Fran Macilvey's Blog, page 18

Aches and Pains

Aches and Pains

Christmas comes for me as one of a hat-trick of celebrations – Christmas, New Year and birthday – which means that we all take a holiday and are in festive mode for about two weeks. My birthday is never a work day. Lucky me.

And for the first time, I actually, totally and completely enjoyed Christmas day 2018, feeling none of the usual feelings of dread, anxiety or unhappiness as used to dog my footsteps. Instead, it was simply a relaxed, enjoyable time. I even took great p...

My ageing mother

My ageing mother

I spend a great deal of time at home. Which is to say, I spend even more time at home than I used to, and it is a trend to be discouraged. I find it harder than ever to leave the house, and not because I have nothing to do or have any kind of social phobia. But since my mother came to live nearby, I am around to answer the phone in case of need: a habit, which started about three years ago when my father got frail, has hardened.

That’s a pity, since I’ve always found it so...

Different ways of doing things

Different ways of doing things

Historically, it was argued that ability was key to most jobs, therefore adults with impairments were somehow automatically excluded from the usual workplaces. Specialist workplaces followed, which catered particularly for what were seen as unusual differences that would not be tolerated outside a supportive, specialist network.

Now, that philosophy is dying, and there seems to be more recognition and acceptance that there are very many different ways of doing...

Progress in our lives

The progress in our lives that has been made over the last forty years to foster inclusion for adults with impairments in the workplace and the social scene is significant.

However, the legal framework that exists to promote inclusive living, lacks teeth – would we rather that people ran businesses, or used the ardours of compliance as a reason not to do so? – and  many organisations which are well placed to take on some of the provisions as they relate, for example, to making reasonable ad...

Have our lives improved

Have our lives improved?

I was casting around for blog topics, and my husband asked, “Have the lives of adults with impairments improved?” Which set me thinking.

Compared to, say, forty years ago, there is now a much more comprehensive approach to inclusion, socially and in the work place, for all of us, whatever our particular circumstances.

There are laws in place, for example the Equality Act 2010, successor to the Disability Discrimination Act. I’m glad to see that at last, equality is...

Unreasonable expectations

Unreasonable expectations?

I watched the crowds of travellers at Gatwick airport with disbelief: lines and lines of people waiting patiently to board flights that would take them on holidays to the sun, or to see Santa and his reindeer. If that was me, and I was cornered on the floor of an airport lounge waiting for a miracle that never came, I would probably go home. For thousands of holiday makers, that was not the reality, as delays caused by drones overhead, stretched into hours and day...

Reasons to be cheerful

Reasons to be cheerful.

Perhaps our future prospects fill us with gloom and we have a lot to feel gloomy about: the likelihood of losing our place within the European Community, despite, apparently, more and more people expressing doubts about that. (The European view appears to be that we as ‘a nation’ appear determined to rush to the cliff edge and tumble over it, though there are ways to avoid that. The consensus appears to be that we have lost our senses.) Will that cause hyper-inflatio...

Plans for 2019

Plans for 2019

My plans for 2019 are still in flux. A lot depends on the health of my mother, which continues to be a cause for concern. Vagueness morphs into neediness which might, at any time, slip into a gentle crisis, though I suppose if I am not there to help, so be it. One thing I have learned is that it is not possible to be in two places at the same time.

I am travelling to the London Book Fair in March this year, with my novels and my radio play. What will be the outcome of my vis...

Not making New Year Resolutions

Not making New Year Resolutions

Phew! What a relief. No New Year Resolutions for me.

‘A Quiet Read’ by William Kay Blacklock

I think that, on balance, I have enough to get on with, without feeling guilty that, yet again, I have made – several – promises and didn’t keep them. At the start of any year, who needs that kind of pressure? In fact, making any promise to do or not to do, so often feels like a taunt, an invitation to stray. So now I save my headspace for things I want to get done: p...

A meditation for the year end

Here is a meditation that I have been mulling over for a while.

At the end of the year we release to life all that yearns to be released.

We light three candles.

The first candle is lit,

to resolve in what remains of the year, all that can be resolved.

The second candle is lit,

to take all the good of this year forward to make miracles in the next year.

The third candle is lit,

to unite and strengthen our purposes and promote peace, understanding and love.

Wishing you all a very happy...