How are desabled people in Utah treated? Is there a diffrence between how the member desabled and non member desabled are treated? I've been hearing bits and bobs and i'm still in the dark about alot of thngs.

I have a disabled family member and there was both good and bad. On the good side, people were in general pretty accepting and helpful. On the bad side, they are very clueless and in the dark ages about a lot of stuff: "Oh, we need to install handicap ramps? I never thought of that." or "Can't she just take extra vitamins?"

I've heard a lot of people say that they were treated as if they had sinned somehow and that God was punishing them with a disability, but we didn't see much of that in our case. We often heard stuff more along the lines of how 'valiant' so-and-so was in the war in heaven.

However (and this may have changed since we lived there) the medical care was poor if you needed any kind of specialist and we often went out-of-state.

I knew a muscular distrophy or cerebral palsy wheelchair bound LDS man who tried to live in Utah at least twice but both times felt he was better off moving to the Left Coast where social benefits for the disabled were more accomodating.

Not sure what the specific differences were.

He was a very believing LDS though, someone who you'd expect to give Utah the maximum benefit of the doubt before leaving.

However, I can't factor in/out simple city/state size. He found haven in a large west coast city bigger than any city in Utah that would naturally have more services (that narrows it down to SD, LA, SF, Sacramento, Portland, Seattle...you guess). I think any smaller state or community is going to have a harder time matching the services of a bigger one.

But I think religion influences the politics of it...he wouldn't likely have moved to Dallas or Houston for example. Utah is like a little Texas in some ways, unashamedly sectarian politicians who pander to the religious right, austere for "freedom's" sake, saying charity is churches' or other NGOs' job not the state's, etc.

With reasonable accuracy, I think, you can look at an electoral map of the US and predict services for the disabled...by picking a blue state.

That's not specifically a Mormon community, non-Mo community thing. Big Coastal communities generally have more resources to take care of their needy that smaller communities in the interrior of the country lack.

Of course if every member who lived in Utah had ten percent more income, you'd probably see a major economic boost, resulting in an increase of tax revenue that would allow them to expand their own social services.

I don't live in Utah. Thank God! These are experiences I've had at church. The majority of people involved in these events were transplants from Utah.


I've been bombarded by people trying to sell me junk that they claim will cure me. MLM schemers love to prey on the sick. It got so bad I asked the bishop to tell them to leave me alone.

I've had more than one person ask me what I did to deserve to be sick. Being the smart aleck I am, i tell them I roast and eat small children.

I've had lessons about lack of faith directed at me by more than one idiot.

They have asked me to clean the church. My reply....I don't clean my own house, why would I clean the church?

I've had people say they wish they could have my illness so they didn't have to do all that church stuff. I've tried to explain to a few that you don't have to be sick to say no. I get confused looks.

I've had several blessings that promised me I would be healed immediately. That's when I wish there was something to all that hocus pocus. There isn't, I'm still sick. There is no known cure.All the faith, blessings, fasting, water purifiers, herbs and vitamins, magnets,and priesthood holders cannot put humpty together again.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/01/2012 01:51PM by mia.

mia Wrote:
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> I've been bombarded by people trying to sell me
> junk that they claim will cure me. MLM schemers
> love to prey on the sick. It got so bad I asked
> the bishop to tell them to leave me alone.

Yes, Yes, YES! Everything from Noni juice to magnets to Asea Water and Kangen water.

> I've had lessons about lack of faith directed at
> me by more than one idiot.

I've gotten this too! And that's also why the blessings of healing didn't work, you know... we didn't have enough faith!
But but but... health in the navel and marrow in the bones!

> I've had people say they wish they could have my
> illness so they didn't have to do all that church
> stuff. I've tried to explain to a few that you
> don't have to be sick to say no. I get confused
> looks.

Mia, I think I've said this to you before, but I think we would get along famously. :) I had some idiot tell me that she wished she "had an excuse to take it easy all the time". I told her that if she can just have her immune system go on a rampage and start attacking itself, I'm sure her doctor would give her the 'excuse' to empower herself. She gave me that look you mentioned...

Okay,sorry to hijack -- wait, it wasn't really a hijack. I was thinking more of visible disabilities like wheelchairs when I originally posted, but now that I think of other medical issues like Mia and I have, wow the stupidity stories I could tell you...

Oh man!! Mia and AngelCowgirl, reading that crazy just makes my eyes bleed!! :O I can remember several disabled people in the ward here in town over the years. NOBODY in that ward would have dreamed of such insulting, inexcusable, ugly ugly UGLY effed up treatment or conversation! Then again, most of them weren't from Utah or lived outside of it in the real world long enough that they didn't have that kind of mentality or mindset.
*shudder*

i have autism and people try to tell me if just ignore then will go away

also get from people autism is just satin trying to trick you away from god

other people tell me ignore autism is best thing for all

if you are that stupid and only a 7 year old accepts people for who they are then guess who i prefer as a friend

being around people that accept you for who you are is better than trying to be stupid because that is what moron control freaks want

I knew of a Mormon who was treated like this in Alberta, with doctors even assulting her (punching her KIDNEYS) out of fustration (according to her), living in abject poverty, And the holy Melchizedek priests who were to attend to her needs, such as the head touching magic trick they do. (like on God's Army), do so bregrudgingly.