from the homes which have created their problems.

      I taught children who society discarded as worthless. A 14 year old girl, whose mother kicked her out of home because the drug-addict boyfriend didn’t like her. Another young girl whose only meal every day was tomato sauce on toast. Yet the social worker was more concerned that her parents not lose THEIR rights than he was about the CHILD he was supposed to be protecting. The violent young man, who spent his life protecting his mother and sister from his mother’s boyfriend’s rages. Whose family had had to leave the NT before the police got hold of them.

      Nowhere did I suggest that their violent past be used to dismiss their crimes. However, I do think that their past certainly has a significant impact. And that when they are institutionalised, more effort should be made to counteract this past.

      Unless Stephy, you would like to see more and more repeat offenders, getting more and more violent with every crime they commit?

      @Jack of ID you’re absolutely right. Those children, like I imagine your child will be, should be at home at 11:00 pm. It’s a little hard to do though, when your mother or father drags you out of the house and then locks the door behind you. Or you have the choice between staying at home, and being on the receiving end of a belting that leaves you with broken ribs, or roaming the streets. Or they come from families where criminality is the norm. Dad’s in a bikie gang, Mum’s a drug dealer. Where do they learn right from wrong when growing up in a family where criminality and violence is normality? Where their only interactions with authority figures are extremely negative? The only time that they see police officers is when they are dragging their only support system away? These kids are told constantly, by the media, by authorities, and by regular guys like you that they are worthless scum, animals who deserve nothing but contempt, who need to be locked away lest they infect society.

      In reality its that you don’t want to face up to the simple fact that these child victims are ignored by nearly every facet of society. Until they hit back.

    • Mahhrat says:

      08:44am | 06/07/11

      Mate, the article was supposed to make us ALL feel ashamed.

      And it’s pretty good at it too.

      You should be more ashamed, however, of this retorte.  The other article is not trying to make disabled people feel bad at the shocking state of our support systems; it is trying to make ALL PEOPLE feel bad at the shocking state of our support systems.

      All you have managed to do here is further marginalise yourself. “My People”?  Really? 

      You can’t simply be combative and then act shocked when people return fire, just because you’ve been “wronged”.  If you want us to care, if you want us to act, then you need to first find a common ground we can all understand.

      All you’re doing here is biting the hand that feeds you.  Watch your teeth.

      Reply

    • Nurse Knott-Ratchet says:

      09:07am | 06/07/11

      The response I just deleted before posting was a tad vitriolic, so I’ve had myself a coffee and a smoke and started again.

      I’m with the Angry Cripple on this one.  I have made working with people with, primarily, intellectual disabilities my career, and have done it for well over twenty years.  I started off in the field in the bad old days of giant institutions, and have seen many changes in that time.  Some good, some not so much.

      I was, and still am, a little annoyed by the carer’s throwaway line that basically said her daughter would be better off dead than to be living in the care of anyone other then herself.  What garbage!  Yes, there are way too many people in the job who are there for the wrong reasons, but they are part of a very small minority.  Most of us are dedicated to doing our very best to provide quality care to the people we work with, but more importantly, to finding a way to help these people to reach their potential and to live as full a life as possible.

      Parents often feel ashamed and guilty that they have brought someone “different” into the world, and seeing how the world treats their child, they tend to overcompensate, and adopt a cotton wool approach.  It sounds like the child in question is al least in her twenties, maybe older.  Shouldn’t she be enjoying life with people her own age, like any adult would be, rather than stuck at home living with mum?

      Yes, parents of people with severe and complex disabilities do a wonderful job, but sometimes the people they are caring for need to to experience a richer life, full of ups and downs, rather than one which sounds as if it is very limiting?

      Reply

    • Cathy says:

      09:51pm | 06/07/11

      Excuse me, I never said my daughter would be better off dead, I simply said that at that low point in my life I realised that to kill myself I would have to make such a decision which I also said I was not ready or able to make for her because she loves her life and I do everything in my power to ensure that the life she has is a good one.

      My life on the other hand is limited because by ensuring that her life is a good one little is left over either financially or time wise for me to provide for myself.

    • shane says:

      06:17pm | 08/07/11

      @ Nurse KR - Yes, Virginia, the young woman in question SHOULD most assuredly be “enjoying life with people her own age, like any adult would be, rather than stuck at home living with mum”. 
      Except, guess what Nurse KR - this young woman is almost certainly stuck at home living with mum because a) if she’s severely disabled enough, she’s going to need funded support services to help her access the community and get out of home; but
      b)  there’s often no funding available for any support services so she can “enjoy life with people her own age.”
      Which is, if I’m not mistaken, one of the major points the author was actually trying to make???
      If you think, Nurse KR, that it’s just a matter of a disabled person (or his/her carer) saying: “Umm, think I’ll start enjoying life with people my own age, instead of being stuck at home with boring old mum” - then you clearly don’t know very much about people with severe and profound disability AT ALL.
      Which, given you say you’ve worked in this area for the past 20 years, is pretty goddamn weird.

