Helpful Tips For Respectfully Interacting With Homeless and Disabled People:
I am feeling inspired to offer some advice about how to respond to a homeless person with respect and dignity. I realize that most people aren’t trained in trauma informed approaches when engaging with vulnerable people in our community. In addition, just because someone is a therapist, doesn’t mean they know how to handle situations with homeless and disabled folks. I realize that most people have good intentions and genuinely feel some empathy for them. They might have politically correct values and beliefs and progressive political views that are in alignment with an assortment of social justice concerns. I have come to realize that compassion and empathy occur on a continuum, which means that one can always cultivate more of it. In addition, sometimes people’s actions can be contrary to their beliefs and values. Thus, it’s always a good idea to make an attempt to “walk your talk”, so to speak. As human, we have contradictions, shadow elements, and learned social norms.
Proper treatment of homeless folks, particularly if they have a mental or physical disability, is a tender issue for me. I have a tremendous amount of compassion for them, which is a direct related to a lifetime of personal experiences with beloved family members and professional experiences as a home health medical social worker. I have some deep traumatic wounding as my biological father had a psychotic break when I was seven and was diagnosed with Paranoid Schizophrenia. This was incredibly traumatizing for my mother as she was left with 3 girls to raise in Ashland in the late 1970’s. My father’s brother, a humble hero and doctor in Portland (chuck Christensen) helped Rick get the medication he needed to stabilize; however, his brain changed organically due to a multitude of Biological and Psychosocial factors. Tragically, he was no longer able to function in various aspects of his life. Fortunately, he qualified for Social Security Disability, but only received a small amount of money each month ($800.00) which wasn’t enough to pay his rent, utilities, and food.
As a result, he was homeless at various times in his life. One time I received a call that he was seen sleeping under a bridge in Medford. This put a tremendous amount of life stressors on his friends and family as we were in poverty ourselves. We felt shame that we were not able to help, but his 3 daughters and my mother were all working burn out minimum wage jobs in Ashland. This was my first wake up call to the rampant war on poverty in America the Great.
I continued to work my ass off doing pink collar jobs in Ashland-- housecleaner, caregiver, retail sales, waitress, landscaper, house painter, and baker—eventually leading to chronic physical exhaustion, anxiety, and depression. Despite having funding for graduate school, I absolutely had to go as my undergraduate degree in the social sciences, wasn’t very marketable.
To make matters worse, there is a massive shortage of subsidized housing, group homes, and transitional group homes not only in southern Oregon, but in the United States. All of this has been documented by numerous social services organizations; such as, Housing Authority of Jackson County (HUD), ACCESS, and Rogue Valley Council of Governments (RVCOG).
Some of the most economically vulnerable people are those with chronic diseases, mental illness, physical disabilities, and substance abuse. Women and children are also incredibly vulnerable, not to mention single mothers (my mother raised 3 girls).
I know this is a fact as I worked closely with various social service agencies and medical providers as a home health social worker, such as Columbia Care, Rogue Retreat, Disability Services, Senior Services, JCMH, Adult Protection Services, Etc.
All of these agencies witnessed first-hand how some of the most vulnerable community members fell into a revolving door of homelessness and hospitalization. And if they tried to sleep in their cars in Ashland, some would receive tickets from the police because some people would complain about it. They would also complain about them being downtown asking for money. I heard every complaint in the book – “I can’t go near them because they small like urine”, or, “we don’t want these people effecting our ability to do business.”
These incredibly vulnerable people would get fined by the police, which further criminalized poor people because they couldn’t pay the fine and would end up doing some
When a vulnerable patient with multiple chronic issues needed to be hospitalized, they would be admitted or admit themselves to the Emergency room. The hospitals had to admit the patients and try to bring them back from the brink of death, but it was too costly for the hospital to board them long term. And they couldn’t go to a skilled nursing facility because they didn’t qualify for that level of care. In other words, they were to independent in their activities of daily living to qualify for Medicaid and skilled nursing.
One needs to qualify for Medicaid in order to be admitted to assisted living facilities and foster homes. However, the criteria is ridiculously strict, and sadly, too many vulnerable seniors and disabled folks are living in poverty with absolutely NO hope for a change in their situation.
This is what we have been doing in AMERICA THE GREAT for decades to our most vulnerable people. I understand why they no longer vote or believe politicians.
I can no longer look these people in the face and tell them they didn’t qualify for Medicaid in-home care services because they were “to ambulatory in the activities of daily living.”
There are too many vulnerable seniors living alone in rural areas that don’t have the money to pay out of pocket for a caregiver, and, Medicare doesn’t reimburse for caregiving. These people have mild – severe dementia in addition to other chronic diseases, but they can dress, feed, and toilet themself, which disqualifies them from receiving Medicaid in-home care services.
It is too easy to wear your rose-colored glasses and make gross judgements from the comfort of your safe homes and offices.
These vulnerable folks eventually get discharged to a transitional psychiatric group home, but there is a limit on how long they can stay. It is never enough time before they are eventually discharged to the harsh streets of Medford, only to have the same thing happen 3 months later when it got too cold for them to sleep outside.
This completely broke my heart many times over.
I understand why these people refuse to vote.
As you can imagine, this was incredibly painful for my father’s family members, as most of us didn’t have the financial means to take care of him. Knowing my father was incredibly vulnerable and suffering was incredibly painful and psychically draining on everyone that loved him.
