Multiplicity does not mean Disability
Guest editorial by Jack
Jack is not a member of House Astraea but of another household entirely. Please address all comments about this piece to Jack via our web-to-email form.
I work with transsexuals and transgenders.
Example 1:
If a bio-male with a mortage, a wife, 3 kids and still paying off a car decides hie is no longer willing to deceive hymself and everyone around hym - and comes out as a transgender woman - what do you think usually happens (in the enlightened societies we live in) ?
Hie usually (98% of the time) loses everything.
The lot.
The (bio-male) tg woman is on a fast track
to living on the streets,
selling her body (which she usually hates!),
risking her life from violence as well as through hiv/aids etc,
usually ending up on drugs
and/or intravenous drugs
- just to get a few $$ together to keep on living.
Her decision to be true to herself, is the right of each and every citizen in society. This unfortunate situation comes from other factors.
It is society's condemnation of what she's decided, that IS the problem here.
Society (for the most part) would rather she slit her throat,
than change her life around, make the changes she needs to make and get on with living.
The way for her to seek some hope,
is to go on Social Security for as long as she needs to
until she's transitioned
(can't get a job with a beard and a dress),
until she's saved for the operation
(can't get male-to-female surgery on medicare)
until she's found suitable housing
(some people -don't- want transgenders renting from them)
until she's back on her feet again.
She is only "dysfunctional" as far as Society has a problem with her.
If Society had no problem with her being who she really is,
then she wouldn't be "dysfunctional".
She'd be able to keep that job,
keep paying the mortgage,
maintain contact with the kids,
transition comfortably on the job,
save for surgery or whatever she wants over time,
keep her friends,
keep her support networks in place,
etc... you get the picture?
It is not the individual who's the problem here.
It's the society at large who has the attitude problem.
IF society hired transgender women as equally as anyone else,
if society allowed transgenders to transition on the job,
if society didn't see/have any problem with bearded women in dresses in the workplace,
if society didn't demand that a woman must never have a penis,
if society didn't throw a transgender on the street,
--- then the transgender "problem" would be solved.
So, what's my point - in drawing comparisons with this example and Multiple people not integrating...?
The multiple person who is not integrating...
also has to hide their Multiple People...(currently in society).
This can set up huge difficulties for everyone involved, (both inside and out).
It's so much easier on Society, if the multiple person just integrated and 'got on' with being "functional" again. (attitude in the larger society).
The problem isn't the Multiple people,
the problem is Society's attitude towards such people,
and the mental and physical contortions such people
are forced into to manage in a society where they
could potentially - lose jobs, housing, children, marriages
if they were to come out as Multiple.
If Society can't get over their attitude about Multiple People, by which they exclude Multiple People from the opportunities of every citizen of that Society, then the Onus is on Society to make ammends.
Society has a obligation to provide the Social Security net for the very people they have judged and do violence to on a day-by-day basis.
Otherwise, we all, as a Society, may as well return to the 'good ol' days' where disabled babies were drowned at birth, where pregnant, unmarried women were stoned to death (whether they were raped or not), and where black people spent their days as a slave class; or on the other hand, we begin to approproach the selective attitudes of a man with a tiny black moustache.
If Society didn't have the exclusive attitudes and demeaning judgements towards people of difference: whether they're multiple or transgender, or black, or disabled, then Society can pay for that attitude.
Modern society strives to give all peoples of all creeds, colours and differences the same opportunities as those more fortunate ones.
I've seen people write (in Multiple forums)
"If somebody has to go on disability because they're a multiple"...etc.
NO one goes on Disability because they're transgender,
or because they're multiple,
or because they're black or whatever.
No One.
That's too simplistic, and furthermore, Social Security is definitly not a 'lifestyle option'. It's usually barely enough to survive on. (Ramen noodles all 'round, folks)
People go on disability because this arse-backward society (for the most part) that we live in, actually creates many of the problems Mutiple people (and other people of difference) are faced with.
They go on disability because they have to.
It's a lifeline for many.
Society doesn't allow for, and support, difference amongst its members sufficiently enough, to allow people not to need disability.
Jack
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