tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-88736061066192110002024-03-05T18:06:02.995+00:00bloggingNicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comBlogger153125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-49034429178347834942024-01-21T19:14:00.004+00:002024-01-21T20:27:14.361+00:00Men can, women can't.<p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgeqQbV-C8-qaZd08yB2Qkp4Ee-85bCjlQMy7ZUv5BdZMNDUXecKargRDxTxt3PTXEvN6ycAfhPbcrMhfPz9J-rYVCSNCD8Q91Lj4SqpiKWNdy69oQWjNrhFFRkoEBLlJ0AFv3CRGEipD4KPVxt850VT2l-0HaKNSCTS6FCiIYeTrVNNWSEIES4vAyafc/s1159/IMG_2835.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1159" data-original-width="828" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgeqQbV-C8-qaZd08yB2Qkp4Ee-85bCjlQMy7ZUv5BdZMNDUXecKargRDxTxt3PTXEvN6ycAfhPbcrMhfPz9J-rYVCSNCD8Q91Lj4SqpiKWNdy69oQWjNrhFFRkoEBLlJ0AFv3CRGEipD4KPVxt850VT2l-0HaKNSCTS6FCiIYeTrVNNWSEIES4vAyafc/w286-h400/IMG_2835.jpg" width="286" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />In 2019 JK. Rowling, beloved author and humanitarian was awarded the Robert Kennedy Ripple of Hope award. </span><p></p><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Much of her life and crucially her own time and money has been given over to a range of humanitarian causes. Particularly those which negatively impact women & children.</span></div><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Her charity Lumos, her creation of a centre for research into MS (named for her mother who had died from the disease), her challenging of antisemitism in U.K. politics, her championing of inclusion in respect of actors & her rejection of Trump’s political ideology mark her out equally with her contribution to children’s literacy and the creation of the ultimate safe space for many millions seeking refuge in fiction, away from the difficult or harrowing reality of our lives; the world of Harry Potter. <br /><br />She is too, in word and deed and from top to toe, a feminist and despite the assertions of those who ideologically oppose her, she’s a very funny woman. To bastardise a quote from her novel series, “Wit without measure is (wo)man’s greatest treasure.”</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">A year later during the coronavirus lockdown, the author spotted a headline to an opinion piece on menstrual health & covid inequality which spoke of “people who menstruate”.</span></p><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;">During the pandemic there were several of these “I have hope for a brighter future post pandemic” type articles, as there was an idea which seems quaint in retrospect, that having suffered together through a global pandemic, then equality and equity for all would naturally occur once the post pandemic reset button was pressed. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;">However seemingly irked by the omission of a word to describe more than 50% of the population who are biologically designed to menstruate, Rowling made a joke. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><br /></div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So she made a joke. Words are her thing and she uses them to devastating effect. The words she received in return were also devastating but in a different way.</span><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Lockdown provided the perfect storm to bring the increasingly vitriolic front line in the gender wars directly to Rowling’s timeline. What would previously have received no more than the usual pockets of complaints as people went on with their day, now faced the attention of a world at home, distracting themselves with streaming services and social media. </span></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />The Twitter backlash began. As the ripple of rage undliuted hate & threats spread and the calls for censure grew, it began to be taken very seriously indeed. By which I mean celebrities got involved. <br /><br />Eventually this landed in front of Kerry Kennedy, the seventh of Robert Kennedy’s 11 children and president of the Robert Kennedy Human Rights organisation, who had presented the writer with her award. So she contacted Rowling to voice her concerns. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;">What was said is known only to the two women but there was a net effect.<br /><br />JK Rowling, who had spoken about this honour from the organisation being the greatest of her life, explaining too that she had called her “Strike“ series author pseudonym Robert, in honour of her hero Robert Kennedy, returned her Ripple of Hope award.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;">All hopes for a post pandemic improvement didn’t extend to the online treatment, harassment or attitudes towards women, by angry or offended men however. </span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family: verdana;">And post pandemic the rough verbal justice doled out to transgressing women appears only to have got much worse.</span></div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />The wider reality on society, as we now know, is that we didn’t all suffer equally and “equity for all” was the last thing humanity gave a damn about as we emerged blinking into the post pandemic dawn. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">We’ve become, especially online, infinitely more polarised and even worse to one another. The extremists on both sides of this particular issue display eye watering levels of verbal abuse and character assassinations in a very Trumpian display of political debate. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />JK Rowling remained unforgiven by some. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">People who deemed her a fascist chose to protest her tweet, by burning her books (take that authoritarians) and her subsequent "Strike" novels were dissected for evidence of trans hatred and other discrimination. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Her subsequent essay carefully explaining and showing her support for the trans community and explaining that the conflict arose only in respect of self ID & women's need for single sex spaces merely seemed to add petrol to the book burning flames.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Even Hogwarts Legacy, a 2023 video game based on the magical school she created, but which didn’t feature Rowling’s creative input to the game at all, was deemed hatred. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This didn’t impact on sales which saw 12 million units purchased in its first two weeks, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">going on to become the best selling game of the year. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But despite this, at The Game Awards the biggest awards in the industry, the game recieved no nominations at all.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"> <br />Seeing young game players realising that there might be problem with cancelling art based on ideology, when it meant they were deemed hateful for playing a game, proved to be something of a watershed moment. <br /><br />Despite the many vlogs running to several hours, attempting to explain the hatred in Rowling’s words and work, most people couldn’t see the rationale.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><br /></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">The fact that there wasn’t any hate in any of these projects, didn’t change anything. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Except one thing did change. As a bizarre response to the worst excesses of inclusion at all costs (even if it meant placing convicted rapists in the female prison estate) we saw the rise of the anti woke movement. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This counter offensive in the culture wars seemingly prizes, offence at all costs (NB just as long as it’s the 'right people being offended' hereafter deemed the wrong people, but actually pretty much anyone now) as its primary objective. <br /><br />On Christmas Day 2023 Ricky Gervais Netflix special went live. In it he joked about the controversial and hotly contested topic of the reclamation of the historic homophobic slur, queer as an identity which encompasses the trans and self ID community and his thoughts about that.<br /><br />Those weren’t his only anti woke punchlines, which included learning disabled people & refugees. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">But they were the only ones that the internet, deeply polarised by woke & anti woke narratives, cared about.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This material was deemed satire, unless according to his devoted fan army, you’re just too stupid to understand that. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">A widespread accusation also levelled at Rob Burley former political editor of the BBC and apparently even legendary satirist Armando Iannucci, when he questioned the authoritarianism of anti woke enthusiasts on Newsnight.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Then the Golden Globe nominee list was announced and Gervais name was on it.<br /><br />His previous special & in my view, infinitely superior, stand up 'Supernature' had seen the erstwhile comedy controversialist, condemned too by many LGBT organisations for debating what a woman was now, in his show and deemed transphobic. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Caitlin Jenner was one of his most vocal critics and had apparently made those feelings known to camp mates on the reality TV show “I’m a Celebrity”.<br /><br />But notwithstanding any and all criticisms on his gender identity material, ranging from calls for cancellation based on perceived transphobia, to mild & measured, bemusement from disappointed fans for Armageddon (who love his usual satirical, iconoclastic material but felt he was ‘phoning it in’ on this occasion) in January 2024 he was the winner & first recipient of the newly created Golden Globe for TV stand up special.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />Leaving Chris Rock, Amy Schumer, Sarah Silverman, Trevor Noah and Wanda Sykes behind him, as fellow nominees. <br /><br />It’s possible Gervais himself didn’t think he’d win, as he didn’t attend the ceremony.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Seeing his repeated use of the slur retarded with no stairical root or discernable punchline toher than the word itself, I was just amazed and a little saddened </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">(I was absolutely bloody furious)</span><span style="font-family: verdana;"> given </span><a href="https://nickyclark.blogspot.com/2011/10/when-nicky-met-ricky.html" style="font-family: verdana;">mong-gate</a><span style="font-family: verdana;"> and what I was subequently subjected to on social media for interviewing him & defending him against death threats and calls for cancellation. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Yet once again he was choosing to popularise a slur for learning disabled people. I guess he forgot.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />I’m left wondering again. Not really about the inherent sexism in approach towards women and men making jokes on the same subject and getting a different response but rather why a woman making a joke poses such an existential threat to gender identity & comedy itself.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">This also extends to men, who definitely don’t identify as trans but seemingly don’t like a mild joke about them even when defending all jokes all the time, is their anti-woke calling. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">So visceral is this sensitivity, that any woman daring to do this must be silenced or trashed so fiercely that she chooses silence. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's an effective bullying tactic as it sends a loud & clear message to any other woman thinking of doing so, that her role is to show up and support the man in his opinion, not publicly share a different one, or engage in a conversation he initiates, whatever her political viewpoint might be if her engagement is one of disagreeing with him. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Like my run in with this GB news Guy who I think, might not be my biggest fan. But I'll leave the assumptions to him.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgywQ4T-_bz_ze3Y9Wj4xPXCY6CBsIqlHog6-hS_p0A5mxvHPNGDNFM8RShFqWre6SnHgZx3dGO2Ke20ZfLv42ctwp6kplpupCWQIUeqCQrN9fpQyowwshd5602CgpbazGU9IDRfXtYAHoGGgNfaLWPHjRubP8GBIcf7YvLOavVXHOXpj_8dAaUd0Tojno/s1159/IMG_2729.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1159" data-original-width="828" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgywQ4T-_bz_ze3Y9Wj4xPXCY6CBsIqlHog6-hS_p0A5mxvHPNGDNFM8RShFqWre6SnHgZx3dGO2Ke20ZfLv42ctwp6kplpupCWQIUeqCQrN9fpQyowwshd5602CgpbazGU9IDRfXtYAHoGGgNfaLWPHjRubP8GBIcf7YvLOavVXHOXpj_8dAaUd0Tojno/w286-h400/IMG_2729.jpg" width="286" /></a></div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">I think rather than just congratulate himself, Ricky Gervais should consider thanking JK Rowling for being the uncancellable canary in the entertainment coal mine. Because her contribution to one of the most toxic debates in the culture war, was to ensure that another opinion was voiced from within the arts, which is as a whole, terrified of engaging with this subject at all.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Even when that involves gender neutral categories for the industry's awards. A policy which despite the small steps the industry has taken to include women more equally, isn't neutral to gender at all. It merely results in men receiving the awards and older women becoming even more marginalised, than they already are. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">It hasn't been loudly opposed, publicly.</span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br />In publicly demonstrating her innate moral courage and intellectual bravery at the height of the gender identity storm & turning the tide to allow other voices to be heard & as we’re now seeing increasingly, platformed in UK media. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Those who disagree with self ID, the conflation of sex and gender and the need for single sex spaces are usually relegated to the pithier right wing media sites like the anti-woke GB News or to youtube interviews with Jordan Peterson. </span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div dir="ltr" style="caret-color: rgb(34, 34, 34); color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: verdana;">Rowling has arguably made Gervais' historic first Golden Globe 'TV comedy special' win, a possibility, in an industry which is very anxious to prove itself inclusive of gender ideology and even more anxious not to get cancelled.<br /><br />In my last interview with Ricky Gervais he said something about his upbringing and his observations on the crucial difference between the sexes, which still resonates today “The men worked hard, the women worked miracles”<br /><br />He’s right. But then as we know, especially for women, no good deed goes unpunished. </span></div></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-6576554806544986032023-08-25T10:36:00.001+01:002023-08-25T10:36:50.852+01:00Another year.<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqrouE3_ne5EndUA9lTzFZ73iFIuZpNDPFzyF_DmlCkL9kZE1YbFzYn8vCsmhJeaYMJyALUPWNkqysJjeAB5_SF-VeGAHXCoEoHyZ_1B4at15pXSHdVhBLTl83XGV1tAvW78hAHpJM3qoYfGI18D3WJyBvrgZV5kIxuZ6g1eTaZE6rGkMKp-jFL4ZVfq8/s320/IMG_2210.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqrouE3_ne5EndUA9lTzFZ73iFIuZpNDPFzyF_DmlCkL9kZE1YbFzYn8vCsmhJeaYMJyALUPWNkqysJjeAB5_SF-VeGAHXCoEoHyZ_1B4at15pXSHdVhBLTl83XGV1tAvW78hAHpJM3qoYfGI18D3WJyBvrgZV5kIxuZ6g1eTaZE6rGkMKp-jFL4ZVfq8/w300-h400/IMG_2210.jpg" width="300" /></a></div><br /><p></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's my birthday today.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm 57 and whilst it's not a landmark birthday as such, it is to me personally for two reasons.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The first reason is because it means that today I've lived for forty years longer than my brother <a href="https://nickyclark.blogspot.com/2011/10/my-brother-michael.html?q=My+brother+michael">Michael who died</a> on Christmas Day 1978 when he was 17 and I was 12. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Christmas Day traditionally a time for family and a time for children, lost it's emotional meaning for me, until I had children of my own. Children really do bring the love wth them and that love extends in totally unforeseen ways; sometimes they also restore the traditions we grow up within too. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Being bereaved as a child is often talked about now, fortunately. The understanding of grief experienced as a child, is also recognised now as a pivotal and critical motivating factor, as children like me transition from childhood into adulthood. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But in 1978 it wasn't appreciated by everyone who it needed to be, in anything like the same way. I was lucky that my Mum was an adult who understood. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The scars can sometimes heal to be a wound of their own and one that never heals. Now we know that supporting children through a shocking or unexpected loss of a sibling is vital. Then, children like me had to discover that for ourselves. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If we were lucky, as I was, we had a parent we could rely on, despite her own poleaxing grief. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was lucky to have known Michael even if only for 12 years. Love doesn't die with the person who occupies that part of our hearts. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">That love, I think, sits and waits to light up again in memories of them. when the tears of memory changes to smiles in reminiscence, </span><span style="font-family: verdana;">I believe it's because. in some way, on some level, they are sitting beside you again, in the last iteration of a comfortable silence.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">That's the thing about love, it's indestructable.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">My second reason to feel that this birthday is a landmark to me is because of where I am creatively. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">In March of this year, a script I've written was optioned by a TV production company.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">The last time I celebrated a birthday feeling hopeful about my creativity was 1985.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I was 19 and about to start drama school in London that autumn. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">Obviously this was going to be a short, fast step from undiscovered brilliance in Shropshire to me being feted on the world stage of Hollywood. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">However life had another ideas and so that's not exactly what happened.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But here I am, three years shy of sixty looking at the fairytale of my creative writing hopes, being taken seriously by serious people. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If this is rare, this is particularly rare for a woman.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">If this is rare for a woman who has a CV full of writing credits this is unprecedented for an autistic family carer aged 57.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are no guarantees. Many projects which are optioned don't get commissioned.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">But I'm holding on to the unique beauty of this time. the hope, the magic the improbability and the sheer undiluted fairytale nature of its fragility, as another light in my heart. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">I've placed it right next to the light of reminiscence for those I've loved and lost. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's there next to them, because in good and bad times in the past forty years, they've always sat beside me.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></p>Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-74581880658648510672023-08-14T09:22:00.008+01:002023-08-14T09:35:40.374+01:00Covid booster jabs are preventative healthcare. <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQRKySZgUarrr6KwAUF0qapKQTpMnQYSXediUrZ_nWpwHj-lbbrZb1g5Wlwmb7YwPdRQVVEBCo-wdgNQtUSE-aMRM9liPZ3DVHWkpjzF8Tg2camV3unr-hKeAnPRdDwcIOxuSLA0uFto6X6qIngElHGxySJzG2roDTwpW3amq0Td8dkirwvwVRy9Ezdo/s3024/Emmy%20Vaccine%20Card%20Photo%20.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span><a name='more'></a></span></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFQRKySZgUarrr6KwAUF0qapKQTpMnQYSXediUrZ_nWpwHj-lbbrZb1g5Wlwmb7YwPdRQVVEBCo-wdgNQtUSE-aMRM9liPZ3DVHWkpjzF8Tg2camV3unr-hKeAnPRdDwcIOxuSLA0uFto6X6qIngElHGxySJzG2roDTwpW3amq0Td8dkirwvwVRy9Ezdo/s3024/Emmy%20Vaccine%20Card%20Photo%20.jpg" style="display: block; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiMo8u46VCtSUV29H8Xo0EwXu-U9mH2iGvdAr67pngSJbKGAmWHAjB6L-OjwFpt4UK59_hgxPjx7DT6GyBe0my6qwg9wcGZd5wr-rZKdnME5zg1Sj9CrSbKe2ARUFKvOGskzTt-8n84SCUSW36bWJ_UL5wVrSKNCLLA87Ex-PJlCriIsYTfRemmRvjwE/s3024/Emmy%20Vaccine%20Card%20Photo%20.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3024" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhdiMo8u46VCtSUV29H8Xo0EwXu-U9mH2iGvdAr67pngSJbKGAmWHAjB6L-OjwFpt4UK59_hgxPjx7DT6GyBe0my6qwg9wcGZd5wr-rZKdnME5zg1Sj9CrSbKe2ARUFKvOGskzTt-8n84SCUSW36bWJ_UL5wVrSKNCLLA87Ex-PJlCriIsYTfRemmRvjwE/s320/Emmy%20Vaccine%20Card%20Photo%20.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p></div><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"></blockquote><span style="font-family: verdana;">I love this photo of Emily. She'd just had her first covid vaccination and she looks happy and proud as indeed were we. Emily had faced down an intense and to that point, lifelong needle phobia and this image to me was so powerful.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So much preparation led up to this moment. All of us who love and work with Emily, family & her support worker team worked together with clinicians and achieved the seemingly impossible; at the most vital time for this unity to work.<br /></span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">It was quite simpy, life. because that's what medicine and vaccinations are. they offer hope and they offer life chances and if you know anyone with a learning disability you'll know that those two precious elements of all our lives are rather thin on the ground for learning disabled people especially adults.</span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">For the last year I've been pestering Steven Barclay The Secretary of State for
Health and Social Care to give our younger daughter a covid booster jab. </span></div><div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">In the
Spring Booster Programme, which learning disabled people have been excluded from for the last two years
and now in also in the autumn of 2023, it would appear. This the time when the virus hangs in the
frosty air, buildings are less ventilated and data isn't being publicised
despite seemingly new variants manifesting; this is the time to exclude learning disabled adults? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">It's fair to say that I haven't just
pestered Steven Barclay. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm an equality campaigner and so I'm also an equality
pesterer. I dont discriminate when it comes to a pandemic in which learing
disabled were nine times more likely to die if unvaccinated, than non learning
disabled people. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5vQt8TSQn0jjhf1pF-QSgsajVEuH5p2CltzgcB1tuSwnhEQIfb6wJCoIVk5FGENDPKig7jNK-VAQMBjUyrN2yyxv4AOF8o4cl_fbK-kk4E5R6Snrx3SO6kJYHs--opFyMB4hd0DqL2K3VDzQ_4m6T3eQSMgkV8XFnB6ddkSiAfAsBmVpI49PcORQrfA/s1792/IMG_1490.PNG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1792" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjF5vQt8TSQn0jjhf1pF-QSgsajVEuH5p2CltzgcB1tuSwnhEQIfb6wJCoIVk5FGENDPKig7jNK-VAQMBjUyrN2yyxv4AOF8o4cl_fbK-kk4E5R6Snrx3SO6kJYHs--opFyMB4hd0DqL2K3VDzQ_4m6T3eQSMgkV8XFnB6ddkSiAfAsBmVpI49PcORQrfA/s320/IMG_1490.PNG" width="148" /></a></div><br /><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">No no, if you are even vaguely part of government or vaccine
deployment then I'm there- politely but deteminedly pestering you to protect the
most vulnerable demographic in society. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm not sure if you're familiar with
LeDeR? If so forgive me, if not then allow me to explain. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">There are now so many
avoidable deaths of learning disabled people in the UK, that the government had
to formulate a strategy to tackle it. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">An improvement programme now exists to
both note the high numbers of avoidable deaths of learning disabled adults and
children and much more importantly to stop that. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Call me old fashioned Steven
Barclay, but I'm fairly sure that as covid was the leading cause of death of
learning disabled people during the height of the pandemic and beyond and that
vaccination provided protection from the very worst effects of covid overall,
then it doesn't take Miss Marple to join up the dots and say "Here's a crazy idea, let's protect learning disabled people with every covid booster".</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Preventative healthcare
really is that. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Of course Miss Marple would be eligible given her age. The
reason for the exclusion which some cynical readers might believe to be a cost
cutting exercise (or rather difficult "decisions/tough choices" as it's euphemistically
expressed), is age.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">Youth is deemed to be a vulnerability protection and this is true for non-learning disabled people. But as the LeDeR report makes clear </span><b style="font-family: verdana;">is not</b><span style="font-family: verdana;"> a
protection for learning disabled people.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span><div style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZTnov8RIOr9wQuUS0NrgTiSjxdyPU4W6Ietxa3xePEehipoSuEGvvmuQuIavCxMZ9C6waNfT3oqsePKxr7poWXrlilA9wcYg3WUYSs8ovWWWFUGzE6xCk_noIQkcx9UnGbWfFxXDZBs1xG6_8S3-eDXEjbTOK9ySHkSl6LbgihQErydpCOmo0n3gWV24/s320/IMG_1488.jpg" /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmT6OgJWBQ6hFL4hGRAsWO7SDJ_o-DMkjSdR__B8T_xAQhC0GU7RfcLLpil8AM5QN_Vm3HqS2ss_gTDo9KZtEQKlxvE5WZCKS_v4sWOd-6qnCwckcPuWv5J_yahEOLVVD-8IvAN6DO-id9xdaiO7pe4nSfCWfKwrwXTu-3DXEcb7E8VvIXuJl0jP4Drz8/s1472/IMG_1489.jpg" style="display: inline; padding: 1em 0px; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: verdana;"><img alt="" border="0" data-original-height="1472" data-original-width="828" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmT6OgJWBQ6hFL4hGRAsWO7SDJ_o-DMkjSdR__B8T_xAQhC0GU7RfcLLpil8AM5QN_Vm3HqS2ss_gTDo9KZtEQKlxvE5WZCKS_v4sWOd-6qnCwckcPuWv5J_yahEOLVVD-8IvAN6DO-id9xdaiO7pe4nSfCWfKwrwXTu-3DXEcb7E8VvIXuJl0jP4Drz8/s320/IMG_1489.jpg" /></span></a></div><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: medium; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><br /></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote></blockquote><p> </p><span style="font-family: verdana;">
No one is entirely sure why, they just know that learning disabled people who
already die decades younger than non-learning disabled people, with respiratory
illness as a significant risk, are not immune to death from covid, on the basis
of age. In fact the LeDeR report calles for learning disabled people to be
included in every vaccination and booster programme. </span><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">So my question to Steve
Barclay is why is he deciding to ignore his own Department's improvement
programme recommendations? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">If you're going to ignore the recommendations what is
the point of commissioning the report in the first place? Luckily i have the
support of Mencap the leading learning disability in the country who supported
my call for clarity and for inclusion last week. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I also have the support of Wes
Streeting who is looking into why this exclsuion is happening again. Health care
should never be political. I'm not asking anyone to protect Emily based on their
looming or past political manifestos. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">I'm asking everyone in a position of power from the
JCVI via Steven Barclay all the way down to local commssioners, to <b>protect</b> Emily and <b>all</b> learning disabled people who want the booster,
because preventative healthcare for the most vulnerable demongraphic in the UK,
should be a manifesto of human decency we all subscribe to, no matter how or for
whom we vote. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: verdana;">If this was your child Steven Barclay you'd be doing nothing less.
