Zoos with disabilities

[HorseHoof]

I feel like we're not represented nearly enough in the zoo community. Some people may shun me here, but I would rather not stay silent if I can help it.




At least until I get banned, of course.

[heavyhorse]

We've had this discussion before, under a different name.  Suggestions made and roundly discounted. 




There are equine therapy programs in most areas for people of mild to major disability.  Why not take advantage of them?

[battlecrops]

Newly diagnosed incurable chronic pain reporting in here.  Hard to say if I'll ever actually be able to care for the animals I'd like in the future.  Horses are definitely out.  Hoping I can at least manage a small hobby farm with some goats and a dog someday!

[cervids]

3 hours ago, heavyhorse said:




There are equine therapy programs in most areas for people of mild to major disability.  Why not take advantage of them?

This is an option for contact, but not romance, honestly.




I'm in a similar boat with deer.  My physical ailments aren't really much, but I suffer from a strange germophobia that seems to be very...  selective in what triggers it (feces, mostly, if you really must know).  It certainly interferes, but is not a dealbreaker on it's own, I'm sure given time and effort I can break past it.




Then the motor (movement) issues.  They are fun.  Fine motor dysfunction only, so this limits me very little in the modern world, thank god for the keyboard becaause no one can read my writing.  Shaky hands make tool use hard too, but only really fine tool use like screwdrivers, soldering, etc.  Shame because I've got excellent electronic understanding, re the latter, but I can barely hold two wires together reliably to make a bond.




Depression is by far the worst of it.  I'd say it's situational, but it's not.  Sure I could argue life sucks, but it doesn't.  I could make it better.  If I could just get out of bed before 3PM, and that seems to be hard lately.  Yeah, it's a mountain.  But like most mountains, if what you want is on the other side, get climbing.  That's the only real advice I have.

4 hours ago, HorseHoof said:




At least until I get banned, of course.

Nah.  If you get banned or even warned for a thread like this, I for one am out.  This needs to be discussed, and I doubt anyone disagrees.

2 hours ago, battlecrops said:




Newly diagnosed incurable chronic pain reporting in here.  Hard to say if I'll ever actually be able to care for the animals I'd like in the future.  Horses are definitely out.  Hoping I can at least manage a small hobby farm with some goats and a dog someday!

Goats and dogs are actually my line of thought too...  lol.  Doubt I'll ever get around to deer, because, well, it's a legal AND disability-harsh thing, caring for them.  You have to run before you can walk (especially to catch a deer...  ok, that was a horrific joke, sorry, but it wrote itself)




Maybe this is going to sound weird following up on this, but I have thought in the past of getting a "zoo roomie" to spread the burden a bit (no this is not an offer to meet up, lol, just a tangent of a thought).  I met a few zoos with fellow deer interest in that vein of thought.




Sadly, 75% of them did at least one of the following over the years:




1. Died.




2. Became aparently insane in some form.




3. Turned out to be horrible animal abusers




The other 25% cocnsist of one guy I just talked with on this forum, our very own Ramseys.




So, Ramseys, please don't do any of the above...  Our people need good role models quite badly, it seems.  I really don't want to go down thinking deer lovers are just completely off their rocker, and I'm destined to be next.




in the end, yeah, zoo roomies now terrify me and have me arming myself with the nearest sharp objects rather than thinking "meet!"  It's most unfortunate.

[HorseHoof]

7 hours ago, heavyhorse said:




We've had this discussion before, under a different name.  Suggestions made and roundly discounted. 




There are equine therapy programs in most areas for people of mild to major disability.  Why not take advantage of them?

I have my reasons, and I can say with absolute certainty that it's not possible. So let's not get into that again.




<a contenteditable="false" data-ipshover="" data-ipshover-target="<___base_url___>/profile/2912-cervids/?do=hovercard" data-mentionid="2912" href="<___base_url___>/profile/2912-cervids/">@cervids</a> It's nice to know that I'm not the only one who struggles with this. Rather, I suppose it's not so nice, but it's better than being completely alone in these feelings.

[ferritlove]

7 hours ago, battlecrops said:




Newly diagnosed incurable chronic pain reporting in here.  Hard to say if I'll ever actually be able to care for the animals I'd like in the future.  Horses are definitely out.  Hoping I can at least manage a small hobby farm with some goats and a dog someday!

Sorry to hear of your pain.  If you find yourself up for critters, id suggest sheep, either hair or wool.  They are very easy keepers especially compared to goats.  Its super calming watching them graze too - i'll often take a lawn chair out on a nice day and just watch them for hours... and they come up for scritches once in a while.

[HorseHoof]

Intimacy, much less any contact, with a horse will remain out of reach. Unfortunately, it will never happen again. I've had my fun, but it's over now. The only thing that can get my mind off this is by working as much as I can, saving as much money as possible, even though I'll have nothing to use any of it for.




It pains me so much that I honestly don't know what I'm going to do. I'll go through stages of wanting to kill myself and not having the energy to even do that. I know that I'll always be alone. No real friends or horses to keep me sane, but at least I'll have a lot of money.

[silverwolf1]

FWIW you were never banned here before. I removed your old account at your request when you made this new account. I don't appreciate the implication of unfair treatment.




This thread has definite good possibilities, but not if you turn it into another "poor me, I'll kill myself" tirade like you flooded the forum with as Spirit. Give the thread, and ALL the disabled zoos, a chance here please. You just might find something that will help you. And even if you don't, you might help someone else with the thread, and thats worth something isn't it?




sw




 

[HorseHoof]

I suppose there is no point in arguing. I'll keep my "tirades" in this thread, which is meant to be a space for disabled zoos to express themselves. I have nobody to talk to about my problems, so at least give me this much.

[battlecrops]

6 hours ago, ferritlove said:




Sorry to hear of your pain.  If you find yourself up for critters, id suggest sheep, either hair or wool.  They are very easy keepers especially compared to goats.  Its super calming watching them graze too - i'll often take a lawn chair out on a nice day and just watch them for hours... and they come up for scritches once in a while.

Thank you, I've been in physical therapy the past few months to try to get it more under control, and I'm seeing some slow progress.  I'm just hoping to get it managed enough that I can get going with my career and work on achieving the goals I'd like to live my life comfortably.  I was diagnosed back in late spring and I'm just now at a point where I'm handling it reasonably okay mentally (most of the time).  I have my cats and rodents to keep me company for now, and I'm very thankful for that.




I really love the look and big personality of goats, and I'd like to have dairy breeds to make my own milk/soap/cheese etc. I don't know as much about sheep!  I do like hair sheep though, dunno how common they are but I discovered the Barbados Black Belly recently and they're just gorgeous!  I'll have to read up now on the care differences between goats and hair sheep.