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Velonews reports that former champion cyclist Twigg got a CS degree but wasn't too successful in that career, and is now homeless in Seattle, https://www.velonews.com/2019/04/news/now-homeless-twigg-opens-up-in-article-with-seattle-times_492734 A longer version of the story/interview appears in the Seattle Times, https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/homeless/olympic-medal-winning-cyclist-rebecca-twigg-is-homeless-in-seattle/
Rebecca Twigg has now been without a home for almost five years in Seattle, living first with friends and family, then in her car, then in homeless shelters and then, for a night, under garbage bags on the street downtown. She hasn't had a bike for years, and no one recognizes her anymore, she says.
Twigg, 56, agreed to share her story to convince the public that not all homeless people are addicted to drugs or alcohol; that there are many like her, who have struggled with employment and are "confused," as she said she is, about what to do next with their lives. She did not want to discuss mental health but feels it should be treated more seriously in Washington.
"Some of the hard days are really painful when you're training for racing," Twigg said, "but being homeless, when you have little hope or knowledge of where the finish line is going to be, is just as hard."
[...] She was spotted at 17 by famous cycling coach Eddie Borysewicz. After she won the world championship, he invited her to live in the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs and train for the 1984 Olympic Games, where for the first time, women would be competing on bicycles.
Americans dominated the Olympics that year. Twigg won a silver medal, missing gold by a few inches to famous racer Connie Carpenter. She continued on her way up over the next several years, setting world records, winning world titles, and racing more than 60 times a year. She became known for her competition in individual pursuit, where two cyclists start at the same time on opposite sides of the track and each tries to catch the other. She's still among the most-decorated athletes in pursuit.
But the breakneck pace couldn't continue forever. She was married and soon after divorced. She crashed in Texas, broke her thumb and got 13 stitches in her head. The following year she felt burned out. She took a break at age 26, and that year she grew an entire inch, possibly because her body no longer had to expend so much energy training.
Twigg got an associate degree in computer science and became a programmer for a seaweed-products company in San Diego.
Twigg says the career wasn't a perfect fit. She quit and started training for the 1992 Olympic Games, winning a bronze medal in the 3,000-meter pursuit after only nine months of training. As she entered her 30s, she became regarded as the best American female cyclist.
The article has more details, she tried other IT jobs, but (not surprisingly to me) it sounds like her heart wasn't really in it.
If you were in her spot, what would you do for a second act, after such stunning early success in international sports? Some former athletes become motivational speakers or coaches, but she may not be the "self promoter" type, relying on her skill/strength for her success instead of team politics.
(Score: 2) by Oakenshield on Thursday April 18 2019, @04:26PM (4 children)
Re-read the article. Rebecca Twigg HAD a roof over her head and chose to sleep on the street because she felt shame for her privilege. She felt bad for those that had no roof, but offers no explanation why she could have public shelter and they could not. She "refuses" to talk about mental illness.
We're not talking about people who lost their job in a recession and suddenly find themselves homeless. Should we lock up those who won't seek out help on their own or actively refuse it? Force medicate them? It sounds like your solution is just build them a doghouse and feed them like you would a pet. What is YOUR solution to the problem? I don't mean feelgood fix for the symptom. How do you solve the problem and help those those who want no help because they see no problem?
(Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday April 18 2019, @05:15PM (3 children)
You are being obtuse.
I'm not talking about Rebecca Twigg's case specifically, but rather the position she advocated. Namely that the homeless should have the opportunity to have a roof over their heads. All of them. And not just a temporary homeless shelter though that would be a nice start. If someone voluntarily chooses to be homeless and are not directly endangering themselves or others they are free to be that way and they can still get food resources. (Until they catch pneumonia and are taken to a hospital for recovery, anyway).
And screw your characterization of "feelgood fixes." Before you can attempt therapy for someone's mental state you had better first make sure the person has the opportunity for food and shelter. That's a little more important. Go read Maslow and then get back to me.
Then go look up some homeless center statistics, specifically the ones that show that we already do not possess enough even temporary shelters, let alone permanent housing. Here's a couple for you to start chewing on: https://www.kktv.com/content/news/Were-at-capacity-right-now-Shelter-bed-shortage-forces-homeless-shelters-to-turn-people-away-497543781.html [kktv.com] https://www.coalitionforthehomeless.org/state-of-the-homeless-2018/ [coalitionforthehomeless.org]
And if someone has food and shelter and still refuses to work out their problems.... then you need not do anything because they have food and shelter. But we are miles and miles away from that position, sunshine.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Oakenshield on Thursday April 18 2019, @07:11PM (2 children)
Nor was I. If you look up the thread I was speaking more generally about the mentally ill who are homeless as a result of their illness. Much of the blowback I received seems to be directed at my use of the word "crazy."
