I know that at least some of the members of our community have really interesting life stories and have confronted and overcome considerable adversity, so in their diaries and comments they write from a position of experience and compassion, not privilege. I decided to put together a little questionnaire to assess one’s adversity experience score. Start from zero (total privilege, silver spoon, ivory tower). Add a point for every “yes” answer for yourself and half a point if you can answer “yes” for a close relative or friend.
Have you ever been...
- racially profiled?
- profiled as LGBTQIA+?
- asked, "No, where are you REALLY from?"
- ejected by security from a location where you had a legitimate reason to be?
- detained by the police without explanation?
- in a streetfight?
- in a revolution with barricades?
- in combat?
- declared enemy of the state (or undesirable element)?
- evicted from your home?
- sexually harassed?
- a victim of domestic violence?
- strip-searched?
- arrested?
- imprisoned?
- abducted?
- carjacked?
- held at gunpoint?
- pistolwhipped?
- stabbed?
- shot?
- sexually assaulted?
More after the jump.
Have you ever had a real-life situation when you
- stood up a for a person being mistreated?
- confronted a neo-Nazi?
- filed a police report about a crime?
- filed a report about police violating somebody's civil rights?
- had to illegally cross a state border?
- had no money for food?
- slept rough?
- were in distress on the high seas?
- rescued a person in danger to their life / health?
- closed somebody’s eyelids after death?
- carried a coffin?
- dug a grave?
The maximum score is 34. I want you to…
1) post your score in the comments
2) suggest additional questions
I promise to update this diary and present the results (with some caveats about their validity) if I get a statistically sufficient number of scores. I will adjust the scores if I add questions.
My score is 20.5, my significant other scored 6.
Update: four more questions added, thanks to Sulla, Clio2 and ACIM. I’ll post the results tomorrow.