</span>
</div></div></div></div></div>Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-55739505074059253432019-09-15T15:13:00.000+01:002019-09-21T07:26:22.370+01:00My stage 2 complaint to the BBC on their middle aged women problem. Of which I seem to be a part.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MYF7vWCd2HXMsW0IR4suiZEbcYZ6BmU76BrA1WT07YhYdDEE5qPL6G9lrTwR3tgvk-_dbY1HkkDenefZg2z_gi8m6IpJrzub4Yy7xTdOjbDUTcw02CMXEezUMhugcMATXpFuPhKNYkw/s1600/IMG_4147.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3MYF7vWCd2HXMsW0IR4suiZEbcYZ6BmU76BrA1WT07YhYdDEE5qPL6G9lrTwR3tgvk-_dbY1HkkDenefZg2z_gi8m6IpJrzub4Yy7xTdOjbDUTcw02CMXEezUMhugcMATXpFuPhKNYkw/s400/IMG_4147.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On-screen diversity monitoring BBC One & BBC Two 2018 CRG content analysis report</td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">BB</span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">C Executive Complaints Unit.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">To whom it may concern</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #404040; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0cm;">The Charter</span></b><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #404040; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0cm;">4. To reflect, represent and serve the diverse communities of</span><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #404040; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; padding: 0cm;"><span style="font-size: large;"> all</span></span><span style="border: 1pt none; color: #404040; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt; padding: 0cm;"> of the United Kingdom’s nations and regions and, in doing so, support the creative economy across the United Kingdom</span></b><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The BBC should reflect the diversity of the United Kingdom both in its output and services. In doing so, the BBC should accurately and authentically represent and portray the lives of the people of the United Kingdom today, and raise awareness of the different cultures and alternative viewpoints that make up its society. It should ensure that it provides output and services that meet the needs of the United Kingdom’s nations, regions and communities. The BBC should bring people together for shared experiences and help contribute to the social cohesion and wellbeing of the United Kingdom. In commissioning and delivering output the BBC should invest in the creative economies of each of the nations and contribute to their development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #404040; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Our values are:</span><span style="color: #404040; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I wanted to put your Charter commitments and your values at the top of my email because I think it's important for you to be reminded of them from the outset. I also wanted to particularly highlight where I feel that you're failing both the charter and your values in your responses to me thus far.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I reference to my complaint made about the BBC's lack of onscreen representation of women in middle age</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I wish to draw the ECU's attention in the first instance to the response from the diversity lead team which led to my request to an escalation of my complaint.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In my original complaint I listed several key issues where I felt that the BBC is failing in its charter obligation to represent its entire audience, including middle aged women.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">The response from the Diversity Lead didn't at any point reference the entirety of my concerns but instead chose to name 8 women over the age of forty who are presenters. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Naturally I felt that despite the assurances of the BBC that you wish to lead the way on equality, my complaint was met with at best disinterest. I'm sure that everyone in the diversity team is busy but I do feel that my points merited a more considered and fuller response.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">In the escalation response from the complaints team I feel they misrepresented Ofcom and their particular concern( detailed in their BBC review from autumn 2018), about the lack of parity between middle aged men and middle aged women onscreen in Prime time programming. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">"You mention the Ofcom report from October 2018 and we’re pleased this report recognises the progress we’ve made in better representing and portraying a wide mix of people. </span></i></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">As the report shows, this is a challenge facing all broadcasters and we know there’s more to do, but Ofcom recognises we’ve already taken action to achieve this. We’ve set targets of 50% for women on screen, on-air and in lead roles. We’ve recently published four reports looking at culture and career progression - for women, BAME, LGBT and those from different socio-economic backgrounds - with a fifth report on disability in progress. We’re committed to supporting diversity in the BBC so that we can do more to reflect and represent the diversity of the UK in all that we do."</span></i></b><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">My complaint wasn't about any of the issues mentioned there. The BBC complaints and diversity team know this. I was very clear. I mentioned specifically the current ratio which OFCOM detailed I.E. the fact that middle aged male onscreen talent out numbers middle aged female talent by 3-1. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">OFCOM drew attention to this because it's a problem at the BBC which they are identifying. I drew attention to this because it remains a problem which I am identifying and the BBC complaints and diversity team chose to draw attention away from my specific complaint, to a positive which they prefer to identify. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I would further highlight that in mentioning women, BAME, LGBT, those from different socio economic backgrounds and disabled people whilst simultaneously ignoring middle aged women in these named groups you are perhaps unaware of the fact that middle aged women, exist in all of these groups too. I don't mean to shock you over there but not every woman, BAME, LGBT person, socio economic group or disabled person in the UK and BBC territories is in fact, young. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I'm 53 and autistic AND a woman.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I know this is hard to believe, but it happens. From BBC Sounds and their "we're focusing on under 35's for now" response to my inquiry about a podcast submission idea, to a recent series on mental health featuring two middle aged men and a young woman, despite the ONS reporting that the only growth area for female suicides are women over 50; the BBC have a middle aged woman representation problem and you need to address it rather than ignore me.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">So yes huge applause from me for the fact that diversity exists at the BBC for young people and middle aged men. However 50% percent of representation of everyone <b>except</b> women over the age of 45, isn't a boast for a public broadcaster to be proud of. It should in fact be something for you to be ashamed of. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Especially given that this issue became a legal case which the BBC lost to Miriam O'Reilly in 2011. The assurances of 'learning, listening and doing better' seem to have been ignored, as it seems has your value of being 'one BBC who believe great things happen when we (or I should say you and anyone under 45, unless they're male) work together'.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">We could, of course look at this from another aspect entirely. I'm sorry to mention the open wound of licence fees but viewed from my perspective it is relevant. Perhaps if you're only going to give my demographic a third of the representation onscreen and on air, then maybe you could also only charge me a third of the licence fee for a BBC which is representing people who aren't me, two thirds more frequently.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It's just a thought. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">I would be most grateful if you might consider what I'm saying. I'd also be grateful if your creative opportunities which your theoretically (if not actually) ameliorating paragraph from complaints mentions above, namely career progression. What lovely idea that is, if you're young. I recently saw an advert for a competition run between the BBC and rural media. For once the creative content audio competition was in my region, the West Midlands. It was for audio content, my medium. It was for writer performers, my creative genre.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">It was also for people under the age of 30. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Career opportunities for people of my age don't exist at the BBC unless you're already there, unless you're already established, or unless, you're young. This is something else you might consider looking into or reassuring me about, in an optimistic response? </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Another shocking notion is that women attempt to return to the career they trained for or worked in like acting. I took a career break of twenty years to care for my two disabled children and mum who had Alzheimers. When I tried to restart a creative career at 50 this was deemed laughable.</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Ricky Gervais began his stellar career with the BBC at forty. I'm not sure that would have happened if he'd been a woman. In fact I'm sure it wouldn't. </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Anyway I'll stop now. I'm sure you have more important executive functions to be getting along with. I mean those Youtube influencers aren't going to meet with themselves about a documentary series entitled "Eyelash extensions which actually like, kill you. Like I'm not even lying. Like, they really like, do" now are they?</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Very best wishes to you,</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Nicky Clark</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;">Acting your Age Campaign</span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-83199536582499908012019-07-08T12:44:00.000+01:002020-01-25T07:07:58.885+00:00Open letter to the BBC - Acting Your Age Campaign<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Dear BBC,<o:p></o:p></div>
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In May 2018 I launched my <a href="http://www.mrsnickyclark.com/-acting-your-age--campaign.html">Acting Your Age Campaign</a> which called for greater representation of women over the age of 40 onscreen in film and TV. </div>
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I contacted several of your news programmes, arts programmes and your female centred show Woman’s Hour to promote the campaign and highlight the lack of representation of women over 40 compared to men.<o:p></o:p><br />
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I even made a very short campaign film which features a wealth of our most most loved and talented actors.<br />
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I wasn’t asked to appear on any of your platforms. It seemed odd to me as you seemed to have a good track record of covering most feminist campaigns, on closer inspection however these campaigns seem to fall into line with your target demographic, young people; in the case of feminism, young women.<o:p></o:p></div>
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My Acting Your Age Campaign deals with the subject of gendered ageism and in the Autumn of 2018 when Ofcom published their BBC review, my concerns were borne out as Ofcom found that whilst there is gender equality in representation of men and women under the age of 45, the gender disparity by the BBC of people over the age of 45 is woeful. </div>
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Men in primetime BBC programming over the age of 45 outnumber women, by 3-1. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Over the age of 50 this picture for women, worsens considerably.<o:p></o:p></div>
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I recently contacted BBC Sounds your new audio platform which you tell us is something to which we can “listen without limits”. I wanted to pitch to your rolling commission for new podcasts. I was told that you are currently focusing on under 35’s only. How is this fulfilling your brief as a public broadcaster? It seems you do have limits in terms of who can listen when you’re only aiming your audio content at young ears.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Therefore, I have a proposal for you. I’m requesting that if you’re only going to cater for my demographic currently 12,000,000 women in the UK aged between 40-69 years old, perhaps you might also only ask us for a one third of the licence fee, in line with one third of the onscreen representation you offer us? </div>
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When you distil that to the quality of roles you give us at my age or indeed to possibility to play the lead in drama and comedy shows, I think it’s worth remembering that currently the only female character leading a comedy show in my demographic, is Mrs Brown’s Boys. </div>
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Unsurprisingly given the popularity of gendered ageism, that woman is being played by a man. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I look forward to not hearing from you. I’m sure you’ll ignore this letter as fully as you ignore your responsibility to representing our diverse society which includes actresses who don’t lose talent or ability as they age merely the same opportunity which you give to their male colleagues. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I’m asking politely that you remember your mantra to inform, educate and entertain because it isn't a vague target, it's a promise. A determination to encompass and embrace all audiences. Not just young audiences. </div>
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This exclusion of older women is sending a message of exclusion to young and older people alike. Older women are to be ignored, disenfranchised, unemployed and invisible. More worryingly isn't the message being sent speaking to a narrative that the only women who should be seen and heard are those who have the perceived sexual currency of youth. When you know that girls as young as 14 are seeking botox because they fear ageing so much, isn't it time to rethink your diversity and inclusivity goals.</div>
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Women who have creative dreams and aspirations are working in an industry which refuses to value them when the calendar changes. A drama student beginning her training today will see a career trajectory approximately half that of her male student peers. I don't remember that being taught to me when I was at drama school.</div>
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The TV & Film industry is unique in its enabled and promoted gendered ageism. An industry that calls for truth and offers facade, champions creativity but demands female cosmetic alteration, searches for stories but ignores experience and values wisdom as long as it's male; and since its inception, the song remains the same.<br />
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Very best,</div>
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Nicky Clark </div>
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"Acting Your Age Campaign" </div>
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<i>Female age is a number not a career deadline</i>.</div>
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nickyclarkcomedy@gmail.com</div>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-5485440646706403622019-03-16T11:52:00.001+00:002019-03-16T12:04:40.300+00:00Officially Sanctioned Mischief<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last night we along with millions of others donated to comic relief, a comedy based fundraiser which really does save lives. I love the premise and the achievements are undeniable especially now when Comic Relief have to provide protection against starvation and homelessness here in the UK. The 5th richest country in the world.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So as it's all about jokes with unexpected punch lines.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Did you hear the one about Mendip House?</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Mendip house was a residential home for learning disabled adult with autism. You won’t have heard much about it in the news except from <a href="https://inews.co.uk/opinion/columnists/mendip-house-autism-abuse-failings/">Ian Birrell</a> one of the few journalists and columnists who details the routine abuse endured by learning disabled people at the hands of care workers.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Predominantly the facts, which led to the residential placement being closed down, included the sort of ritualized torture and humiliation, which made me feel sick. The difference being that if I had been sick, I wouldn’t have been made to drink my own vomit by any care worker, unlike one of the residents of Mendip House.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Latest figures show that 3 learning disabled people die an avoidable death in the NHS everyday. That’s the apex of the facts, death. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Whether learning disabled people are deliberately murdered like<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/joepublic/2011/sep/13/gemma-hayter-disability-hate-crime-abuse"> Gemma Hayter</a> or neglectfully killed accidentally by professionals, the truth is the life expectancy of learning disabled people is significantly less than the rest of the population.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">On the way to dying earlier than everyone else, learning disabled people will experience, physical abuse, sexual abuse, financial abuse, verbal abuse and politically targeted by austerity. Some learning disabled people experience all of those things more than once.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">When I say learning-disabled people are the most vulnerable people in society, I mean it, because even when they are killed and the guilty actually prosecuted, the sentences are so <a href="http://www.disability.co.uk/getting-away-murder">light as to be insulting</a>.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The Nazis had a term for disabled people, which enabled their T4 Euthanasia program, before and during the Jewish Holocaust. The phrase that accompanied the black triangle, which all disabled people had to wear, read “Life unworthy of life” in all Nazi propaganda posters, articles and speeches.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Disabled people <a href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/3319981/Named-the-baby-boy-who-was-Nazis-first-euthanasia-victim.html">were the original catalyst </a>for mass extermination programme and the extermination method of Zyclon B gas, began in psychiatric hospitals where mobile gas trucks arrived and the patients were taken to the shower block. </span></span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Zyclon B was a pesticide.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But I’m not talking about disabled people “taking the bread from the mouths of hardworking Germans” or as we would call them in peace time, disability benefit claimants.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m not talking about “untermensch” (sub humans) or as we would call them in peace time - learning disabled people who didn’t merit much press attention even when they’re being tortured by people paid to care for them. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m going to talk about Alan Partridge.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last night he appeared on Comic Relief and he was funny. He’s always funny. There’s nothing funnier than a middle aged white man which I guess is why middle aged white men lead most of the BBC comedy shows currently on air. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Middle-aged white women are on prime time too, it’s not like the BBC isn’t great at equality- if by equality you mean people under the age of 45. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The most popular prime time comedy show featuring a woman in middle age on BBC One, is Mrs Brown’s Boys, so there we are “gender equality”.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">But back to Coogan.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last night he did his Alan thing. If you don’t know who this character is, then I suggest you Google him. But to sum up he’s a character who’s very popular. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Coogan too is very popular. He’s very loved by famous people and he’s pretty much untouchable, like most middle-aged men at the BBC. He was also nominated recently for an Academy Award playing the best beloved Stan Laurel, and a raft of nominations for the beautiful “Philomena”. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So you’d think a man with this much on his CV would be above punching down. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">AH HAH. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That’s where you’re wrong.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Last night Alan did his thing with Side Kick Simon. It was a “live feed” from the Comic Relief Studio in the manner and mode of regional news presenters up and down the country who report live with those of us doing something funny for money. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">They flipped it Alan Style but it was the intro, which I disliked so intensely that I fell in line with my demographic and phoned the BBC to complain. I’m sure the BBC will fall in line with their usually response default and do fuck all about it.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">So Cut to Coogan/Partridge.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Partridge </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That was me saying ‘Hello I’m Alan Partridge’ but <u>backwards </u>and that was to raise £75 for Patrick in the Shetlands, which is in Scotland, so make sure you pay up. And that’s exactly the kind of mischief, officially sanctioned mischief, that we’ve been getting up to today. Be it getting your grandma to dress up as Elvis or me saying ‘I’m Alan Partridge’ <u>backwards</u>. I am Alan Partridge but I’m not <u>backwards</u>.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Simon </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> (smiling) I beg to differ.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"> </span>Partridge</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> (laughs) Very good yes. I’m just saying….I’m not…you know….I don’t have special needs</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s funny apparently because it’s awkward. He also goes on to tell a group of people not to 'stand like you’re at a Jewish wedding' but Side Kick Simon pulls a face after repeating, it so we know, as an audience that Partridge is mindlessly mentioning delicate stuff.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Later in the sketch he also mentions/complains about gender and me too, eggshells and unfairness but again no one is laughing as he digs himself deeper into the offense pockets of his smart casual slacks. So we know, on those topics it’s all about the inappropriateness of his views.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That’s not the case with the “backwards” special needs stuff. It’s constructed as funny because of its association with learning disability.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s constructed to be funny because the joke has a long set up with special needs as the final payoff. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s not lampooning PC culture or his own outdated matrix of terminology, the whole premise of the joke is based on laughing at learning disabled people and I’m so fucking sick of this shit.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Race, ethnicity and sexuality and gender used to be the punch lines of many jokes. But then black and Asian people, women, trans people and gay and lesbian comics picked up the microphone where Jim Davidson and Bernard Manning had dropped it and after picking off the cigarette butts and strippers tassels, they amplified their voices to tell their truth.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Routinely marginalized comedy targets began taking back the narrative and shaping it to. accuracy rather than the damaging stereotypes.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This isn’t routinely the case for learning disabled people. So learning-disabled people still remain everyone’s last resort comedy punch line, punch bag.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Coogan isn’t alone. It’s just depressing to see it done so blatantly in a charity fundraiser, which list amongst many projects ones which support mental health initiatives and services. Not all learning-disabled people have mental health issues but many, many do. Learning-disabled people still live in a world where they’re not included within disability hate speech legislation. If an abuser beats up a learning disabled man, woman or child and uses a pejorative epithet the abuser many see additional sanctions but it sill isn’t in and of itself a crime.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Which is why the boxer David Haye was also featured in a comic relief sketch last night even though he routinely uses the term retard and tried to get the term “wetter than a spastic’s chin” trending on Twitter. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I took him to task but of course he blocked me citing, in an unintentionally ironic twist “free speech”.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It would be good for the next Comic Relief and frankly more generally on the BBC as a whole, if pejorative epithets about learning disabled people were deemed to be as damaging and stigmatizing as race hate epithets are. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">In a world which still doesn’t prosecute care workers who deliberately render the food of a learning disabled person inedible and then when they vomit, force them to drink it; it would be good to see our public broadcaster and all privileged men and women, show they recognize their responsibility not to be part of a wider problem.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Until then I’ll keep complaining and being ignored, trolled, abused and accused of being humourless. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our learning disabled daughter, Emily is worth it.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Oh and here's how to be funny about disability and SEN without targeting anyone.</span></span></div>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-39952415746840205112019-01-11T21:26:00.002+00:002019-01-12T12:44:19.651+00:00Stan and Ollie, Ida and Lucille<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy have an iconic place in the affections of many of us who spent our British, (sunshine free) school summer holidays, watching their films. As children discovering their brilliance decades after they had died and far more used to colour TV than black and white films with crackling sound tracks, we still laughed as our grandparents had done and found a comfort in their gentle, devastating physical comedy. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Their magnificence and the alchemy of their comedic partnership has been brought back to celluloid life in the biopic “Stan and Ollie” with Steve Coogan and John C Reilly taking on the titular roles.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The biopic centres on a six week tour of the UK and Ireland which the duo embarked upon and the mesmerising recreation of the men and their mythical film personas, offers too a moving account of their friendship, work dynamic and the quiet brilliance of their talent. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The make up especially in respect of the prosthetics of John C Reilly’s Oliver Hardy, is flawless and the body language, dancing, vocal patterns and even hairlines are immaculately rendered. The team involved in this from actor to costume is working so brilliantly it’s completely invisible. We are watching Stan and Ollie, not Coogan and Reilly.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Directed by Jon S. Baird and written by Jeff Pope the film brings into the mix the wives of both men and for me this is where the film finds an additional element which though at times comedic and nurturing, is also combative and competitive. <o:p></o:p></div>
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However this is where I noticed the join.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Hardy’s wife Lucille, is played brilliantly by Shirley Henderson, an actress of 53, but whose character's age at that time was actually 38. Oliver Hardy was 43 and Lucille 26 when they met on set in 1936, another aspect noted in the biopic.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Ida Kitaeva, Laurel’s wife played to superb comic effect by 34 year old Nina Arijanda, was actually 48 years old. Ida as portrayed here looks young and is young. What a coup it would have been to have cast two actresses age appropriately.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Now perhaps if you’re not campaigning for<a href="http://www.mrsnickyclark.com/-acting-your-age--campaign.html"> full representation of actresses over the age of 40</a> on screen, this won’t matter, but I think it’s problematic in terms of the film as a whole, because the level of detail everywhere else is forensic. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Dramatic licence has compressed and expanded certain facts elsewhere in the film, it’s true but my disquiet is relevant because it was a creative choice to include these women and so there was a requirement to do so accurately. Also the women are in competition most of the time, with one touching moment of solidarity only. Both nagging their husbands, both hectoring each other at times. It was a good decision to include women in the film but it would have been enjoyable once this decision had been taken to portray them as fully realised people.<o:p></o:p></div>
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In interviews it’s been explained that the script as written, barely mentioned the two women and so work was done to increase both their screen time and relevance. So it seems odd that where careful attention was paid to the accuracy of time and location, the women of the plot integral to the lives of the main characters, are treated with a sort of copy and paste Hollywood portrayal.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The previous wives of both men get a mention at the start as they complain about the alimony they’re expected to pay and the children they’re supposed to maintain and this I think is also an interesting creative choice as it belies a callousness and disposability of family, which was often the situation Laurel and Hardy found themselves in their films. <o:p></o:p></div>
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As Laurel wrote their film scripts was he either resolving his own relationships or holding a mirror to them. He was married 3 times and lived unmarried with a fourth partner when younger.<o:p></o:p></div>
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The duo in Laurel’s scripts were characters either frustrated in love or living in abject fear of their onscreen hectoring spouses, duplicitous man children in fear of being punished by exasperated wives. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Of their time, reflective of the sexual politics and well within the constraints of the Hays code of “decency”. It didn’t matter because the men were always our focus. We loved them, whether they laughed, cried, ran, danced, sang, spoke, poked one another in the eye or fell flat on their faces. We loved them when they ran from women or fooled them and won. Because they did so as the underdog, not the smug privileged oppressor.<o:p></o:p></div>
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But in this biopic I think the creative choices in respect of women speak more to a Hollywood of now. One that still prizes youth and beauty in women above all and where despite both Olivia Colman and Glenn Close winning well deserved Golden Globes for their performances (as women and actresses in middle age), little attention to detail is ever given to the women featuring in films about men.<o:p></o:p><br />
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Sad too was the number of actors who passed on the male lead in the Golden Globe winning film "The Wife" before Jonathan Pryce was cast and played the role brilliantly. Apparently for the actors previously approached, the title of the film put them off. Not because it was a bad, but because it only mentioned a woman.</div>
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Ida Kitaeva gave Stan Laurel the happy marriage he wanted, yet years have been taken off her age in the film. It’s slightly jarring and it distracted me.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Despite the brilliance of Nina Arijanda’s portrayal, I do wonder if this has been done so that Steve Coogan (aged 53 playing Stan Laurel aged 57) is appearing with an actress who befits the model of Hollywood marriage, as male film makers prefer to see them.<br />
The male film and TV gaze is an unforgiving one on middle aged women and it's rare to see a film in which he middle aged lead actor is paired with a female lead his own age. Perhaps Hollywood prefers to see it's own relationship power dynamic portrayed onscreen.</div>
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It's both a casting exercise which fits the model of marriage, which existed when Laurel and Hardy were in their heyday of the 1930’s and a model which still exists in show business relationships today.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Worryingly too despite the emphasis on how ageing affected Laurel and Hardy’s careers in 1947 as portrayed in the film, actresses in the 1940’s and actresses today, still see unemployment past the age of 40, as a reality with few exceptions. <o:p></o:p></div>
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The 1947 UK theatre tour was in fact hugely successful, with audiences flocking to see the pair. Their age, notwithstanding or indeed dimming the affection in which they were held.<br />
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The truth is Hollywood simply isn’t as unkind to ageing men as it is to ageing women. In fact men in middle age still have careers well into their 70's before their age becomes a career-limiting factor.<o:p></o:p><br />
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This bizarre spousal age twist aside, the film faithfully brings the audience a truthful rendition of a beloved comedy duo who sustained the world through the worst of the depression and in the post war uncertainty, with their theatre tour.<o:p></o:p></div>
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At this time of global uncertainty and with national division getting more febrile by the day, here and in the US; this biopic brings the healing qualities of “Stan and Ollie” back to us just when we need them the most. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-24519395588885948752018-10-07T09:55:00.001+01:002018-10-12T07:52:42.341+01:00What shall I tell my daughter<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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It is a truth universally acknowledged that an actress in possession of more than 40 years lived, must be in want of her retirement.<br />
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Women are everywhere. Anyone would think we're 50% of the population the way we go on. If we're not complaining, we're protesting, if we're not protesting we're complaining about protesting and if we're not protesting or complaining, we're complaining that no one listens to our protesting and so they just go ahead and nominate Kavanagh anyway.<br />
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It's enough to make you want to have a beer. I LIKE BEER TOO BRETT.<br />
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In May 2018 I launched a campaign. It's called the "Acting Your Age Campaign" and it challenges the notion that when a woman reaches the age of 40 she must happily give up any hopes of a meaningful acting career, because no one cares about any story that places a woman over 40 at it's centre.<br />
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I did so in frustration in a week that had seen the launch of two male led dramas by male actors in their 50's with female leads in their 30's.<br />
There was also the news of the latest release in the Mission Impossible franchise, showing us again, if proof were needed, that whilst it's male star Tom Cruise has continued to work whilst passing the 40 year threshold comfortably into his middle 50's, his female co-stars have remained the same age.<br />
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Not the same age as him, you understand but the same age that they were when the Mission Impossible franchise first began, in 1996.<br />
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It would seem that it's not so much a tape detailing rogue states or rogue agents that self destructs, but rather the calendar attached to the contracts of the female actors featured in that film series, when they reach 40 years old.<br />
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My question is this. What shall I tell my daughter Lizzy? She's an actor and at 24 she has at best 16 years of a career left and it's not even properly begun.<br />
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More widely what are we saying to all our daughters?<br />
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Everyone sympathises when sports stars retire young, no one bats an eyelid when it's a 40 year old actress.<br />
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A female drama student beginning her training this month has roughly half the career trajectory of her male peers. Not because of lack of talent, not because of lack of professionalism, not because of fecklessness but because she is female and he isn't.<br />
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A gender disparity this egregious, this blatant and this shameful would, you might expect be in all the media outlets and platforms we have, but no. Apart from Alice Jones who covered it in her ipaper Column. There were only two industry pieces. The mainstream media silence is deafening.<br />
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The most depressing thing for me was that when I launched my campaign film in August which has a stellar cast, all the women editors I approached either ignored me or told why they didn't think it was important. Except one editor who told me she didn't have the budget.<br />
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As the message was coming from me, a middle aged woman asking that middle aged women shouldn't be ignored by the media; naturally I've been ignored, by the media.<br />
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I listened to Woman's Hour, after I approached the editor about my campaign.<br />
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I'd already approached them a few times and I was really keen for feedback as to why this wasn't deemed an important issue given that it is a blatant gendered disparity.<br />
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I'd got my courage from the Woman's Hour Power list videos and all the successful women on the list.They're all great mentors who said inspirational and empowering things like "ask for what you want", "be clear and direct" , "don't feel intimidated" and "don't give up keep fighting".<br />
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So I did that.<br />
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She said that no they weren't going to cover it and that I shouldn't really email that address anyway but rather the generic Woman's Hour address. She said that she was sorry but they got a lot of requests and couldn't possibly cover everything and also they talk to a lot of actresses about the issue.<br />
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I did wonder why then if a lot of older actresses talk about it and this was the first dedicated campaign specifically on that issue, then maybe it was newsworthy.<br />
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Then she ended the email. Well I think she did because she didn't sign it.<br />
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I wrote an apologetic email saying I hadn't meant to disturb her or offend her. Not very "Power List" of me I admit, but maybe those things work once you are a powerful woman and not when you're not.<br />
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Anyway back to that Woman's Hour episode which came after my email. They were doing a piece on Bodyguard, just before the final episode. I love Woman's Hour so I was listening.<br />
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Jane Garvey, who I also love, asked the TV reviewer, whether with shows like Bodyguard, we are now seeing a golden age for women on TV. I thought about the editor's email again and wondered that myself.<br />
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Then I thought no, as according to the editor's email it would seem the real power of Woman's Hour lies apparently with the woman who collects all the emails from the generic info address.<br />
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So maybe that's what all the people, except actresses over 40 in interviews with "Womans Hour were saying, in emails to the programme.<br />
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I opened a packet of chocolate biscuits and listened on.<br />
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At this point I just need to say, "can I also say and men"<br />
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I need to add that, as that's what Woman's Hour do everytime they talk to any woman about a specific issue which disproportionately affects women.<br />
I'm not sure if it's for BBC Balance or a personal choice by the presenters but it's there.<br />
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I mean the irony of the lack of BBC balance in the representation of middle aged women and men on screen and the lack of media coverage of it on the daily flagship woman (can I also say and men) dedicated programme, isn't lost on me, but there we are.<br />
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For complete balance they should really change the name of the programme to "Womans (can I also say and men) Hour". But I don't think they will.<br />
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I'm not belittling Woman's Hour. I'm also not belittling the experience of men. I'm just questioning why they have to have equal representation in respect of issues that disproportionately affect women in the patriarchy, to a much greater degree than they affect men.<br />
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I'm merely pointing out that if every time we mention women we also have to say "and men" we're not really going to get much done, whilst the patriarchy sits there and congratulates itself that it's once again successfully man-spreading its way into women's spaces.<br />
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I've done that through humour, which as we know always plays well and is never misinterpreted.<br />
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But I've digressed again. I'm like Ronnie Corbett. Middle aged reference klaxon.<br />
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So, before you run away with the notion that I'm dissing Bodyguard I'm not. I love BodyGuard. It's a nail biting drama which has really upset the snowflake sexists because it features women in many different roles. Capable, strong, professional, women y'know just like in life.<br />
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But it is the story, as the title explains, about a Bodyguard.<br />
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If it had been called "Home Secretary" I would agree that it should feature prominently in any and all lists detailing the "Golden Age of Women on TV" (can I also say and men)<br />
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But it isn't, so it can't. Potentially we might be shuffling very slowly towards a bronze age of women (can I also say and men) But that's it.<br />
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In Bodyguard, the mighty Keeley Hawes is over 40. Her character as portrayed was intelligent, witty, capable and enthusiastically sexual. (Ma'am)<br />
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This notable aspect of the drama had Theresa May clutching at invisible pearls from the podium on the Tory party conference stage, which she had dad-danced onto only minutes before and declaring "It wasn't like that in my day" (cue conference hilarity because it's funny isn't it, that women over 40 have sex)<br />
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So Julia was all of those things as detailed above and the crucial reason why this show isn't part of any golden age for women on TV is that Julia was dead by the end of Episode 3.<br />
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All of my energy is going into not believing that it was "the sex what done it" because let's face it the rule was being broken royally.<br />
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Women in film who enjoy sex must NOT be over 40 and if they are by some weird "PC gone mad" rule of inclusion, having sex they absolutely CAN'T still be alive for long afterwards, because my god, what's next?<br />
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Women over 50 having sex, or over 60 or over 70?<br />
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STOP RIGHT THERE, RIGHT NOW. ERECTION DESTROYER, YOU SHALL NOT PASS.<br />
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THAT MIGHT BE TRUE IN LIFE BUT BROADCASTERS ARE DAMNED IF THEY'RE GOING TO SHOW THAT ON SCREEN.<br />
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NO, C'MON, LET'S KEEP IT BELIEVABLE.<br />
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Like in "Black Earth Rising" when John Goodman is getting no solicitor work done because beautiful women of all ages keep trying to have sex with him, even in the same room as his comatose daughter. Is that the sort of believable "not at all a male fantasy" version of the truth you mean....<br />
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No wonder the legal system is arguably broken.<br />
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Anyway back to erasure.<br />
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I can think of only one show that is on the Golden Age list and that does not, a golden age make.<br />
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"Killing Eve" ticks all my boxes and especially my campaign "Woman Adjunct Test" because it features two women prominently one young, one middle-aged, at the same time, with the same amount of screen time and they're not doing anything at all to move things along for a bloke.<br />
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The story is about the women, not a man with a side order of sexy woman, embittered women, woman in peril to be saved, or his mum WHO HE LOVES SO MUCH.<br />
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The programme offers a tiny glimmer of hope that women at the heart of the story can be interesting. Their sexuality is a dramatic point which features as a side issue, not the reason they're there and their bodies are driven by the only organ that really matters, their brains.<br />
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We need to see more of this, otherwise no matter how many strong, young, women we see leading feminist campaigns in media, the most influential media we have, is telling them a different story.<br />
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It's saying that a woman's value in the TV & film industry is built around her youth and sexuality.<br />
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Her perceived desirability and the currency this carries, as determined by men. Women's sexual expression mustn't be curbed but when that is the only reason for a woman to appear and when the sexuality of middle aged women is traduced to a joke, or a statement of desperation, or tied into mental unbalance, then oppression becomes the driver and it insults men of all ages.<br />
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The crisis in masculinity we're seeing is fed by the notion that men can age and can and should be having sex with much younger women as a right. The "trophy" partnerships played out on our screens betrays the fact of a sentient women, who loses value only because she ages.<br />
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The women of the ME TOO and Times UP movement, who led the change and led the accountability, the women who outed Bill Cosby, all lost their careers. We know sexually predatory behaviour is about power not sex but sexual currency is a huge part of exploitation and exploitation once normalised is entrenched.<br />
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Although believed and applauded now for their bravery, the women of ME TOO face an industry which has no place for them as artists.<br />
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Women who age are expected to keep working, as we know from the WASPI women campaign, that prolonged careers are a fiscal imperative everywhere but in acting. Working women don't see themselves on screen equally represented, whilst at the same time the fight continues for equal pay in every other sphere of life.<br />
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The stories we tell must reflect society as it is. The message of the erasure of middle aged women is that our lives have no value and our stories aren't deemed interesting.<br />
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Female actors over the age of 40 still need to eat and have somewhere to live.<br />
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Nothing more than a calendar prevents them. Nothing more than a calendar deems my campaign which highlights blatant, sexist ageism, not newsworthy.<br />
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So as I mentioned earlier, what shall we tell our daughters?<br />
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-85960985271644531742018-09-23T09:39:00.001+01:002018-09-23T11:39:08.622+01:00The othered woman, the she devil and the naughty scamp<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This morning I woke up thinking about women. I think about women a lot these days.<br />
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First of all I need to issue a disclaimer, I'm a woman and this has to be said up front. It needs to be said because this post is about the space women occupy and as I'm fifty two, I'm aware that any space occupied by older women needs to be tightly monitored and limited.<br />
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In the media, I'm a non person. I'm not famous and I'm not young and I'm not male, so before the patriarchal police knock down my front door and drag me away, I'll quickly share my thoughts.<br />
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The news over the last couple of weeks has been about sex and the relationship which two women had with one man. One of the women in this familiar triangle of pain, knew about the crowded nature of the relationship and the other didn't.<br />
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But both women were judged and found to be wanting. The man did his tousled haired shrug, no doubt and potentially smiled a smug smile of "What am I like eh chaps?"<br />
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In both cases the women occupied spaces they where the rules are gladiatorial in approach. When the man in question is famous, the women concerned enter the space sometimes willingly but more often than not, unwillingly and in either respect, the arena crowds bay and howl for their triumph or annihilation.<br />
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We're the arena crowds. On social media or traditional media, we can virtually raise or turn down our thumbs at the press of a button. Caesar would have been delighted. He would also have recognised what it is to be in the public eye and unexpectedly stabbed repeatedly into oblivion.<br />
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Now both the women in question have their supporters. They also have the patriarchal approach to support when it comes to women and it's this, "If you're going to support a woman in public, make sure another woman is being trashed"<br />
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It's impossible to report the marital affairs of a famous straight married man without moving swiftly from his actions to hers.<br />
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The "her" in question will be his wife and his affair partner. The "other" or more accurately, othered woman will be subject to the patriarchal "Fitness to fuck" test.<br />
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1) What does she look like?<br />
2) How old is she?<br />
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The wife or partner will be subject to the "Fitness to fuck over" test<br />
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1) What does she look like?<br />
2) How old is she?<br />
<br />
<br />
Once these two clear parameters are achieved the rest is down to a choice. Who do you support?<br />
<br />
As strangers to all concerned parties, the "Fitness to Fuck or Fuck over" test gives us licence to judge the women at will.<br />
<br />
But we must choose and never ever must we approach the man with anything other than a metaphorical head tousel and a gentle quasi-rebuke of "Oh you naughty scamp, did you let your penis decide again?"<br />
<br />
Once the othered woman has been scrutinised with our eyes, we move on to x-ray her character. Because we know don't we, what is in her heart and mind with just a few judgements and the opinions of others.<br />
<br />
Women are particularly useful here.<br />
<br />
The patriarchy uses the experience of women to inform their opinions too. If you've been the othered woman you will be in defence of the bothered woman, because you were manipulated, hurt and usually left, by another straight man with an uncontrollable penis.<br />
<br />
He will have told you so many awful, unforgivable things about his wife and yet he returns to her so often.<br />
<br />
She is a manipulative monster who is awful to their children and will use them as a weapon, isn't she.<br />
She is a frigid she devil who refuses to have sex with him, doesn't she.<br />
She is just there to bask in his reflected glory and won't even work because she's too lazy, isn't she.<br />
He would be with you but he's just a decent person and can't leave her because she'd have a breakdown, wouldn't she.<br />
<br />
No.<br />
<br />
He's a liar.<br />
<br />
Anything he says about her to you will be mirrored , in what he will say about you, to her when it eventually comes out. It will be awful, it will be lies and it will bear no relationship to you as a person. He's very good at that.<br />
<br />
You need to apply critical thinking to his justifications and consider that marital affairs almost always begin and end with his mouth and your brain.<br />
<br />
Remember too, that even if he does leave her your future will carry the shadow of the circumstances in which your relationship started. If he did it with you, he'll do it to you.<br />
<br />
Perhaps you don't care. Perhaps you're married too and have no interest in forming a relationship with him in anyway other than sex. Perhaps you're single and have no interest in relationships at all.<br />