    • Simon says:

      09:09am | 06/07/11

      sounds like you need to spend a bit of time wiping asses.

      Reply

    • TChong says:

      09:13am | 06/07/11

      “I cannot choose who provides my personal care ...,”
      I find this claim strange.
      No law exists forcing you , or excluding you from making what ever care arrangements you want.
      No court can order that you MUST accept any agency, or any person , that you are uncomfortable with.
      If the “personal care” is govt . provided, then complain to your HCCC if the care is doing wrong.
      If you pay, then change agencies.
      Unfortunately money talks, and if you pay, justly or not, you get what you pay for.
      BTW AC, I think Disability Services are embarrasingly underfunded, and I reckon more, lots more money needs to be spent.

      Reply

    • Diogenes says:

      05:31pm | 06/07/11

      TChong - have ever investigated what services there are paid for or not ? Do you know the bulshit paperwork anybody that you might wish to employ privately needs to do (and the mandated courses) - go on I dare you - you would be surprised at how little choice there is !!!!

      No law , but practicality ... our late son had severe medical problems - the only school that could properly handle his needs was in 1 suburb which we moved to so as to ensure we were in the catchment zone.

      Then the $%!@$~!@ Queensland Govt closed it and put the kids into Special Ed units. Despite written assurances the nurse was withdrawn (SE units aren’t entitled to nurses) and none of the Teacher Aides were willing to do Naso-gastric or Gastrostomy feeds that 80% of the kids needed (all were MND , CF or extreme cases of CP & school was the only one on the Brisbane West side that could handle that level of support) . So my wife had to give up her job so that she could drive 15km each way to feed him. And that was the CLOSEST Special Ed unit that wasn’t geared to Autism.

      No “normal” school was willing to even enrol him because of this issue - even if SWMBO my was willing to go every lunch time to feed him

    • TStupid says:

      08:53pm | 06/07/11

      @ TChong

      “Unfortunately money talks, and if you pay, justly or not, you get what you pay for.”

      Exactly how are seriously disabled/crippled people supposed to get all of this money? You’re either really stupid or a real prick.

    • Harquebus says:

      09:20am | 06/07/11

      “a better deal for all of us” ain’t gonna happen TAC. This time, we’re all in it.

      Reply

    • atthepub says:

      10:31am | 06/07/11

      To all those who are having a go at the angry cripple this week; you haven’t a clue what you’re talking about. Not a clue.

      How shallow must you and your life be not to feel and hear his/her pain.

      I know what it is to be marginalised to the point where people near enough bluntly let you know that society would be a better place without you, just because of your disability. I’ve also ‘near enough’ wished for people (I care for) to follow up on their suicide threats because they insist on turning every minute into hell for all those around them. I’ve also been a lucky and blessed person with not a worry in the world and stacks of money and goodwill to share around.

      I’ve played all those roles and plenty more and not all in that order.

      The angry cripple sits in a place in society most of you can’t even imagine in your worst nightmare. Of being marginalised wherever you go, just because of who you are. When your life is like that, you don’t need some one to put the spot light on how much of a burden you are to society.

      So mum is suffering, that’s sad. But parents are supposed to be taking care of their kids, that’s how society works. To tell everyone that this ‘burden’ makes you want to kill yourself how does that help the debate?

      Reply

    • Lisa H. says:

      02:08pm | 06/07/11

      sorry for commenting on your comment again atthepub, but Mums are really just people who grew into the role. There are an awful lot of expectations placed on Mums, but surely every decent person can see there has to be a limit on what we can expect from any person, including Mum.
      For example, I think even though I am a Mum, I should like to be able to put aside enough money to keep the teeth in my head… or to buy fresh fruit occasionally.
      Many carers have already sold their house, all their assets to support their disabled child.
      At what point does society admit that people could do more to help? After all (and yes, I have made this comment earlier in the other column) normal able-bodied Mums have lobbied for and won the right to parental leave and childcare subsidies. Disabled children are more expensive to care for than normal children. (usually much more expensive, depending on their disability)

    • Geoff - Brisbane says:

      02:14pm | 06/07/11

      We have heard “his pain” every bloody wednesday/ thursday for the last 5 months, Its getting very old.

