Spirit Lake Consulting Forum

The test question asked what cultural factors prevented people from getting services. The right answer was supposed to be 'fear of providers'. I disagree. I thought it might be "tribal politics", since a person might not get along with the family of the director or staff of the program, so not go to that program for services. People who have the right connections might get services and others be on the waiting list.

I thought it was 'extended family support'. Sometimes people have enough support from their own extended families that they don't need to go to some service for transportation, or in-home care. Often elders and others who need assistance prefer to get it from their own families.

I went to visit my mother recently in a treatment center when she told me she was diagnosed with a learning disability. This was not much of a surprise for me since she had always told me stories of how she had such a short attention span that she would get bored in school and walk out of the classroom. Of course this would get her into trouble and unfortunately was a possible cause as to her dropping out of school in the 8th grade. However, I never thought of my mother as dumb. Actually she is very intelligent and articulate which I believe came from reading. She loves to read books, magazines, the Bible, and anything she finds interesting. I think my mother was fortunate because she was very curious and she actually enjoyed learning new things so dropping out of school at such a young age had little effect on her ability to learn. But it did affect her ability on what type of job she would be able to get without a high school diploma or GED. My mother worked in kitchens all her life ranging from hospital kitchens, Head Start kitchens, and even as a cook at the Spirit Lake Casino. She cooked, washed dishes, lifted pots and pans, etc. Years of doing this type of work has now taken a toll on her body and she has chronic back pain and arthritis in her hands. She always told me how she wished she could have had a "nice office job" where she wouldn't have to work so hard. Now I wonder if she would have had a different life if she would have been diagnosed with her learning disability back then and received the right services needed to keep her in school. I'm sure there was little known about learning disabilties back then but now there are tests used to diagnose disabilities and services being offered to help people with these disabilities. I urge people with disabilities to take advantage of these services because these services were never even offered to some people like my mother.

I think a big thing might also be that people sometimes don't want to ask for help and that's what they see some services as being. They don't want to say, I don't have a job and I can't get one on my own, I need help. They think it's embarassing or a sign of weakness or something. That doesn't mean it is, but I think that's sometimes how people see it.