On Power, Abuse, and Disability

Kay Olson, proprietor of the outstanding disability blog, The Gimp Parade, has an absolutely phenomenal pathblogographical post up on power, abuse, and disability. The setting is Kay's initial stint at a rehabilitation hospital following a month-long stay in an ICU. The post details Kay's requests for help in order to avoid a pressure ulcer, made to a nurse's assistant Kay names "The Russian" (for the assistant's accent):

She understood I needed to be repositioned and she told me she needed to go get another person to help. It is commonly a two-person job in acute care settings and may even be required procedure, but when she didn't return and my butt began to ache badly from laying in one position too long, I rang the bell again.

The Russian returned alone to tell me she was trying to get help, then left again. I don't know exactly how much time passed, though it was easily 30 minutes since my first call for assistance, and it may have been as long as an hour. My butt was throbbing painfully now, sparks of nerve pain shooting down my leg. In desperation, I spent significant energy wrestling the pillow wedged behind my back away enough that I could shift slightly and ease the sharpest of pain to buy some time.

Shortly after, The Russian returned. Again alone. She saw the pillow had been moved and began berating me: "Why you bother me? You don't need help! You did this yourself after bothering me? If I catch you ever moving by yourself again don't expect me to do anything for you!"

Kay's situation was complicated by her limited ability to speak. She concludes:

Abuse doesn't really need much space to thrive, and it needs even less to occur only once. Probably not everyone would consider this abuse. But it was a verbal threat to deny me assistance while lying helpless in a bed from someone charged to show up if, say, my ventilator quit giving me air. Like any sort of intimate violence (domestic violence, date rape, etc.), violence against disabled people is contextual and opportunistic and can happen to anyone.

The power of narrative is exemplified in this post. As they say, go read the whole thing.