      Infact i think the greatest of his problems is his anger and he should seek help for that immediatly.

    • Jordan Rastrick says:

      10:42am | 06/07/11

      “I am not unsympathetic to the carer’s situation.”

      It seems to me, Angry Cripple, that while your anger in this case is understandable, you are in fact fundamentally unsympathetic to the previous columnist. A carer expressing herself honestly - that the grief, hopelessness and hardship associated with caring has led her to contemplate suicide - is viewed through the lens of an attack on people with disabilities, which seems a gross distortion of what was actually written. You speak of being ashamed, but your piece seems premised on wanting carers to themselves be ashamed of their own suffering, and to silence their voices where they might want to express things painful for people with disabilities to hear.

      Do you want carer’s to lie, and pretend that their lives are not made harder by their responsibilities? Or do you simply want them not to speak at all?

      Most troublesome, for me, was your presumption to speak so confidently to the carer on behalf of the her daughter. You’ve never met these people, and yet you seem to claim a closer kinship with and understanding of this person than her own mother, purely by virtue of also having a disability. 

      Kudos to you for expressing your views forthrightly and boldly, which is a hard thing to do given the marginalisation of disabled people in our society. But I think you’ve got it badly wrong here, and I hope you’ll eventually come to change your mind about what you’ve written. People with disabilities and their carers should be natural allies in this debate, and a world in which either group can’t honestly and openly express their own lived experience won’t help anyone in the long run.

      Reply

    • Jane says:

      09:00pm | 06/07/11

      @ Jordan

      I have to agree.

    • Cat says:

      01:05pm | 07/07/11

      great response, and I hope it gets heard as intended.

    • pksmum says:

      12:27pm | 02/08/11

      Yep, I agree. My severely disabled daughter is only 5 1/2. We know we have a long road ahead but we want to have a long and happy life with our beautiful girl.  I will be a carer for a long, long time (hopefully!) and in that time WE will be hanging out with lots of lovely people with a wide range of disabilities as PART of their community. Angry Cripple, we are on the same team here.

    • Todd Winther says:

      10:52am | 06/07/11

      Although I admonish the person here for not having the guts to out themselves publicly (this goes for the carer and AC too) I say bravo to their sentiments.

      So what if crips are not all bright, cheery and thankful for small mercies? Does this make us bitter and jaded? No.

      We are not all in this together, carers want different things and so do those with disabilities, both sets of needs are valid.

      Congrats to all people that commenters above who have cited friends or family as paragons of virtue and courage (I mean this with all seriousness too) but the author above has brought much needed pragmatism, in what is a generally an awful column.

      Feel free to tell me how lucky I am. For those who tell me to spend time in a carer shoes. I wouldn’t want to. I also don’t want to be trapped with my disability. That’s not bitter, its just life

      Reply

    • Sam Connor says:

      11:00am | 06/07/11

      It’s terrifying to read the comments from both articles, especially this one.

      You know, Angry Cripple, you should just get over yourself.  The idea of fighting for other people with disability - ‘my people’ - please!  And God, you can choose who the hell you want to support you.  Really, why should we support you pitiful bastards anyway?  You’ve got a giant chip on your shoulder - ive got this mate who is in a wheelchair, he has a normal life, great bloke, he never ever whinges and he’s nearly normal, really…nothing like you.  Sheesh.

      My people - Aboriginal people, from different walks of life, with different goals and aspirations and cultural backgrounds and environments, can say ‘my people’ because they share a common culture, but people with disability can’t?  Even if the commonality that you share are daily barriers and discrimination by attitudes?  How dare you advocate for others who do not have a voice.

      Why don’t you choose who cares for you?  Of course you can, says one I’ll informed voice, indignantly.  Sorry to burst your bubble, but no, you can’t.  You’re at the mercy of your agency staff to have whoever turns up.  I can imagine that many 21 year old boys would choose to have their arses wiped and bits washed by a young lady they’d like to date, or maybe a bloke, depending on their preference.  But no, you don’t get a choice, especially if you’re living in a group home or have set agency staff - it’s ‘Hi, I’m Mandy - would you like me to wash your genitals?’

      Why should we support you, cries another indignant voice.  Well, there are reasons, should you care to investigate.  If we support people with disability properly, many will be able to work and contribute to the economy.  All those support workers (the paid ones, that is) are paid, and ideally if people were supported properly there would be less drain on other systems, like the mental health system.  And it’s complicated, unless you swim on the inside of it.  The difference between getting a wheelchair or prosthetic leg can mean the difference between work and living at home and being miserable.  And here’s the thing - any one of us is one car accident away from being in the Angry Cripples shoes.  Or having a child with a disability - go read the stories at http://www.everyaustraliancounts.com.au and see if your views stay the same.

