Month: December 2011

X, Y and Z is for…


Since this is the last official blog of the year, although I may blog while I am on holiday, and we have reached the end of this alphabetic series of blogs, I have combined X, Y and Z into one. 


X is for eXtra special and my life feels like it is currently full of a lot of lots of extra special experiences, friends and moments. Things do not have to be expensive to be extra special but simply be exactly what I need and want, like my ipad and my excellent support staff.


Y is for year, this one and next one, and this one has been my best year so far as I have achieved a level of stability I have always dreamt about as I starting to find time for myself in a way I have not had for 10 years. Next year I hope to grow this further in a way where by becoming still stronger in my confidence, I am able to assist and support others more to fulfiling their dreams.


Z is for zzz and after an extremely hard working year, it is time to rest and have a good holiday, and this is why I am going to Lanzarote for a week!

V is for … Victory


V is for Victory and I feel it is important to celebrate every victory we achieve however large and small they may feel. I often believe the smaller victories are the more important ones and a good sign that everything is okay in life.


For me, a victory is not about trying to winning over someone else nor about proving anyone is wrong, but rather a success of a personal achievement or the completion is any task which leads to my greater goals.


This year for me has certainly been full of victories on many levels and I look forward to seeing what next year brings. 

U is for… Understanding




U is for Understanding and I feel it is important we all have a better understanding of each other. We are all experts of our own situations and it is very natural to assume everyone else’s situation is similar. especially with people are see as our peers. Miscommunication tends of be the main cause of most problems between individuals and organisations as what we hear is not being said. Better understanding is therefore a key to a better future. 

T is for Technology


T is for Technology and without the amazing technology we take for granted lie computers, iPads and the internet, myself and many other disabled people would simply not be make to make the meaning contribution to our communities, society and others around the world, it is truly assisted in our liberation from the limitations of our difficulties.


This is a message I am said many times and I will probably continue to repeat for a long time because it is so powerful. I am been using computers for over 30 years and I started long before it is mainstream. I have watched the power and potential of the technology grow in amazing leaps and bounds, each time improving dramatically the quality of my life. And with no signs of this development slowing down, I can only look forward to the future.

S is for … Spaz


S is for Spaz and this is a term myself and other people with cerebral palsy have reclaimed and something used to describe ourselves in a light-hearted but powerful manner. I am particularly call myself in specific situations “Proud Spaz” as I believe it sums up how positively I feel about myself as an unique individual who has cerebral palsy.


The reclaiming of negative words used against specific person by the same people is nothing new and it has been seen with the term queen by gay people and to some degree the term nigger by black, and it is especially used by comedians from these backgrounds to challenge stereotypes in a funny and safe way by using their own experiences and themselves as the target of humour. Language is indeed a very powerful tool.



R is for … Radical


R is for radical and at times, many people do consider my views to be radical and I would acknowledge I am more forward thinking. I would however that while the claims and statements look like they require a leap of faith, I believe that are based on my own brand of logic which are explaining but it would take a lot of time to take people through the steps of my thinking.


We all have the right to believe in whatever we want but it is helpful to others if we are able to support the with evidence or logical understand when we are asked questions or challenged to explain it further. It should be easy to do this if we are confident in our beliefs. When people react in a hostile manner to being challenged, it can only but the question of validity of what is being proposed.


I believe radical just means something what is not yet fully understood and yesterday’s radical ideas are today’s everyday thinking!

Q is for… Questions


Q is for Questions and I always had a policy since I was quite age to answer any question someone asks me, however person it may be. I always known as someone who is very different of the mainstream, many people will have questions on how I live, exist and feel. If I do not answer them myself and take control of how I am portrayed, they will make their own assumptions based on myth rather than fact.


I am not saying I always give the answer people may expect and I hate being stereotyped by leading questions that are designed to make the asker feel they are in control of the situation. An example of this is that I am often asked that because I employ personal assistants, do I choose what I do every day? They ask as if my personal assistants set of parameters I live in and have choice about, eg I can do what I want so long as it is what they allow me to do. I often reply that I live in the real world and that I have as much choice as anyone else with the responsibilities that go along with it!

P is for … Personal


P is for personal and I was argue disability is a very personal thing and that it is one of the issues where other people believe there can have a big say of someone’s personal life. In the UK, personalisation of services and social care is seen as the way forward but I am not sure many people understand how personal personalisation needs to be.

I work with people who see supporting my life as their job but I feel they forget that it is indeed my life and I simply engage with them as gatekeepers to services and funding as opposed to rely on them for everything is the way they assume. People ask me about choices but they often talking about choices on their terms, ones they are prepared to offer me, rather than those that come with responsibilities in the real world.

There are many issues in disability matters which are personal in every sense of that meaning and therefore can never be resolved which can be frustrating but interesting!

O is for Outrageous


O is for Outrageous and I was asked by a friend to share a link with you about how psychoanalysts in France see Autism. 


http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xlowfu_the-wall-or-psychoanalysis-put-to-the-test-for-autism_news

This is a very well made and informative documentary which I shall not explain in detail as the ideas it highlights do not warrant additional attention. It is however about psychoanalysts talk total nonsense and make the most outrageous implications from nothing.


It is not my first dealings with these poor very sick creatures as I spent a week with 40 of their students when I did my MA in Disability Studies. While looking back it was awful, at the time I could not stop laughing as they over-analysed everything I did as I seemed to personally give each one a nervous breakdown simply because I was disabled and confident!


It is indeed outrageous that its the early 2010s, we still have modern day witch doctors who ‘grow fat’ by imposing the sexual hang ups and total madness of others, especially in an area which has been proven biological and not psychological.


I do have my own concerns about autism but this relates more generally to how mild impairments of all kinds appear to now be taken out of context and treated as ‘disability’ in the social sense as a human rights issues when its ignores the relevant impacts, but that is another story.


If you want to see mad people in your own habitat, the so-called doctors I mean, this is worth a watch.