<br />
There are ways of achieving that without causing devastation to other women. There is nothing remotely feminist about intentionally hurting another woman, even a woman you don't know, because her husband is manipulating you into believing she's a monster who doesn't deserve him. No woman deserves to be punished for an opinion spouted by a man who is deliberately hurting her for his own gratification. Whether she knows or not, the damage to his primary relationship is marked by the efforts he makes to cover up his deception. He could be using that time and energy to get counselling to address his problems.<br />
<br />
If you choose someone who you know is already in a committed relationship, you need to ask yourself what your primary driver is for doing so. Because the net result when a straight married man has an affair, is that a woman always gets hurt by the betrayal, that's a known, known.<br />
<br />
Now betrayed wives of the world listen up.<br />
<br />
IT'S.<br />
NOT.<br />
HER.<br />
FAULT.<br />
<br />
It's not.<br />
<br />
You're not married to her, he lied to her too.<br />
He lied about you to her.<br />
He's lying about her to you when you find out.<br />
He's lying about the sex with both of you, to both of you.<br />
<br />
If you enter into the torture chamber of "she is better than me" you're lying to yourself.<br />
<br />
It's not a competition, it's not a statement about you, unless she held a gun to his head.<br />
Which, let's face it, is more erection defying than Nigel Farage's face on a condom wrapper.<br />
<br />
<b>SHE DIDN'T MAKE HIM DO IT.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>YOU DIDN'T MAKE HIM DO IT.</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>HE CHOSE TO DO IT AND TO BLAME YOU BOTH FOR DOING IT.</b><br />
<br />
It's not her, it's not you, it's him.<br />
<br />
Don't play his game. Don't believe the lies. You are both his victims.<br />
<br />
The worst case scenario is that you fail to recognise where the blame lies.<br />
<br />
From women "with the good hair", to "three of us in this marriage", from "violet eyed co-stars" to Anne Boleyn, there is one constant throughout the millennia : men are very protective of their penis and they don't put it anywhere by mistake.<br />
<br />
Research shows that the vast majority of men who seek sex outside the marriage do so with women who are significantly less physically attractive than their wives. But sex outside of primary relationships is reliant and driven by fantasy, opportunity and proximity. It's not for nothing that the coincidence of women in the workplace and the rise in the demographics of affairs, combined.<br />
<br />
Reality often dawns only with the devastation. When you let the light in on any daydream it kills it as dead as a stove top boiled rabbit.<br />
<br />
Remember to that it's about his ego. In defending himself about his behaviour you're anger at the bothered woman will be feeding this. "They're fighting over me now, because I'm so special"<br />
<br />
It's a choice and you may feel at your most powerless, angry, devastated and blindsided but you have a choice too. You can decide to place the blame where it (or more accurately, he) lies.<br />
<br />
On the patriarchal excuse meter the "lamb to slaughter" myth of the scheming female, is an important myth to remember. Problems in marriages exist everywhere. Having sex with someone else, isn't the way to fix it and it isn't the choice of every man (or woman)<br />
<br />
If you decide to stay and embark on counselling be very very careful who you choose to drag all this up with. Another rule of the patriarchy is the counselling myth that there is blame within the marriage (AKA the wife) whereby his penis is forced to run wild and free "because sad".<br />
<br />
Yes there are reasons for marital problems, but a poorly managed zip reflex is the one to concentrate on first.<br />
<br />
Addressing marital unhappiness with the person you're married to is what adult humans do.<br />
<br />
Entering into secret "sex therapy" with a third party because you're unhappy, is just another justification for a shag. Allowing that myth to take up residence creates a reason to dodge censure.<br />
<br />
Betrayal should receive censure because it allows for the focus to create introspection and self-awareness. Otherwise as we've seen in recent weeks, it just happens again and again and again.<br />
<br />
Whether in the broadsheets, tabloids, online, or anywhere else where the public discourse is shaped and moulded we need to make space for women without judging, labelling and ultimately branding them for the choices men make.<br />
<br />
More than anything else, we need to stop polarising the stories of our lives and the lives of others in the binary terms of "Her versus Her."<br />
<br />
Here endeth the lesson.<br />
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-56891350804361625612018-04-29T16:28:00.003+01:002019-12-11T13:37:21.867+00:00Tweet for Disabled People, my two day Twitter storm.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGLwJ1zYKnA3tzT26qKkN8nQJZIAhhxkeq_DQm-8gtotA0EFD1IFdivu7yn1Op2SvwkWn67HOX4rhraoLjN8TqNLbdF8CJ9ZFSXQ92jDd8_bTx8RIFErVDYu07VkF4tVvZ9LGM559miuE/s1600/IMG_0639.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGLwJ1zYKnA3tzT26qKkN8nQJZIAhhxkeq_DQm-8gtotA0EFD1IFdivu7yn1Op2SvwkWn67HOX4rhraoLjN8TqNLbdF8CJ9ZFSXQ92jDd8_bTx8RIFErVDYu07VkF4tVvZ9LGM559miuE/s400/IMG_0639.PNG" width="225" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clive Lewis MP was the first to respond</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
On Thursday I got an email from a carer who had reapplied for her profoundly disabled son's Blue Badge discovered that under the new rules he no longer qualified. He had had the badge since 2004.<br />
<br />
This woman was understandable devastated. She explained how precious this Badge was for her son's safety in accessing public spaces and how the loss of it would turn him into a prisoner in his own home.<br />
She had no idea how she was going to cope. She had seen my Blue Badge Campaign blog on Brent Council's website. The only council, including my own, who had posted the campaign and petition.<br />
<br />
I asked her if she had contacted her MP. She said she didn't know who her MP was.<br />
<br />
After helping her to identify her MP, Dawn Butler, I realised that for many people caught up in the day to day business of being disabled in the UK today, or consumed with caring for those they love with disabilities, politics is the last issue on their list.<br />
<br />
Yet politics is vital in shaping the lives we lead. I wondered what the issues are that MP's are contacted over and also wondered if disabled people and carers know that MP's do place their needs on the agenda.<br />
<br />
So I set myself a task. I decided to contact every MP on twitter and ask them to tweet about the issues which disabled constituents and carers, bring to their MP's for help with. I used the fact that the local elections are imminent and this seemed to some to be a confusing platform.<br />
<br />
I was very pleased with the responses, from Labour, Lib Dems and Tory MP's and from disabled people, carers and activists using the hashtag as a place to tweet about disability issues.<br />
<br />
I hope I managed to thank all the MP's who contributed because I'm very grateful that they did.<br />
<br />
In the end I tweeted 505 MP's over a two day period.<br />
<br />
I was particularly delighted to see people contacting their MP's and arranging to meet with them for help.<br />
<br />
As yet no party leader has tweeted their constituents concerns.<br />
38 Labour MP's replied<br />
12 Tory MP's replied<br />
4 LibDem MP's replied<br />
No Cabinet Ministers replied<br />
3 Shadow Cabinet ministers replied - Both Debbie Abrahams And Andrew Gwynne tweeted and Dawn Butler said she was going to tweet.<br />
<br />
I was surprised not to see a tweet from Caroline Lucas who is both party leader and the only Green Party MP. I think she might have missed it.<br />
<br />
There were hundreds of responses from disabled people and for a while #TweetForDisabledPeople was trending.<br />
<br />
There are 13,000,000 disabled people in the UK.<br />
<br />
I feel the campaign was an opportunity to show disabled people aren't completely forgotten by all the people who decide the policy which shapes so many lives. I'm incredibly grateful to all MP's who engaged with the campaign. My life as an autistic woman has been shaped by policy. The lives of my two children who are autistic and Emily who is learning disabled are affected everyday by the policies made in the House of Commons.<br />
<br />
Whether its issues around health, education, disability benefits or a Blue Parking Badge, its vital that our politicians understand the difference they make. x<br />
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I’ve been genuinely shocked at the cruelty of the DWP in dealing with disabled people since being elected. People in need are being denied the help they need. Theses cuts cost more than they save & cause considerable pain and distress to disabled people <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Luke Pollard MP (@LukePollard) <a href="https://twitter.com/LukePollard/status/989468440044896256?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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One of the worst cases I have had was when the medical team of a constituent of mine contacted me to say he was refusing lifesaving surgery (he had a brain tumour) because he was frightened of being sanctioned. This Govt should hang their heads in shame. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetforDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetforDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Debbie Abrahams MP (@Debbie_abrahams) <a href="https://twitter.com/Debbie_abrahams/status/989555218185584641?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I have too many heartbreaking meetings with disabled constituents who are struggling to get the support they are entitled to - whether it's LAs dragging their feet on adjustments to peoples homes or DWP assessments stripping them of financial assistance <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/MroDGjWQDj">https://t.co/MroDGjWQDj</a></div>
— Ruth Smeeth MP (@RuthSmeeth) <a href="https://twitter.com/RuthSmeeth/status/989454115821490179?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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With the help of my caseworkers, I have helped to overturn 75%+ of PIP refusals through our representations to the DWP. This shows how broken the assessment system is. We must have a system that works for disabled people not against. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/mc1TD4rwAO">https://t.co/mc1TD4rwAO</a></div>
— Catherine West (@CatherineWest1) <a href="https://twitter.com/CatherineWest1/status/989457803801657345?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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A major issue that disabled constituents in Warwick and Leamington face is the significant number of PIP cases and poor treatment by the DWP. The assessment system is inappropriate and does not treat people as human beings <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/uPFpVkJuZF">https://t.co/uPFpVkJuZF</a></div>
— Matt Western MP (@MattWestern_) <a href="https://twitter.com/MattWestern_/status/989467834500730881?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Every time I meet disabled people being humiliated & penalised through PIP assessments it reinforces why we need <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ToriesOut?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ToriesOut</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Sarah Champion (@SarahChampionMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/SarahChampionMP/status/989538721857982466?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> Poor access to public transport is something lots of people contact me about. It's impossible for many disabled people to use peak time trains, you have to be physically fit to squeeze yourself on board, and that denies people work and social opportunities <a href="https://t.co/Cpr3GQU3LJ">https://t.co/Cpr3GQU3LJ</a></div>
— David Crausby (@DavidCrausby) <a href="https://twitter.com/DavidCrausby/status/989500021883199488?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I recently had a constituent who ended up being sanctioned for a Year because his disability left him unable to cope with the stress & rules DWP impose & they left him with nothing. Now sorted thank goodness <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Maria Eagle MP (@meaglemp) <a href="https://twitter.com/meaglemp/status/989961491582521346?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Whether it’s having to go through the indignity of a WCA followed by an appeal to access ESA; or struggling to cope while DLA to PIP conversion happens and then inexplicably losing points...my caseload of full of people who are being let down. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/TY8YSoM803">https://t.co/TY8YSoM803</a></div>
— Gareth Snell MP (@gareth_snell) <a href="https://twitter.com/gareth_snell/status/989775519586516992?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The issues my disabled constituents raise with me the most are the fight they often face having to secure the support & care packages they are entitled to and being able to access venues (bars/restaurants etc) in town <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MrsNickyClark?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MrsNickyClark</a></div>
— Luciana Berger (@lucianaberger) <a href="https://twitter.com/lucianaberger/status/989769577599909888?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Many of my disabled constituents report a number of issues that affect them at local level - recurring theme of inadequate access to facilities such as toilets & changing rooms for them and their carers <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/MrsNickyClark?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MrsNickyClark</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHazelBowden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheHazelBowden</a> for raising</div>
— Andrew Gwynne MP (@GwynneMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/GwynneMP/status/989496133801168896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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My constituents <a href="https://twitter.com/focusbirmingham?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@focusbirmingham</a> especially those who are visually impaired have raised the difficulty in voting alone as ballot papers are not available in Braille. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetforDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetforDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Preet Kaur Gill MP (@PreetKGillMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/PreetKGillMP/status/989474916973064192?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I am hearing from a lot of disabled ppl who are losing out when they move from DLA to PIP resulting in a big loss of independence. Many many people losing motability cars. Huge issue. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/jwv53mnO3A">https://t.co/jwv53mnO3A</a></div>
— John Cryer (@JohnCryerMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/JohnCryerMP/status/989489009159221254?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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The issue that local government is responsible for that disabled constituents often raise with me is how hard it is for the disabled or sight-impaired to get around because of disabled-unfriendly crossings, pavements, buses etc.<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/pDvXzxP3kY">https://t.co/pDvXzxP3kY</a></div>
— Ben Bradshaw (@BenPBradshaw) <a href="https://twitter.com/BenPBradshaw/status/989809548092420102?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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A social security system which seems to make it deliberately difficult for disabled people to obtain the help & support they require <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetforDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetforDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Lilian Greenwood (@LilianGreenwood) <a href="https://twitter.com/LilianGreenwood/status/989499497087676418?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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My disabled constituents & their carers still face the challenge of the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/BedroomTax?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#BedroomTax</a>. Also, an increasing number are losing their <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Motability?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#Motability</a> entitlement which is severely affecting their independence. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/FH9VXDf26N">https://t.co/FH9VXDf26N</a></div>
— Liz McInnes (@LizMcInnes_MP) <a href="https://twitter.com/LizMcInnes_MP/status/989809708289658880?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Many carers and disabled constituents in Bath are seriously concerned about funding structures for mental health. Worth adding that carers for people with disabilities save the NHS huge amounts of money, and should be celebrated for it! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MrsNickyClark?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MrsNickyClark</a></div>
— Wera Hobhouse MP (@Wera_Hobhouse) <a href="https://twitter.com/Wera_Hobhouse/status/989828859091660800?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Fitness assessments, which often scare people because of the horror stories that people face are a massive burden on disabled people <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/s6lX5EG1Ir">https://t.co/s6lX5EG1Ir</a></div>
— Jim Cunningham MP (@jimforcovsouth) <a href="https://twitter.com/jimforcovsouth/status/989795743748837378?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> Hi Nicky - so many issues, where to start? Pavement parking - public attitudes - but biggest issue is punitive benefits regime- Universal Credit could have been liberating if done properly- instead it is penalising those who need most support</div>
— Sandy Martin (@sandyofipswich) <a href="https://twitter.com/sandyofipswich/status/989937684197015552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/MrsNickyClark?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MrsNickyClark</a> - many big challenges including access to work, impact of changes to benefits notably PIP & ESA and state of local pavements <a href="https://twitter.com/PamThomas01?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@PamThomas01</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/WillamShortall?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@WillamShortall</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/BradburyF?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@BradburyF</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MSDP_Charity?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MSDP_Charity</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MNDPatients?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MNDPatients</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/MNDA_Merseyside?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MNDA_Merseyside</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Stephen Twigg (@StephenTwigg) <a href="https://twitter.com/StephenTwigg/status/989453442858045440?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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PIP reassesments for people disabled with terminal illnesses like <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MotorNeuroneDisease?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#MotorNeuroneDisease</a> is a big issue I have been campaigning with <a href="https://twitter.com/mndassoc?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@mndassoc</a> with. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> Thanks Nicky</div>
— Andrew Lewer (@ALewerMBE) <a href="https://twitter.com/ALewerMBE/status/989864811285663744?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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My friend <a href="https://twitter.com/Debbie_abrahams?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@Debbie_abrahams</a> raised this with the minister today who refused to apologise for the recent UN report which described ‘grave systematic violations against disabled people in this country.’ Disabled people deserve better <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Afzal Khan MP (@Afzal4Gorton) <a href="https://twitter.com/Afzal4Gorton/status/989553325472407552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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An issue for my constituents with <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/dementia?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#dementia</a> is that they are losing benefits when being moved from <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DLA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DLA</a> to <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PIP?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PIP</a>, and don’t have the expertise to appeal. Unsuitable housing is also a problem. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetforDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetforDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Eleanor Smith (@Eleanor_SmithMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/Eleanor_SmithMP/status/989527064985337856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Hi Nicky, biggest issue I hear is access to entitlements almost always involve struggle and fights with the system. Not on and we’re trying to change it. Especially for SEND young people. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/pg0zQdNgRf">https://t.co/pg0zQdNgRf</a></div>
— James Frith MP (@JamesFrith) <a href="https://twitter.com/JamesFrith/status/989599817197391872?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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From young people to elderly, support & provision for disabled people is often found wanting. I’m dealing with a failing Special Educational Needs & Disability provision in schools & supporting Blue Badge applicants through a system designed to frustrate <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Rosie Cooper (@rosie4westlancs) <a href="https://twitter.com/rosie4westlancs/status/989834983748636677?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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By a comfortable margin, the issue that is raised most often by my disabled constituents is the PIP Assessment Process (particular problems for those who have problems travelling to an assessment centre) and unfair decisions that we then have to contest <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> <a href="https://t.co/UH19MXfqaM">https://t.co/UH19MXfqaM</a></div>
— Matthew Pennycook MP (@mtpennycook) <a href="https://twitter.com/mtpennycook/status/989524397974261760?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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A man in my office turned down for PIP and is at ESA tribunal is not able to get his medication as he doesn't qualify for prescription exemption so he has to pick eating or medication. He is now suffering hallucinations and is struggling to breath. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Jess Phillips (@jessphillips) <a href="https://twitter.com/jessphillips/status/989873534120988675?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Hi Nicky & thanks for the tweet: access to work and how to educate employers and businesses about the potential of people with disabilities is a big issue. Secondly, making sure that carers have access to info about assessments & access to respite support <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetforDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetforDisabledPeople</a></div>
— Robert Buckland (@RobertBuckland) <a href="https://twitter.com/RobertBuckland/status/990280958367629313?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 28, 2018</a></blockquote>
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We deal with a wide and varied case load on disabled issues, which I can't go into any detail on, for obvious reasons, but the recurring themes are definitely around pavement parking and disabled access</div>
— Craig Tracey MP (@craig4nwarks) <a href="https://twitter.com/craig4nwarks/status/989867120627462144?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Lots of correspondence regarding cars parking on pavements & bins left on pavements. Making it difficult to get past in wheelchairs.</div>
— Andrea Jenkyns MP (@andreajenkyns) <a href="https://twitter.com/andreajenkyns/status/989861357637066753?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Hi Nicky, my constituency office is disabled friendly and I am keen to raise any local issues to assist disabled constituents. <a href="https://t.co/c2THjFGmcV">pic.twitter.com/c2THjFGmcV</a></div>
— Douglas Ross MP (@Douglas4Moray) <a href="https://twitter.com/Douglas4Moray/status/989858228237492224?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Key issues my team and I help with are around accessibility and making sure disabled constituents access all the benefits they are entitled to</div>
— Luke Graham OSP MP (@LukeGrahamMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/LukeGrahamMP/status/989834250227802113?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Diagnosis and support for autism (or lack of) is one of the most regular issues in my surgeries and casework. <a href="https://t.co/pJycAiuKvS">https://t.co/pJycAiuKvS</a></div>
— Anne-Marie Trevelyan (@annietrev) <a href="https://twitter.com/annietrev/status/989826199261253632?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Hi Nicky - big focus recently on <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/ChangingPlaces?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#ChangingPlaces</a> - I was pleased to meet campaigners and we are looking at what more can be provided locally</div>
— Caroline Dinenage (@cj_dinenage) <a href="https://twitter.com/cj_dinenage/status/989818432991481856?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Hi Nicky,<br />
Easily my biggest issue disabled people face is access to historic buildings for town and parish council meetings. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/tweetsfordisabledpeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#tweetsfordisabledpeople</a></div>
— Scott Mann (@scottmann4NC) <a href="https://twitter.com/scottmann4NC/status/989773154405924864?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Local constituents have come to me highlighting problems around public transport and A-boards for the visually impaired. (Worth saying I don't have local elections in my constituency)</div>
— Matt Warman MP (@mattwarman) <a href="https://twitter.com/mattwarman/status/989772971987288066?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> access to public transport is still a challenge. Some local railway stations still don’t have disabled access as campaigned for by <a href="https://twitter.com/emmadonaldson05?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@emmadonaldson05</a></div>
— Mark Spencer (@Mark_Spencer) <a href="https://twitter.com/Mark_Spencer/status/989769914113179649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I chair our local physical disabilities board and there are sadly too many but poorly designed infrastructure, public transport and accessible leisure services feature regularly</div>
— Tracey Crouch (@tracey_crouch) <a href="https://twitter.com/tracey_crouch/status/989763762071552000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 27, 2018</a></blockquote>
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I may get a different impression from those involved in local elections but most common issues I encounter for those with disabilities are PIP assessments, lack of respite care & Access to Work funding <a href="https://t.co/4aSYbS9RL8">https://t.co/4aSYbS9RL8</a></div>
