Abuse

Fellow Mighty member @mightyaut has expressed her fears regarding the state of care for disabled people in the United States. I am adding my voice to hers, as I believe it is important that we understand the threat that Donald Trump poses to the services that disabled folk rely on.

I had reservations about Mr. Trump from the beginning of his candidacy in 2015. His mockery of disabled Washington Post reporter Serge Kovaleski convinced me that Mr. Trump lacks compassion and was unfit to be President. Learning about Mr. Trump’s nephew Fred and Fred’s disabled son William only strengthened my conviction that Mr. Trump is unfit to lead a nation with a substantial disabled population. Fred visited his uncle to express his concerns about the increasing cost of William’s care, and Mr. Trump told his nephew that he should just let his son die. According to an article in The Guardian, Mr. Trump expressed the same sentiment to a group of physicians and disability advocates he met at the White House. In Mr. Trump’s eyes, the lives of disabled people have no value; they are a burden to be disposed of. Fred Trump said, understandably, that it hurt him to hear his uncle speak that way about his son. He added,“Acceptance and tolerance would only come with public education and awareness…Donald might never understand this.”

Mr. Trump is intent on destroying the Department of Education, which, among other duties, maintains the Office for Civil Rights. This office investigates when schools discriminate against or abuse disabled students. An article in USA Today says that shortly after taking office, Mr. Trump ordered that 243 staffers from that office be laid off, crippling its ability to look out for its young charges. Allowing discrimination and abuse to go unchecked normalizes seeing disabled people as “other.” This in turn makes it easier to paint disabled people as subhuman.

Disabled folk disgust Mr. Trump. He doesn’t see us as people, instead viewing us solely in terms of how expensive it is to keep us alive. His solution is slashing Medicaid, a move one disability advocate calls a “soft” version of Nazi Germany’s Aktion T4 euthanasia program. Between 1939 and 1945, pediatricians, psychiatrists and nurses working for the Third Reich murdered upwards of 300,000 mentally and physically disabled children and adults after the Reich disparaged them as “useless eaters’ and “burdensome lives.” The equivalent manifesting in 2025 America is more subtle: deny vulnerable Americans access to care while denigrating them as parasites and the reason that MAGA’s diehard supporters can’t have nice things. In the meantime, the money the country saves by killing its most vulnerable citizens will fund a tax cut for Elon Musk. If Mr. Musk spent an amount totaling my father’s mortgage every day of the year, it would take over ten thousand years to exhaust his net worth. I for one am glad that Mr. Musk will see his tax burden relieved. I don’t know how he summons the strength to go on, making do with so little.

The need for brevity has obliged me to simplify my arguments against President Trump. At this juncture, I recall helpful advice offered by fantasy author George R. R. Martin when the President was running against Hillary Clinton. Martin pointed out that Mrs. Clinton’s campaign ads were straightforward, unedited clips of Mr. Trump being himself, because the strongest argument against Mr. Trump becoming President has always been Mr. Trump himself. To paraphrase Mr. Martin, you don’t need to listen to Mrs. Clinton, George R.R. Martin, or me. Listen to Trump. Watch videos of his speeches. Read the transcript of his address at West Point over Memorial Day weekend. Look at his social media accounts. Then ask yourself, seriously, if this is a man who should be deciding whether you deserve to have health care or not.

Thank you, @mightyaut, for your posts and the encouragement they gave me to speak out. I hope others will follow your example and speak out as well. Before I go, I recommend Sarah Kendzior’s Substack as a source of information on the danger that Mr. Trump poses to American democracy. As Ms. Kendzior puts it, the smoking gun pointing to Mr. Trump’s crimes against ordinary Americans is smoking because Mr. Trump is shooting this country to death, and that won’t change until enough of us stand up to a man who is little more than a glorified bully. #Disability #MentalHealth #Depression #Trauma #PTSD #Suicide

I made a new post because editing the other one was making my app go crazy.

I could really use someone to talk to about my struggles. My situation is kinda intense, and I don’t expect anyone to have any magic answers that will fix everything. I just need to feel seen and heard, someone who can listen without turning away because my truth isn't pretty to look at.

I will try to summarize my life without too much detail.

I grew up in violence and abuse. We moved every couple of years so every time I made friends I lost them all and had to start over. I joined the military as soon as I could to get away from home.

I got married very young and thewas a nightmare. I went into a deepand the military gave me an early discharge rather than treat me. After the breakup I lost access to my son and wasn't able to see him.

I went into a downward spiral and spent my 20s homeless and food insecure, bouncing from couch to couch, staying in shelters, or sometimes on the street. I was basically trying to party myself to death. I drank like it was an Olympic sport, I took so many drugs. During that time I was sexually exploited and raped. People took advantage of me.

I never thought that I would live to see 30. I really didn't want to. But I did, so I decided to try something else. Quit the drinking and the drugs and started over. Met a nice girl, got our own place, I got a decent job. But after we had been together for 3 years I had a major depressive episode.