Perhaps the most profound wounding I experienced was the subtle and blatant forms of social oppression he experienced. This poor man was experiencing an incredible amount of suffering –he was constantly attacked by unloving voices that told him to kill himself. He was a greater threat to himself than he was to other people.
My father, Rick, was one of the kindest people on the planet—he would give the shirt off his back to help his friends. He knew how it felt to be constantly criticized by others; thus, he chose to not judge people for their human foibles. This type of abuse occurs subtly thru harsh facial expressions, avoiding eye contact, body language, and walking away from them. Blatant forms of social oppression can be revealed through negative stigma’s, verbal abuse, emotional abuse, and physical abuse.
Having a mentally ill father inspired me to pursue a career in social work and mental health. I am very sensitized to the various ways families are affected by mental illness. I am also aware of ableism, particularly how these biases are unconscious in the majority of people. White privilege is also an unconscious bias, as well as gender biases (sexism).
I am a Sociologist and clinical social worker who devoted 4 years of my life working on the frontlines with a team of medical professionals that went into people’s homes (home health). We served some of the most vulnerable people in Jackson and Josephine counties. I had the honor of working with some of the most courageous humble heroes who taught me a lot. I also gleaned a tremendous amount of wisdom from my clients, many of whom had chronic diseases, mental illness, physical disabilities, poverty, homelessness, trauma, elderly, and substance abuse.
I was also fortunate to learn about National Alliance for the Mentally Ill, at a time when I was going thru multiple life stressors. When my father was diagnosed with bladder cancer and had to be transitioned from Illinois to Oregon, I signed up for an 11 week course and support group for family members of mentally ill. I thought I knew about mental illness and medications, but I knew very little, even with a Master’s degree in Social Work.
I tried to get my father in a group home, but he didn’t quality for Medicaid, even with a diagnosis of bladder cancer and schizophrenia. He eventually had a horrible fall , which caused face injuries.
At this time his entire family was in great need of help. Thankfully, another humble hero in the community, a clinical social worker at the V.A., Fred Berger LCSW, was able to pull some strings and get rick to see a social worker at Jackson County Mental Health. They had mercy on his soul and got him on Medicaid and admitted to a 24 hour foster home as his needs were too high for us to handle.
Perhaps the most heart wrenching discovery was the rampant social oppression these people experienced thru misinformation and negative stigmas they must deal with on a day-to-day basis.
It is hard enough living with a mental illness or physical disability in a country that hasn’t provided adequate funding, housing, or mental health support for them to even make ends meet, much less having to endure the blatant and subversive forms of social oppression.
1) If you see a houseless person treat them with respect and dignity. It is important to take a nonjudgemental approach that is calm. It is also important to acknowledge their existence, as opposed to not giving them eye contact. They are sensitized to people’s body language, facial expressions, and avoidance patterns. It’s not a good idea to laugh or make demeaning, condescending comments under your breath. If they ask you for money, kindly communicate that you wish you could help, but you don’t have any cash on you. If you have something to offer (money, food, or items) share it with a warm smile and a kind heart.
2) If they are wrapped up in delusional behaviors, it’s important to NOT laugh or mock them. Evidence based research from the National Alliance from the Mental Ill has revealed that Paranoid Schizophrenics are more often a harm to themselves then they are to others. However, sometimes they can have angry outbursts due to paranoid delusions and voices. They can also violate your personal space at times, which can cause people to feel uncomfortable as they naturally get an endorphin and cortisol rush due to having a nervous system (fight or flight).
3) If these vulnerable folks leave a mess of stuff everywhere they go, it is important to understand that Schizophrenia is an executive functioning disability, which means they don’t have organizational skills, time management skills, working memory, problem solving, emotional regulation, and some social skills. Please reframe from your verbal judgements and do what humble heroes in our community have done for decades. Get some gloves, a garbage bag, a couple of friends, and pick the mess. It will literally take you 15-30 minutes out of your day.
4) Be committed to learning from people with disabilities. More often then not, they have been forced to develop fierce defense mechanisms in order to survive in this heartless world. It is very common to unconsciously project your ableism bias onto others. It is also common to unconsciously project gender biases, sexism, racism, and class privilege. Social scientists have revealed that people tend to socialize with people in their own Socio-Economic class. If you live in a city, such as Ashland, it is important to know that historically, there hasn’t been a lot of racial diversity here. If you choose to not go to the Cooperative Food market because there are homeless folks there, you are unconsciously acting out white and class privilege.
5) Last but not least, be open to learning from people in our community who directly work with homeless folks. If you don’t have the time to do direct service work, offering financial help is always welcome. However, it is incredibly humbling to get out of your comfort zone, your safe office, your safe home, and donate some service hours every month to a humanitarian agency that is directly servicing houseless folks.
If you need assistance navigating social service agencies in Southern Oregon, I offer social work consultations, therapy, and workplace evaluations. I am also a sociologist and social researcher who has devoted my life to serving socially oppressed people in Southern Oregon.
For more information about me, Victoria Christensen, M.A, M.S.W, see my website:
www.guanyinhealingarts.com
You can also email me at: electrart@hotmail.com
References:
Social Class influence on values and beliefs":
https://pressbooks.howardcc.edu/soci101/chapter/8-3-social-class-in-the-united-states/
NAMI research on Schizophrenics as high risk for suicide:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1845151/
Research on Ableism, Racism, and white privilege:
https://truthout.org/articles/ableism-and-white-supremacy-are-intertwined-we-must-confront-them-together/
https://disabilityphilanthropy.org/resource/intersections-between-racism-and-ableism/