Disability is portrayed by the left wing and liberal media as an issue about poverty, focusing on people claiming out of work benefits and struggling with their impairment identity and situation. Because the UK government is not pandering to their exclusion agenda, providing benefits to stay at home for anyone who wants them, and within an era of rights without responsibilities culture or consideration for others, they feel the need to criticise the UK and portray it as one of the worst countries for disabled people in the world.

Going on a cruise as someone with an impairment or indeed as anyone is an opportunity to see disability in another context, and to remind yourself of the facts of the situation that the anti-inclusion media wishes us to ignore. There are 2 specific simple points about disability that can be learnt by doing a cruise.

The first is that a lot of disabled people of all ages go on a cruise, although as in society, the majority are older people. Any cruise, however basic the cabin may be, is not exactly a cheap holiday and therefore disabled people going on cruises are unlikely to be in absolute poverty. Even if they are on benefits, they are clearly managing and found a way to enjoy life, like the majority of society.

But the point here is that while disability may indeed cause additional costs, in the same way being a parent of a young child does, the supposedly inseparable link between disability and poverty is untrue, a creation to keep the organisations that disempower people with impairments in power. By definition, impairments are blind to social status and background, affecting everyone and anyone in a manner they choose.

The second issue is accessibility. Most cruise ships are fully accessible as far as possible, especially as a lot of disabled people like cruising. It is when you go ashore to far away islands and lands that you can begin to realise what a privilege it is to be a disabled person living in the UK. The cruise terminals, like airports, will be accessible as far as possible, even if it is clumsily done, because of the demand from the tourism industry. The area surrounding the terminal may also indeed be accessible due to its dependency on tourism.

It is when you start exploring by foot, or rather by wheel, beyond this point that accessibility becomes a matter of luck as opposed to anything else. While many disabled passengers simply do not go ashore, unwilling to take on the adventure, I will always try to explore what I can as far as possible. My mobility skills mean I am confident to use the roads when the pavements are inaccessible or unsafe. I love to simply soak up the atmosphere of the place and the people, where my presence is often an unusual sight.

This is the time I would like the UN to explain to me how can they describe the wonderful and accessible UK I appreciate as the worst country for disabled people, when I am witnessing proof that this is simply not the case. The lack of accessibility I am seeing in these places will be a sign of a general lack of consideration for people with traditional impairments people understand, let along the array of new milder impairments invented in the UK.

Going to a cruise is a reminder of the truth about disability issues beyond the ivory towers many disability activists, who experience little suffering themselves directly, have built around themselves as they show they are out of touch with the real world.

If you like my blog article, have a look at some of my products;
Achieve Support – Coming soon
Having Pride (My Life Story) – http://www.balsy.me
Stevens’ Manifesto – Coming soon
Understand Accessibility – Coming soon

Understand Assistance – http://www.understand.tips
Understand Dysabiity – Coming soon

or visit my website at http://www.simonstevens.com

You can also email me at simon@simonstevens.com

In terms of having an impairment or health condition, everyone is happy to talk about rights, but few people are willing to discuss responsibilities, both in terms of theirs and the states. Many people seem to see having an impairment as a free pass to become victims of society, blaming everyone else for their problems and find it difficult to see the positive side of having an impairment when it is properly managed.

If we take any impairment, it is clear to see the individual has a responsibility to participate in its management. This is easy to see in lifestyle-related impairments like diabetes, asthma and obesity. Here, individuals have a responsibility to take the medications agreed with health professionals, avoid triggers that could worsen their symptoms, and make lifestyle changes to avoid the condition worsening or even to improve their situation.

Impairment responsibility also applies to me as someone with cerebral palsy, even though it is regarded as an impairment caused by no fault on my own. I have a responsibility to use the communication methods available to me to communicate as effectively as others as I can if I wish to be a part of society. I have a responsibility to be aware of my drooling and the social impact it may have on others.

Having a responsibility does not mean you have to do anything, and there are always consequences to what we do. Society, individuals and the state may respond differently to us if we do not take on our impairment related responsibilities and therefore people require the information to make informed choices, especially if they will have negative consequences, and this means being honest with people with impairments, which society is not always very good at doing.

The state and others have a responsibility to support us to manage our impairments, and to ensure the social disadvantage we face by having an impairment are as little as reasonably possible, expecting policies and practises to already be in place to reduce this in the long term even if we do not see the benefits currently.

I would like to suggest, as usual, different to the rhetoric of other ‘disabled activists’, that after the last 20 years, the state continued to have pulled up its socks in meeting its responsibilities to people with impairments in a manner that will never be perfect. Real inclusion requires uptake of responsibility by individuals themselves, which many are not emotionally ready to even understand, let alone achieve.

I believe it is now people with impairments themselves generally who are not playing their part and meeting their responsibilities if full and meaningful inclusion is going to be achieved. The rights agenda is being used within a ‘something for nothing’ culture to prohibit inclusion from being achieved because it suits the agenda of the many vested interests in keeping people with impairments disempowered, including activists themselves. Their identity is built on a struggle they can not afford to achieve.

The future prosperity of people with impairments comes from the take up of responsibilities, and now they have to decide if that is what they want.

If you like my blog article, have a look at some of my products;
Achieve Support – Coming soon
Having Pride (My Life Story) – http://ww.balsy.me
Stevens’ Manifesto – Coming soon
Understand Accessibility – Coming soon
Understand Assistance – http://www.understand.tips
Understand Dysabiity – Coming soon

or visit my website at http://www.simonstevens.com

You can also email me at simon@simonstevens.com