Remember watching a film some years ago that had a young woman who could not walk anymore in it.
At the time I could walk and had not conceived the idea that this could also happen to me, at the time I was not so sympathetic to the young woman’s plight.
Then I thought, surely if she wants to enough she will be able to walk again, as there did not seem to be any physical reason she could not walk.
I can’t remember what happened in the film, the only bit I recall is this beautiful young woman who could not walk.
Now I know of course that wanting something even wanting it enough does not make it happen.
I know this only too well as I am now totally 100% disabled, can’t even move a toe let alone my legs.
I really want so much to be mobile again, to feel my stomach muscles when I am walking or doing exercises.
Would so love to walk, brilliant to be able to move around, to be part of the movement of people everyday as they go to and from their work.
The ultimate dream wish is to be able to work again, as in this capitalist society you are only counted if you work.
Once you can not work it becomes very clear how handicapped people are regarded by society.
We are seen as useless because we can not contribute anymore to working life, that is a world that becomes closed to us.
It is a shame that society is organised as it is now because people are more than the job that they do.
I have never understood how the job that you do becomes the big definer of who you are.
Surely I have always been more than just the job I did?
We all are.
My dream now is for people to be valued for being themselves and for their personal qualities and not their job.
Think this would encourage people to explore the world around them more and to see their place in their communities.
They would be able to have the space to develop and value thinking and learning for the added value it gives their lives.
Everything is not a commodity that can be bought and sold as we are currently led to believe, no wonder that there is such a rise in crime figures as people try to snatch what they feel should be theirs.
No wonder people trafficking is on the increase right now and the precarious situation in many countries at war gives the people involved the freedom to carry on.
At the moment there is quite an increase in fatal stabbings in the UK, as a Criminologist I can see the links between the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the increase of violent crime.
Just like Durkheim I can see those links, there is always a rise in property crimes when the class differences become even more obvious.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C3%89mile_Durkheim
http://durkheim.itgo.com/suicide.html
And there is always a rise in suicides when society is in transition and they usually trigger off a wave of copy cat suicides.
Funny how having done the Criminology degree and achieved the B.A (Bachelor of Arts) and then the M.A (Masters Degree) I realised that I did not want to work as a Criminologist.
Certainly did not want to work for the Police Service or the Prison Service as I do not think that either can help to stop people committing crime.
Both the Police Service as well as the Prison Service are there to punish people and to inflict retribution on the offenders.
Neither of these can deter people from committing crime, prisons just warehouse people that is all they can do.
Surely we as a society should by now have come up with a better way of treating people; we should operate from a different perspective than the one we currently use.
People are our most precious resource and should be nurtured and looked after not seen as a commercial product that can be bought and sold.
We tend to think that slavery does not exist anymore and ignore the evidence because it offends us.
We operate too much on the principle if we do not see it, then it can’t be happening and it is happening.
Just like I can not pretend that there is nothing wrong with me and I can do everything I used to be able to do.
It is blatantly obvious that I am not ok and that I will not be ok again either and to pretend anything else is just nonsense.
Just like saying prison works and stuffing the prisons so full of people that the budget is overstretched and there will have to be cuts in the services thatLocal Councils provide residents.
Some of the cuts in Council’s expenditure will affect the services for handicapped people such as mobility buses and lunch clubs and occupational therapy and many other services for the disabled.
So the opportunity cost of expanding the prison population will be at the expense of the handicapped.
We will see the few resources that are there for us will be removed and more disabled people will be left isolated in their homes.
That is not the world that I want to be part of, we need a world where everyone is accepted for themselves.
Where we can all participate in Community activities and where we can contribute to the Community.
I can never be the person I was physically b ut I can still contribute in other ways and so can other disabled people.
We are just like the name of Anne’s blog http://disablednotdead-anne3.blogspot.com/
We are Disabled and Not Dead.
