Disparate thoughts from the turn of another year

The season of fall isn’t autumn - it’s winter

In all the falls prevention literature we who are prone to falling (yes there is humour, albeit ironic) are urged to learn from our falling - and our failings. More on the literature another time, but this is what a catastrophic fall taught me.

I knew that I didn't have the appropriate amount of support in place to cope with managing my own degenerative impairment as well as supporting my elderly increasingly frail father, who, as it turned out, has Parkinson’s, and co-supporting my friend, a stroke survivor with multiple impairments. I had been asking for help for the previous three years. What I learn from this is that the authorities take too long to respond when we warn them that we are nearing crisis point, and that they are only looking at post-crisis damage limitation, not even crisis management, let alone preventive measures. Here’s something that might help you or someone you know: • Falling Safely - Judith Sullivan •

Growing up is over rated

Round about my mid 20s my mother said to me, very scathingly, "You'll never grow up." She was a very keen church-goer, and I am afraid I resorted to an underhand ploy. I quoted back to her "unless you become as little children…" and I've tried to stay true to that ever since. In spite of having to make some horribly serious decisions from time to time, and try to be "grown up" and set aside the resentment I feel about a life half lived and increasingly isolated, I aim to retain a childlike enjoyment in things I can do, even if the list grows shorter year by year. Kingdom of heaven it isn't but it's at least workable much of the time. This is to remind us all that children, including disabled children, have the right to play:
•  Children's Right to Play as an Occupation  •

I’m the The King of The Castle

The pantomime season is not quite over, and the media have discovered that fairy stories are older then they had thought. These traditional archetypal tales have helped children to grow up, and to keep people sane and well adjusted through hard times down the millennia.

One of my personal favourites is the Russian tale Vassilisa which I first encountered in "Women who run with the Wolves" by Dr Clarissa Pinkola Estés. It is the story of a girl growing up in a household where the alpha male is too busy making money to pay proper attention to his responsibilities regarding the welfare of the most vulnerable in his charge.

What applies to heads of households surely applies a thousandfold to civic leaders. Pinocchio may not be ‘traditional’, in that we know who wrote it, but it certainly keeps within the pattern. As the Blue Fairy tells him: • “Prove yourself brave, truthful and unselfish, and some day you will be a real boy.” •

See • showmetheaccess • website for video links to practical ideas around impairment

"Vasilisa" by Ivan Yakovlevich Bilibin - skazka.com.ru. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons.