Happy Local Radio Day!

i have just found out that today is Local Radio Day it is also a day when l’m having to tax the car which l can only afford to do for six months. But back to radio. Radio can be an immense lifeline for disability. and for some it can be the only way they can feel some sort of a connection to the areas where they live. A local radio station can know more about a listener then the physical world.   Radio is  like having someone else sitting in the same room as you but not having a physical form. I’m actually l’m listening to local radio now as i write this.  Today there is community radio which could be run by a charity or an community organisation, independent radio and of course the BBC.(which has it’s own unique stations covering from Land’s End to Shetland.) Could one day an electric voice be on the airwaves like the human vocals which l hear everyday through the  dependable signals of radio?

How much can we expect society to help us?

This morning Cornwall is again hitting the headlines regarding Disability. and it poses the question above. Where does  society’s role of helping and supporting disability end?Does society only have responsibility over the most severest forms of Autism? do people like myself who are on the middle part of the spectrum loose out on support? is my driving licence and my volunteering role this morning mean i pass onto the able threshold.? or does my memory,post verbal and audio impairments means that the government and society should be given me a lot more help (not just now but in the last 40 years?) In truth the idea of being dependent on a system that can be changed at anytime by people who have never met me  scares the life out of me. but i know the life l lead now is unsustainable  and eventually i will have to trust a system that has failed too many already.  So for another time who ultimately pays for a society that is worth defending?  and will disability ever be valued properly in the United Kingdom?

First step to help disability, reform welfare properly and sensibly

i have spent this morning trying to find somewhere to fix my car so l don;t end up all of this week walking three miles to work. i have and for a sum of 274 pounds. Basically two  weeks wages. i have had another letter from the DWP reminding me that disability is not immune from being booted off the welfare system. this will remain the same until i have pennies left in my bank account. A situation which could be horrendously  real if i don;t find sustainable work in the future. and i still have to complete this form so the DWP can rest at ease that i haven;t by some miracle won the lottery. if i do then the last place on Earth  i will be attending is the jobcentre on Thursday. and that is a promise.

i want humans looking after me, not robots.

I have sort found out the reason why my car alarm has gone all funny,but for the second weekend the battery is disconnected from the car.The brand new answer to the care crisis in Britain could be robots. . mainly towards the elderly currently but Autism could in the future be served by robotic care givers. if i my a miracle i do  become an old man then a robot could be looking after me. It;s  an horrible thought to think that i could be even more distant to humanity in the future. I love robots who save the galaxy and explore the red landscape of Mars and planets further beyond,but the biggest damage to a fragile  life can be when it’s loses human connections. Technology is generally wonderful and can create new forms of communicating for those without ordinary voices. it would be great if a robot could assist doctors diagnosed any illness within seconds.(having to get familiar to a GP surgery is not a nice thing to experience, and tomorrow morning l’m facing the same experience)) but there is a darker side of  robots replacing human care givers. Is robots going to be a sign of the ultimate symbol of how we treat people in the future?. if you  are suddenly  incapable of looking after yourself  then the only company you might have could be a shiny white humanoid shaped robot staring at you. (for a relatively young person that  could be for a decade or more)?A robot that would help me fixed my car immediately or avoid  me having to purse a doctor regularly  would be great but it couldn;t replace my mum or the people i volunteer with every week. The cost savings of robotic  carers could be also done another way  if i was helped to leave my family home more often. No robots are not the magic solution.

what i have learnt trying to stay in the same job for three years

Today 45 pounds may decide if i leave or stay in work. (the 45 pounds will fingers crossed see why the car’s alarm has gone all funny) to be fair work has always been a constant battle, it’s the one thing which has never really changed in 41 years. The low wage economy in Cornwall has not helped in making any kind of work sustainable, including in  support sense too. There is a more fundamental reasons why people such myself talk about work and being able to go to work a lot of times. it is having a stake in society that’s worth something and provides some sort of dignity. Dignity which enables you to move on and perhaps avoid a horrible destiny. This is not about free lunches or moaning for invalid reasons, it about gaining some sense of a normal life .Authorities  like Cornwall Council should be knocking on number ten everyday if lt knows that they  cannot help lives to be constructive and brings value to society.  hand me a train ticket to Paddington and would quiz number ten all day for them. if i my car hadn;t been stuck in the driveway today then what would l have been doing today? Yoga and volunteering.