      Lastly, the little mate who does so well - hey, what a little trooper aye?  Aye?  Would you feel the same about him if he told you about his day?  Well, Mandy turned up this morning instead of the motherly type who usually washes my bits and then couldn’t figure out how to give me a suppository and kept apologizing and then I had an embarrassing boys moment in the shower in front of Mandy and she’s coming back for a MONTH, God, then I went to the post office and I couldn’t reach the letterbox so had to ask a kid to do it for me and ran out of taxi vouchers so couldn’t get to work cos there is no accessible transport and then found out my boss is shifting offices and now the cost of transport will be more than my wage and I don’t know what to do and my shoulders and back are aching and I’m pretty worried cos my arthritis means I might have to give up using a manual wheelchair and someone sat on my fish and burst it at lunchtime and there was urine everywhere (I didn’t want her sitting on my lap anyway, if only she looked like Mandy) and I’ve got a bedsore and an infection in my suprapubic catheter and then I came home and my mum had written an article about me and how caring for me had effectively ruined her career, marriage, income, prospects and looks (which didn’t help my residual guilt at having no relationship with my mother because we had no support in early years and neither of us wanted a genital washing relationship) - um let’s see, would you be friends? 

      If you don’t know about something, go and find out, instead of making ill informed comments.  Is it so hard to allow someone some dignity?  And yes, the examples above are only about people with physical disability - I could go on and on about all of ‘our people’, but it’d bore you - cos they’re not like you or I, are they?  And this, friends, is why there will be enormous sympathy on one hand for a carer at breaking point, and the rabid labeling of a ‘crip with a chip’ on the other.  Good on you, Angry Cripple, for voicing what so many people with disability feel.

      Reply

    • Jordan Rastrick says:

      01:55pm | 06/07/11

      And this, friends, is why there will be enormous sympathy on one hand for a carer at breaking point, and the rabid labeling of a ‘crip with a chip’ on the other.

      Sympathy for carers and for disabled people does not have to be mutually exclusive. I won’t defend some of the other commenters here whose attacks on the author are indeed unjust and nasty. But I think some of that stems from the choice to attack

      Is it so hard to allow someone some dignity?

      I certainly feel for the author of this piece, who has a life filled with obstacles I can no doubt only begin to imagine. Nonetheless I think the anger is very unfairly misdirected to the other author, and I strongly disagree that a carer’s honest expression of their sense of hopelessness is offensive and should not be spoken aloud.

      If I did not treat the author of this post as an intelligent, capable person who can cope with a respectfully but strongly worded “I think your views are wrong and warrant a debate”, surely that would be far more of a slight on their dignity.

    • Carl Thompson says:

      05:35pm | 06/07/11

      I love you, Sam!

    • Calpurnia's Cat says:

      06:38pm | 09/07/11

      I think the Angry Cripple column is providing the opportunity to get a lot of terrible angst and hurt out there and for there to be discussion about what really does hurt. Perhaps it will lead to the building of bridges over some residual misunderstandings, misconceptions and some very wide chasms in understanding between family carers and people with disability. This is an excellent means to do that because we are all in this together not just family carers and people with disabilities but all of us because as you said earlier Sam, all of us are just one heartbeat away from some catastrophic accident which would make you the person with a severe disability needing support or the family-carer of that someone.

      This column I see as an inspired place to vent and rant and vant and thank you to the Angry Cripple for that and to the Punch for providing the forum. This column should not be the exclusive domain of the person with disability, it should be a place to ventilate ignorance too. I’d love to see a column by someone who knows absolutely sweet FA about any of it and there are few posters on here who I think might fit that bill. Anonymity does not bother me as long as the Angry Cripple assures us all that the people are not Alene Compostas.

    • Demoman says:

      11:19am | 06/07/11

      Harden up you whinger.

      We cannot base our whole society on making things easy for a minority group because there simply isn’t enough money to go around. Everyone wants a piece of the pie but there is no pie left.

      Making life easy for you is a waste of money as there is no tangible benefit gained from it. It only serves as a pat on our own back to make us feel like we did “something”.

      Reply

    • Snake says:

      04:57pm | 06/07/11

      This comment is full of win.

      Why does every minority feel an unrepentant sense of entitlement?

      From Aboriginals and homosexuals to disabled and feminists… There is nothing that is good enough for you lot. It isn’t worth it to cater to your every whim.

