Unexpectedly large numbers of people with learning disabilities are being prescribed strong psychiatric drugs, possibly as a “chemical cosh” to quieten those with challenging behaviour, according to new research. A study published online by The British Medical Journal found that the number of people registered with GP practices with an intellectual or learning disability, who are being treated with psychotropic drugs far exceeds those with mental illness. If people without mental illness are given psychotropic drugs, such as the powerful antipsychotics more usually prescribed for people with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, it is probably to control their behaviour, say the study’s authors, from University College London (UCL).

As a low-income family, we both had Medicaid (called MassHealth here) as our health insurance. When we married, our combined income changed things a bit. The Affordable Care Act meant that my wife had to purchase a plan with a tax break, something we couldn’t really afford but would make work. I on the other hand, have been spending months (since July 12, to be exact) making weekly phone calls to MassHealth/Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act website (Health Connector here in MA) and the Managed Care Organization (MCO) that took care of my Medicaid prior to my marriage. Things got screwed up when we re-filed for insurance; there wasn’t a spot on the application to indicate I was disabled and receiving SSDI, so the state thought I fell in to the same boat as my wife. After four weeks of calls, MassHealth enrollment said that nope, being on SSDI meant that I would always, always be on MassHealth and to cancel my Health Connector plan (which I dubiously signed up for in July….) because everything would work out for good…

I find that many disabled folk on SSDI had the same problem or cite that as a reason not to marry. Able-bodied queers rally for clerks in other states or counties to do their jobs. Disabled queers struggle under the massive crap pile that is getting health insurance caught up with the marriage they had access to. Or they avoid marriage and live “like roommates” with their partner(s) because it’s just too much draining work to get married and keep access to health care, government assistance programs and even the very monetary benefits that allow them to pay the bills.

I am sick of being nice about this shit, and I’m horrified that those fighting in the social justice realm are constantly ignoring what disabled people are telling them about their experiences. As a community, we’ve risen to the occasion (somewhat) appropriately, trying to confront race, sexual orientation, and gender in social justice, even though I realize it’s not enough. We fall behind a little more in discussions on class, but we also have a very epic conversation going on about capitalism currently. But over and over and over again I see people fall short on the conversation about social justice for the disabled down to the point where able people regularly tell us we’re taking care of ourselves incorrectly or not doing everything imaginable to treat ourselves…

Do I think the pharmaceutical industry is corrupt? You bet I do. You know what else is corrupt that you’re not talking about when you say “Big Pharma?” The state governments in places refusing to reform medicaid so that poor adults are still going without medical insurance. I had a friend break her foot recently who didn’t want to have to go to the ER, because it was too expensive and she had no health insurance. The fact that medical insurance is so damned expensive that, before Obamacare, I could not afford to pay for it, I couldn’t afford to get diagnosed to prove I was disabled, and I went years suffering with absolutely no treatment at all while going into extreme debt every time I had a medical emergency, which with my diseases happens pretty often. That ignores the fact that the entire medical system is an industry, meaning it’s meant to make money.  It is broken.  The entire thing is broken.

A common refrain that is often espoused these days by the able-bodied is, “Why are there so many more disabled children today than when I was growing up?” To many, the seeming “epidemic” levels of disabilities such as autism, ADHD, learning disabilities, and so on is frighteningly high. Looking to answers such as an abundance of pesticides, vaccines, ultrasounds, “chemicals” and other culprits is increasingly common as people search for an answer…As a result of the work of pioneering disability activists in many arenas, disabled children are not taken from their parents and put into state schools and institutions they way they used to be. Parents include their disabled children in the family and look to schools and communities to assist with accommodations and support. Because a person may look different, do things differently or communicate in non-typical ways does not mean that person is unintelligent, incompetent and has nothing to offer…Ability, intellect, insight and brilliance do not appear in only one type of person. Those who experience life from a different vantage point enrich society with diverse insights, and deserve humanity and respect like anyone else. Leaving children to suffer in deprivation, shuttered away in abysmal, dank and disease ridden buildings is not something that benefits anyone and is shameful. So why are there more disabled children in schools now? Because there have been great strides made to shut places like Laconia down and include people in society and education.

It was supposed to be a miracle, but now it’s what keeps Laura Bush, a nurse-practitioner near Albuquerque, awake at night. There’s a drug called Sovaldi that works astonishingly well to cure people with the liver disease Hepatitis C. The rub? It costs $1,000 per day for all 12 weeks of treatment. Bush’s clinic, First Choice Community Healthcare, is a federally qualified health center in the rural town of Los Lunas, New Mexico, which means she sees a disproportionate number of patients who are uninsured, underinsured, and on Medicaid, the government insurance program for the poor. In other words, they can’t afford Sovaldi.

The state’s Medicaid program rations access to Sovaldi and other blockbuster Hep C drugs to only the sickest patients. Even with those limitations, the drugs will likely cost the state an estimated $140 million this year. At various points since Sovaldi became available last year, Bush said, Medicaid has required her to perform risky liver biopsies on patients to prove how sick they are, or wait until patients have late-stage liver disease before they can be eligible for coverage. Each day, Bush juggles seeing patients with writing appeal letters and filing pre-authorizations that are often denied.

Today, Stone no longer relies on strangers in bars—instead, he’s a part of a small community that shares info about study opportunities. Stone says he sends mass texts whenever he sees a new study online. In exchange, the group does the same for him. The members of this group call themselves guinea pigs, or lab rats. They also call themselves professionals…The issue of payment for research participation is an especially complicated one, and the pretense of altruism acts as a hedge against accusations of unethical behavior.

“You have to ask: Who has a month or three weeks to just check in to a trial site or live there for that amount of time?” he said. “Homeless people, undocumented people, people who are either temporarily or long-term unemployed, people who are out of jail who can’t get regular work.” Paying members of vulnerable groups to put experimental drugs in their bodies can seem dangerously close to coercion. But treating money as an afterthought rather than the main motivator also means that guinea pigs aren’t considered employees. “It’s work, but it offers none of the protections of work,” Elliott said. “You don’t have the right to minimum wage, you don’t have the right to unionize, you don’t have disability payments, you don’t even have regular health and safety inspections.”

Sex with a disability is sometimes a sporadic event that involves a lot of planning and discussion, and reassurances that you won’t break me (but no promises I won’t break a piece of yours). So, when it comes around, I’ll admit I am ravenous, and while I have never rejoiced that it’s Christmastime to a prospective playmate (I think), I have been pretty close. If I could do cartwheels like those kids in the holiday vids after finding out they got an X-Box, I would. As such, issues of consent can look a little bit different for Persons with Disabilities when they are trying to access their own sexuality: