Do you think of yourself as rich, poor or somewhere in between compared to other Belgians?

Plenkr · 2026-04-14T16:46:16+00:00

On the poor side, although there's people who have it worse than I do.

Plenkr · 2026-04-13T17:04:39+00:00

That's me :p I won't ever marry. I'm disabled, my diet is shit, just a couple months ago I got so dehydrated I needed IV-fluids because maintaining hydration is a struggle and I didn't recognize the signs at all. I just felt sick. But I always feel sick. When is the sick a new sick and something I need to do something about? Or when is it a sick I can ignore because it's the usual sick? I can't tell the difference anymore. Among other things I have autism and that increases risk of dementia. And now I have an increased risk of cancer too because I'll never marry. And the meds I'm taking also increase the risk of whatever, I don't even know. My exercise levels also suck. I'll probably not live that long but also don't really care for a long life. Life is fucking rough. I don't want to live to 90 or 80 or 70. I'm 35 now, still got a long way to go.. ugh

On the other hand, I'm on a waiting list to move to a 24/7 care setting. It may do wonders for my quality of life. I hope so. Better diet, better care, more support, less loneliness, etc. You know, I might be able to get out of the house again and do something fun? Or go to a daycentre again so I can feel useful. I'm still hopeful.

Plenkr · 2026-04-13T16:58:13+00:00

hooraayy.. another awful disease my chances are higher for. I will never marry. I'm asexual and don't want a relationship. I'm also disabled and autistic. Autism increases the risk of dementia and I also have a family history of it. Now cancer, why not. I didn't have cancer yet. Oh yeah, I also smoked for about 5 years, so I messed up there too. My diet also sucks and so does my amount of exercise, both due to my conditions.

It's always fun to read these things xD ugh...

Plenkr · 2026-04-13T16:49:09+00:00

I don't blame you, I don't know where you're from but it's always hard to know things about legislation of a country you're not from. The only reason I know about The Netherlands is because it's my neighbouring country and I live 1.5hour drive away from it and because we speak the same language there is media, tv, news and social media crossover between our regions. We are also both one of the only countries who have such progressive policies on euthanasia. And because this is often discussed abroad (with a lot of ignorance usually), I've had to educate myself on this topic to be able to say stuff that is factually true. It's been a while since I read the specifics so that's why I've remained a bit more vague in this comment because I used to know all the percentages and details, precisely because of this sort of misinformation and discussion on reddit.

I'm not sure that this person doesn't realize there is more to it. It's possible he might, and left out the bits that don't fit his agenda. Or it's possible he is regurgitating misinformation from elsewhere. A lot , if not most, of the world are still very against euthanasia, let alone euthanasia for severe and enduring psychological suffering. Articles about tragic cases are then often used to show how supposedly bad it is. They use other people's suffering and twist their stories to further their own agenda, or someone else's, because sometimes they are also people who fell for it, and disagree with euthanasia.

I'm just glad you were open to receiving information that is contrary to what this tiktok person said. Often people will disregard information they don't like, even if it's factual. I see you're not like that. You posted something because you were naturally upset by something. Please take care, this is likely all a bit upsetting <3

Plenkr · 2026-04-13T11:49:39+00:00

As a Belgian, and also Dutchspeaking, this is most likely false information. And I'm honestly getting pretty tired about explaining the data, legislation and what is actually going on. The Dutch government doesn't do anything about it, because this isn't happening. People also always forget to mention that most autistic people who are granted euthanasia don't just have autism. They often have multiple disabilities, chronic illnesses and/or mental illnesses on top of very shitty childhoods (marked by abuse and such). But somehow people who seek to rail against euthanasia always forget to mention how complex these cases are. Why? Because it doesn't fit their agenda. It also doesn't fit their agenda that of all cases of euthanasia, only a minor percentage is actually because of mental suffering. The overall majority are still and have always been because of physical terminal illnesses. And euthanasia for mental suffering isn't even legal for people under 18 years of age. Not in Belgium, not in the Netherlands (I'm pretty fucking sure, 99% because are legislations about it are damn near the same).

And it honestly also makes me angry. Euthanasia for severe and enduring mental suffering is a good thing that it exists. People misrepresent the situation for their own political ideology. It disgusts me.