      If only people could detect a larger portion of disabilities during pregnancy and forbid the parents from actually giving birth. The burden they would save the state and the parents is huge.

      It’s hard enough to make society work for those who can contribute to it, now you want wheelchairs with ESP and hot models with massive cans to care for you? Unfortunately, you need to make do with what you’ve got and what you’re given. Just like the rest of us.

    • ells says:

      04:18pm | 09/07/11

      I suspect that ‘what you have got’ is far greater than what this TAC has. It is very easy to speak in such a manner when you have never experienced the difficulties of a horribly consuming disability.

      So, you can’t imagine a life where the smallest act of normalcy is too difficult for you, such as wiping your own ass, feeding yourself, having a beer after a hard day? Fair enough - until you’ve been in the thick of it you can never really UNDERSTAND or IMAGINE how horrendous it must be. I can’t either, but what I do have are these wonderful human qualities called empathy and compassion. Sadly, they can’t be taught. Well, not easily anyway.

      Sadly, one day you will learn these lessons the difficult way, when you watch a loved one become crippled through no fault of their own - a car accident, an accident of birth, a badly judged dive for a football. Even old age.

      Until that day, do everyone else a favour and keep your disgusting opinions to yourself.

    • Cathy says:

      07:18pm | 09/07/11

      Are you human Demoman?

      God your poor children if ever anything tragic befalls them. Wouldn’t you be a sad family if your child drowned and was revived or if your partner broke their neck with your great big ugly chip on your shoulder.

      It is more likely that this will never befall you because most likely you have no real friends and no-one wants you because you are not a nice person so you sit there alone sucking on your bottle or joint hating not only others but mostly yourself.

      Poor you…

    • Sophie says:

      11:48am | 06/07/11

      I didn’t read the article this was in response to, and I am a mother of a child with a severe disability (who passed at five months) and so I can identify with a mother feeling overwhelmed and a breaking point.  I got a tiny taste of that future I faced and then Iost her.

      Reading these comments has been very eyeopening. It is so clear that so many here don’t know what they are talking about.  About the carers and those with the disability.  Urgh.

      Anyway, Angry Cripple, I wanted to thank you for this article.  I think I understood perfectly your perspective and your argument.

      Reply

    • josh says:

      11:56am | 06/07/11

      I live about 5 houses away from the corner store and i prefer driving to get milk and bread. I just felt like i needed to let you know.

      Reply

    • Calpurnia's Cat says:

      06:50pm | 09/07/11

      Thanks Josh, I am so much happier for knowing that just don’t tell Julia and Bob they’ll be around in a shot to give you the guilts and tax you for the privilege. Cheers

    • Nic says:

      12:26pm | 06/07/11

      Oh they’re SO cute! Cripples who come out and say they’re proud of who they are. It’s just adorable when they forget their true place in society is to make the rest of us feel more comfortable about our prejudice. Bless them!

      And don’t even get me started on how gorgeous it is when they accidentally drop their happy, smiling cripple act and express emotions that are common to the rest of us. Forgetful little scamps!

      I’m sure the writer… cheeky scallywag… has only momentarily forgotten their position as a cheerful, grateful cripple who works hard to make sure we’re all nice and cosy and unchallenged in our prejudice. He or she will feel just so silly about this when they remember their place!

      Reply

    • Vicki PS says:

      12:32pm | 06/07/11

      I wonder if the writer of this column is a parent?  I suspect not.  If he or she were, the desperation of the carer mother in the other column would be more sympathetically dealt with, or at least represented fairly.  It would be lovely if the whole ghastly mess were nicely neat and one dimensional, but it’s not.  Life for families who have a disabled member is riddled with ambivalence, dilemmas and conflicting feelings.  That’s family life, warts and all.  It doesn’t separate neatly into your needs/my needs or your voice/my voice.  It’s a pity that the writer of this column has seemingly become so self-obsessed that s/he has to push others down in order to build him/herself up.  You won’t win many allies that way, but you sure as hell might lose some of those whose support is most important.  Want to know how many people with severe disabilities are abandoned by their despairing families every year?

      Reply

    • Just another Mum says:

      12:43pm | 06/07/11

      Words cannot express the sadness, but not anger, I feel after reading both articles.  Just despair.  You see I am a carer myself and accept I will be until the day I die.  As much as I am a fighter for my child’s rights I am oft overwhelmed at times in my role as a 24/7 carer.  I do feel I have nothing left to give at times except that; just time.  Once a full-time and well paid worker, quite financially stable, I now rent and have no guarantee a roof over our heads.  We almost ended up homeless.  We live below the poverty line as needs must and rents escalate.  The other one got away scott free emotionally as well as financially; self-employed people know too well how to play the system. 

