Merges Ahead!
Hi everyone! Thank you for providing feedback on these merges and supporting us in this journey towards a better support system for our members and listeners. We hear your concerns about the Schizophrenia and Bipolar support merge. To ensure that schizophrenia and psychosis support get their visibility, we will soon be renaming the bipolar support sub-community to reflect the merge, the new name will be ‘Bipolar, Schizophrenia & Psychosis Support. Today I am here to announce the next sub-community merges.
The following forum categories/sub-communities will be merged.
❆ Sexual Health will move to Relationship & Friendship Community
❆ OCD will move to Anxiety Support Community (Merge deferred upon feedback from the community)
❆ Current Events & Disaster Support will move to Around the World
❆ ADD/ADHD and Bullying Support will move to Student & Career Support Community. (ADHD/ADD Merge deferred upon feedback from the community)
❆ Parenting & Pregnancy Support Community will move to Family & Caregiver Support Community
*All categories are hyperlinked
Once a merge has been completed, it will be announced in the merged sub-community and you will see it listed under the sub-community announcement hub.
A big thank you to @Tazzie for being so supportive with these merges and to @Monbon @Anomali and @Mel for providing feedback and supporting the process!
(1/9/2020) Hope added the merge deferred note
[1/10/2020] Tazzie added "ADD/ADHD" to the existing merge deferred note.
Idk how comfortable I am with ADHD merging with student struggles. My ADHD doesn't just affect my schoolwork, it messes with my social life and mental wellbeing. There are so many other aspects to ADHD that doesn't relate to career/school.
Also: The "ADD" is redundant, ADD as it was formerly known has now been understood in the medical community to be a subset of ADHD. There's ADHD: Hyperactive, ADHD: Inattentive (previously ADD), and ADHD: Combined.
@laniidae very good points, I would also never think to look in school support if referring someone new to the forums for extra support with ADHD
@laniidae - I share your concerns.
If (you leaders) read our comments, but then do nothing in regards to what (M) and (L) have brought up (concerns, ideas, etc), then why should we comment at all. Again it feels like the leadership had a meeting or few, and you are now deciding to 'bring us in the loop.' I don't know about the others of you (M) and (L), but it doesn't feel very good to me. Do surveys help? I would certainly fill out a survey. I wish 7cups.com as a whole could feel like all of ours' place and that we could have input that is actually looked at and considered. ~ a tiny Platy ... with what I'd like to be a BIG LOUD voice
@cyanPlatypus6370 would it make sense to move to the disability support community?
@kindSoul10 - Hi kindsoul! 
As far as where to put ADHD, I know SO little about that. Perhaps @laniidae may be a better source for you to ask this type of question.
For me, I have almost always wondered what belongs in the Disability Support area --- the group support room and the forum sections. I mean like does it mean "only" physical disabilities (like needing and using a wheelchair - sorry very stereotypical, but I couldn't think of another example quickly) or does it also include intellectual disabilities (like ? Down's Syndrome, perhaps?) ... OR ... does it also include persons in a position such as I - I receive Disability Income, but "no one" would know why just by looking at me :( KindSoul10, I really do wonder that - and I really do not know where to ask this Q, especially without coming off as rude 
It is just after midnight here - so that means it is Thursday! I hope that I will like this Thursday! Anyone reading this, have a great day! ~ Platy
@cyanPlatypus6370 since the time I joined the disability team and leaded the support team, we used the term disability as an umbrella term for physical and mental impairments. The United Nations recognise: "disability is an evolving concept and that disability results from the interaction between persons with impairments and attitudinal and environmental barriers that hinders their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others".
The World Health Organisation states: "
Disabilities is an umbrella term, covering impairments, activity limitations, and participation restrictions. An impairment is a problem in body function or structure; an activity limitation is a difficulty encountered by an individual in executing a task or action; while a participation restriction is a problem experienced by an individual in involvement in life situations.
Disability is thus not just a health problem. It is a complex phenomenon, reflecting the interaction between features of a persons body and features of the society in which he or she lives. Overcoming the difficulties faced by people with disabilities requires interventions to remove environmental and social barriers."
The American Disability Act (ADA) defines disability as an impairment that needs to last more than 6 month. It's a legal definition of disability, so there are complicated regulations of what ADA recognises as a disability. You can read more about it on the ADA Website.
However, I prefer the the definition of WHO and UN, therefore our community doesn't judge anyone. We welcome people with and without disabilities. We respect and accept individuals that see themselves included in this umbrella term and we also respect and accept people that don't like to be labeled as people with disabilities.
@kindSoul10 - wow. Long answer! Your very last sentence may make me feel better about joining the disability support - even if just for a day or two. I *highly* dislike being called (or labeled) as one who is disabled. Very very much. But I've tried to poke my 'bill' in a little bit and see what the atmosphere is like.
