Empower

Can people be more positive?

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On social media and in other forums, I meet a lot of people, especially disabled people, who are quite negative about their situation and I must wonder to myself, can people be possible? I strongly believe that attitude is everything and for example it is not often the amount of money that causes poverty but rather our attitude towards money. While I know things can just not feel difficult but actually be difficult, it will often be sheer determination that will make the different between succeeding and failing.

 

While people can receive support to be possible, they also have a responsibility to grit their teeth and be as positive as they can. It can be hard but determine has its bigger rewards as opposed to playing the victim.

 

If you like what I say, have a look at my site at www.simonstevens.com or follow me on twitter, @simonstevens74, or even leave me feedback on +44 (0)121 364 1974 or email simon@simonstevens.com  

 

The onion exercise

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I was first introduced to the Onion Exercise when I was at an ‘European Human Bridges’ youth seminar in Stockholm in 1997. The exercise immediately struck a chord with myself and it is now an exercise I use when I am assisting people to develop themselves and especially their  personal identity.

 

The exercise uses an onion to show a person’s identity where each ring of the onion represents a different level of importance. The things people put towards the outer edge of the onion may be more visible but less important like someone’s hobbies or where they live,  while those in the middle are things which are more important to their core identity but maybe less visible like their faith or impairment. The exercise works on the basis that our identity is made up of many components which may or not be important including our background, our hobbies, our likes and so on.

 

The exercise can be the first time a person can see their identity for themselves as well as be able to show others and this can indeed be a powerful tool in helping people move forward with who they are and where they wish to be.

 

If you like what I say, have a look at my site at www.simonstevens.com or follow me on twitter, @simonstevens74, or even leave me feedback on +44 (0)121 364 1974 or email simon@simonstevens.com  

 

Time to for real disabled people to fight back

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It is time for real disabled people to fight back, not against the government but the extremist socialist groups like Disabled People against Cuts and Black Triangle, who have stolen the voice of disabled people and turned it into a weapon of hatred against the government and anyone else who stands in their way. 

 

The last 7 days has made me realise that the right to life agenda has the torn to shreds as the suicide and murder of disabled people is accepted, endorsed and even celebrates if it enables the middle class disability elite to keep their money, whether they are entitled to it at all.

 

The lives of Real disabled people are now under threat from the many corrupt charities, organisations and activists who use free speech to spread hatred and disappear. We must now fight back and reclaim our lives, our issues and our voice as people rather than political ideology.

 

I will do my bit and I am prepared to led the fight back, understanding how I will be attacked by these disabled people for my right to exist and be positive, but I must fight for what I believe in.

 

If you like what I say, have a look at my site at www.simonstevens.com or follow me on twitter, @simonstevens74, or even leave me feedback on +44 (0)121 364 1974 or email simon@simonstevens.com  


If you want you can!


I am always strongly believed if you want to do something and I mean really want to do something, you will find a way to doing it. The way you achieve something is so much important and it makes take some creative thinking to overcome barriers, and I do believe anyone can achieve the outcomes they desire.

Individual determination is a powerful personal quality which I believe can make the impossible possible and I know this from my own personal experiences. it is not random lucky which creates the quality of life I have, which some people are jealous off, but hard work and determination.

So many people want success without putting the effort or determination needed in, wasting their valuable energy moaning at what they have not got rather than uses it to grasp what they want. I do indeed challenge anyone to tell me what can not have what they really want if they tried!

If you like what I say, have a look at my website at www.simonstevens.com or follow me on twitter, @simonstevens74

The difference between care and support


Within social care many people including those in government talk about care and support like they are the same thing when I feel they are slightly different and relate well to my understanding of wellbeing and inclusion.

In the context, I see care as maintaining wellbeing and ensuring people do not go backwards in terms of personal care so the basic care we need to survive. It is I feel a unconditional right although it is only half the story and alone it risks people simply warehoused.

I see support as the additional assistance people needs to meet their outcomes in terms of being included as a contributing member of society. I feel it is right for support to be conditional on a willingness to make a meaningful contribution in whatever possible as a new contract between the state and the individual.