There is a guy in my town who is clearly crazy. He hangs out at the only Laundromat in town because it is open 24 hours and has a bathroom. He holds a job delivering pizzas and actively refuses all help at getting shelter. A couple years ago I was sure he would freeze when he was sleeping in his vehicle and the temperature dropped to twenty below. While I waited for my stuff to dry, I tried to talk to him about getting housing but he was adamant against it. "That's how they trap you." I stopped in one afternoon to wash some blankets and he was on a rant with some random man and I thought he was agitated enough to blow. The man saw I was watching carefully and kept smirking toward me at the dude's rambling incoherence. He started talking about his handgun and blowing someone's head off. I nearly called the cops that day.
Should this guy be locked up? He hasn't hurt anyone yet.
You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. What are you going to do about people who are obviously crazy and refuse help? Again... I'm not talking about people who WANT shelter and the system is too overwhelmed to help. I know that California, Oregon and Washington in particular have a big problem with that. What are you going to do about the nuts out on the street who don't want help?
You do realize that people can be absolutely normal for a majority of their lives and one day they lose grip on reality. A former co-worker in his late 40s tried to commit suicide out of the blue. He was suddenly convinced he was a mass murderer and couldn't live with himself. Off his fucking rocker. Luckily has was institutionalized by family and helped. He's out now and living a "relatively" normal life.
The town I used to live in has a guy that is batshit crazy. I used to see him every day while driving home from work standing at the crossroads of the center of town, beet red in the face, screaming at passing traffic. If there was no traffic, he would scream at the road signs and pace back and forth. The restaurant on the corner would let him in and give him food now and then. A friend told me his father had worked with him when he was younger and he fried his brain with drugs. Never was the same. He lives with family. What happens if the family pushes him out when they can't cope anymore? This guy doesn't have the cognition to ask for help.
You want to put the cart before the horse. The "opportunity" for food and shelter is pointless if the beneficiaries avoid it. That's why I call them feelgood fixes. The pizza delivery guy in the laundromat has ample opportunity for shelter and he is offered food by the community all the time. He told me he eats at fast food places every day. He showers at the community center every day. Look at Rebecca Twigg. She has the resources to care for herself if she was treated for her crazy. She has a marketable skillset that she used to support herself. If you FIX THE CRAZY she can care for herself instead of setting out food for her and bringing her in at night like she is some kind of feral cat.
Don't conflate refusing to work out their problems with being unable to work out their problems. You want to mix the two up and I have only ever referenced the street crazies in this thread. People who struggle due to bad circumstances will generally accept help. They can be helped with adequate resources. The ones that struggle with reality and self awareness are the true problem. Your simple minded throw-more-money-at-it solutions will not work for them. It will require a whole different treatment and assistance paradigm to offer them rescue from themselves. Unfortunately it may violate their self determination if you want them to be safe and sheltered.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Thursday April 18 2019, @08:37PM (1 child)
I think we're talking a little bit at cross purposes. If you don't have the shelter to offer everyone then why would you worry about those who are refusing it? If the resources aren't there then there's not much need to worry about the ones who aren't taking them anyway.
For those who won't take help at all then no, you can't force it unless there's either a criminal action or if the person is genuinely a danger to themselves or others. Your suicidal person: with an attempt (or even the slightest credible threat) of suicide you take that person into custody. And then if necessary you get a court order forcing confinement. You do the same with someone stabbing themselves, or trying to cut someone else up, or any other condition where there is a genuine threat to the life of the person or someone else.
Can one do the same with the other examples you describe - try to prove to a court why the person is no longer competent and ask them to be confined? Yes. But if there aren't enough resources already, how will you arrange for care of such people without 'throwing money' at the problem? You don't. It's useless to try and get people help which requires specialized care if the resources have already all been cut because greed.
But that's not the problem we're in. As above, there is a much more fundamental issue. Without shelter it doesn't matter how badly you want to help the person. IT WON'T MATTER. Force meds down the throat: It doesn't matter at all if the person dies of exposure. And you can't fix higher level problems without addressing the more basic needs first. You want to suggest that if only we fix the higher level problem then the lower level takes care of itself. First, it doesn't. But second, fix those basic needs and the higher level problems might disappear entirely or be mitigated. But you don't worry about fixing your power steering if your car doesn't have tires. Only after you actually have a car to give somebody can you begin to wonder about who's behind the wheel and if they have a driver's license.
So, yeah, throw money at the problem until every person has a place to live. And then throw money at fixing the mental issues. And then if the person is healed help them transition to the normal life you and I take for granted, which frees up those earlier resources for the next person in line. But fix the issue with not having enough shelter for people first. Or fix the other first: Either way you're burning resources, although many studies have shown that providing housing first is the more economic route.
This sig for rent.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 19 2019, @06:06PM
One thing I don't see mentioned in this sub-thread is the stigma about mental illness in USA. If we could fix that, I believe that at least some of the mentally ill would be more inclined to seek and stick with treatment (when it is available).
When I was a kid, I thought the number of people with mental illness in my extended family was unusually high--we have have multiple cases of mental illness in every generation. Then I started to talk about it with a variety of people and discovered that it is actually very common. So why is it still a cause for shame, in so many ways?
From limited reading, it seems that not all cultures stigmatize mental illness, sometimes it's just another problem that happens and not such a big deal.