— Steve McCabe (@steve_mccabe) <a href="https://twitter.com/steve_mccabe/status/989622836858970112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Oh so many. Biggest has been lack of Changing Places Toilets. Another recent one is car parks that put height restrictions forgetting that disability vehicles now cannot pass. The one I’m campaigning on is access and enactment of EHCPs so all children get the help then need</div>
— Layla Moran (@LaylaMoran) <a href="https://twitter.com/LaylaMoran/status/989572634512887808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Difficulty getting PIP and ESA.</div>
— Helen Goodman (@HelenGoodmanMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/HelenGoodmanMP/status/989572272372551682?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Disabled people are facing cutbacks to their personal budgets which can have a big impact on quality of life. And too many people with a learning disability still remain in institutional care, too often breaching their human rights. <a href="https://t.co/Hwuy6dR9vl">https://t.co/Hwuy6dR9vl</a></div>
— Norman Lamb (@normanlamb) <a href="https://twitter.com/normanlamb/status/989560187441819649?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Two main things Pip and mobility cars and cuts to support for carers making it even harder for them <a href="https://t.co/7sSC8rzJpL">https://t.co/7sSC8rzJpL</a></div>
— Angela Eagle (@angelaeagle) <a href="https://twitter.com/angelaeagle/status/989506124570349568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Many of my disabled constituents report a number of issues that affect them at local level - recurring theme of inadequate access to facilities such as toilets & changing rooms for them and their carers <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/TweetForDisabledPeople?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#TweetForDisabledPeople</a> Thanks to <a href="https://twitter.com/MrsNickyClark?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MrsNickyClark</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/TheHazelBowden?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheHazelBowden</a> for raising</div>
— Andrew Gwynne MP (@GwynneMP) <a href="https://twitter.com/GwynneMP/status/989496133801168896?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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It’s really hard to find care providers who will look after my disabled or elderly residents who are spread across wide rural geography!</div>
— Heidi Allen (@heidiallen75) <a href="https://twitter.com/heidiallen75/status/989493136119549965?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Assessments for ESA and PIP. Dehumanising and so often wrong. We had a constituent in yesterday who said his assessment report referred to him as a woman, we see assessment reports that bear no resemblance to the constituent, we see outcomes that don’t meet needs of constituents. <a href="https://t.co/46ikQdyFLs">https://t.co/46ikQdyFLs</a></div>
— Wes Streeting MP (@wesstreeting) <a href="https://twitter.com/wesstreeting/status/989459666651492352?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 26, 2018</a></blockquote>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-12856177428674224582018-02-08T19:27:00.002+00:002018-02-08T20:35:39.723+00:00It's the economy stupid.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT9BBl7jWoLohUpbjQVYlisWnlgoKdifYvmuZrZkjhvHuaJ2oYn9HkPTtHLHDKE2g4WCrqYkOzOrvJbrCVB3BlXOfmqRTb5u1QETrRTpyLM3rR2AtD_mjkM0f9onOsKjGviXI4Zrl1JpM/s1600/IMG_1806.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="895" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjT9BBl7jWoLohUpbjQVYlisWnlgoKdifYvmuZrZkjhvHuaJ2oYn9HkPTtHLHDKE2g4WCrqYkOzOrvJbrCVB3BlXOfmqRTb5u1QETrRTpyLM3rR2AtD_mjkM0f9onOsKjGviXI4Zrl1JpM/s320/IMG_1806.JPG" width="238" /></a></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">My understanding of disability benefits,
their role and purpose is that they exist to pay for the extra costs incurred
by being disabled.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In that way I differ from my local Council
who, it seems, believe that they exist to fund the costs of care. I might be
wrong but it’s certainly how it feels today.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My daughter Emily lives alone except for a
24-hour care package of 3-1 carers.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">She was until the late Summer of 2017 fully
funded by the NHS. Then we all had a meeting and they felt that Emily shouldn’t
be funded by them anymore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">She was funded by them, at school and into
her own home. They fund her care package.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The care package and the care provider
haven’t changed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The house she lives in with the 24 hour
care package hasn’t changed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Emily’s health needs haven’t changed.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The only thing that has changed in the 19
months in which the NHS have funded my daughter, appears to be their minds.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Eligibility criteria is apparently
subjective.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So following the meeting, we had to wait
for the decision. The decision was a no. Emily met the criteria for a yes but
as I say it was a no. Emily’s social worker agreed it was a yes, but it was
still a no.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There was then another meeting. This time
it was between the social worker and the NHS assessor. They disagreed. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It was then elevated to senior managers
from the Councl and the CCG. In a meeting on their own. They decided it was a
no and that the Council and CCG would share funding. The split “to be decided” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Whilst all of this was going on, the
Council financial assessors became involved. In September 2017 they decided
that Emily was on the wrong level of benefit.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Emily currently receives £734 per month. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">That’s £183 per week.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The financial assessors decided that Emily
should receive £329 per week and with that in mind they sent me a form to means
test Emily as by their estimation Emily should be contributing £138 per week to
the costs of her care.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This is because the Council now jointly
funds her care with the CCG. It’s not free anymore. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I contacted the DWP as that’s what I was
told to do. They said they would review Emily’s case. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This was all before Christmas and as these
things take a while, I was waiting. I’d also asked for a review of Emily’s
continuing healthcare funding. I thought that as the CCG and Council were in
partnership this would be communicated. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It wasn’t.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">There are several other wrangles ongoing
during this time but I can’t write about any of them due to a COP injunction.
But I can write about this as it isn’t.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">On Tuesday I opened a letter addressed to
Emily via me. It was an invoice for care that Emily had received from 8<sup>th</sup>
November 2017 until 31<sup>st</sup> December 2017.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Now that date is significant because that’s
the date the financial assessment spoke to the benefits assessor who told them
what they felt Emily should be on benefits wise. Not what she was on but what
she should be on and now this is the golden rule.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">She’s not getting that and wasn’t then, but
they have that figure from that date and so that’s set in stone.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The amount they want back from Emily is
£1109. As I hadn’t returned the means testing form, because I was appealing the
decision and had told the financial assessor this, she just triggered the
demand notice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So now we’re up to today.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Today I got an email from the financial
assessor at the council.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">She has taken it upon herself to speak to
the DWP. Yes that’s right the DWP about Emily. She must have had an interesting
time because in her email to me afterwards she refers to Emily as Nicola.
Twice.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">According to her the DWP have not had
notification from me of many things. They have, I spoke to them in November but she probably just did
another estimate. She mentioned again the uplift in disability benefits, the fact that they wouldn't ask for the money until she receives the uplift in benefits and she kindly
said that when Emily gets her increase they may back date the care costs.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So one thing jumps out at me straight away.
I gave birth to Emily 21 years ago. I know that because I was there and because
I have witnesses and yet to talk to the DWP even on the phone, I had to be
certified as an appointee. I had to be visited at my own home by a member of
staff from the DWP with proof of who I was before I could discuss anything. It
turns out I should just have got a job at the Council.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So my point is this what the hell are the
Council playing at. I know times are tough because I’ve protested most of the cuts
locally but increasing my daughter’s benefits to recoup money seems very low to
me. In fact if I did that, I’d be prosecuted for financial abuse.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The uplift in benefits are because Emily is
disabled not because the NHS won’t fund her anymore.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This uplift if awarded and it won’t be
because under the new DWP rules if you can walk you’re not that disabled, will
amount to £329 pw</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Emily is currently receiving £183 pw</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">But don’t forget the Council have estimated
and they’re never wrong.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So let’s pretend she receives £329 pw</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Ok take away the Council’s care costs
£138pw</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So now Emily (still not disabled on
purpose) has £201pw</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The difference to Emily in real terms will
be £18 pw.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The difference to Emily over a year will be
£936.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">BUT the difference to the Council over a
year will be £7,176 of Emily’s disability benefits. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So I have an estimate too. </span><span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">2395 people clamed Employment and Support
Allowance in Shrewsbury in 2017. I don’t know how many of them claimed PIP at
the higher rate but let’s estimate that it’s all of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">If that’s the case and
the Council has sent them a bill for £138 pw that’s a potential income generation of
£17,636,504 <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>directly from disabled
people’s pockets.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I'm sure it isn't though. As I say it's an estimate and no-one ever bases anything, on those. Or we could call it what it is a Disability Tax that should never have to be paid.</span></div>
</div>
Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-20887788931822405812018-01-27T10:21:00.011+00:002021-01-27T21:02:42.613+00:00"Life unworthy of living" <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb5s5j_E7FyEhgC1uar8AkRcEyQhtJy_cZjB8DnxpbUWMFbWiHckBUvpQzARskNspYKqx4U1Q3JFQmArpUllmE6jVMZCJuB35y9aNAE_ECMPWfE0DmKfbNYA_S_ZfCHzoom9q5F8-UoOE/s1600/IMG_0316.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb5s5j_E7FyEhgC1uar8AkRcEyQhtJy_cZjB8DnxpbUWMFbWiHckBUvpQzARskNspYKqx4U1Q3JFQmArpUllmE6jVMZCJuB35y9aNAE_ECMPWfE0DmKfbNYA_S_ZfCHzoom9q5F8-UoOE/s320/IMG_0316.PNG" width="180" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nazi Propaganda Photo of a "useless eater"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Until very recently the name Gerhard Kretschmar was unknown. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This baby boy was born in February 1939, learning disabled, blind and with malformed and missing limbs, to farm worker nazi parents who were horrified that he was in their opinion “defective”. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">Gerhard's father took his son to Dr Werner Catel a paediatrician at the University Children's clinic at Leipzig asking for his son to be killed. Dr Catel pointed out that this would be illegal.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">So Kretschmar wrote to Hitler petitioning that the law be overruled. Hitler sent his own physician Dr Karl Brandt to consult with Gerhard's parents, Dr Cater and examine Gerhard. He confirmed that Gerhardt had the disabilities his parents described and that Gerhard was also, in his opinion, learning disabled. Hitler gave his permission.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Dr Karl Brandt, Hitler's personal physician, whose crimes against
disabled people came to light, during his trial at Nuremberg for the murder of
Russian and Polish prisoners, administered a drug to Gerhard and after 5 days
he died. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Gerhard Kretschmar was referred to by the
doctor, as a “creature” and by his parents as a "monster'.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">After Gerhard’s death was verified by
several Nazi doctors, the institutionalized murder of disabled children was
rolled out across Germany. The authorisation operating and expanded into Austria, the Czech Republic and
Poland at clinics and hospitals. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Poison was often used but another common
method of murder was starvation.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Parents who fought the removal of their
learning disabled or physically disabled children were told that they need not
worry and that their children were being taken away for treatment. The program went under the title "Charitable foundation for Cure and Institutionalised Care"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">After their children were murdered, the
parents would receive a letter telling them their children had died from
natural causes, a certificate registering a fictional illness and an urn containing their child's ashes. The explanantion for cremation was that their bodies had been burned in order to prevent
infection.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In truth their children’s bodies were thrown
into mass graves and forgotten. All this was conducted in secret.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">For disabled adults in Germany voluntary
sterilizations had been an option since 1932 however in 1933 the enforced
sterilizations of disabled adults began. The idea was that inherited conditions
diluted the pure blood of the Aryan race. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The definition of disability also included
alcoholism.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYELzk-Mx_jUOBb43PjPVNTlbtWxY2pB_KYMW3AJ5fzUPjwWWisS_2VhFVmqtMYW9FLb9Nc58nmBypNbhncxMIzKDfRBAZrNmHzIWii399-9UrJNVFHR9df3li6jGemxYridvCxomE00/s1600/IMG_0313.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmYELzk-Mx_jUOBb43PjPVNTlbtWxY2pB_KYMW3AJ5fzUPjwWWisS_2VhFVmqtMYW9FLb9Nc58nmBypNbhncxMIzKDfRBAZrNmHzIWii399-9UrJNVFHR9df3li6jGemxYridvCxomE00/s320/IMG_0313.PNG" width="180" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In schools, in newspapers and in cinemas
German people were indoctrinated against any resistance with adverts, which
detailed disabled people as “useless eaters” or in hospitals the forerunner to the phrase ‘bed
blockers’ who were utilizing precious resources like food and preventing these
resources reaching “hardworking” Germans. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Disabled people were described as
unproductive and “taking the bread from the mouths of decent Germans”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In August 1939 midwives and doctors were
instructed to notify the “General Foundation for Welfare and Institutionalized
Care” of the birth of any “defective children”. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This government department was based on
Tiergartenstrasse 4, in Berlin.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">This address would become the codename for
institutionalized murder of disabled people. In this building Doctors would read
the reports and mark the children for death if they failed to reach the
sufficient point score of their imagined master race.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">The wider rollout of the Aktion T4 Euthansaia programme to include disabled adults with downs syndrome, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, those with depression, elderly people with dementia, those with psychiatric illnesses and anything else deemed "undesirable" was timed to coincide with the invasion of Poland. The murder of disabled people was justified as being necessary to free up beds for returning injured German soldiers. German schoolchildren were taught about the cost and burden of disabled people on the state and were taught how much this was draining the state, in maths lessons.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US">Six extermination centres were set up across Germany : Brandenberg, Gradfeneck, Bernburg, Sonnestein, Hartheim and Hadamar where in one year alone 1940-1941, more than 70,000 disabled people were murdered in pursuit of their eugenics agenda. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">As the killings continued a new more effective method was introduced. Vans began arriving at hospitals and clinics and the disabled patients were told to gather, remove their clothes and take a shower. </span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Then Zyklon B gas was pumped into the sealed shower room through the vents from the vans with their engines running outside. This led to permannet gas chambers being built to increase the rate of muder.</span></div>
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">Although secretive in nature the local people knew because the ash and hair of disabled people murdered then cremated in Hadamar fell on them in the locals streets. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">However what began in secret didn't remain that way. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US">With Church leaders speaking out about the treatment of ill and disabled patients the T4 programme was officially closed however the killings continued.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">This was the first known use of the industrial scale murder of 6 million Jewish men, women and children in the Nazi death camps of the second world war. In the camps those who were deemed mentally ill or disabled had to wear a black triangle with the word Blöd on it. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">Blöd means stupid.</span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
Doctors and nurses from the six hospital killing centres, oversaw the dismantling of the gas chambers and the reconstruction of them at the concentration camps.<br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US"></span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><span lang="EN-US"></span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<br />
<div style="-webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: black; font-family: -webkit-standard; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: auto; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span lang="EN-US">The was also where Dr Mengele ran his unscientific medical experiments on children and adults. Of 1500 pairs of jewish twins experimented on by Mengele only two hundred survived.</span></div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In total it’s estimated that 300,000
disabled people were murdered under the Aktion T4 Euthanasia Programme. 8000 of whom
were disabled children. The enforced sterilizations are believed to have been
performed on 400,000 adults.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDnCWxM4LZlQca9P_T1pHYm-MOLW-8-juw8mKVO1ffMgNZVQJ3qtaN6bdHuZLnkfH_I11nozbRBAnMToku1hSJIw2naIjtHSAfhLXz2yMwM2DE2lTnDIkssjLFsAdLtFn93gr_GZbhkA/s1600/IMG_0314.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="900" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTDnCWxM4LZlQca9P_T1pHYm-MOLW-8-juw8mKVO1ffMgNZVQJ3qtaN6bdHuZLnkfH_I11nozbRBAnMToku1hSJIw2naIjtHSAfhLXz2yMwM2DE2lTnDIkssjLFsAdLtFn93gr_GZbhkA/s320/IMG_0314.PNG" width="180" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I believe that it’s easy to forget how
notions such as these take hold and turn ordinary people into enablers of
fascist doctrine. There is a notion that it couldn't happen again now but it didn't begin with extermination centres, it began with slowly eroding our natural maternal and paternal attitudes to vulnerability and disability, with propaganda that permeated all of society.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">It is terrifying and sobering to remember
how easily we can all be manipulated to hate and “other” our friends and family
and neighbours; only because it’s convenient to do so. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US">"Life unworthy of life" and the eugenics which fuelled it must be a lesson from disability history that is never allowed to be forgotten. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe width="320" height="266" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Rz8ge4aw8Ws/0.jpg" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Rz8ge4aw8Ws?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe></div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-66263683455182349082017-10-28T14:41:00.003+01:002017-10-29T11:43:50.235+00:00Banter boys Gove and Kinnock<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGy5gQuXjaVGmIhYrUzn8-nhmpf2VsPRAIjJSE5FMZzzSEUGJqH7QdN90py6axPzAUEWwJoYZRf3CFQNLEY06MoZwVFZIUbMG-ghqTtLE4C4Vs5b8ehJ10-1Z3E19YOPpw_7ap5IOVJMU/s1600/IMG_0291.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGy5gQuXjaVGmIhYrUzn8-nhmpf2VsPRAIjJSE5FMZzzSEUGJqH7QdN90py6axPzAUEWwJoYZRf3CFQNLEY06MoZwVFZIUbMG-ghqTtLE4C4Vs5b8ehJ10-1Z3E19YOPpw_7ap5IOVJMU/s320/IMG_0291.PNG" width="179" /></a></div>
<br />
In a programme to celebrate BBC R4's 60th birthday Michael Gove, Environment Secretary and Neil Kinnock former leader of the Labour Party, swapped jokes.<br />
<br />
When asked what they thought about the Today programme Gove replied "Sometimes I think coming into the studio with you John, is a bit like going into Harvey Weinstein's bedroom"<br />
<br />
Neil Kinnock added "John goes way past groping"<br />
<br />
Gove added "You just hope you emerge with your dignity intact"<br />
<br />
After receiving cross party and public condemnation, Gove began trending on Twitter. Then he apologised.<br />
<br />
Neil Kinnock hasn't. He has issued this statement :<br />
<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #141414; font-family: "Open Sans", sans-serif; font-size: 16px;">“</span><span style="color: #141414;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>In an off-the-cuff comment I made light of Mr Gove’s remark on a live programme.</i></span></span><br />
<div style="border: 0px; color: #141414; line-height: 1.8; margin-bottom: 23px; outline: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>“Apologies if that caused offence – I certainly do not treat the recent allegations as anything but grave and repellent.”</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">Apologies <b>if</b> that caused offence, isn't an apology. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">It's a non apology, apology which completely disregards the damage his joking has done.</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It sidesteps taking responsibility.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I've seen many of the Labour MP's I respect tweeting in condemnation of Gove, but so far nothing comparable in respect of Kinnock.</span><br />
<br />
I don't know why this is but Kinnock, who is equally culpable by replying in kind, is being shielded from strong criticism if he isn't treated with the same angry responses as Gove.<br />
<br />
For absolute clarity, when a foolish man makes a stupid sexist joke the correct response is to call him out, not banter back. Joking about sexual harassment of women targeted because of their gender, is sexism. The assault & abuse is misogyny.<br />
<br />
For equal clarity if a member of your own party who just happens to be a veteran former leader makes an equally crass sexist joke, you treat him with the same degree of censure.<br />
<br />
If we cherry pick our condemnation, we send a message about power structures and enablement which the news and allegations about Weinstein have highlighted as being a casual factor.<br />
<br />
Both Gove and Kinnock enjoy privilege and platforms. Both deserve approbation.<br />
<br />
Two white middle aged men in public life have found themselves at this point in the unveiling of the Weinstein story, to make jokes in public. Lucky them, they clearly have no concept of the lifelong effect of sexual abuse and enforced silence.<br />
<br />
Isn't that one of the tools that keeps women silent, dehumanises them when they muster the courage to speak out and in the meantime keeps all predators safe?<br />
<br />
We owe a debt to every woman who has suffered, a solidarity of support and condemnation of those who minimise gender based suffering with casual disregard.<br />
<br />
We also need to send a clear message to those still yet to speak, that they will be heard and listened to as we work to change society for the better of all.<br />
<br />
The many not the few.<br />
<br />
<br />
<br /></div>
Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-75314448290131855152017-10-28T11:41:00.001+01:002017-11-09T21:08:28.431+00:00Rape jokes.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">A version of this article first appeared in Indy Voices in 2012 entitled "Being offended by rape jokes, doesn't mean lacking a sense of humour". I'm not offended I'm asking for pause and contemplation.The subject is once again under the microscope with the </i><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><i>horrific</i></span><i style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"> news of sexual abuse, </i><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><i>harassment</i></span><i style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"> and rape.</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">Unfortunately my article has recently been </i><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><i>inadvertently</i></span><i style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"> deleted and so while I wait for it to be reinstated, I've reproduced it here.</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75qL_GlBeU5MwXCQD-YIfWuPEzKINi6F_8kB0TNtx-tExWLTG9JJ0hQN2RSWUl8faZLbDO3tOwHIXSyP5OiTd7s4aZY9iBElPYaYwFcEQ3eODcmay5SeiEfDPOrqQ1AZ0lWCgEXAXALs/s1600/photo-55.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="320" data-original-width="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj75qL_GlBeU5MwXCQD-YIfWuPEzKINi6F_8kB0TNtx-tExWLTG9JJ0hQN2RSWUl8faZLbDO3tOwHIXSyP5OiTd7s4aZY9iBElPYaYwFcEQ3eODcmay5SeiEfDPOrqQ1AZ0lWCgEXAXALs/s1600/photo-55.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A photo from my first comedy gig</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;"><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">There has been a spate of celebrities
defending rape jokes to the world and their fan base on Twitter recently.