I couldn't get myself out of bed, started missing work, lost the job. My girlfriend didn't know how to handle it and left me. Then I was given a "wellness check" which is where I was violently taken and held against my will for two weeks in the psych ward.

I was sexually assaulted by another patient while I was there and the violent nature that I was taken gave me a serious shoulder injury that left me unable to lift the arm or grip things with the hand for an entire year. They took an x-ray and said it was fine, then denied me pain meds because the x-ray didn't show the soft tissue damage that had occurred.

2 weeks later they decided I was no longer a threat to myself and cut me loose. But I had been doing doordash here and there to make ends meet. And missing 2 weeks meant I couldn't make rent, so I was homeless again.

Lived in my car for a while, has to throw almost everything I owned into the dumpster. Went back to my parents to try to start over. Went to the VA for therapy and meds, but the meds didn't work. After months of trying meds with no success I hung myself. Pure luck I survived. I stopped taking the pills and going to therapy.

Took a year to get back on my feet. Met someone who didn't mind that I couldn't work. I became a stay at home dad to her 4 year old daughter. The kiddo was my little girl, my second chance at being a dad. I loved her with my whole heart. We were together for 7 years. She didn’t remember a time when I wasn't her daddy.

And now I have lost them both. I am homeless again, back in therapy, back on meds that aren't working, waiting to go back to my parents and try to start again. And I don’t really feel like I want to keep going.

#bipolardepression #majordepressivedisorder #depression #anxiety #ptsd #grief #childloss #suicidalideation #suicidalthoughts #suicideattemptsurvivors #suicide #trauma

Right now I’m ok, I’m choosing to be ok, even though nothing has changed externally, my situation remains the same, but I’m ok, because none of what’s hurt me was about me, sure I’ve made mistakes as every person does as we live and learn but what others did to me was more than a mistake, it was cruel, it was abuse, most of it was intentional, it was damaging, it was wrong and it should never have happened but the fact that it did is about them, not me! Yes, I was the one vulnerable to it all, I was the one who couldn’t protect herself, but these are not things I should be blaming myself for, most of the abuse and assaults happened in my childhood, any child would be vulnerable and struggle to protect themselves, it wasn’t a personal flaw or something I did wrong. I survived it all in the way my brain and body decided was best for me in the moment and each time that response was to freeze; be still, be silent, dissociate. I’ve been viewing myself as weak for doing that, but it wasn’t a ‘choice’, it was automatic and it’s purpose was to help me get through really distressing situations that I was unable to run away from or fight my way out of. I did everything I could have and I need to stop beating myself up for being human, for being a victim in the past, and for finding it all so hard to heal from. I am feeling like it’s unfair that I have to heal from it all, I don’t want to have to do so much work on myself or recover from all the things others did. I want to be free from it all, not have to heal from it. So yeah, I am sad, I am angry, and there’s a whole load of grief to untangle when I’m ready but I’m ok. Me, who I am, in my internal world - I’m ok!
#ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #Recovery #MentalHealth

I know that not everyone is going to agree with me, but I need to speak about it. I am speaking about health insurance in the US, as this is a community of people with health conditions. I am not here to fear monger; rather to educate. I am voicing my concerns and fears, again.

In the United States, healthcare for vulnerable populations is under threat. This is a simple fact that can easily be fact checked through a simple google search. The “Big Beautiful Bill” has already passed through one branch of government and is on its way to the senate. There are huge cuts to Medicaid and Medicare being proposed, which will absolutely impact citizens; both those who receive these benefits, and those who get healthcare from places that receive money from these safety nets.

The only people in office who are saying this is to eradicate “waste, fraud, and abuse” are lying. I contact people in office and have been told me this, after pushing back on the rhetoric. Independent news sources confirm this as well. The bill was initially presented as something only impacting Medicaid. Many sources were confused because it would be impossible to get the funds they are requesting by cutting Medicaid alone. It came out the day before the bill was voted on that Medicare cuts are also in the bill. As well as money for food assistance. Again, this is being presented as cutting off assistance for people who are abusing the system. There is not $8 billion dollars of fraud. The money they are “saving” is going to give tax breaks to the wealthiest in the county- again, a simple fact that can be googled and confirmed through reputable sources.

It is important to understand what propaganda is. It is important to educate ourselves on things like media biases, types of language, and how to discern credible sources and information. It is also important to know when you are being lied to and/or manipulated. Misinformation is rampant- including what comes out of the mouths of those in office. This is not to say other administrations have been perfect and I’m not here to discuss “what about ism” because that is taking away from what is right in front of us.

I don’t know how many people here are US citizens that receive government benefits. I do know that my lived experience in the system has shown me how much people in the system are dismissed and scapegoated. I also have learned how hard it is to get the correct services and resources as a disabled citizen. If you haven’t lived within the confines of the US disability system, you may not understand how fragile these supports are.

