![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
“Heavy metal is my lifestyle”
I’m indebted to thelondonpaper for bringing this four-month-old story to my attention this week, albeit as a half-arsed bit of filler:
Man gets sick benefits for heavy metal addiction
19 June 2007
A Swedish heavy metal fan has had his musical preferences officially classified as a disability. The results of a psychological analysis enable the metal lover to supplement his income with state benefits.
“I have been trying for ten years to get this classified as a handicap,” Roger Tullgren, 42, told The Local. “I spoke to three psychologists and they finally agreed that I needed this to avoid being discriminated against.”The ageing rocker claims to have attended almost three hundred shows last year, often skipping work in the process. Eventually his last employer tired of his absences and Tullgren was left jobless and reliant on welfare handouts.
But his sessions with occupational psychologists led to a solution of sorts ... “I signed a form saying: ‘Roger feels compelled to show his heavy metal style. This puts him in a difficult situation on the labour market. Therefore he needs extra financial help’. So now I can turn up at a job interview dressed in my normal clothes and just hand the interviewers this piece of paper,” he said.
The manager at his new workplace allows him to go to concerts as long as he makes up for lost time at a later point. He is also allowed to dress as he likes and listen to heavy metal while washing up. “But not too loud when there are guests,” he said.
Tullgren currently plays bass and guitar in two rock bands and says that he tends to get a lot of positive reactions for daring to be himself. “Some might say that I should grow up and learn to listen to other types of music but I can't. Heavy metal is my lifestyle,” he said. [Source: The Local (Sweden)]
no subject