Since October 10 was World Mental Health Day I hope this blog post can bring some awareness to the seriousness of those who are affected with any mental health condition.
Although I am no expert in mental health I feel people with mental health issues experience unique challenges. I have some thoughts that in my opinion may negatively impact mental health below that in some cases can be reduced or removed to help promote a healthier life.
I believe that experiencing digital technology usability/accessibility issues and inclusion barriers in general can contribute to mental health issues. The usability/accessibility issues regarding accessing digital technology could be if a person has a disability and they use a form of assistive technology such as a screen reader and the application they are attempting to use does not conform to Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.1. Therefore, the application may have accessibility issues preventing people with disabilities or other unique challenges from using the application at all, effectively or efficiently causing stress and exclusions. If this happens frequently in my opinion it would lead to mental health issues. If these inclusion barriers occur over an extended period such as years, the negative impact on mental health I feel would be even greater. This would not only impact the person who is directly being excluded due to usability and accessibility issues it would also affect the family who lives with the person. This is because the added stress would be carried over to family life thus expanding the scope of the mental health issues to family members.
Since we are in a unique time in the world today where we are coping/fighting a global pandemic (Covid - 19) which could also cause additional stress perpetuating mental health issues that would compound these issues caused by lack of usability/accessibility and inclusion in the world.
In addition to those two challenges that could lead to mental health issues just by themselves if someone already has a mental health issue caused by a medical condition their mental health issue would be even worse.
Besides those three stressful situations if someone added an additional stressful situation such as a family member experiencing a long-term medical condition it can compound the stress level and could lead to a mental health issue.
On top of these challenges if someone has a disability and during normal times they are able to function without limitations although with the four other challenges I mentioned I feel most people may be overwhelmed with added stress. They may even feel the loss of control of the situation especially if they are alone trying to navigate through the maze of challenges which can lead to mental health issues .
Although others have more challenging experiences of mental health issues to get us thinking and raise awareness I have noted some challenges my wife and I have experienced over the past year or so that could possibly lead to mental health issues.
- My wife has not been feeling well since March/April 2020 and her issues are growing in numbers and getting worse although fortunately none seem to be life-threatening .
- Observing my wife being sent to many urgent care visits , having many tests, given many types of medication for over a year without providing any relief to her uncomfortable issues all of it made for a stressful situation.
- In August 2021 fortunately we were able to see a primary care doctor in person then my wife was sent to many other doctors, had many other tests and was even sent to the emergency room without any relief. There were long delays in-between doctor appointments for which she experienced little improvement.
- Since the pandemic hit and attempting to be safe ordering everything online including food to be delivered added to the stress of wondering how we would eat.
- Although things are just starting to get better in regards to the pandemic due to a relapse in her health issues she had to revert to ordering everything online again for she is not able to drive even to the doctors.
- My being completely blind and relying on assistive technology to access digital technology and at times experiencing usability/accessibility issues which prevents me from having an equitable experience and causes sadness. Although not a happy comment I sometimes jokingly tell others that it happens so frequently it’s like I might have post-traumatic stress syndrome/disorder due to these exclusions.
- At times have others think I am making a mistake in using an application or providing technical explanations simply because I am blind thus causes me to be frustrated.
- My wife and I living by ourselves and having to track down help when we are not able to do something with just the two of us causes stress.
Some questions to consider and think about when it comes to your own experience and others:
Do you have a mental health issue brought on by a medical condition or brought on by external sources like I mentioned above? How do you help your mental health issue either get better, be stable or not get worse? Have any ideas/suggestions on how to avoid causing mental health issues for others?
Although as I mentioned I am no expert one goal for family and friends affected with mental health issues I feel should be feeling included, happiness, love , well-being and practicing resilience.
Bill Tipton
Contributing Author,
Global Dialogue Center
http://www.globaldialoguecenter.com/
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