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The tyranny of Questions - before anyone will even speak to you

Hill12Contributor25 Oct 2024, 7:21 pm AEDT

The tyranny of Questions - before anyone will even speak to you

I decided today that it would be good for me to join an in-person peer group in order to share experiences and stay positive throughout the tough times. So I rang an organisation to ask to for a list of community groups in my local area suited to such a purpose. The person I was speaking to thought this was a great idea . . . and then hit me with the barage of questions - my preferred pronouns, whether I was aboriginal or TSI, my age group, how I found out about the organisation, etc. I very nearly hung up.

This has happened so many times. You go to a place, admit you're struggling and need help, often precisely because we live in a world that wants to categorise you into marketable boxes and you just get more of the same. Organisations that are designed to help people with these sorts of feelings should know this. They lose people because of this gatekeeping, it makes us feel even less human than before we made the call/walked in the door.

3 replies

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In response to: The tyranny of Questions - before anyone will even speak to you

tymeModerator25 Oct 2024, 7:36 pm AEDT

Re: The tyranny of Questions - before anyone will even speak to you

Hey @Hill12 ,

Thinking back to my experiences, yes you are right.

I can see why they do it, yet I can also see how traumatic the experience can be.

I found peer support very helpful. I was just assigned a peer worker after an admission... we connected for a few months as part of the community support.

I don't know many peer support groups.

In response to: The tyranny of Questions - before anyone will even speak to you

Cleo2Senior Contributor25 Oct 2024, 8:04 pm AEDT

Re: The tyranny of Questions - before anyone will even speak to you

@Hill12 @tyme . Glad you mentioned this today. I'll be prepared when these Qs come.

In response to: The tyranny of Questions - before anyone will even speak to you

Owlunar2Senior Contributor26 Oct 2024, 4:39 am AEDT

Re: The tyranny of Questions - before anyone will even speak to you

You're right about those questions @Hill12 - they are more than intrusive - they might smack of inclusion - they might lead to more exclusion however

I wouldn't like it - I feel if I was to join a group I would like to find for myself where I would fit in. And it does sound confusing

Your post brought another thing to my mind and that would be the long string of questions we are asked when making business phone calls

Certainly it's most likely easier for the organisations - personally I would just like to speak to an operator

Generally it seems too time consuming for me. I thank you for your post though - you have raised an interesting subject

Owlunar

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