I believe while people may always keep their care in these difficulties, it is going to be a failure to understand support, seeing it as a luxury, which is going to see people, including myself, facing cuts that could make life harder.

If you like what I say, have a look at my website at www.simonstevens.com or follow me on twitter, @simonstevens74

What could meaningful contribution look like?


I talk all the time about meaningful contribution to society but what do I mean and what could it look like? It is very clear I do not just mean employment but a much wider concept where it is about the effort someone puts in rather than the attainment.

So it could also include education, employment, training, raising a family and just writing a blog or making some else smile. It is about understanding a person’s own situation and ensure they have a willingness to contribute to the best of their ability as opposed to the negative attitude of “can’t” we see with many sick and disabled people as well as a whole range of other people.

I believe making a meaningful contribution can instil pride and good mental wellbeing giving benefit to everyone. I would therefore challenge anyone to tell me I am wrong to believe anyone can make a meaningful contribution.

If you like what I say, have a look at my website at www.simonstevens.com or follow me on twitter, @simonstevens74

Sharpening Teeth


I think when we are youngers, in our 20s, we look to people we see us our older peers to sharpening our teeth upon. I do not remember finding any specific people I sharpened my teeth upon because it was a different era in terms of being able to have contact to people with a similar level of impairment to me and the same level of intelligence.

Now I am older and I have an large internet presence from the many things I do, I am finding I am the older peer my younger peers with cp feel they need to sharpening their teeth upon. Maybe it is because they do not understand the why I have so confidence or I am a visual representation of myself, warts and all, but they feel the need to attack me, poke me and challenge me.

I kinda tolerate it to a point because I feel its helps them learn about themselves as I am their mirror image I never had. They would respond to what i said as utter nonsense but when I get older and find themselves in the position I am in, they will understand it. I feel it is a responsibility of being a good role model which I think is hard to escape from.


I have needed a big personality


I am quite aware that some people think that I am too big for my boots and I am, for a better word, an egomaniac. To some extent this may indeed be true but I believe it is important to understand why I have needed a big personality.

The answer is simply survival. Having a significant impairment in the 70s and 80s had a much larger stigma than it has now and meant you were very much excluded from society as a norm. To avoid being institutionalised into being just another special school or residential care statistic, I needed to shine and shine I did.

Even now, I see my peers not have many the opportunities I have because they do not know how to grab them. I learnt to grab them and to get noticed. I have aware people may see me as selfish but with no family that supports me, who else is going to look after my best interests and get what I need if it is not myself?

I do have a belief in the individual over the collective as do not believe people can truly rely other people and if people want something, they need to get it themselves and not wait for others to do it for them. If people do not like the fact I look after my best interests, it is their problem, not mine.

Working hard not to work


I find it quite interesting to see how some people, disabled or not, appear to work very hard to fight to demonstrate they are unable to work, so much so they have actually demonstrated how much they are able to work. For me, work is not just working 9 to 5 in an office or down a mine anyway as with new technology and the internet, it is possible for anyone to work in ways never previously thought possible.

I feel that if people had access to more personal development tools, which are actually very easy to find, to find themselves and who they are to understand their story, they would be able to turn that corner from seeing how bad is to seeing how good life can be and how only but themselves are responsible for their destiny.

Life is not easy and once you can understand and accept that, you can begin to make the most of it. If people used their energies of positive action rather than self-pity, they would see how much work they can really achieve.


What have you done today?


People who know me will know my favourite song is Proud by Heather Small. Is the song she asks “would have you done today you make you feel proud?” and I believe this is a brilliant question to answer and one I ask myself all the time.  It does not have to be big or something anyone else has noticed so long as it is something which makes you proud and gives you a smile of satisfaction.


I believe we can all do at least one thing each day to make us proud and that it is a great mentality to have. It has always kept me going when my life has been hard and especially when I consider all the things I have done in the past that makes me feel proud, and this is worth more than all the money in the world.


So the question I must ask if ofcourse what have you done today to make you feel proud?