The DA Traditions Tested: A DisAbled DA Member's Reflections

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon D.A. unity.

2. The only requirement for D.A. membership is a desire to stop incurring unsecured debt.

These two traditions make it possible for me to claim my right to participate in DA in spite of my shame at having been declared permanently disabled in 1995, with the largest percentage of my income originating from widows' benefits and Social Security.

Why shame? Just imagine... a violent and cruel family of origin.

ANSWER: I put that shame to rest one day, one hour at a time, every day, staying solvent and aware of my own worth as a person.

Why shame? I have had enough experiences of social and verbal rejection and exclusion in the 12 step programs, including DA, over my reliance on non-work sources of assistance and my need for a service dog. These memories and experiences make meeting attendance difficult.

ANSWER: Record keeping, telephone contact, meeting attendance with my service dog, and service (mine, not the dog's, although the dog helps).

Last weekend, Cassie Rainbow, service dog, and I helped with a DA member's Pressure Relief Group at a fund raising event for the Oakland Tuesday Night Group. Happily, my experiences with debt repayment and restructuring and contacts with creditors were of help to the gentleman seeking help.

These experiences have always had positive results for my solvency and recovery, except for one aspect: they were generally done in secrecy, without "bookending" them with a sponsor or other DA member. Why? Fear of ridicule.

But no one ridiculed me at the PRG last weekend, and the gentleman's follow-up phone call, requesting support, did not generate any negative remarks, although he is a full time worker and healthy as a horse.

What wonderful traditions we have, when we practice them. Our PRG was a unified effort, in spite of our differences. The only requirement for DA membership is a desire to stop incurring unsecured debt. Our income can be derived from any legal source (no, I don't plan on sponsoring any bank robbers), including my widows' benefits and Social Security. We can receive help from any legal source of assistance, noting it as income on our records.

The DA program is and must be kept socially as well as formally open to retirees, disabled persons receiving non-working income assistance, and anyone with a desire to stop incurring unsecured debt. Let us reject gossip and cruelty and negative comparisons, and overcome our own internalized shame and make a very special effort to include alll who show up seeking help from DA.
Kari Ann has been solvent for five years in DA. She is the Director of a small, solvent nonprofit therapeutic and abled horseback riding program.