I am going to put my hand up and confuse that I am indeed a Know-it-all, but I am in a way. The thing is it is not about what I know from memory, although I am pretty good at that, it is about the fact I am always been very good at using Google to find exactly the information I am looking. As a result, many friends always come to me if they want to know something fast and precise.
Knowledge is power and we live in a wonderful era where the knowledge is so easily available for people to find. Things still need researching but the speed in which this can been done is incredible. I am also very honest to say when I do not know something but I will quickly find out about it.
If there is a will there is a way if you have the knowledge and skills to find out and so this is why I believe anything is possible.
Month: May 2012
Bring Everything Together
In my daydreams, I am always ponding on how this government and society could be improved for the benefit on everyone but in a way that is cost effective. I get frustrated at what I see as the waist of money I see by the fact issues are dealt with separately rather than brought together to provide results and positive outcomes.
The government divides life in issues with education, employment, health, housing, leisure and social care, and allow each issue to develop a culture and organisational structure that is incompatible with each other. The goals to a better life experience for everyone is not shared and so there is so much repetition and conflict.
One example is that leisure is regarded as nice but a luxury, the benefits of a western society. However, to create a good mental well-being you must balance work with leisure. Therefore one way of resolving the huge mental health issues we have here, that lead to obesity, smoking, alcoholic abuse, drug addiction and so on, is the move some health monies into a whole new generation of public leisure opportunities. A shared goal can therefore be achieved by bringing everything together.
I Love Budapest
This week I am in Budapest in Hungary and this is certainly one of my favourite cities, next to London. I have regarded it as the Central European version of London since it is so big. I first visited Budapest in 1993 on a disabled exchange trip, and I have been back many times for work and pleasure. One of the many strings to my bow is I have been involved in European Youth work since 1996 in one way or another, taking part and organising activities that bring disabled and non-disabled young people together from all over Europe.
To have another opportunity this great city is a pleasure despite the work element to my trip. I have many friends here and many good memories. It played an important part of my growing up in my 20s to who I am today. I am no tourist here but simply somewhere that is a home away from home.
Understanding our moods
As someone with mild bipolar, I have needed to understand my moods more than most. A mood for me goes beyond the basic feelings and its about how calm, relaxed, energetic, depressed or frustrated we are at this moment and in what direction our moods is heading.
It is then able understanding how our mood is affected by our environment and then how it affects how we respond to things are it. If we can understand why something quite minor has really irritation us, because of how we are generally feeling, we can do something positive about it.
I feel our moods are an indicator of how well our is in terms of physical and mental well-being. Unfortunately to success in life, it is necessary to go the occasional extra mile and this can make being balanced a never ending struggle to achieve.
So how is your mood today?
The wonders of Wikipedia
Over the last few months I am been using Wikipedia more and more, and discovering what a wonderful and amazing resource it is. While it may not be fully comprehensive and accurate on absolutely everything, it is just incredible the breath of articles it has. It is indeed a concise guide to life, the University and everything.
I have been using it to learn more about who I am, my history, my interests, my passions, my places and the many concepts that make up how I live, work and play. I have been bookmarking them as notes, using Notecards, to paint a informatic picture of who I am and to add it points to inspire me, so far, I have collected 17000 which I am currently sorting.
Information is power and the trick is to know how to know to use it. By knowing as much as I can about what I want to know, I believe it will make me a stronger and wiser person.
Making Social Care Normal
I feel to solve the problem of an increase in the demand for social care because of the increase in people living longer, it is essential that social care is made into something that is normal. Right now, social care is something seen as just for ‘the elderly’, ‘the disabled’ and ‘carers’, and something people do not need to worry about until they need it, if they need it.
This was the case with health until recently although people always had a better basic understand of what the NHS did, even it is came from television dramas. But the workings of the social care system is a mystery to the majority of people, who simply see the stereotypical images of ‘vulnerable’ people being either looked after or abused.
Like people understand that sometime in their life, they will most likely need to spent time in hospital, people should understand that when they get older, something most people desire, than they are most likely to have a reduction in their abilities which means they will need some form of social care provided informally or formally.
