Happy Mental Health Awareness Month!
Something not all of you may be aware of is the "boarding" process that takes place before people are placed into inpatient mental health treatment. It essentially is a period of waiting in the er for a place to accept you / give you a bed.
I have personally been stuck in boarding for over 3 weeks now. That's 3 weeks in which I missed scheduled appointments for my physical health. That's also 3 weeks without mental health treatment.
You may ask why in my case it has taken so long because a majority of people get placed within a week.
The reason is partially ableism, I use mobility aids that could be used as a weapon and have other health issues. For a previous placement I went without my mobility aids for a month causing significant damage.
Physically disabled people can have mental health issues. This shouldn't mean that we are denied care due to our physical disabilities.
I hope that by sharing my experience with physical disability in the boarding process it can bring more awareness to the issues with physically disabled people seeking inpatient care as the system needs to change so people like me aren't waiting in emergency rooms for 3+ weeks for mental health treatment.