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Originally Posted by Serpentine Leaf
Replying to both in the same posting here. But it depends where you are if certain things like that are unusable. Where I grew up, most people were working class or poor, so having old stuff and delayed exposure to technology were not uncommon. It also wasn't uncommon for people to listen to both old and new music. I was a band geek, so we enjoyed some very old music.
Please remember who those judgements are coming from. External achievement is all they have, so they think that's all anybody else should be measured by.
The UK's health system is probably one of the best in the world from what I understand. I've heard other stories similar to yours. One guy on NPR told of having a heart attack while he was there, and had to pay only a very small fee as a foreigner. Had he been a citizen, or on a student visa as you apparently were, his bill would have been 0. It would have bankrupted him had it happened in the US. I'm not sure about other European nations, but someone on here said the mental healthcare system in I think it was Sweden wasn't great, though the physical was good.
Int he UK, medical personnel are government employees. They have no financial incentive to prescribe unnecessary meds, or send people for unnecessary testing, surgery, or physical therapy. In most countries, it's illegal for medical staff to get the kinds of bonuses or other perks they can get here for writing X number of scripts or sell X number of devices. I find it very hard to trust doctors after some terrible personal experiences in recent times, that put me into debt twice.
I'm very glad this forum has bolstered your self-esteem. We're all here because of pain and we all want to life each other up. You didn't fail and you are not defective. You've just been enduring a toxic environment that doesn't appreciate your differences. You can't expect someone with discalculia to become a mathematician, and you can't expect an Aspie to have a healthy relationship with a malignant narcissist. Or anybody else or that matter.
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That is definitely a factor. I think why it is so lost on people here is that most people are rich (talking comparatively, $200000 here is considered close to being impoverished, but is a lot in most other cities and countries). They are so disconnected from the working class that they would never understand why people have less technology in the home like in your area. Everyone here has the latest gadgets--latest phones, latest laptops, etc. In my own case, it is a mixture--lack of money to afford it, plus also my family is not really into the "new-fangled" gadget stuff. The inside of my house looked like a time machine from the 1950s. Even some of the wallpaper was last changed in the late 1960s or early 1970s. The furniture is from the 1960s. We just never thought of changing them. My grandparents never have used Internet in their lives. My mother did not use Internet until probably 2003. Due to the highly biased tech culture here, people do not even write. They use electronic tablets. I use pen/pencil and paper, like an older person. I need things written down. I cannot stand the screen glare either. I already wear glasses at almost all times, I do not want more screen glare in my eyes from a tablet.
I am realising about how people have judged me in the past. I think that in addition to doing my own to increase self-esteem, recognising that other people's BS about me was just rubbish the whole time helps a lot.
The UK's NHS is the best universal healthcare system on the planet, in my opinion. It is so comprehensive and is based on the principle of "Everyone has the right to healthcare regardless of ability to pay". This helps people like me a lot. I had to use the A&E a few times due to some accidents, like when I accidentally scraped my cornea with a fingernail. The nurse gave me antibiotic eyedrops that night, and everything was totally free. Only time I payed was going to the regular doctor, and getting a prescription from the nearby pharmacy. The government set the price at around 7 pounds back then. I think right now it is almost 9 pounds. But the concept is the same--all prescriptions from a non-emergency doctor are pegged at 9 pounds each. They cannot legally charge more.
I noticed the toxic environment when acquaintances were telling me that they would be moving to somewhere else permanently, due to being fed up with San Francisco. That was when I kind of thought that perhaps I am not the only one who feels like I am being treated badly. I think that over 20 acquaintances whom I have met from meetups have now moved away from San Francisco due to disappointment in the city and the people here. Honestly, I do not blame them.
I notice how the generalisation that the more one socialises, the better one gets in social action. Perhaps in some cases that is true, but here the more I socialise the more I argue with people. When I socialised in the UK, I never had to argue with people like here, nor receive insults on such a regular basis. It is not a diary per sé, but I have a little notebook that I had bought during my pre-birthday travels where I write my thoughts. I try to write what happened in the week or the month and how I have qualities that are good that people often do not get to see, or do not give me the chance to demonstrate.