Comedian Daniel Tosh at a recent LA gig, called for comedy topics from his
audience; then when someone suggested rape as a topic, he allegedly silenced a
woman protesting the idea, with the suggestion that she be<a href="https://www.blogger.com/(http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/us-news-blog/2012/jul/11/daniel-tosh-apologises-rape-joke"> gang raped</a> <b>.</b><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">Comedy that makes you think can’t be
bettered, however all I think of this comedian, is that arrogance is no
arbiter of decency.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Comedian Louis CK was disappointingly
being touted as an example of a 'good rape joke'.</span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I think this joke
actually<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU3IM5pWTcc"> counters defence of him</a> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">The premise was that CK had invited a woman
back to his hotel room and when she had said stop, he'd stopped. He then went
on to explain that the woman told him afterwards that she hadn't meant that.
She'd meant yes, but that she hadn’t wanted to tell him that. CK pointed out
that this was a dangerous situation.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">He had stopped. He hadn't raped her. This
was circulated and repeated. Taken at face value it’s an odd tale but it’s
important to look more closely at the premise . What his fans failed to
recognize were two glaring flaws in his joke. The first was that not raping
someone isn't an opportunity for self-congratulation. Not raping a woman is the
act of a normal human being.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">The second point is the most worrying.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">His whole joke was based on the premise
of probably the most damaging myths about rape there is. ‘She said no, but she
meant yes’. If you're a rapist looking for celebrity endorsement, that’s the
place.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">The next usual suspect to step up in
defence of Tosh was Doug Stanhope. Doug can often be found defending things he
feels passionate about, like free speech or in Doug’s interpretation, calling
people with </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdFJ-hFFdI8"><span style="color: #0000f6; font-size: 13pt;">Downs Syndrome
a "retard"</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">. </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’m no supporter of the viewpoints of
Sarah Palin, or of the columnist Alison Pearson who clashed with Stanhope over
her opposition of the right to <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/twitter/9171470/The-curse-of-the-internet-trolls.html">die</a><b> </b>.
However this crucial argument was reduced to adolescent ranting, with Stanhope
wishing a fetid ovarian cyst on the columnist for having a different <a href="http://www.chortle.co.uk/news/2012/03/16/15059/fight!#ixzz1pHqW3IbZ">viewpoint</a>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">He waged a Twitter war and behaving very like the trolls he says he loathes,
galvanised his fan base to heap abuse on the woman who had angered him. It was disappointing to see the issue
being sidelined by Stanhope’s inarticulate tantrum. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US"><span style="font-size: 13pt;">In his defence of Daniel Tosh he
went for another oft repeated </span><span style="font-size: 17.33333396911621px;">allegation</span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> "We only have her word to go
on". At one point </span>Stanhope<span style="font-size: 13pt;"> in fact </span></span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fohnv4wg1sA"><span style="color: #0000f6; font-size: 13pt;">calls the woman
a liar.</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"> As the saying goes, you can have
your own opinion Doug but you can’t have your own facts.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">Doug, although not actually there
himself, derided people commenting. Oddly he appears to have preferred to
believe the word of the comedy club owner where the protesting and silencing
took place. The club owner himself admitted that he hadn’t heard it
<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/amyodell/comedy-club-owner-says-daniel-tosh-incident-has-be">correctly</a> </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"> That didn’t stop Doug wading in with
his condemnation and reassurance that the woman was apparently an unreliable
witness on her own feelings and experience, when she blogged about it.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">His feelings were expressed via Twitter
when he tweeted Tosh saying,</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">“You're hilarious. If you ever apologize
to a heckler again I will rape you. </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23FuckThatPig"><span style="color: #0000f6; font-size: 13pt;">#FuckThatPig</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">"</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">Self regulation in comedy is at times as
inadvisable as self regulation of banks, but I suppose if it’s “just” rape or
“just” people with a learning disability then according to Stanhope “it’s funny
because I tell you it is”.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">Both comics were extremely vocal that
Tosh's apologies were <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/07/11/comedians-defend-daniel-tosh-rape-joke-twitter_n_1666072.html#slide=1213366">unnecessary</a><b> </b>and ironically they seemed really offended by them, whilst simultaneous
ridiculing anyone who was offended by rape jokes. Again the Pavlovian
defence of it’s “just a joke”. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">The oft-repeated and good phrase that
people shouldn’t confuse the subject of a joke and the target or a joke was
wheeled out. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">Although true, my concern is the less well-observed truth that the
subject of a rape joke and the target of a rapist are usually the same thing.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">The notion that people are just
humourless, or PC when it comes to rape jokes is as exhausting as it is wrong.
The idea that those who speak out against rape culture because they are simply
being offended, is also tiring.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">This isn’t about offence, this is about
fury at the number of rapes, which go unreported, the number of rapists who
never face a jail term and the blame being shifted from the assailant to the
target. Much more troubling are the famous apologists for rape jokes, who
bolster a culture whereby those who complain about enablement of cruelty are
decried and ridiculed.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">From jokes about disability, which target
the disabled person, to jokes about sexual torture that target the person who
is raped, if you utilize free speech to complain, you’re told to be quiet.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">The fact is the notion of laughing at
people for something they can’t help or prevent needs much closer scrutiny
because despite the peddled myths of culpability - it wasn’t your fault. The
fault for your attack lies solely and completely with the person who raped you. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">It doesn’t matter if you were drunk or what you were wearing. It doesn’t matter
how late at night it was or whether you were alone. It doesn’t matter if you
knew your attacker or you didn’t. It doesn’t make it your fault if you are
mentally or physically disabled, or if you have Alzheimer’s, or mental health
problems, or if you were a child.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">It wasn’t your fault. It was their fault.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">It’s time that the jokes about rape
stopped focusing on the wrong issue because instead of blaming the rapist, they're blaming the target. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">At the
moment the people laughing the loudest are the ones who are benefitting from
the promotion of rape “jokes”, the 97% of rapists </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://http/"><span style="color: #0000f6; font-size: 13pt;">who never spend a single day in
jail in the US</span><u style="text-underline: #0000F6;"><span style="color: #0000f6; font-size: 13pt; text-decoration: none;"> </span></u></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">and the 90% of rapists who </span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.fawcettsociety.org.uk/index.asp?PageID=122290%25"><span style="color: #0000f6; font-size: 13pt;">go unreported in the UK</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">These shocking facts alone should cause
some to stop and rethink their material, which promotes a culture that
discourages people from reporting their rapist. </span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">According to Home Office data table for
Recorded Crime in England and Wales in 2011 the total number of recorded sexual
offences stands at<a href="http://search.homeoffice.gov.uk/search?q=recorded+crimes+2003%2F2011&btnG=Search&entqr=0&output=xml_no_dtd&sort=date%3AD%3AL%3Ad1&ud=1&client=default_frontend&oe=UTF-8&ie=UTF-8&proxystylesheet=default_frontend&site=default_collection"> 54,982</a>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">Not that Stanhope or Louis CK or any of
the other famous comedians with huge fan bases, running to embrace Tosh and tell
the rest of us that we are humourless, will allow this type of PC nonsense to
frame their narrative. Given the outpouring of negative public reaction to Tosh
and his comments, the people who pay the wages of the famous are making their
feelings clear.</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">As inconvenient as it is, perhaps it’s a
truth worth considering. But then when it comes to challenging famous people
via social media whether through Facebook, blog or on Twitter to paraphrase
Doug from his own website:</span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">”This is the arrogance of a <s>media</s>, celebrity comic that is beginning to realize that they no longer have a
monopoly on public discourse.”</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;">With news from</span><span lang="EN-US"><a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/9418762/Nine-in-ten-sex-attacks-go-unreported-warns-DPP.html"><span style="color: #0000f6; font-size: 13pt;"> The DPP that 9 out of ten rapes go unreported</span></a></span><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size: 13pt;"> the question isn't “can you make rape jokes”, but if the target of
the rapist and the target of the joke are the same, should you make that rape
joke?</span></span></div>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-55018984574110680982017-10-21T08:54:00.003+01:002017-10-21T18:44:38.485+01:00Reclamation. Bitch, patriarchy and Aspergers & "men"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Millydog</td></tr>
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<span lang="EN-US">We need to talk about language….I mean if
that’s ok? I don’t mean to be pushy or bossy but….Ok, you’re a bit silent now
and look disappointed …I mean you didn’t put this on the agenda and I realise
we’re all busy and this was unexpected but…Look, I’ll just carry on and finish
and you can think about it and maybe we can talk later when you have more
time….Is that ok?</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">If the opening paragraph seems familiar that’s
how many of us do it, because that’s how many of us have to do it. Let’s face
it raising a difficult topic like the mass oppression of women by men through
physical, mental, verbal, financial and sexual manipulation and abuse, isn’t
the easiest of things to do. Is it.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The sociologically identified construct of
patriarchy is widely treated as a word best whispered if said at all, and yet
its reach and scope has recently been shown up to be very real. In an industry
where older men routinely gather in silence around a camera rigged to a
monitor, where a much younger half naked women simulates sex with another man,
as it sells more units of art; we were “shocked” to learn that sexual abuse and
harrassment of the vulnerable by the powerful, is routine.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">In any institution or power based construct
there is bullying and there is abuse. Depressingly women are being blamed both
for their silence and for speaking out. But this also is routine for one clear
reason.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Patriarchy permits abuse. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">When a society is based on the exploitation
of one gender over another for the benefit of one gender and the detriment of
the other, then it enables abuse and prevents equality.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Put bluntly, men rule.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">For the purposes of this blog I want to be
clear. This is about the oppression of women by men. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m not going to cite instances of oppression of men by
women. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">There’s rarely a topic, that directly and
disproportionately affects women that, when addressed isn’t now diluted by
the “ But what about men” argument. That’s the patriarchy at work.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you want to stop and read something
which focuses on that, I recommend anything written or said by Philip Davies MP. Which isn’t a statement
I’d usually make.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">As I said, men rule.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">So to return to language, I want to state
something clearly, I’m a bitch.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I know I’m viewed as such because as I’m 51
and because I’m a woman and particularly a woman with autism, I’ve learnt that
women with autism are no friend to the patriarchy. I have a rather fixed view
of fairness for one thing and the utterly disconcerting habit of saying exactly
what I think. Autism aside there is an invisible rule when it comes to expressing
opinions “men can, women can’t”</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I expressed one of my illegal opinions this
week, when I watched Chris Packham’s excellent documentary entitled “Asperger’s
and Me”.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There was only one thing
missing from the programme, a woman with autism. There were women of course,
Chris’s partner and a mother of a young man with autism and there was some
historical footage of a girl being forced to conform to ABA but autistic women?
Not so much. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I did wonder comedically if they should have called it
“Asperger’s and Men” but I only thought it, I didn’t say it, because it was
widely and rightly praised and that would have meant flowing against the tide
of opinion which is a bit knackering online, after a long day of fighting for
my autistic adult daughter’s rights, offline. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">I did like it though for many
reasons including his coat hanger system. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">My energy has been spent for as long as I
can remember on attempting to fit in.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">If you want to read about my road to
diagnosis you can in my blog, which I wrote in 2014, called “<a href="http://nickyclark.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/aspergers-and-me.html">Asperger’s and me” </a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Oh the irony </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Highlighting that there were no women in
the show, doesn’t take anything from the show, unless you’re a woman or girl
with autism currently living through diagnosis of a condition, which is
predominantly seen as male. In that regard the program’s gender bias, didn’t
really help dispel that myth.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The reason I created the hashtag
#SheCantbeAutistic stems from the difficulties women and girls face in being
diagnosed, because we present very differently from men. Therefore the default
position when you’re being assessed lies in proving that we are autistic.