I am going to reiterate this point- I am disabled and receive less than $1,000 to survive on (I am on SSI). Housing vouchers are so hard to get that many people are homeless for years (see my posts from 2021-2023). I also was only receiving food assistance that totaled around $70 a month the last time I checked. Most people do not get approved for disability right away and have to fight in court to receive this assistance that isn’t even enough to survive on.

Hoping this goes away will not help those who are at risk. And, I am not trying to be offensive and this may lose some friends, prayers are not going to solve this. People suffer all the time and it’s not because they didn’t pray hard enough (absolutely continue to pray if it helps you). Disabled people have been fighting for their rights for a very long time. We have to advocate for ourselves, in whatever capacity we can. I know I cannot do things like attend protests. Personally I am calling my senators and representative as often as I can. My senators do not answer or call me back- which is saying a lot about the state of the union. I have been contacting them on social media and find many others doing the same because constituents cannot reach the people who are supposed to represent them. I am staying informed enough but not overconsumed. I am bringing my concerns to my therapists who help me navigate these by action. If anyone has been doing other ways of outreach/advocacy please let me know. I would love new ideas to continue to advocate for those of us who need it.

As an ending note- I am a Taylor Swift fan and I am hoping that she drops Reputation TV today. 😅

#Disability #ADHD #Agoraphobia #PanicDisorder #ChronicVestibularMigraine #Migraine #ComplexPosttraumaticStressDisorder #PosturalOrthostaticTachycardiaSyndrome #idontrememberwhatelseihaveatthispoint

Hi, my name is happypat75. I call myself that since I left my husband of 49 years. We are Americans who moved to Thailand our dream retirement home. He was a good father of our 4 children now adults and a good provider. He is very selfish and was always a spoiled son.
When we moved I started seeing a different side to him. I overlooked a lot until it progressed. After moving, together 24/7 then covid affected us as everyone else.
My stress was worse, I got sicker being taken to the emergency room often for pain.
Our marriage was bad and my health deteriorated. We flew to Bangkok to see a specialist. Many tests with wonderful care, I was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and Polymyalgia Rheumatica, added to my diagnosis of IBS in my 30s.
I knew our marriage was over when I told him our marriage improves or I leave. Our home became a horrible place to live in. Then the accidents started to happen to me. It progressed to physical abuse. I was then diagnosed with Kidney disease stage 3.
I had been researching his behaviors for two years. He could have written the book for Covid Narcissist. His behavior was word for word for the diagnosis. I saw an email from a collection agency. He spent our joint savings accounts, investments and most of my personal savings. I was very sick and trusted him with everything for years. He was gambling still is.
I moved out. I live in a lovely Thai home by myself in a quiet gated area. Thank God I worked all my life. I did all the normal things, change bank accounts and took my name of everything. I am a strong believer in Jesus and know I could not get through all my years without his love, strength, guidance and my faith. I believe everything happens for a reason.
Where am I now one year on my own. I have the same health issues. I take half the dosage of meds and eliminated some. I have lost thirty eight pounds by eating Vegan food. I enjoy Thai delicious vegan foods. My last Dr. visit all my counts were great. She was amazed my change.
All of us with chronic health issues know it is not one day at a time it can be one minute at a time. When I feel good and go out I can get sick, must go home weak, dizzy and hurting all over. I vomit a lot. Some days I do a few things then others I can not. I cook a little and when we eat out I order extra foods and freeze it. I have chores I should do but I say I will give away my big clothes someday or clean out drawers/organize cupboards some day. I try not to let it bother me but it does.
I try to keep a positive attitude it is hard. I read " My worse day alone is better than my best days with husband the past 5 years." I am not a victim, I am a survivor of an abusive husband and my health issues. I look at my marriage as a Blessing, I have my kids, grandkids and great grandbaby. I pray for all dealing with abuse and health issues. Be Strong, all you Mighties Phra Jao GOD -uay phorn-BLESS -khun YOU (Thai) HAPPYPAT75

Hi, my name is HeartwarmingBongo68. I'm here because I want help moving forward from my abuse and feelings of worthlessness and wanting to end my own life.

#MightyTogether #Anxiety #AutismSpectrumDisorder #ADHD

Hi, my name is H3ru. I'm here because
abuse,trauma,misunderstud,sexualyabused

Hi!
I'm a psychologist(clinical, not a psychotherapist which in my country is different than USA) and ironically I very much struggle with mental health. I've been in therapy for the past years, on and off, switched since 4 months to a new therapist and I'm struggling with alcohol addiction ( I'm highly functional tho, only drink at nights or on the weekends), symptoms of dissociation (which is ironical, because I knew damn well the theory and symptoms, but forgot how I reality things translate differently), childhood abuse, feelings of inadequacy , imposter syndrome and severe loneliness. I don't know what I expect posting this, especially hence I saw there's no other post here . Perhaps a place where I can turn the roles around, where I can be the one that's listened to.