      I fear the possibility of institutionalism in the future for my child; consider for a moment what that would mean for you.  I cannot see a future for myself; just what is is.  I do not fear death for myself but fear for my child’s well-being in the future.  What more can I do?  Who will be there to provide never ending love, security and dedication?  I know there are some great workers out there but there are those horror stories too.  Okay life was not meant to be easy but does this have to be so difficult?  Call it burn out if you wish but I don’t really want to whinge.  I feel proud of my child’s achievements and tolerance in a less than perfect World.  I feel obliged to give my best as a parent but too often realise that my best is just not good enough.  I do not want to relinquish my carer responsilities just be better at doing the hard yards. 

      I realise the need to be self-supportive but Centrelink’s rules and regulations are suffocating, to put it blindly.  I need to ensure my (teen) child is transported to and from school, need to be close, on call, etc. and that leaves next to no time for work in a paying job ... haha find an employer that wants to take you on in those circumstances.  Your life is simply no longer your own and your pathetic social life is just non existent, in the too-hard basket. 

      Fact is carers need just as much help as the cared for.  Respite?  Yeah right ... check out the waiting lists, always others that have higher priority!  What we need is a system that supports us both to make the best of an all round bad deal; and that ain’t going to happen overnight, if ever. 

      Sorry for the whinge but get real on what is happening out here.  Statistics say that integration as opposed to institutionalism offers better outcomes for those with a loss of some abilities; and it actually costs society less too.  For every long suffering whinge you hear from a carer don’t forget the more costly option is to place our disabled into institutions - That option costs the taxpayer far more than you can imagine.  Do some research and the maths.  We don’t want your money - We just want to live.  We don’t even ask for your respect. 

      Thank you for reading if you have bothered so far.

      Reply

    • Lisa H. says:

      01:06pm | 06/07/11

      ‘My people’ you say… you think this woman who cares for her child more than 143 hours a week does not consider her daughter ‘her people’?
      You are unnecessarily divisive for not considering 24-hour unpaid carers as part of ‘your people’.
      I am shocked and surprised at your article. Try a little compassion, and unity, yourself. The plight of the disabled, and their families, really demands a very strong political voice.

      Reply

    • Craig says:

      01:09pm | 06/07/11

      To the author: can you look after yourself?  Are you totally independent?  Do you require a carer?  Even if not, some people do.  And it’s completely legitimate for them to stand up, as in the other article, and point out that society at large is not giving them the assistance that they need and deserve.  You should be ashamed of yourself.

      Reply

    • Calpurnia's Cat says:

      07:00pm | 09/07/11

      No, Craig. I think having this columnist express their vitriolic anger is very good because it is a chance to unload. I applaud this Angry Cripple for having the bottle to say exactly how they feel0 But it is also absolutely appropriate for others to point out that the carer-columnist,  a loving mother at the end of her tether, should be respected and applauded in turn. Ventilation is good, and by it, we will come to a mutual understanding that we are all in this together and understand each other a little better.

    • Tanya says:

      01:24pm | 06/07/11

      Boo Hoo! Angry Cripple how dare you condemn others, as if you are the only people to suffer these stigmatisms and situations in our society. Perhaps you should try being Gay, Lesbian or as in my case Transgendered and see how the world views you then.  Or maybe of Asian or African background and the list goes on. If you differ from the boring mainstream of society and its expectations, rejoice in not being apart of them or the mainstream. How boring! Also cheer up and smell the roses, you only attract what you put out. With what you put out no wonder your life is crap!

      Reply

    • Ben says:

      03:00pm | 06/07/11

      Are you really going to compare severe physical disability to race/sexual orientation?

    • Matt says:

      02:12pm | 06/07/11

      Wow, you certainely have some issues there, being crippled was not one I was thinking of….  It seems you enjoy your segregation and only feed it with your attitude, and almost sounds like you prefer it.  I was reading along fine until you said -

      ‘I’m one of those people you see on the street that makes you shift uncomfortably in your coat. I’m stared at, I’m patronised, I’m told I don’t belong among you normal people.’

      First, you’ve made a generalisation about everyone that’s simply not true.  Second how do you know you make me uncomfortable? Because you’re in a chair?..... please… Third - define normal.  Your attitude towards others is disgusting, even if you weren’t crippled you’d probably be a pig of a man.  You didn’t simply make a point about the carer in the other article, you trashed her opinions and feelings and seem to think she can’t have her say on the injustices of the system because she’s a carer.