Aspects raised when I started the hashtag are things like “being able to do
stand up comedy, having children, being married, holding down a good job, being
creative, wearing makeup and being interested in fashion and having friends”.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">It’s an odd position to find yourself in
but as I say, men rule.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">As a self-proclaimed bitch, I’m saying this
for two reasons. Firstly I want to reclaim the insult and instead wear it as a
badge of honour. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Women who are called bitches by men are
usually confident and able to clearly state what they want. They highlight the
fact that they are expected to be much better than men in gaining promotion and
identify when their rights are being compromised. They call out injustice and
won’t be silenced. Men calling women bitches are misogynistic.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Men calling other men bitches, are using
the term to state that in their opinion the man to whom they refer is less than
human, inferior, whiny, and owned by the superior male. It’s a call to
deference. Men calling men bitches are sexist.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Women also call women bitches. They do so
from a misogynistic construct. They have been taught that to call another woman
a bitch is an adherence to male dominance, as it is traditionally the word used
to control. In using that term about another woman, either to a man about a
woman or to a woman in front of men, they establish their conformity to the
patriarchy and their deference to its rules. It highlights that the other
woman has stepped temporarily, out of their pre-designated “place” and that they
as the user of the term is remaining firmly within it. Women calling other
women bitches are serving at the will of the patriarchy.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I’m happy to be referred to as a bitch for
the simple reason that it means I’m speaking clearly. I’m challenging the
status quo and I’m disconcerting those who need to be disconcerted.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The second reason for referring to myself
as a bitch, is to reclaim the power of the insult.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Insults are opinions but the word bitch,
carries a weight of societal approbation, which is tiresome. It speaks to
predestination, to lines that are drawn of which I had no say, of place, of
time and most worryingly is used to silence women. We are supposed to be afraid
of being described in this way. We are required to be cowed by the term and to
be schooled in the manner in which we are supposed to behave, by men. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The patriarchy moves in mysterious ways its
oppression to perform.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Ultimately it would be better if women
weren’t called bitches. However until we reach a time when true equality is
achieved, I’m happy to take the word back and highlight its intentions.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I mean, if that’s ok…?..I’ll leave you to
think about it shall I? You know when you have more time… Please don’t… you
know…think I’m being a bitch, or anything….</span></div>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-46760149872006276302017-10-18T19:23:00.002+01:002017-10-19T15:30:55.751+01:00Universal credit crisis<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The debate on Universal Credit today</td></tr>
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Yesterday morning, David Guake, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions announced that the charges for the Universal Credit Hotline would be scrapped. It was in advance of the Labour Party Opposition day motion requested by Debbie Abrahams Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions calling for a halt in the rollout.<br />
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I'm sure it had ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the 25 back bench Tory Mp"s who David Guake met with and who had grave concerns about the flaws in the rollout in the new benefit, which comprises 6 existing benefits, into one.</div>
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I've spent a few hours watching the debate and I'm struck by Labour's passionate call for a pause and Tory determination in insisting that it's a fair reform.</div>
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<span lang="EN-US">For seven years we’ve seen that the Tories determined dismantling of social security, has at times been overt and at times covert. How many MP’s across all parties understood, that in voting for Welfare Reform they were also voting to have Blue parking Badges taken away from passengers who are Learning disabled adults, people with Alzheimer’s disease and even blind people? But in transferring from Disability Living Allowance to Personal Independence Payments this is exactly what’s happened. All councils who formerly allocated passenger or driver badges under DLA, are now prevented from re-issuing them under PIP, unless the criteria, for 12, or more mobility points, is met. The criteria is whether the applicant can walk (aided or unaided) for a set distance. This is literally rewriting the definition of disability.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">When it comes to Universal Credit we are already seeing the hardship imposed on claimants where the rollout has been enacted, with the new benefit having a mandatory wait for claimants transferring to it, of 6 weeks. A six-week wait for money leads to rent arrears, evictions and other hardships and deprivations for people for whom social security is a lifeline. The fact that advance payments are offered, is misleadingly reassuring, given that these advances are in fact loans, against future payments.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">For people needing help with the labyrinthine complexity of the current benefits system there is also that hotline number to call. Which is good, except that someone, somewhere was making money because the charge for claimants, from their mobile phones is 55p per minute until David Guake's change of "heart". In the future all calls to the DWP will be free, rather like the opinions of the Tory MP's who claimed that the concerns voiced by their opposition colleagues were scaremongering. The closed mind is a wonder to behold.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">I know when I was trying desperately to sort out my learning disabled, adult daughter’s benefits in 2016, no call I made to any department lasted less than an hour. Between wading through the recorded dial options, then holding for the right person and then finally having to explain at length to everyone I spoke to the situation at hand. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Some people at the helpline were kind and helpful and others sadly, were short, snippy and accusatory if my voice betrayed even a hint of frustration. That’s when they didn’t inadvertently cut me off and so the whole disaster had to be restarted from the beginning.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">On the Daily Politics last week, Liz Truss MP calmly pointed out that people could just go into a job centre and get advice. I’m not sure if Liz Truss has been into a job centre lately but that isn’t how they work, it’s not your mum’s kitchen.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">Aside from the fact that many job centers are closing, not everyone lives close to one. As Andrew Neil also pointed out to Liz Truss not everyone has a landline anymore, so for many people their only option is to reenact the steps I detail above at the obscenely high, per minute charges.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">I’m proud of my party for highlighting this social injustice, I’m comforted too that they are joined in their concern by 25 Tory backbench MP’s, who also have concerns. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The motion was carried 299 votes to 0. It's notable that John Bercow, Speaker of the House asked that the government attend the house and explain what it intends to do. It's not within the Speaker's power to compel the government, only to ask.</span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">This morning Andrea Leadsom MP, Leader of the house responded to questions from the Shadow leader of the house Valerie Vaz, Mp for Walsall South, as to the Conservatives three line whip abstentions. </span><br />
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<span lang="EN-US">Leadsom detailed that the government was listening and that pauses are already built into the Universal credit system, a huge comfort I'm sure to those people already evicted from their homes and facing huge debt. Her own backbench MP Sir Edward Leigh summed up both her response and the abstentions with the words "The road to tyranny is paved by executives ignoring parliament"</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">The devil they say resides in the detail. The Tories feel a pause is appropriate for EU Withdrawal Bill but not in the rollout of Universal credit, a system which currently, is weighted against people in their time of greatest need.</span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US">If you would like to help disabled people whose lives have been made worse by the loss of Blue Badges, please sign my petition <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/200654&source=gmail&ust=1508435614016000&usg=AFQjCNH5t0mo_1lSMjdz70gYvg0eDKtkHA" href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/200654" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">here</a></span></div>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-15878128583811009122017-06-02T15:31:00.003+01:002017-06-03T09:05:02.600+01:00Politicians Pledge for disabled people<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">With only a week to go before the 2017 general Election, I'm reposting my Politicians Pledge for disabled people & carers from 2015. I've amended and added to it in the light of the devastating cuts to disability benefits and services.</span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I'm going to ask candidates in my constituency to sign it and some others via social media. Sadly that won't include Tory candidate Daniel Kawczynski as he blocked me on Twitter (I think it was because I asked him to watch the Ken Loach film "I Daniel Blake") but I'll email it to his office. </span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">His PA Helen is absolutely lovely.</span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I'm also going to send it out via social media. If you want to forward it to candidates in your constituency that would be great. Ask them to reply to <a href="mailto:peoplenotpunchlines@gmail.com">peoplenotpunchlines@gmail.com</a> and I'll add their name. Let's see how this pans out.</span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Best Nik x</span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“I the undersigned pledge not to forget disabled people and carers once the election is over but instead, I agree to add my name to a list of MPs who are in agreement that no policy, which directly affects disabled people and carers, should henceforth be drawn up without disabled people and carers being involved in it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I call for a committee of independent cross party disabled people, carers and campaigners, (with no financial input from government except travel expenses) to be a working group within my constituency, who will be consulted over all policy decisions that I'm expected to vote on. In the case of abstaining from the vote I will meet with the group to explain my reasons why.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I also agree to be held accountable if the aforementioned group is not assembled within 3 months of my election.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Because I actually do care and this is just the sort of thing that made me want to be an MP in the first place”</span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Signed by : </span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Dr Laura Davies ( Labour Parliamentary GE Candidate for Shrewsbury and Atcham)</span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Emma Bullard (Green Party GE Candidate for Shrewsbury and Atcham)</span></div>
</div>
Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-3018555949069874492017-04-15T11:04:00.001+01:002023-08-11T09:24:38.730+01:00"They called the cops Mummy"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<br />
<br />
Reading this piece and watching <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/15/autistic-boy-10-handcuffed-detained-police/">the video in The Telegraph</a> this morning has led me to revisit something that happened to Emily. I'm posting it so that people are not mistakenly believing that this is only something that can happen in America. My heart breaks for this boy and his mother.<br />
<br />
On 22nd November in 2016 at her home Emily went into a meltdown. A care worker phoned the police who arrived at Emily's home, with the blue lights lit. They were let into the property by the same care worker and after period of time where she didn't calm and things didn't de-escalate, Emily was placed in a prone restraint on her bedroom floor and handcuffed.<br />
<br />
The care worker declined to press charges against Emily and it's a good thing she did, because as I understand it, Emily would then have been taken by the police to the local psychiatric hospital and sectioned.<br />
<br />
I live in fear of that happening again. I'm so frightened I can't begin to even tell you what that is doing to me. I can't begin to imagine what this must have done to our beautiful girl.<br />
<br />
Apparently with her hands still handcuffed behind her back, Emily went into the living room, picked up the sky remote control and put Thomas the Tank Engine on the TV. The incongruent mix of those two images is making me cry as I type.<br />
<br />
When we found out we went to see her. She had marks on her wrists and she put on a youtube clip from 101 Dalmatians of the scene where the maid is locked in a room by the two villains and shouts "I'm calling the police"<br />
<br />
Emily said "They called the cops Mummy."<br />
<br />
I can't imagine ever making that choice myself. Even when I sustained broken bones and alone with Emily in full meltdown, I never made that choice. I'm not better than the individual care worker who made this decision, I just know that the police have a course of action and a protocol they must follow in an emergency. That's why I never called them.<br />
<br />
The police aren't social workers, they're not care workers. They deal with emergencies and they deal with criminals and in any acute situation they have to contain it for everyone's safety. That's what they did. Crucially however the police should never have been called in the first place.<br />
<br />
We've been offered a meeting with the police and I'm going to accept because this is a reality for learning disabled people in our country and around the world.<br />
<br />
Lots of people are talking about lessons being learned from this. What this is supposed to have taught Emily, or any autistic person, I have no idea.</div>
Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-43187913144779337262017-04-04T09:05:00.004+01:002017-04-04T09:27:22.665+01:00The Catastrophe of casual disablism.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Like pretty much
everyone I love Catastrophe. The show written by and starring Rob Delaney and
Sharon Horgan details a couple struggling with all the issues that couples
struggle with. Family, work, sex, illness, ageing parents and siblings.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It’s written with huge
heart and it brilliantly observes the struggles of us all. In the second series
the issue of foetal testing in relation to Downs Syndrome was also broached
with great integrity and compassion.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was done without being judgemental because the characters
are relateable and the writing was sensitive and measured, whilst still being
funny and kind.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">If any casual bigotry
surfaces, it’s met with a grimace or frown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s brilliantly judged because as with all great writing no
subject is taboo but it’s dealt with. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On Sunday I caught up
with last week’s Catastrophe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It
was World Autism Awareness Day and I’d been tweeting my film out as I do every
year and this year as with many years recently, the terrain for disabled people
is tough going. There’s a hardening of attitude from government and a tabloid
need for scapegoats, so disability benefit claimants are hounded by the DWP and
the public is accepting of it. So I needed to take a break and to vaccinate my
brain with laughter.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Watching Catastrophe
was wonderful as always. Funny, heartfelt and sad in equal measure.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan are as wonderful
on Twitter as they are in character. Tackling the nonsense of Trump and the
horrors of sexism, the trampling of women’s rights to their own reproductive
choices and the cruelty of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>anti-refugee rhetoric.</span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">They’re admirable and really well liked for very good reason.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Then watching the show, I felt like I’d
missed a step walking down the stairs. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">On a trip home to Ireland to visit her dad, Sharon’s brother
Fergal produces a photograph of her as a<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>teenager and as brothers, do he mocked her. When he was asked where he got<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>the photo from, he replied,<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“Oh Sharon used to be
a flight attendant for retarded slut airlines”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Then all three
characters laugh.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">No frown, no question,
just a big laugh. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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</div>
That’s where the
problem lies. Fiction, as I’ve always said on the subject of pejorative insults,
needs to be free to use language which is unpleasant, because it needs to be
highlighted as the actions of unpleasant people. No writer should sanitise the
world with censorship to make it as we would wish.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">In fiction we can see
that unpleasant people, unpleasant characters will use bigoted phrases to
reveal themselves as bigots, racists, misogynists and homophobes. This is also
true of disablism.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Where I felt the step
was missed was that Rob Delaney and Sharon Horgan gave the joke legitimacy. It
was ok, because Sharon laughed. It was funny. It was fine.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It was the laughter that changed it from an unpleasant comment to acceptable ridicule. Irrespective of who it was aimed at the word "retarded", is still a punch in the guts. Because it mocks learning disability, not teenage fashion choices. </span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">"Spastic Slut" and "Mong slut" would do that too, but retarded is the last acceptable bigotry because "loads of people say it" so that must mean it's ok.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The problem is that
when a well loved character laughs at a joke which uses “retarded” or any disablist slur as it’s axis,
at it’s root, then it sends a clear message that this is more than ok. </span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Laughter
is the fastest communication of any stigma intentional or not.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">It’s very difficult to
raise this as an issue because of the popularity of the programme and it’s
makers but actually the normalising of the joke by popular people is the
problem. We can’t just question the choices of people we loathe, or disagree
with, we have to question everyone or we’re cherry picking examples of the issue to suit ourselves.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The treatment of
learning disabled people, particularly in this political climate is worrying
and dire. To call out disablism is key. Casual disablism is no different. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I don’t ever ask for
language to be banned. I ask for people with a public profile, with the luxury
of popularity and with the privilege of creative freedom, to decide whether normalising
stigmatising attitudes, really is the serving their core integrity. Or whether in encouraging millions to laugh at a joke with disability at its core, they're actually doing the same as those they decry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-71475314120594465522017-03-28T17:13:00.003+01:002017-03-28T17:24:12.837+01:00An intelligent woman with a network of friends (Warning: Blog contains descriptions of domestic violence)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKZ47wm6AQGsi-ZNzg7FBjzw_BABCic2gN0Iu-YDSFWGSqlosBXd-3YCHe2vlGQv-F4Pw4mwZtdR1kwsS3jgfaKCxpeLPv166mPoAvgMse8dZ-Rvn8tEiaRHjjD2k-G4E-o-qvtakMXIs/s1600/photo-27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKZ47wm6AQGsi-ZNzg7FBjzw_BABCic2gN0Iu-YDSFWGSqlosBXd-3YCHe2vlGQv-F4Pw4mwZtdR1kwsS3jgfaKCxpeLPv166mPoAvgMse8dZ-Rvn8tEiaRHjjD2k-G4E-o-qvtakMXIs/s1600/photo-27.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">My Parents 1956. Kenya</td></tr>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My father was a tall man 6’ 3” and I often
wonder if the Parkinson’s tremor my 5’2” Mum developed along with her dementia, was a result
of the blows he dealt to her head, during the 21 years in which they were
married and apparently, fairly soon after they met.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A few years after I was born my mum became
pregnant for the fourth time and whilst in hospital after a miscarriage,
brought on by his violence towards her, my Grandma, his own mother said to my
mum, “I love my son, but would you really want another child with that man?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">His violence, as is routine, extended to
his children too. Once when my brother, Michael was getting out of the car at
the supermarket, his car door touched the door of the car parked beside us. The
driver leapt out and started complaining. He hadn’t even checked to see if
there was damage, he just launched into a complaint.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My father turned to my brother who at 16,
was almost as tall as he was and without a word, slapped my brother very hard
across the face in front of everyone. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The angry man looked horrified. My father said,
“There, are you happy now?” and walked into the supermarket.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We followed. We knew not to speak or to
complain. My Father said to Michael, “I’m sure you understand why I had to do
that. Be more careful in future” My brother said nothing. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgSgVpuFDP-gfSSwyhqrzUQ5eGtku5WtCI84oIv8Z0SDp8MHc4CVb8T5LQa3iYr6yxW1XBWxQU_WxW1MtS99NRvcdrdLIYWCJuhkR4wabMo6oatP5-L6AY9zz0jmrlEbmhpAB7QH3IT90/s1600/Untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjgSgVpuFDP-gfSSwyhqrzUQ5eGtku5WtCI84oIv8Z0SDp8MHc4CVb8T5LQa3iYr6yxW1XBWxQU_WxW1MtS99NRvcdrdLIYWCJuhkR4wabMo6oatP5-L6AY9zz0jmrlEbmhpAB7QH3IT90/s320/Untitled.png" width="282" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The last photo taken of my brother summer 1978</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
We knew the anger my father carried meant
that violence was always a real and present danger. Even over the simplest of
things. As a child I hated combing my hair, so it would sometimes form huge
knots. Mum would painstakingly and gently comb the knots out, chatting and
laughing with me about it all. She knew it wasn’t deliberate on my part. This
would irritate my father.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">He decided I was being spoilt so on one
occasion he combed it for me. His “combing”, literally meant pulling clumps of
hair out of my head. It took ages and it was one of the most painful things I
remember. I didn’t cry. I was seven and I knew that if I cried, it would make
it much worse. So I just sat there while he did it. He didn’t even seem angry. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">The violence was physical but it was also
emotional and verbal. He liked to demean us. Sometimes with “jokes” always at
other people’s expense, sometimes by telling us how stupid we were but also he
would criticize one of us and encourage the rest of us to agree. This would
extend to other people outside the family who would usually protest. </span></div>
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<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjApbZGkvLfGnvmwqrX21VOgng4pHm3eEB0lHrSxXcjEXsLneq9bOEJqJ768rYgaxofH7L-BBQgD79efEvBoSivLZntz6ZczZNBUHTAWCHCoP-9jUZURD4oUDZ5vG5LOBznpvVWFFkIvA/s1600/photo-10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjApbZGkvLfGnvmwqrX21VOgng4pHm3eEB0lHrSxXcjEXsLneq9bOEJqJ768rYgaxofH7L-BBQgD79efEvBoSivLZntz6ZczZNBUHTAWCHCoP-9jUZURD4oUDZ5vG5LOBznpvVWFFkIvA/s320/photo-10.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">me, my sister and my brother 1970 Chester.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><o:p> </o:p></span>He would sometimes be hysterical over some
perceived slight at work. Memorably sending an anonymous gift-wrapped wooden
spoon to one of the secretaries who he had decided was causing trouble for him
by “stirring”. He was very pleased with himself, when he’d heard she’d burst
into tears.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Rules were everything. We weren’t allowed
downstairs in pyjamas, except on Christmas morning. We had to put things back
“where they lived”. We had to do our jobs without excuse and to a high
standard. We couldn’t criticize, complain argue or “showoff” All standard stuff except the consequences.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Once when I was
told to tidy my room, I was practicing ballet instead. Little girls often get
distracted like that. I remember the door opening and my father slapping me so
hard across the face that I fell over. Again he didn’t seem angry, just white
faced. “I said tidy your room” he said and walked out.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">He was capable of huge emotional cruelty
too. After the last time that he left, which, over the years was a frequent
event, my brother was diagnosed with a terminal heart & lung condition. My
father had refused to allow Mum to go with him to the diagnosis. When they came
back from the consultants in Stoke my father walked in and said to my Mum “He’s
had it” and walked out. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Michael was in his room playing his guitar
and Mum obviously didn’t want to ask him, so in terror she’d phoned the GP and
asked if she could speak to the consultant herself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He explained that Michael had a very rare condition, which
would last ten to fifteen years, before he died.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">He was wrong, Michael died six weeks later
after getting a cold and part of Mum died with him. My father had to be found
by the police on Christmas Eve, as he’d taken a woman to a hotel. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I don’t know who the woman was. My
father always denied having an affair with anyone. Always, no matter how much
evidence my Mum found to the contrary.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">After Michael’s death, my Father refused to
allow Mum to participate in choosing the wording on Michael’s gravestone. “It’s
my six foot of ground, not yours” he said to her, to his wife of 21 years, to
the mother of his dead son.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He
wouldn’t even walk beside Mum, behind their child’s coffin into the church.
After Michael died, Mum divorced him. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In 2011 after Mum died, my father
transferred his anger onto me. In the days after he’d died I’d asked him if
Mum’s ashes might be interred in Michael’s grave. He said yes. Mum was cremated
and we’d chosen a casket for burial. It was one of the few times I’d ever felt
gratitude towards him.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Then my Father changed his mind. He’d been
causing trouble with family members and for the only time in my life, I’d told
him exactly what I thought of him doing that. I think like Mum, the pain of
grief made me unafraid of anything, even him. I didn’t swear and I didn’t lose
my temper, I just told him to stop causing trouble and to stop being the puppet
master of other people’s pain. He put the phone down.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">A few days later, before the funeral I
walked into the house and a friend was with me. I played the answer phone
messages and one was from him and he was almost screaming with fury</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My friend said, “I thought you’d been
exaggerating about your Dad. I know now you weren’t. What father does that to
their own child when their mum has just died?”</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">He followed this up with a letter revoking
permission for Mum to be laid to rest with my brother. There was no discussion,
no conversation, no debate. There never is with an abusive bully. If you stand
up to them they act as though they’ve been attacked. For bullies the world is
full of enemies and they’re always vigilant.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">That final cruelty was one too many for me.
I never spoke to him again and five years later he died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I was told that I was not welcome at
the funeral, by his widow, who I hadn’t spoken to for over 30 years, but I went
anyway. It appeared from the moment we arrived that his first family had been a
secret. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I needed to see his coffin. I needed to
know he was really gone and I needed more than anything not to allow his abuse
& bullying to continue. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">I’m not sure that domestic abusers every change.
