Swedish Man Gets Disability Benefits For Heavy Metal Addiction
Posted by Joseph Lee on 12.21.2012
He gets lots of leniency..
Global Post reports that a man in Sweden has successfully had his love of heavy metal called an addiction that requires state disability benefits.
Roger Tullgren is a heavily tattooed dishwasher in southern Sweden. He said he went to three psychologists to get statements that his heavy metal love is a dependency. He told Swedish newspaper The Local: "I have been trying for 10 years to get this classified as a handicap. I spoke to three psychologists and they finally agreed that I needed this to avoid being discriminated against."
Tullgren has long black hair, tattoos and a collection of skull and crossbones jewelry. He said his addition to heavy metal caused him to attend almost 300 concerts last year, which caused him to lose jobs and go on welfare. He is currently a dishwasher at a restaurant in Hassleholm.
He added: "I signed a form saying: 'Roger feels compelled to show his heavy metal style. This puts him in a difficult situation on the labor 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."
His new boss has agreed to give him time off to see concerts, let him dress however he wants and play heavy metal music while washing dishes, as long as it does not disturb customers.
Tullgren started loving the genre at the age of two when his brother came home with a Black Sabbath album. The Toronto Globe and Mail newspaper says that addiction treatments usually involves helping them to get rid of their addiction. However, "in uber-liberal Sweden, the state could be accused of ‘enabling' Mr. Tullgren's addiction by accommodating his heavy metal lifestyle."