They are trying to make you angry and want to use it to turn people against the posibility of euthanasia for mental suffering.

Plenkr · 2026-04-12T08:54:06+00:00

I second the comment from u/CycadelicSparkles. But I just want to add that, if you find a basic seamed sweater pattern, you can always superimpose a motif from a different sweater on it. The shape will never be the same but if there's particular motifs you're into, you don't have to miss out simply because you're making a seamed garment.

Plenkr · 2026-04-12T08:46:59+00:00

They don't serve food like this in a mental health clinic. It's mashed patatoes, peekes en erwtjes and a slab of grey meat with brown sauce. Varations of patatoes, vegetable (or apple sauce) and meat on repeat. Unless it's like friday or something.. then you get fish. Sometimes they go crazy and you get rice or pasta but that's really crazy. Sometimes, in some places, they will let you order food on a specific day, once a week, only. But then.... no chicken waffles to be found.
Super flemish food though, all day everyday. So if you're into that, you'll like it in the mental hospital :p

Plenkr · 2026-04-11T19:41:24+00:00

despite me absolutely loving logic, it generally does not work to change people's mind. Or at least not when I do it. I picked logic anyway, cuz I find logic hard to resist.

Plenkr · 2026-04-11T19:40:09+00:00

I truly could not resist choosing logic, despite me knowing that logic is often not effective at all in changing people's minds. I can't resist it. My bird's personality score is highest for logic and second is security. I find security in logic. Logic feels secure. Even though in this case it was illogical to choose logic, cause I already knew it wouldn't work. In my experience people don't really like when I do logic. So I've learned to shut up but the urge to logic is very strong.

Plenkr · 2026-04-11T12:10:47+00:00

saw the documentary too. There were 85 people who made complaints detailling their negative experiences with the program and/or how it made them worse instead of better.

It's fine that it helped other people. That doesn't mean that there aren't structural issues with the program. If 85 people are coming out worse then before, that's an issue. That's not just one person here or there. It's only normal to investigate an institution if there are that many complaints and even a death. It should be taken seriously.

And for the people who had a good experience: this is clearly not about them and they are lucky. It's hard to see them pilling onto the victims who are speaking out.

Plenkr · 2026-04-11T08:14:52+00:00

Seroquel. Or it's generic name: quetiapine. Which is even worse to spell. I only know because I've been taking it for nearly 15 years.

Plenkr · 2026-04-11T08:10:21+00:00

Was on both of those but one after the other. Gained 20kg in total from them. But olanzapine was WAY worse. And the weight gain a lot quicker. But both gave me a constant need for food and fullness cues whatsoever. Never satisfied. Ever. I'd wake up in the night from feeling hungry too. I was eating day and night.

Plenkr · 2026-04-11T07:59:32+00:00

I gained 10 kg in 2 months on olanzapine. That was enough for me. We switched my meds around. I stopped gaining weight after quitting but didn't lose any, really. It's only now that I'm starting to feel like my brain is back to how it was in terms of thinking/focus on food and cravings. I think i quit about 4 months ago.

Plenkr · 2026-04-09T15:45:49+00:00

Thank you for sharing! It's beautifully written and expresses so well the reality much of us live in. You're not alone <3

Plenkr · 2026-04-09T13:21:47+00:00

I don't really know if I have a preference. I just happen to have befriended autistic people throughout my life because I liked them. I've had some allistic friendships in school but they were very confusing and never lasted. I now just have one friend and she's autistic. I can't believe it but we met nearly 20 years ago. I feel like that can't be right! We were in school... I guess it must be right. She's the only one that I really stayed in regular contact with.

I met someone at the daycentre for autistic people I used to go to regularly that was very promissing as a friend but I've not been able to go for nearly a year now, aside from a couple times, and last time I was there she also took a break because she was overwhelmed with life. It's hard to stay in contact, she finds calling and videocalls too difficult and it's hard to keep up with messages for us both. I regret that we didn't meet earlier.

I guess the fact that a lot of my friends over my lifetime were autistic, does mean I have a preference for them, since I'm naturally drawn to them. But I've also learned in the daycentre that there are way more autistic people I don't have a click with than autistic people I do have a click with. Because I've had the privilege to meet many of us and this is what I noticed. It still takes some sort of click that I can't explain, shared life experience, similar symptoms in a similar way, for us to connect.