There is denial and huge shame experienced by victims. A refusal to allow the
truth to be known, allows the history of the abuse to be rewritten. No one
wants to believe that the people we love, the people closest to us can cause us
such pain. Fear is the primary driver in silence though. I can only write and speak about this, now that he's dead. That's the length of the shadow that is cast.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Irrespective of the monster that he
undoubtedly could be, I loved my father. I have no idea if he loved me or in
fact anyone. I think he had needs and I think he was capable of affection, but
I believe he was a true narcissist, for whom his own comfort was an imperative. </span><br />
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN-US">Illness frightened him, “weakness” appalled him and poverty disgusted him, yet
his own human frailties belonged to a capacity of self awareness he didn’t wish
to learn. I wish the man being described in the speeches in that church, had been
my father. He sounded like a wonderful man. No mention of us was made. Not even
of my brother who’d died.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
expected nothing more and I got nothing less.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I knew nothing of the extent of the cruelty
of my father that I hadn’t personally witnessed until many years after he’d
left. I couldn’t understand why he didn’t care about me or my nieces and
nephews. I thought there was something wrong with me that meant he didn’t want
to know me. Gradually over the years, Mum explained.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The code of silence was broken and she was able to let go of
a lot of the blame, through the catharsis of talking. I’m detailing this all
here for the same reason. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">In the six years since my Mum died, she’s
stayed at the funeral home who took care of her. The idea of a family argument
over my brother’s open grave didn’t appeal in the least to me. Mum would have
loathed the idea too.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">After my father died, I waited a year out
of respect, before, In January asking his widow to transfer the deeds of
Michael’s grave to me or my sister. She said she had no idea where the deeds
were but would transfer them to my sister who after a break of several years
had re-established contact with our Father, after Mum had died.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I discovered today that, shortly after this
request from me, my sister transferred the deeds into her name. I also
discovered that she is choosing to respect my father’s wishes and not allow our
Mum’s ashes to be buried with my brother.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">My sister is a devout Christian. She
believes in forgiveness of sin. I love my sister, as I loved my father. That
isn’t always enough though. Grief is different for us all and it can take a
long time to work through.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">Possibly he apologized to her in the years before he
died. Possibly she is honoring her father.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Perhaps she remembers our father
differently. Perhaps she has forgotten what he was capable of.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I remember though.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember the night my sister as a
teenager came home fifteen minutes late from a night out. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember him telling her to get upstairs
and clean her “pigsty of a bedroom”.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember her, emboldened by cider, saying,
“Why should I?” </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember thinking 'he’s going to kill her
this time'</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember my father dragging my sister up
the stairs by her hair. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember the sound of the dog barking and
my Mum pleading with him not to hurt her. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember the sound of my sister’s nose
cracking against the banister rail. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember my sister screaming as he threw
her into her room.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember him running down the stairs, the
back door slamming and his car screeching off the drive.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember going into my sister trashed
room with my brother and the blood running from her broken nose. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">I remember Michael telling me to go back
into my room, in case he came back.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span lang="EN-US">We were all his targets. Everyone who loved
him, was ultimately hurt by him, let down by him and left by him, to pick up the
pieces, on their own.</span></div>
</div>
Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-13981070870167014072017-02-27T16:12:00.002+00:002017-09-20T09:52:00.229+01:00Parking Points Campaign <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpwgU6Yc5UJijPiT7X0fAfrPfiZsQV6OO-Spy4Sh6zyjCK1x7IpFFResAnns5RJMWnt-3rLoRoKliuqyJOcZAzs6jghFA7UY-fLj4euB-Iph_5nniIQNkO9GGfeVgFBNJbgLwMh3TxTkY/s1600/photo-22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpwgU6Yc5UJijPiT7X0fAfrPfiZsQV6OO-Spy4Sh6zyjCK1x7IpFFResAnns5RJMWnt-3rLoRoKliuqyJOcZAzs6jghFA7UY-fLj4euB-Iph_5nniIQNkO9GGfeVgFBNJbgLwMh3TxTkY/s320/photo-22.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">When my daughter Emily
was three years old she was diagnosed with learning disability, autism and ten when she was diagnosed with epilepsy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Now 19, Emily is beautiful
funny and fascinated with many things. She can become highly anxious and
present behaviours which challenge. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">When Emily received Disability
Living Allowance she was in receipt of a Blue Parking Badge and this helped her
in so many ways. Her lack of complete cognitive understanding can cause her to
become overwhelmed when we’re out in public. Yet as with all 19 year olds she
loves to go into town shopping, go to the cinema and go out for day trips.
The close proximity of a disabled parking space made these trips much easier
for her and for us.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">In the old days of
Blue Badge eligibility I would be able to take proof of benefits, a passport
photo of Emily and other forms of ID to my local mobility centre in town. I
would receive the badge there and then.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">When Emily went to a
residential school she naturally lost all benefit allocations. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
When she moved into
her own home last year, with a three to one care package, she began her
independence and was back in the heart of the community. As she has bonded with her carers she
has grown in confidence and asked to go on a day trip to Thomas Land. Like many
learning disabled people on the autistic spectrum Emily loves Thomas the Tank
Engine.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgILAmQJFCw9mGdDT1uWQkVupqhBX4v0p51TEypt0ACTrl507Iugvze5anke_4mfdjyLjt_Cszv3welscY1yBImzJnrCaBw59AR6ws2bGTeda312W7Yz04sSyfspGZP7VJDDWOyNzqc1XA/s1600/IMG_7680.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgILAmQJFCw9mGdDT1uWQkVupqhBX4v0p51TEypt0ACTrl507Iugvze5anke_4mfdjyLjt_Cszv3welscY1yBImzJnrCaBw59AR6ws2bGTeda312W7Yz04sSyfspGZP7VJDDWOyNzqc1XA/s320/IMG_7680.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
I tried to call the
mobility centre to make an appointment to pick up a Blue Badge. Emily had
transferred over to PIP, as I was told there was no longer DLA but her
disability remained unchanged. She
was just taller.<br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I learnt that although
the mobility centre was still there, they no longer allocated Blue Badges. This
was done by a third party provider, once the Council found that everyone
applying met the eligibility criteria.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I spoke to a very nice
man at the council eventually, who asked me what Emily’s points were on the
mobility component of PIP. </span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">I said she received the higher rate. </span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">He said “No how
many points does Emily score for moving around?”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">So this was where it
all started to go wrong. Emily scores zero points for moving around because she
can walk more than the required number of metres. She has to have someone with
her all the time and will do for the rest of her life but because Emily can
physically walk for a short distance she scores no points for “moving around”
at all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqogW4i9BvfOvogiEh3O_El9sBm4dU2_9Z5hQvMIrUdhdswChevFr5tEqLa6BDNL-MUe0SFGGq-F9MqL0NV8urQRUo6lSCOMKJrt_H3Abr4sK4BezZ7lpvvbnksNbqD7nW4kFaSzvEvSY/s1600/IMG_8483.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqogW4i9BvfOvogiEh3O_El9sBm4dU2_9Z5hQvMIrUdhdswChevFr5tEqLa6BDNL-MUe0SFGGq-F9MqL0NV8urQRUo6lSCOMKJrt_H3Abr4sK4BezZ7lpvvbnksNbqD7nW4kFaSzvEvSY/s320/IMG_8483.JPG" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Emily can walk. Emily
can run. Emily can run straight in front of a bus, if she’s frightened or angry
or upset. But although Emily is
profoundly learning disabled she is, to use the phrase that is in the news today, not “really disabled” when it comes to getting
a Blue Parking Badge.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Whereas once she was
eligible, now this has been cut from her life. A Blue Badge is crucial for
learning disabled people, for carers, for those with Dementia and people who
are partially sighted but along with other conditions, all people with those disabilities are no longer eligible for a disabled parking badge. If we lived 15 miles away, in Wales this wouldn't be the case but we live in England so it is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">The Badge, which is not a gateway to anything other than a parking space, is to
be issued so sparingly that many disabled people are not allowed to have one. Like Emily although previously qualifying, the new PIP ruling on moving around is the determining factor which Councils have to abide by.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span>
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/%3Ciframe%20src=%22https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbbcshropshire%2Fvideos%2F10154098293625670%2F&show_text=0&width=560%22%20width=%22560%22%20height=%22315%22%20style=%22border:none;overflow:hidden%22%20scrolling=%22no%22%20frameborder=%220%22%20allowTransparency=%22true%22%20allowFullScreen=%22true%22%3E%3C/iframe%3E"><iframe allowfullscreen="true" allowtransparency="true" frameborder="0" height="315" scrolling="no" src="https://www.facebook.com/plugins/video.php?href=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2Fbbcshropshire%2Fvideos%2F10154098293625670%2F&show_text=0&width=560" style="border: none; overflow: hidden;" width="560"></iframe></a><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">There is at the heart
of this a staggering inequality and a return to a time when disability was only
deemed to be apparent if there was a physical inability to walk. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Many thousands of
disabled people need the support of all aspects of independent living.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Blue Badge makes community and
independent living easier. It facilitates accessibility to many aspects of life
for those with a learning disability and so I’m asking you to support my new
campaign. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The “Parking points”
campaign is calling on the Government to reinstate Blue Badges to those in
society, recently deemed ineligible. To recognise that disability comes in many
different forms. To assist councils to give the people they work for, the
dignity of a full life in every way they can and to stop this divisive practice
of redefining who is and who isn’t disabled.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">In conjunction with my
campaign I launched a petition on the government website. Please sign and share
and please, if you are a charity or group, activist or individual ;<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>support, sign and share the link. <o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span><a href="https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/200654">My Petition</a> (relaunched after it was closed for the election)</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Not all disability is
visible but everyone with a disability should be allowed to be seen.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcSnVFEcsiJgtV_XIu9NA6zgnSbQnu4NjOpwxcj0YL_W_zldevcxCa2swFV3NEZOMBmDyNVL9jil6oQI0wIVN5olNtVHKL1EieqPOaSKlKSy8YRhfEETMPaMTEkh7Xx49J0Jnv2ce8eR0/s1600/IMG_3954.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcSnVFEcsiJgtV_XIu9NA6zgnSbQnu4NjOpwxcj0YL_W_zldevcxCa2swFV3NEZOMBmDyNVL9jil6oQI0wIVN5olNtVHKL1EieqPOaSKlKSy8YRhfEETMPaMTEkh7Xx49J0Jnv2ce8eR0/s320/IMG_3954.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">Nicky Clark <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">“Parking points
Campaign”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;">peoplenotpunchlines@gmail.com</span></div>
</div>
Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-61239476718086567402017-02-23T14:26:00.002+00:002017-02-23T14:26:48.471+00:00Sound and fury, signifying nothing.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">As a campaigner who has pushed for
equal representation of disabled people across the entertainment industry for 9
years, I read the proposal by the Minister for Disabled people, calling or wider
representation of disability in the entertainment & fashion industry, with
interest.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">TV & Film, the games industry and
all forms of media are the greatest influencers we have and it's vital that if
we are to hope for equality of representation, that disabled people are
routinely featured. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">When I launched my campaign via the
guardian in 2008, I contacted the ONS in order to get statistics on disabled
consumers. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">My point was that, as disabled people
do everything that non disabled people do, e.g. buy food, go on holiday, wear
clothes, utilise banks and drink alcohol, then it was confusing to me that
advertisers didn't feature any disabled people doing any of these things in
their advertising. The response from the ONS was that they didn't hold any
statistics in this area. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">The problem to me was clear, why was
an entire section of our collective community being excluded from the section
of life that the majority of people experience. TV and film fashion and music
and latterly the gaming industry seemed to have its own set of impairments when
it came to representing disabled people. They didn't seem to be able to see,
communicate, hear or understand why equality of representation of disabled
people of all ages was important. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">However now that The Minister for
Disabled People has raised the issue perhaps things might change. As long as
none of the disabled performers, models, writers, game designer, singers,
directors, musicians, paralympians and fashion designers intend to rely on
motability vehicles or any of the in work benefits, crucial to achieving this
representation, that is. That may prove <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">trickier, but I digress.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">It's been identified by Channel 4's
Dan Brooke that there is a financial benefit to companies in placing disabled
people in ads. In recent times the financial deficit has precipitated an
austerity, which places disabled benefit claimants. at the forefront of cuts.
The narrative of “scrounger and striver” has been widely touted so it's good to
know that disabled talent is making some people some money, at last.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I leave the money making and taking,
up to others as this is a hidden benefit for millions of disabled people. I'd
just like to see more people like me and my children represented.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I launched the campaign
dontplaymepayme.com because my daughter Lizzy was the first person in the UK
with autism to play a character with the same condition. But I’ve digressed
again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">I'd like to believe that millions of
disabled people can see themselves and their stories shown and appreciated. Stories
and games they’ve written or designed, drawn, portray and direct. Stories that
feature disabled protagonists where the least interesting aspect of the
character is their disability. Not a plot point which means they must be saved
or portrayed by a non-disabled actor en route to awards season glory or as an
aspect to a music video as an interesting side note.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">People like us are everywhere but the
reluctance to reveal diagnosis for fear of backlash or further stigma walks
beside us all the time. When I revealed my diagnosis of Autism I was called
brave because in this day and age it is brave to say that you’re different. The
beauty industry spends a great deal of time trying to get all women to look
between 25 and 30. If looking your age is cause for pause, then how can full
acceptance of all diversity be achieved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Non-disabled representation of
disabled life can be part of the picture but currently it is the only game in
town. How many disabled performers are invited to casting sessions every week.
When the casting team have a duty to present the production team with a full
range of suitable candidates, disability must feature too. I would also like to
see disabled children in all toy catalogues because, as strange as this might
seem, disabled children like toys too. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<span lang="EN-US" style="color: #1a1a1a; font-family: Arial; font-size: 12.5pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial;">Authentic portrayal and inclusion was
the basis of my campaign. I'm sure we can look forward to the representatives
hand picked by The Minister for Disabled People, to represent disabled people
and having the best interests of disabled people at the heart of what they do.
I wonder how many of them will actually be disabled people, I guess we'll have
to wait and see. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;">
<br /></div>
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<br /></div>
</div>
Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-23159656795941785862017-02-12T10:05:00.004+00:002017-02-12T11:03:29.935+00:00The online sorting hat.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>When the internet was
invented,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>it could never have
been known,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>That women would barge
in there and just make themselves at home.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>But they did and no
one stopped them<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>and they’re everywhere now you see.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>It’s just awful, even
CAPS LOCK can’t prevent their tyranny.<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>But the fight back is
determined<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>with a voice sung loud
and free,<o:p></o:p></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
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<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><i><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Men are rising like a phoenix
from the ashes of masculinity</span><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>So what follows is the story of the brave,</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>The bold, the few,</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><i>Just remember women reading, that the tormentor here is you......</i></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He explains that you’re
the problem,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">You’re the reason for
the fight,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is vocal you are
vocal but this means that he is right.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He will tell you he is
nervous,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Of your subjectivity,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is only trying to
help you but you just won’t let it be.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He instructs and give
you censure,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For the passion you
possess,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is angry, you
are angry but remember you are less.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He will offer bland
opinion,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Of where you went
wrong today,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is sad that you
won’t listen and you won’t do things his way.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is weary of the
women,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Who like you will
speak their mind,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is speaking you are
speaking but you’re wrong, I think you’ll find.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He will bask in
appreciation,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Of the people who
agree,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is relieved that
their intelligence understands</span></span><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"> equality.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He will detail to be
helpful,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">All the qualities you
lack,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is certain, you are
certain but it’s him under attack.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He has emotions and
shows kindness<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">To himself and when when
he snaps,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He was driven to it
really, it was you who set the traps.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He feels exasperation,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">At the issues which
waste his time,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He has opinions, you
have opinions but you always cross his line.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is full of
admiration, <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">For the women who
comply,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">He is patient in
explaining that you should give that a try.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">So the moral of this
story, is one both old and true,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Some men are still
just sexist,<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-ansi-language: EN-GB;"><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;">Fuck that shit, keep
being you.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-67524202413976439952017-01-16T10:42:00.001+00:002017-01-18T09:17:26.750+00:00Message in a bottle.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="background-color: white; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Today is apparently Blue Monday. A named coined by Dr's at Cardiff University to predict the day of the year where things are at their bleakest and most </span><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">depressing.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Currently that is everyday for me. I'm sure that's true of millions of disabled people and carers at the moment.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Last year was spent fighting for Emily. If I'm honest every year has been spent fighting for Emily since she was diagnosed at 3 with autism. The sad truth is that the fight for her was much easier when she was a disabled child than when she became a disabled adult. Our empathy, funding, services and protocols surrounding vulnerable children is clear. They may be limited but they are clear.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">As a society however the rules change when these vulnerable children become vulnerable adults. The spotlight shone brightly on Winterbourne View. We were told things would change for the better. I believe that the intention is there for this to be true but as we know, intention and application are two very different things.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Responsibility and an interpretation of responsibility, are two very different things as well. It doesn't matter how many people are reminded of their duty of care under the Care Act, it seems there is always a way to stipulate adherence to it, yet a departmental distance from it. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">The threat we have lived under everyday for a year now is that Emily may be admitted to an assessment and treatment unit. This is a psychiatric hospital. I strongly believe and have had this this verified by professionals, that if Emily is placed there, she will never leave.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">There is no clinical need for this to happen, but one based on a possibility that Emily's current care package may break down, due to her behaviours which challenge. I'm told that if that were to happen, there is no other provider able to pick up Emily's care.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Yesterday I learnt that the lead psychologist in Emily's care has gone on long term sick leave. This is not their fault, but the system should be robust enough to continue seamlessly for Emily. I don't have confidence that this will be the case. This person is co-ordinating everything. Problems are still ongoing but now, with no idea of who will pick this up or what will happen to all the outstanding issues, which I'm battling to resolve already, I now feel hopeless.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">I'm at breaking point. The fight which consumes my days and torments my mind at night, is an ongoing one because I feel there remains a collective societal lack of knowledge and true understanding of what it means to be an adult with a learning disability. </span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Emily is tearful and anxious much of the time.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">I'm including a portion of an email that I've just sent to everyone working with Emily. It's a </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">reflection of where I am and where Emily might end up through no fault of her own. I feel broken, hopeless and utterly desperate for my daughter. I don't intend to make things any worse than they are but I have no idea what else to do. If you can circulate this, if you can help or know someone to send this to then please do. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">It's my message in a bottle that I'm throwing into the sea of the internet, in the hope that we can be rescued.</span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkgDR4hE2rkr8LHwG9Xm54PWJFIHq9l3vcqhBJvqXeSRqO94nrtrTFLJ4jAP-cliMIVzactRXAE2acSs02GP_S3-eBrTPAWf_mX_-hBFagKFieHaieIwL-ZhpqnF0jeDLLLSptoAOrxk/s1600/IMG_3953.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpkgDR4hE2rkr8LHwG9Xm54PWJFIHq9l3vcqhBJvqXeSRqO94nrtrTFLJ4jAP-cliMIVzactRXAE2acSs02GP_S3-eBrTPAWf_mX_-hBFagKFieHaieIwL-ZhpqnF0jeDLLLSptoAOrxk/s320/IMG_3953.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">I'm also trying to resolve Emily's return to Education. There is a</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white;"><i style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">meeting proposed for this. However both </i><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">(redacted name of </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Education rep</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">)<i> and </i>(redacted name of </span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Continuing Health Care rep</span></span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">)</span><i style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"> are</i></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">clear that funding for this is not their responsibility.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">I have also been in contact with the police twice now. They can make</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">no guarantee that they won't arrest Emily if they are called to the</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">property again. They don't feel it's necessary to meet with us but do</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">link in with social services.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">I contacted the social worker involved in Emily's care</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">previously during transition to the bungalow. She has told me that as</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">Emily is continuing health care funded, it's unlikely she will be</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">permitted by her managers to be involved.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">I'm now at breaking point with all this.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">Many of these issues are entirely avoidable.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">This weekend I had looked forward to a break but after 2 very</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">distressed phone calls on Saturday, numerous phone calls in the week</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">and several visits, I didn't get that break as we had to visit Emily</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">on Saturday night in order to deescalate her distress..</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">The last time I took a break, staff phoned the police and Emily ended</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">up in handcuffs on her bedroom floor.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">I can't overstate my fear that due to several pressures, problems and</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">avoidable mistakes, our beautiful girl will end up in an Assessment</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">and Treatment Unit.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">This is contrary to best practice guidance. There is no clinical</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">reason for that admission. During transition it was a possibility due</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">to there being "no suitable accommodation"</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">Yet the bungalow Emily needed was there. I just had to fight for it</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">against all the agencies in place to support her.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">I'm exhausted from the fight of 2016.</span><br />
<br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">Can it really be said that everyone is working together to prevent my</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">having to fight Emily's admission to a Psychiatric Hospital ? Can it</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">be said that any of the things I'm fighting for, for Emily are my</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px; font-style: italic;">responsibility or role.</span><br />
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;"><br /></span></i>
<i><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">I do all these things because I have to but I</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">shouldn't have to because there are many professionals involved with</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">Emily's care.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">I know that all professionals are hard working, decent people,</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">managing budgets at a terrible time in the history of the NHS and</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">local government and are very busy.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">However Emily is a valuable and vulnerable young woman, who needs to</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">have her voice heard and her needs met.</span><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><br style="color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.800000190734863px;">I therefore propose that an urgent meeting is called as soon as possible.</span></i></div>
Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8873606106619211000.post-15221021018924928952016-12-22T22:45:00.002+00:002016-12-31T15:20:00.643+00:00Conversation with Ricky Gervais.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I spoke to Ricky Gervais earlier about writing, comedy, atheism and Subbuteo.
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Nicky Clarkhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15355993561684745332noreply@blogger.com