When I saw that
we were going to cover homelessness in this class I knew I had the prefect
article to discuss. I was watching TV while getting ready for work when E:60
came on ESPN. The main story that morning was about a woman, Schuye
LaRue, who was once a professional
basketball player and is now homeless on the streets of Washington D.C. Schuye
is also a contrast to the specialist homeless literature of Britain. The
article says, “noting
that women are less likely than men to sleep rough or to engage in other
activities (such as begging) that mark them as ‘visibly homeless’” (122). She
prefers to sleep outside where she can have fresh air. She panhandles outside the
7-Eleven and says God bless you to everyone who stops in front of her. And
there is something else that sets her apart from the homeless literature of Britain,
she has a mental illness.
Schuye suffers
from schizophrenia and it is essentially the main reason she is
homeless. She stopped taking her medication and her mom was forced to kick her
out or they would both end up homeless. The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services
Administration says that between 20 and 25 percent of homeless people in the United
States suffer from some form of severe mental illness. Homeless and homeless
suffering from mental illness tend to be ignored by the mainstream media in the
United States. When I Googled mental illness and homelessness only two
mainstream media articles made up the first page of the search. One was from USA Today in 2014 and the other was from
this year in the LA Times. It seems
to me that homelessness is ignored by the American population because it is something
they do not want to see. Or, like me, they have seen homeless people begging on
the street corner and they have an IPhone and it makes you question whether or
not they are really homeless. Homelessness and mental health issues need to be discussed
in this country as intertwined and separate issues.
Today, Schuye is in jail for felony possession of drugs. She
has not been cooperating with her public defender. While it is not a mental hospital, at least she is off the streets.
Olivia, I think it is interesting that you brought up homelessness as a potential side effect of a mental illness. Even more so, that you could only find 2 main stream articles connecting the two. I feel as though mental illnesses are being recognized more and more in the US. People are encouraged to seek help and it is more openly talked about. Americans are identifying a cause (mental illness) of a problem (homelessness). Now that we know the cause we are addressing it, but still not dealing with the problem at hand.
ReplyDeleteThis also shines some light on how homeless people are segregated from society. People who live in homes, have jobs, and cars are encouraged to get help for their mental illnesses. Even people outside of their immediate families will go out of their way to help them. We view those people as sick. However, when we walk past a homeless person with a mental illness we just write them off as crazy instead of offering them the same outside help. Since we don’t always extend outlets for help to the homeless with mental illnesses their health will only determinate, excluding them further from society. Olivia, you also mention that homelessness is something Americans ignore because we do not want to see it, but I also think mental illness is ignored as well.
It's sad that Schuye will most likely go to prison and not receive any impactful medical treatment or rehabilitation. She'll have a place to stay in jail but an 6'x8' foot prison cell isn't healthy for a for someone with an extreme mental illness. Schizophrenia, bipolar disorder or severe depression are all manageable with the right medication and counseling but debilitating if left untreated.
ReplyDeleteUSA Today writer Rick Jarvis writes in his article that you found about 'The Cost of Not Caring'. He reports that a study released in 2002 tracked the costs of 4,600 homeless people with mental illness in New York City over nine years. Those who remained on the street, shuffling in and out of jails and hospitals, cost the city and state $40,451 a year in services. Those placed in supportive housing cost $17,277 to house and those given support tended to stay off the street. Which is pretty interesting since it's almost 2018 and yet homelessness is still a big problem in our country and that's a super big financial gap difference.