Run, Logan!

Many years ago – 1976 – I saw a movie called Logan's Run. I was 20, and I didn't have any real thought of what this was about or what it could mean then. The 'ceremony' looked good, didn't look painful, the adults (30 years old) were floated up the central area and annihilated in front of the huge audience who cheered and clapped them. Not ever suicide – the people getting annihilated were wonderful people, loved by the audience! Sometime in that decade I had made a suicide arrangement with my best friend – we would finish ourselves when we reached 30. 

Jump forward, to 2016. Suicide is reported in ABS, who said that the (2013) median age for suicide was 44.5 and the median age for all deaths was 81.7. Lifeline said that in 2012 it reached 11 per 100,000 of all people. They said that suicide is the 'leading cause of death for Australians aged between 15 and 44'.

But they also said 'We all have a role to play in suicide prevention'.

Move sideways. Or just turn around and look at people you don't know. Maybe you used to but you don't even know them anymore. Are they on unemployment? DSP? Childcare? Did they ever work? What happened to them to put them where they now are? Was their employer stuffing their employment? (Palmer Queensland Nickel – 550 kicked out when his business goes down the ditch but he's still in politics; Australian government – 3,000 ship building jobs now in Spain; hospitality employers in Victoria and SA prefer employees on a 457; Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry claim the temporary visa holders are helping tourism; central meat workers said there were practically no cattle for meat; car manufacturers closed down, and so many more…) 

The LNP has said that anyone wanting to work can. What they don't seem to realise is that anyone terminated from their employer after a sham way to get rid of them might mean that to work they need to move. If they have their own home and a family, what will happen to them? Do they live in, say, SA and find that the only decent work is in Sydney? Do they have to move there? 

How many of those will suicide? How many will even think of it? 

Suicide is not bad. Suicide is considered to be the last step in this world. I can think exactly that. In 2014 ABS reported that Australia was one of 7 countries where people had a life expectancy of more than 80. Those other countries are Japan, Italy, Switzerland, Iceland, Israel and Sweden. Three years ago Australia might have still been pretty close to these others. Looking at those other countries, I think that they have a high belief in themselves which doesn't take anything from their lower (unemployed?) people but treats them with respect. That no longer happens in Australia. 

ABS reported that employment would trend up by 19.8k from December 2015 to January 2016. In fact, on the seasonal adjustment estimates this went down by 7.9k. Full-time employment decreased 40,600, and part-time employment increased 32,700. Unemployment increased 30,200, unemployed persons looking for full-time work increased by 25,600 and the number of unemployed persons only looking for part-time work increased 4,600. The unemployment rate went up to 6%, 761,400 in January.

Why doesn't this government see that? Why don't they care?

Go back now to 1976. If you've never seen this movie, then perhaps you can hire it. It won't do much for you because it's an old movie and didn't really awe people. So just watch the shorts which are on the YouTube link. And think about suicide. And think about how something like this could be added into our civilisation, maybe upwards a bit to, say, 50? Would that be something you would want to do?

Suicide in Australia is around 11 per 100,000. In westernised countries around the world it is not considered to be a crime, but "the law explicitly allows any person to use 'such force as may reasonably be necessary' to prevent another from taking their own life". Death by suicide involves hanging, cutting, shooting, jumping, drowning or pretty much anything which doesn't shine for anyone who thinks that suicide is all left for them. 

Here's a suggestion.

Build a block with a high – very high – central vacuum. Have, up the top, an annihilator. Dress up every person who has voted for this, and let them celebrate their own death. Don't defy them. Maybe there will only be one visit to this place, but I see something like this just happening… and maybe the future might just come right when the extremely (sickeningly) rich people who are running this country finally come into their own heads.

Logan's Run… definitely sounds real. 

 

Inside Australia's Stroke

I read a story today in Huffington’s Post which made me feel still too… young. These people were looking after their “old” parents with various disease like Alzheimers and dementia, ranged from age 63, 59, 56, 55, 54, 53, 52, 51, 50 and just one 29. That last person made me read it. It was so much like me. This 29 year old woman is looking after her mother who had a stroke and has aphasia.

I lived alone before my surgery - for the first time in 56 years. I was dealing with being alone, my ex-husband had left to move back to New Zealand, and I was getting on okay with it. I joined a MeetUp group who met at a local hotel for trivia, made a couple of new friends, met another woman who had joined me in the play “The Vagina Monologues”, met a woman who danced with me in One Billion Rising. Friendships.

But I was diagnosed with my brain aneurysm in July 2013, went into hospital for a surgery in April 2014 – and came out after a stroke.  It caused my aphasia. I have ABI and haven’t worked for two and a half years now.

In the Webster’s online dictionary “Ageism” is defined as “discrimination against middle-aged and elderly people”. In a Bupa web page called The Blue Room a psychologist listed the effects on a survivor’s body, mind and emotions, but didn’t talk about how a stroke survivor can be supported by their family. ABC’sHealth gave health symptoms about a number of body functions, including a stroke, but didn’t talk at all about how a stroke survivor might need a carer. 

National Stroke Foundation lists the top 10 facts about stroke. They include that stroke is one of Australia’s biggest killers; 1 in 6 people will have a stroke sometime during their life; a stroke happens every 10 minutes;  stroke kill more women than breast cancer and men’s prostate cancer; 30% are working people; and 65% of stroke survivors need care. 

Do the maths. In 2015 there were 440,000 strokes, including 30% - 132,000 - of people who worked. Only 35% of all stroke survivors return to their “normal” life – 154,000. Only 30% - 46,200 of 154,000 - might have returned to their jobs. The rest, 286,000 needed care. 

I don’t know how a stroke hit a worker compared to the older person, but the percentage works out what we need to know – or think about. The 286,000 needed care. Do they get that? Who provides care? 

Chris Bath, in an article in SMH in 2013, said “The big reason I think we don't hear enough about stroke … is because it's difficult for stroke victims to come forward, it's difficult for them to communicate …” and that carers can be the “untold story”. Unfortunately, there are too many stroke survivors who live alone and still don’t have a carer. 

Last year I went to a workshop in Synapse about NDIS and there was a lot of discussion by people who worked for other organisations to help disabled people. Since then I have looked over the NDIS website and I’m still confused about NDIS. I’ve heard different stuff about this – including that the government doesn’t like that it’s not Federal – it’s run by each state or territory government. This government has cut far too much income away from DSP, and cut too many people on DSP off and dropped them onto Newstart. That won’t help any person on DSP! But what interests me is the NDIS meeting in Sherwood Room of Brisbane Hall on Monday 18^th April, at 10am. People who have survived their stroke should register to come, regardless whether or not you are fully under care or just surviving alone. Have a look through the page about this meeting.

The fact that stroke is the third leader for death should be getting us into educating everyone on what a stroke is, who it can harm and how the survivor might need care. If you know anyone who has had a stroke, support them, educate other people… and keep fighting!