      I even find it hard to believe you have other cripple friends or as you put it ‘my people’ that actually want to hang around you..  You talk about needing allies, well you’re certainely going the wrong way about that..

      Reply

    • Gerry says:

      02:56pm | 06/07/11

      I can not believe the amount of people who have judged and condemned the author of this article. Here a a few quotes from some of the above comments: “Stop being so sensitive”, “bitter and twisted individual” and “Harden up you whinger”, does this represent a compassionate society? Some of you may not agree with what Angry cripple says, but would it be so difficult to show a little bit more empathy.

      Reply

    • Sam Connor says:

      09:29pm | 06/07/11

      Gerry - spot on, mate.  And as a person with a disability - one that only pisses me off occasionally - and as a mother of two young men with autism, thank you.  I’m hoping that the readership of The Punch is uncharacteristically full of ignorant bigots and lowlifes (excepting some comments) - because the comments above are a sad representation of middle Australia.

      Just a footnote that the Angry Cripple is usually a guest spot, not the same person each week.  Doubt that many of the comments above are accurate.

      For me, I hope the AC this week is a chick - cos we need more ballsy, bolshy women who aren’t afraid to voice their opinion.

    • Kate says:

      07:13pm | 06/07/11

      Look, you’re entitled to have a whinge about the shitty situation you’ve found yourself in through no fault of your own. But so is the mother in the previous article. Being a carer 24/7 would be a horrendously difficult job. Many carers have probably felt at their wit’s end, suffered depression and even contemplated suicide like the previous author. Isn’t it better that carers are given a ‘space’ to vent their concerns and share their feelings, rather than being told to shut up? Reading the previous author’s views on the issue might make other carers feel a bit less alone, or reassure them that they aren’t horrible people for sometimes wishing it would all end.

      I’m not disabled enough to be out of work, but I do have two mental illnesses that have led to me requiring care at several points in my adult life. My mum has done a fantastic job at looking after me, making sure I was out of bed and eating, helping me deal with everyday life when I was too anxious to do so and getting support for my conditions. It makes me angry that anyone could downplay the stressful, heartbreaking, expensive and time-consuming work of any carer, whether it’s a part-time one like my mother or a full-time carer.

      Reply

    • ells says:

      12:03pm | 07/07/11

      I am appalled at the response to this article. How can anyone feel comfortable with using these derogatory terms and catch-phrases to label this Angry Cripple. I don’t care how much someone rouses anger in you but to speak to a person with a disability about hardship and sucking it up while you relax after a hard day or leading a normal, uncrippled life is just astounding.

      That said, I do have to disagree with the Angry Cripple to some extent. Carers should be entitled to the rights that every other person in this country is entitled to. Being a mother (or a father) does carry certain responsibilities, and that includes the responsibility to love and care for your child. However, to suggest that society should demand of them a lifetime of poverty, denigration and loneliness is just unacceptable. Yes, I agree, your plight in life is difficult and every day that you can move through it feeling empowered and independent is absolutely admirable, and highly important. However,  carers make that that a possibility for young persons with a disability - nurturing them to believe in themselves, doing the nasty jobs that you cannot yourself do, and opening doors for you in society that would otherwise remain closed. Furthermore, physical disability is only the beginning.

      People with moderate to severe disabilities cannot speak for themselves, and indeed, often do not have the capacity to care. These people’s disabilities fundamentally become their carers own. A carer of a child or adult who cannot express oneself, carry out day-to-day activities, eat, drink, converse, or often give anything much back at all, spends their lives giving giving giving and asking for very little in return. Is it so wrong to hope that one day they may be afforded the human right to live as an individual capable of love, a person with holistic needs? When you spend every waking hour giving every part of yourself to your needy child, when do you have time to fall in love? Chase your dreams? Use your intellect? Even just have coffee with your girlfriends? Oh wait, you probably don’t have friends, and if you do they are probably the carers you meet through various networking groups or your child’s school or day program. The kind of friends who just need someone to listen as they break down over their own circumstances - not exactly going to boost the spirits is it?

      So, Angry Cripple, while I admire you and am filled with compassion about your difficulties in your life and your need to have your voice heard - please do not discard the crippling nature of being a carer, and the need they have to be heard also.