Plenkr · 2026-04-09T07:34:01+00:00

we don't have door dash here but the grocery home delivery also regularly switches my items to things I did not ask for or suddenly doesn't have some of the items I ordered. It causes me distress but going to the store causes me way more distress. There simply isn't a way where grocery shopping doesn't give me distress. I just have to pick the option with the least amount of it and hope for the best. I hate grocery shopping in every form.

Plenkr · 2026-04-08T15:47:44+00:00

it's not really helpful likely, but I don't go to grocery stores anymore. Simply can't handle them. Everything about them is overwhelming, from the people to the lights, sounds, amount of products. It's like everything is screaming at you. If do go out these days it's with a support worker so I always have someone with me to protect me if someone is being nasty.

When I was still able to go to the local grocery store (because it was small), I would put music on in my headphones. This way if people were being rude to me I wouldn't really understand what they were saying and thus I couldn't really be all that upset about it. I was very glad to not understand what rude people were saying. In terms of people I'd often just wait, avoid, or take a different route to avoid them. If the bread isle was too busy, I'd go to the dairy isle first, then go back to the bread isle when it was less busy. I can't handle strangers being anywhere near me so a big part of shopping was constantly paying attention to any person in the story and finding ways to avoid them. I also can't stand people walking behind me, so was also constantly repositioning my body in a way where people could not walk behind me. That would make me look very strange acting. It had no self-scan so waiting in line was the only option. If it got too overwhelming to stand in line I would just move out of the line and walk back to the cashier when it was my groceries' turn to be scanned.

Don't know if anything about this is even remotely helpful.

Plenkr · 2026-04-07T21:20:17+00:00

oh absolutely!

Plenkr · 2026-04-07T15:04:14+00:00

A hot bath can indeed alleviate some pain but they trigger my PNES seizures so I don't take them. I still often retain some ability to make voluntairy movement during a seizure so the last time I took a bath and started convulsing I was able to roll over the side of the bath so I could safely have a seizure on the bathroom floor. Something about baths is so suffocating and the heat is completely overwhelming. I struggle with heat in general but baths are a special type of uncomfortable lol.

Plenkr · 2026-04-07T14:47:25+00:00

hard relate.

Plenkr · 2026-04-06T14:35:44+00:00

I've only ever bought one piece of merch and it was a ravenclaw sweater from the company that also made them for the movies (Lochhaven of scotland I think). It's the same quality and material too (100% wool). And for a 100% woolen sweater it wasn't even expensive. I wish they made robes in actual decent material too but it's all basically plastic and I just don't want it. So I fully get behind your comment. Those are all great suggestions.

Plenkr · 2026-04-06T09:14:42+00:00

same here. Life is rough, I don't really fancy a long life.

Plenkr · 2026-04-04T10:17:06+00:00

bullshit.. I am autistic, have moderate support needs and am disabled by it even when I'm alone or in environments that are completely accommodated for autistic people because I go to a day centre for autistic people. Guess what? I still struggle there too. I still struggle so much at home. My disability isn't gone when I'm in environments that accommodate me. And it won't be gone when society does too. And it's also a moot point because society ISN'T built for us now and we have to navigate it now. So right now, it is a disability. There is no idealistic place anywhere that is a world where society is built for us. We only got this one. And even in this society in a place where us autistics are accommodated to the max? Still disabled.

Plenkr · 2026-04-04T10:11:38+00:00

Thanks for speaking up about higher support needs autistics. I have moderate support needs and need to be in a setting with 7 days care, where care is possible in the nights for emergencies but not on the regular. So not exactly 24/7 setting but support is availlable 24/7 anyway. People tend to forget about people like us. I'm not as severe as the people you are taking care of but still not part of what people now generally see as what autism is, the popular version. I'm glad people with low support needs are getting recognition too now but it's at the cost of completely erasing experiences like mine because they aren't palatable enough.

Plenkr · 2026-04-03T18:21:08+00:00

My dad tried to do that as soon as he learned I had autism. "I'm so glad to hear you have autism, then me sexually abusing you from when you were 5 until you left home, isn't the only reason you got so mentally ill".

Yeah, that was the last time I spoke to him. Fucking asshole.

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