Wow! What a week. Firstly, since my BBC breakfast appearance and more importantly the blog on the DLA consultation. General feedback from the ‘one month before heartbreak’ blogswarm has been positive. It received coverage on the following links, as only a starter and taster:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jan/18/disabled-protesters-one-month-before-heartbreak
http://www.goodaccessguide.co.uk/news/info.php?refnum=544
http://www.benefitsandwork.co.uk/news/latest-news/1285-protests-against-benefits-cuts
http://www.communitycare.co.uk/blogs/service-user-voice/2011/01/disabled-people-and-service-users-will-be-heard-we-will-be-listened-to-ombh.html#more
http://liberalconspiracy.org/2011/01/17/does-the-broken-of-britain-campaign-need-celebrity-support/

Thanks to Emma (TweetHandle: @funkyfairy22) for providing this information. Also Kaliya (TweetHandle: @Bendygirl) was on Talk Radio Europe speaking about Broken of Britain and the great campaign http://thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.com/2011/01/benefit-claimants-fight-back.html. Lets hope the government have taken note of this and reconsider their policy decisions around DLA next month, and indeed on disability issues generally!

In light of the recent cuts to government spending, we (Martyn Sibley of London and Richard Currie of Manchester) are writing to convey our deep concern at the affects they will have on the disabled people of the UK. We are only 2 of 10 million disabled people in Britain, but our views are by no means unique. This letter forms our contribution to a large online campaign – 1 month before heartbreak. Many people are blogging today to urge your good selves to consider aspects of the Disability Living Allowance and general disability reforms, and how they will truly work in the ‘real world’.

The DLA provides vital financial assistance for the extra costs incurred as a result of being disabled. The consultation is looking at tougher assessment criteria (to reduce the number of claimants) and even withdrawing the vital transport component of the allowance. It ends on 14^th February 2011. Furthermore there are discussions to disband the Independent Living Fund, assisting disabled people to live full, self directed lives. Please don’t break anyone’s heart on Valentines day. Or for that matter, ever!

We would like to start by acknowledging  the social, legal, economic, political and technological improvements of the past 50 years . With the social model of disability being enforced through laws and motions such as the Disability Discrimination Act and the UN convention , disabled people have seen vast improvements in societal inclusion. We both have had happy childhoods, met good friends, accessed our education system to Masters level and have ambitions the same as anyone. We personally strive for full independence using our electric wheelchairs, accessing social care provisions and using DLA for the extra costs we incur as disabled people.

As a positive recognition of the coalition government, we are glad you see the merits of Personalisation. The key here is that it may not be for everyone. With such a varying scale of impairments in the disability world, person centred plans are vital. Where possible, people should direct their own provision of services, giving them the flexibility, choice and control they deserve. When certain tasks and responsibilities are simply too much, this must be recognised and solved innovatively with brokerages and other support services. Really the crux of Personalisation is to improve disabled people’s lives, not to cut costs and corners. Please ensure there is enough money in the coffers. It is difficult to employ a PA to carry out care-work 24/7 under the minimum wage. Furthermore without the foundations of care in our lives how can we work, be financially sustainable, socially engage and be happy and healthy?

Unfortunately, even in 2011, this all has not resulted in full inclusion. Physically there are many buildings, transport links and leisure activities that are not accessible. Attitudinally many people still have cautious and incorrect views on disability. It is widely known bus and taxi drivers get agitated because a wheelchair user requires a ramp. Employers often feel concerned of disabled peoples’ ability to carry out a job, instead of assessing them on actual merit. We already need to improve a lot of things despite the progress made. So why make such regressive policy decisions?

With disabled people finding access to qualifications more difficult, trying to change attitudes and access to jobs in an already very difficult labour market, and having less disposable income because of the many extra costs incurred (more expensive travel methods, purchasing and repairs to necessary equipment, central heating costs, extra rent to provide space for PAs…), why slash DLA?

We know there are people claiming it who should not. We totally agree this should be stopped too. However is it the core reason our country is in debt? No. Is it fair that while stopping the fraudsters, people who really do need DLA are worried if they will keep it, worried how they will be assessed (we for one are not attempting to run on any machine to fall over and prove our disability), and others may not even bother applying when they ought to? No.

Furthermore, if you are to disband the Independent Living Fund, supporting 21,000 disabled people with their care needs, consider this. If local councils struggle to financially support 50% of our care now, how will they fill the void left from the ILF, when their overall budgets are being slashed as we write this?

The point is with so much positivity to celebrate, but with so much more to improve, why make decisions that will entrench disabled people back into poverty and exclusion? We say:

• Invest in disabled people with Personalisation social care, but for the right reasons. Listen to the challenges disabled people face, work with us to find solutions and be willing to fund this properly. In the long run, the spending and investment will lead to disabled people with better education, better skills for the workplace, better chance of being given employment (encourage remote working to become the norm when appropriate) and the means to live happy and fulfilled lives
• Acknowledge that DLA assists with the huge additional costs of being disabled – care and mobility. Stop anyone from claiming falsely, but in a way that doesn’t scare monger disabled people and doesn’t portray an image of lazy, slacking scroungers. Work with disabled people on the assessment methods and don’t break our hearts!
• Keep the ILF. Or at least find a plan to fill its void. One that will be effective. Do not cause unnecessary stress to those who rightly use it and will always require social care funding

Feel free to send any responses, thoughts or questions to martynsibley@hotmail.com and lets work together. The deficit can be cut and disabled people can be supported to live inclusively. They are not mutually exclusive occurrences.

