Action Blog
Viewing entries tagged with 'independence'
National Braille week 2012
Recently I was asked if I thought the art of reading braille would fade out, now that assistive technology has become common place in homes and offices of people with sight loss. I replied that, to me, it still has a very important role to play, both in leisure activities and the working lives of blind and partially sighted people.
Ageing and disability: Independence, dignity and freedom of choice
As I have been working with Government on eAccessibility, which focuses primarily on considering the needs of older and disabled people, maintaining as much independence as possible is the principal goal and this goal is a constant, irrespective of the underlying cause of the loss of independence. It is something that I understand all too well and think about more than I care to admit.
Facing fear with compassion
When I registered blind, my world fell apart, but I didn't allow myself to be consumed by my grief. Instead, I surrendered to it. I came to terms with my loss - the loss of my eyesight, my independence and the life that I knew.
Why am I so nauseatingly upbeat, positive and optimistic?
My life is never short of drama; whether I subconsciously seek it out or it is my legendary anti-Midas touch that brings it to me, life is quite a spectacular struggle. I am pretty certain that I could reduce my oversized share of tussles if I played by the rules, but that is not going to happen anytime soon.
Personal Independence Payment - have your say!
The government intends to phase out Disability Living Allowance for people of working age from 2013 onwards and replace it with a new benefit called Personal Independence Payment. Award of the new benefit will be based on an assessment conducted by a ‘trained assessor’.
Career Coach 2011 - Initial thoughts
To ‘jump’ on board the career coach is a good analogy for this day. I believe you have to be fearless and have courage to take opportunities like this that blow into your vision. There are so many opportunities blowing in the wind, that it is easy to miss them.
Driving Blind
I didn't start losing my sight until I was in my 20's, so as a standard rite of passage for a Torontonian teenager, when I was 16, I got my driver's license. But unlike a lot of females who see driving as a mechanism to get from A to B and not something that involves pleasure, I was the quintessential boy racer. I loved driving and I loved driving fast.
Disability and independence. Finding the strength to make the right choices
We all make choices in life, some good, some bad and some indifferent, but whatever our circumstances, by being human beings, we are constantly making decisions that affect our lives. Now, I am not suggesting that our circumstances are always a direct result of the decisions we make, as the only thing that caused my blindness is biology, but I do know that wherever you may find yourself right now, the decisions and choices you make from here on in will influence where you are going and how you will get there.
A voyage on the high seas: yachts, dinghies and blind sailing
Life is a certainly a journey and there are many ways to get to wherever you are going. Although I started out with two feet on dry land, they have not remained there, as I had a rather life changing experience when I set foot on a yacht for the first time some 20 years ago. I was invited to Haling Island on the South Coast as part of an annual event, which is still going strong, called “Blind Week”, where kind yacht owners allow a couple of blind people to take the helm and crew their boats, spending a week afloat learning to sail. It was mind-blowing.
The Normality of Difference; Attitudes towards disability from the inside out
As I started out this blogging journey filled with the excitement of my fantastic trip round East Asia and Nepal and how it was just the tonic to restore independence and optimism to an inhibited and uncertain soul, lacking in self-confidence. But with the New Year came the reality of a more normal daily life and, with it, the potentially daunting reintegration into working life. I was going to have to face up to some harsh realities and subject my newly rediscovered confidence to a more rigorous test than any of those I had encountered on my wondrous holiday.
Tag cloud
accessibility, apple, assistive technology, beauty, benefits, big society, burnley, carers, christmas, coping, digital inclusion, disability, disclosing disability, discrimination, dla, dwp, employment, esa, family, fashion, grieving, happiness, holidays, human rights, ignorance, inclusive design, inclusivity, independence, iphone, life, living with sight loss, love, pension, people, registration, respect, rp, sailing, shopping, sight loss, social inclusion, stereotypes, style, technology, travel, vi people, web accessibility, welfare rights, white cane, work capability assessment,
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