By Dr. Stewart Bitkoff
Yesterday as I was waiting in line at the grocery store, it occurred to me that life has a way of coming full circle. As I struggled with physical pain and growing impatience waiting, compounded by persistent aches, I remembered back to when I was a community worker helping severely disabled mentally ill people. Often we would take small groups on outings; at the time, their favorite place was a local fast food restaurant. Many times, a worker would order and bring it back to the table for a group member; the higher goal was to have a person order themselves; plan and place their order by waiting in line, count the change, make sure they got the right food and bring it back to the table to eat.
For many this was a difficult task because of the steps involved, potential for error and inherent anxiety of looking foolish in front of others. Some people couldn’t easily count change or figure out what they wanted in relation to the amount of money they had available. (more…)