Kindest regards.

Martyn and Richard

http://martynsibley.com/

http://thebrokenofbritain.blogspot.com/2011/01/more-one-month-before-heartbreak.html

And the BBC article……….

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12176854

I went to University of Derby and achieved a 2:1 in a Marketing Management degree and got Distinction in an Advanced GNVQ in Business after school.

I moved to London to pursue my career aspirations, own my own apartment in Fulham and have a team of live in Personal Care Assistants (PA) 24/7.

I’ve always strived to be a high achiever and leave a legacy.  March 2010 was no exception – focused on my BBC career, building my coaching portfolio, chairing a national disability charity (JTSMA), producing a pilot for a new business entertainment TV show and more.   Christmas 2009 was ‘planning time’, to decide what I wanted to achieve in 2010.  So I produced a Mind Map outlining my goals.  I lived by Stephen Covey’s principal of Begin with the End in Mind.

Whilst proceeding with vigour I developed a chest infection, which is common during winter.  However, after my second course of antibiotics I became dehydrated from vomiting and stupefied.  I go to A&E, had X-Rays and blood tests and the doctor admits me with a severe chest infection.  One morning I’m found having a seizure and fighting for air.  The doctors and nurses rushed to my bed and brought me around again.  My chest infection got worse and I was suffocating and couldn’t breathe.   I went into a coma and was put on life support to keep me alive – I lay in intensive care unconscious for two months.

I developed multiple organ failure – my kidneys, liver and stomach stopped working and I was on dialysis.    An MRI scan revealed a bleed on my brain.  A nasal gastric (NG) tube fed me nutrients and I had a tracheotomy in my neck.  I had thirty tubes, bags and bottles connected to my body in all.

My Mum who had practically moved to London to be at my bedside went away a weekend break, however, soon after, the doctor summoned her, as they didn’t think I’d make it through the night.

In spite of this, I stabilised and two months passed before I woke from my coma.  As I opened my eyes I was really confused.  I thought I was 100 years old, that the BBC had fired me and the physios were out to kill me.  At first I couldn’t talk.  I used my eyebrows to say Yes (raising them) or No (a frown).

I asked the doctor whether I almost died and he honestly replied “yes, you almost did and you’re lucky to be alive”.

My whole world had shattered.  Not a lot made sense.  I didn’t care that my hair was falling out from the medication.

As I was just out of my coma one of my PAs handed in her notice and I was angry at her ‘bad timing’.  I began poaching the nurses and one them introduced me to her niece who I interviewed in ICU and offered her the job.

When I first sat in my wheelchair my arms were so weak I just drove in circles.  My first time outside ICU was to the tropical fish tank with a tranche of nurses, tubes and equipment.  I stared mesmerised at the fish.  I realised at this moment that what I appreciated in life had shifted if fish spellbound me.

An OT visited daily to exercise my arms and hands to get them working again.  I couldn’t hold a pen or operate my iPhone.   To this day I still can’t feed myself or drive my adapted vehicle.  As soon as I had a Fluoroscopy to see whether I had the strength to swallow food my Speech Therapist and Dietician put me onto a puree diet.  The first food I eat in over two months was pureed salmon and broccoli and mashed potato.  I chuckled that the chef had shaped the pureed salmon into the shape of a fish.

No matter how much physio and suctioning I had I just couldn’t clear my chest.  I was exhausted, depressed and desperate to go home.  When I eventually left hospital I recuperated in Somerset.

I wanted to get back to ‘normal’ rather too quickly and so I arranged a phased return to work.  I installed speech recognition software on my laptop and Access to Work funding for transport.  Returning to work gave me structure and some purpose again.  However, I struggled physically and emotionally.  But I stuck at it.

Although I’m missing three months of 2010, this whole experience has had a profound impact on my life.  Inspired by coaching, I’m writing a seminar and book to help others learn from my insights.  Here’s a sample:

Fear

I faced the ultimate fear – Death!  Things I once feared feel less significant.  My mantra is “well, [this or that] isn’t as bad as being on life support!”  We’re born with just two fears: fear of falling and fear of loud noises.  Every other fear is something we’ve learnt.  Do these fears have a right to impede us?  We created them!

