Hello everyone!
I hope this newsletter finds you all happy and creative! So much has been going on lately that Nicola, Bamber and I rarely seem to get the chance to take any time off. But, towards the end of March we stole three nights away in the Cotswolds. We stayed at a golf hotel a few minutes away from Chipping Norton. The break was just what we needed and was a kind of pilgrimage too!
I am unashamedly (Nicola as well) a big Jeremy Clarkson (Grand Tour, Top Gear) fan. We had wanted to visit Jeremy’s Diddly Squat Farm Shop for a while so we did just that.
Love him or hate him, he is hugely successful and his Clarkson’s Farm series on Amazon Prime is a must watch in my opinion. We were happy we were able to visit and we also had a meal in his local pub. Jeremy wasn’t there as he was in London at a Genesis concert but maybe we’ll get to say hello next time.
I want to get a bit more serious now and talk about discrimination towards the disabled, and ableism. Now, of course, discrimination of any individual or group is morally and socially unacceptable. Here, I will just talk about my personal experiences.
This quote is the essence of discrimination and comes from the film, Philadephia, starrting Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington.
Formulating opinions on others, not based on their individual merits but rather on their membership in a group with assumed characteristics.
Even though I am blind, I am capable of anything I put my mind to. Some people wrongly assume that the blind are not able to work or be productive, and can do no more than stay at home.
I do get some trolling on social media and people leave hurtful comments about me and, by extension, the blind and disabled communities. I have made the conscious decision now to address any such negative comments on my accounts so that I can, hopefully, educate and inform, and raise more awareness about the abilities of people with disabilities.
What is ableism? It is a form of discrimination where able-bodied people are assumed to have superior skills. It assumes that people with disabilities are defined by those disabilities.
Nicola and I have read comments such as ‘Blind Woodturner? Impossible!’ and ‘How can he do that? He’s a fake!’.
The comments would imply that, because they cannot conceive of being able to do the same things themselves, what I do can’t be achievable.
People often say we should just ignore this type of comment. But it’s not always that easy when you are a human being with feelings.
I am going to sign off now and thank you for letting me share this with you. Talking with friends is great therapy and a core mission for UKMSA. Please talk to someone if you are not doing too well at the moment.
Until next time, keep on turning.
Chris Fisher RPT