Once this is properly understand and people start planning what I need before it is forced upon them, people will have a bigger say in how services are designed and therefore social care will be more normal, and something everyone is talking about rather then the expensive thing no one understands.
Trying to control my voice
As well as wanting to own my voice as my representative, user led charities and other disabled people have wanted to control what I can and can not say, in the name of the movement as disabled people like being disabled meant you were an automatic member of an extremist cult whether you liked it or not.
In this socialist styled cult, individualism is frowned upon as disabled people must obey the rules of the movement or be deemed as a traitor, a title I have held for many years. Being positive about one’s ability is also outlawed as one must always fight for rights without ever using them to contribute to society, which is full of hateful oppressors. The response being called for to avoid taking responsibility borders closely on minor acts of terrorism which proves the extremism that exists in the so-called movement.
Apart from a confusing statistic, I would argue it is now criminal and immoral to force ‘disabled people’ to be regarded and treated as a single group with the same ideas, beliefs and lack of aspirations, and controlled by an unaccountable unelected minority of people claiming to be disabled so they can get exactly what they want at the cost of everyone else.
I am not a number, I am a free man, I am an individual!
Severely disabled again?
I remember being called severely disabled in the 80s and early 90s but not since them. One reason for this as been that the complexity of cerebral palsy in younger people has increased, due to better survival rates at birth, and so relevantly my impairment has began milder. So I am very interested to here in this new so-called sick and disabled movement, the term severely disabled is now used.
I heard the term used to describe anyone who needs social care and I heard Sue March, the Queen of the ‘broken of Britain’ call anyone to needs ILF as Profoundly Disabled, like we are so helpless we need the pity of someone like her, who demands pity herself. While people complain I am the one making a divide between real disabled people, and the less so, it is also the less so and in a effort to justify their right not to work, who has moved the goalposts, and written off real disabled people as 3rd or 4th class citizens, to their desired place of 2nd class citizens.
The terms severely and profoundly invites a level of pity which feeds the eugenics movement, as really disabled people are regarded by the charities that pretend to care about them as beyond help and beyond any ability to make a contribution to society. We are regarded as the property of ‘our carers’ and an economic burden that is a strain on the sick movements desire to fight for cold hard cash for anyone who wants it without responsibility or accountability.
People may not see what is really going on but real disabled people are being betrayed in their own name as new battle lines are drawn between the government and the sick. As a new generation of impairments fight for public pity, it is real disabled people which will be the losers here unless people like me take a stand. I am as severely disabled as I feel and that is not much at all as I refuse to be labelled in this way or so pretend peers can write me off.
Windsurfing on my Bum
In my early 20s windsurfing was something I wanted to try but I had assumed was not possible. I had problems standing on solid ground and so how on earth could I balance on a board? But I love getting wet and so I tried it anyway, having one to one lessons. Then as I was trying to figure out where I should really put my feet ‘in my language’ rather where the instructor wanted me to put them, it stuck me, why not try it sitting down.
My thinking was by lowering my centre of gravity I was more likely to stay on the board. So after some trial and error, I was able to successfully windsurf on my bum using an adult board and child’s sail. As a dangle my legs over the side, my wetsuit and booties are invaluable to stay warm!
With another tick in my life, it demonstrates problem solving is about identity looking at the problem from all angles and focusing on the outcome and not have a fix method in mind. If we want something and willing to try, anything is possible. I came to windsurfing understanding my limitations but with a willingness to try that lead to my creative success!
Why must disabled people think small?
When it comes of disabled people and enterprise, the current thinking seems to be big small. They are not encouraged to set up a business, with the desire of world domination, but rather social enterprises, which appears to be seem as “a good try” with very low expectations of succeed placed upon it.
Social Enterprises are often set up in the name of disabled people but are ‘supervised’ by professionals to make sure it is too successful or adventurous. These professionals often try to protect the enterprise from the real world of cut-throat businesses, using political correctness and embarrassment to show success that is artificial.
So in reality social enterprises are often the sheltered workshops of the 21st Century, which is one small step forward to prevent a larger step forward in the liberation of disabled people. Enterprise is for entrepreneurs and its success lays in thinking big and believing in yourself, with the freedom to achieve anything you set your mind to achieve.
Behind more drool 