      Reply

    • ells says:

      12:13pm | 07/07/11

      *moderate to severe intelectual disabilities

    • ells says:

      12:13pm | 07/07/11

      *moderate to severe intelectual disabilities

    • Cat says:

      12:53pm | 07/07/11

      I’m a carer, and this article was a hard read - much in the same way that I presume the OTHER article was a hard read for the Author of this one. I sat here with my mouth open and tried to wrap my head around where this person is coming from rather than just give a knee-jerk, emotive response - because from where I sit the other article is a voice that needs to be heard, from a person who is clearly a stakeholder in these issue that we all want resolved. but what I can’t see is any direct language which would provoke a shamed response in people with a disabilty. i cannot see words which would inspire hatred towards people with a disability, but then I read ths article and can see that it has done that for this person and clearly it does for others too. I can see that when they interpret the other article the way they do the response would indeed be to want to stop something which makes them feel less able to advocate. I can also see how as a carer the reaction to reading THIS article is to respond with “and how do you think you make carers feel when you tell them to stop talking about their experiences because you read into what they write something that they feel simply is not there? Do you not think you might be stopping carers from being effective activists by telling them they are heartlessly chipping away at your pride by simply sharing how the same issue effects them?”
      You know what? This wont be resolved unless people compromise - I don’t think it is at all fair to tell a legitamite stakeholder they aren’t welcome to speak publicly on issues which effect them, and I don’t think it is fair to casually dismiss views like the one shared in this article as having no substance because it clearly is a deeply felt response.  I think we need to ask people who fall into neither camp what they think - we need to check and see if the negative views the author of this article think the other article promotes are actually being promoted or if that is a false assumption. If it is a predominantly false assumption then people who feel carers are negatively impacting public perseption might have to re-examine their views and take on board that the offense they feel is not a reasonable response to carer contributions of this nature. If it is an predominantly accurate assumption then carers might need to evaluate how their words impact on the larger campaign and adjust their public dialogue accordingly.
      Do you know what? I’m pretty damn sure we’d find that there are a minority of people who WOULD read the other article and think less of people with a disability, but I also think we would find people who read THIS article and think less of people with a disability. I think we’d find people who get where each author is coming from and people who are scratching their heads because they can see where both are coming from - but this is the damn PUNCH and there is room for everyone, since the Angry Cripple banner has clearly allowed and saught submissions from any stakeholders I think it should jolly well go on doing so.

      Reply

    • Julie says:

      04:38pm | 07/07/11

      I don’t agree with the tone or opinion of the author of this article towards the other, but I respect that you’ve written it, and made me think about what you are saying.
      You suggest the ‘carer’ is making people with disabilities feel bad about themselves, a burden onto others, giving them a “guilt trip” - I didn’t find that at all. From both your pieces I have a better insight about the human and political issues that need to be progressed with an NDIS.
      Love the illustration though.

      Reply

    • Felicity says:

      07:22pm | 08/07/11

      No one can make you feel anything if you feel guilt after reading the previous article it was not the article that made you feel it, it was there already, i don’t know why as i don’t know you. The title Angry Cripple certainly applies that was so very evident in your words” My People” are we not all people entitled to the same considerations, to voice our opinions. You are sounding like a racsist who considers the able bodied carer a lesser human without value

      Reply

    • Jane Wardlaw says:

      11:24am | 16/07/11

      “Disability is not something individuals have.  What individuals have are body functioning limitations or otherwise known as ‘impairments’.  “Disability” is a process.  “Disability” is the process whereby one group design a world without considering those with limited body functions.  Therefore, Disability is a social response that forgets about people with limiting body functioning/impairment.”

      Reply
 
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99

They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

A private school girl’s family is sueing her elite, extremely expensive private school for not…

Our Budget blade didn’t cut aid, it’s being paid in spades

by Richard Marles

74

Our Budget blade didn’t cut aid, it’s being paid in spades

Ten million children vaccinated. 2.5 million people with access to safe drinking water. And 30 million…

Nosebleed Section

choice ringside rantings

From: They must pay for one’s bitter disappointments

Michael S says:

"A teacher at Geelong Grammar had criticised her for using words that were too long, which had left her confused and had made her doubt her ability to write essays. She became ''quite distressed'' when her English marks began to fall." I can sympathise. My scholastic mentors conveyed to me a causal relationship… [read more]

From: Welfare for breeders is a bonus for everyone

Change Up! says:

I have no problem paying my taxes. As a single, childless person on a very decent income, I can afford it and not have my life severely altered. Plus I understand that my taxes paying for things like schools, childcare and infrastructure is ultimately a good thing. A better community is better for me… [read more]

Light weight

Gentle jabs to the ribs

Real women like men who drink beer

Real women like men who drink beer

British comedian John Cleese calls them “beer fairies”.  It’s a euphemism for… Read more

198 comments

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