I am super familiar with the ADA, but more (it seems) as any individual who wants some accommodation - whether he/she actually needs assistance or not. (sigh) Anyway, thank you for your thought out response. Happy Saturday! ~ Platy
@cyanPlatypus6370 This is the first bit under the disability support description & information:
This is a great place to get support and connect with others who have chronic illnesses, chronic pain and impairments. All of these things are included under the Disability heading.
Our forums also have a variety of subforums, the big one we don't really have anything for is mental illnesses as that would overlap excessively with other subcommunities. If people want to participate in disability support regarding mental illness though, they are welcome.
I think overall the disability subcommunity has always been farily inclusive but when newcomers join a chat or post in the forums it's often asked if they are in the right place, allowed to participate, or if their condition counts as a disability.
If you have any suggestions as to how to communicate the purpose of disability support and all the aspects that we include, please let us know. As a team we try our best on this.
I'm currently on self-care which limits some of the tools I have access to but I do what I can and other team members would be receptive as well.
@laniidae @cyanPlatypus6370 @TaranWanderer
Thank you for providing feedback! We appreciate you taking the time to voice your concerns. We would not want to confuse anyone with the merge or move a forum category where it doesn't fit. The idea behind that merge is to place the forum category under an appropriate sub-community so it can get more support. However, we will reconsider this merge, don't hesitate to reach out to me or Tazzie if you feel like you have more to add to your feedback. Your voice is appreciated!
@Hope
People dont get more support in the merging case. It is just confusing, especially for members.
@LovingSparkle - That (similarly) was going to be my response too. How does ADDing more to a smaller thing, which obviously would make it bigger, how does that equate to MORE support in any of those smaller areas? Does not compute. ~ Platy
@Hope ADHD applies to more than students - everyone from children to adults (I know several adults with ADHD).
@stressBear to be fair it is the student and career support, so adults are included -- but maybe not an intuitive spot for it, for new members to know where to look (and of course ADHD can impact people's lives outside of their school and career environments)
@TaranWanderer - last sentence ... can!?? My mother has adult-onset ADHD and now 1. she is retired and 2. she is not a student. So my mom is only one example of the ? hundreds? Anyway :) But yes, I agree that this Dx (diagnosis) can affect a person their whole lifespan - from ?age 3 - or whenever it gets diagnosed .... to first learning in elementary ... to trying to deal with it and eventually enter the college or career paths .... and on, into adulthood, etc.
@Hope always appreciate all the work you and the team do! It's not easy to try to solve the lack of support issue for certain topics, the merging makes sense in general. My only concern would be if new members join, they may not think to look in the student/career category for ADHD support -- unless there was some way to make it easy to find? Other than clicking through all the subcommunities until you find the right subcategory. I'm at a loss for suggestions though :P Like maybe if the forum homepage still had that drop-down menu that listed ADHD, but when clicked it went to the area within the student/career subcom? (Or wherever it ends up being)
Hi @TaranWanderer, thank you for your feedback! I agree those are some valid concerns. We will not be merging these communities as we do not want it to be confusing for anyone. The idea of these merges is to add more support and merge what makes sense and if a certain merge is confusing then we for sure will reconsider.
@Hope Thanks for the updates, and keep up the fantastic job. :)
@lovelyWhisper66
Thank you for your positive presence in the forums! You are doing great
Thanks for the updates! @Hope
@Hope They look great Hope. Thank you @Tazzie and you.
@ASilentObserver
I am glad you like it!
@Hope
Thanks for this update!
@Hope
Yesss! What a beneficial move for everyone involved. These merges make total sense and I truly respect how much effort it takes to execute a decision like this. Its a very time-consuming task. Thank you all for all you do!
Tbh this is how I imagine @Tazzie and the team strategized this decision lol:
@zaatarHoney
Such kind words! Thank you and yes it was more or less that but more with words
Thanks for the information!
Thanks for the update @Hope! If you don't mind me asking, why are we combining OCD with Anxiety?
@SnailPurple - Good Question!! As I was reading through the list of merges, that one (ocd and anxiety) struck me as rather odd.
also, may I ask @Hope @Tazzie and team, why are we doing all this merging? do we just not have enough volunteers to cover all the sections?
~ Platy
Hi @cyanPlatypus6370, It is to provide better support to some forum categories/sub-communities. The very first post explained it so I am linking it here!
@SnailPurple
The idea behind the merge is that the OCD category has often found it difficult to have consistent support, among our existing sub-communities it fits the best with Anxiety support. This sub-community has a consistent team that will ensure support in the OCD forums. If the community feels strongly against it we are open to reconsidering the merge. These posts are a way to get your feedback before we do any merges. It is your community and your feedback matters to us.
@Hope
thanks for updating us hope!
Thank you everyone for sharing all positive and constructive feedback. As updated by Hope, we have decided to take your feedback into consideration and will not move forward with merging ADHD/ADD and OCD forum categories.