• Brainstorm all your fears.  Write a list as long as you can.  Write some more.
• Read through your fears aloud.  Listen intuitively to your body.  Do you become tense? Does your heart rate increase?  This is a good indicator of fear as discussed by Charles Darwin in his book The Expression of Emotion.
• Score each fear 0-10.  Where 0 fears have little impact on you, to 10 where you’re taken a long way outside your comfort zone.
• Categorise your fears into ‘comfort zones’.  For example, fears scored 6 or less you can cope reasonably well with.  Scores 7-8 are uncomfortable.  Fears scored 9 or 10 panic you.  You decide your thresholds.
• What do your high scoring fears tell you?  What patterns can you see?
• Tackle your highest scoring fears first.   As Brian Tracy says begin by eating the ugliest frog first.
• What’s the worst that can happen?  If this fear comes true, what could you do to make the situation better?  Are you really not in control of the situation?  How can you regain control?

Priorities – what’s important?

Before the coma I was a busy man!  Lying in hospital with no responsibilities I asked myself: “What is it that’s really important to me?”  I was spending time on some things that demanded more of me than I got in return.  What’s your return on investment in the things you do?

• Write down everything you’re doing in your life – for yourself, work, spouse and family – everything.
• Cross through everything you do because you feel you ‘should’ be doing it or someone might be disappointed if you didn’t do it.  How much have you crossed out?
• Put a star next to the things you want to do and enjoy doing.  If you aren’t doing the things you crossed out, what would you do more of or start doing?

According to Stephen Covey’s Time Management Matrix we should spend our time working at the things that are Important but Not Urgent – the quadrant of quality and personal leadership.  But most of us spend our time working at things that are Important but Urgent in nature – the quadrant of necessity.

How can you avoid activities in Quadrants III and IV?  How can you do more of Quadrant II?  How can you reduce efforts in Quadrant I so you have more time for Quadrant II?

Family and Friends

I’m fortunate to have a loving family and great circle of friends.  Families are important:

• They are our first school after entering the world – we learn of love and shared experiences;
• Family shape our personality and life as an individual;
• Family is somewhere where we’re accepted without demanding much;

Think of the relationships you hold dear.  How can you nurture these relationships?  What one small gesture could you do right now to let someone know that you care about them?  Actions speak louder than words.  Do you hold any grudges?  How helpful are these grudges?

Despite having a pretty horrific illness I’ve gained a lot of positive insights from my experience, which I’m glad to share with you.  Confucius once said “the gem cannot be polished without friction, nor man perfected without trials” and one should “Never, never, never give up” – Winston Churchill.

I love going to the US. Everything always seems so straightforward and simple when it comes to all things “disability related”.  I have been to the US many times before and I find people over there just seem to “get it” when it comes to disability. By this I mean staff at airports know exactly what to do, finding wheelchair accessible cars or taxis is easy, hotel staff know exactly what a wheelchair accessible room is and wheelchair access is the routine norm rather than the exception, and I could go on with many more examples.

Orlando was great. It’s a place that brings out the kid in me that never quite grew up (and probably never will). I loved the beautiful weather, the pristine beaches, the ample quantity of food portions and the unashamed cheesiness of the enormous theme parks. I was even able to go on some of the rides in the theme parks (albeit the less cool and scary rides!), which were adapted to allow a wheelchair to drive right onto the ride.

The only little hiccup was on the first day, when I realised that a UK wheelchair charger requiring 220V supply does not work in the US where voltage supply is 110V. Even though I had been to the US before, previously I had always rented powered wheelchairs and hoists locally. This time however, I brought my own ‘Molift Smart’ portable hoist and Ottobock ‘A200’ collapsible powered wheelchair.  However, this being America, there existed a solution, and we found an electrical store which sold a step up transformer. Problem solved! Panic over! Holiday resumed!

Going to a country where accessibility is the norm rather than exception is a great experience. I did wonder why this was though. Some tell me that this is due to the pervasive and onerous nature of the Americans with Disabilities Act (as I write this post, I am yet to have read  the Act in any detail so can’t really say whether I agree with this or not), others tell me Americans in general are more willing to stand up (excuse the pun) for their rights and hence service providers have to ensure that any service they provide to a person who happens to have a disability is up to scratch. I am not sure what the answer is, and if there is an answer, it is probably due to a multitude of reasons. But what is interesting and somewhat ironic, is that in a country where state intervention and legislation with respect to social issues, which may place further obligations on the citizen or on a business are generally frowned upon (see Obama’s struggle with healthcare policy for a good example of such recalcitrance), the US in my opinion is far more accommodating for the disabled traveller than pretty much any part of “social” Europe. See my previous blog post on a trip to Brussels for a good comparison.

By writing this article, I have probably inflicted upon myself the bloggers equivalent of the “commentator’s curse” whereby next time I travel to the US it will be an utter wheelchair inaccessible disaster! Let’s hope not though as I am planning to go to California in November!!

The next leg of my travels is a two week cruise around the Mediterranean stopping off at various places in Spain and Italy, and no doubt will have some thoughts to share when I get back.

Success.  A word that can mean so much, it can instil power within people, instil security, financial or otherwise and it can also ironically be quite the opposite. Being a disabled man and having been born disabled, I don’t think I have the linear view of success that most people do. Having a sports car or a private jet does not embody success to me. But, my brother has recently had a baby boy who is now 9 months old. For me, there could be no more successful man or woman (sorry for the lack of mention Emma) than these two. However, success like many intangible things is often more visible to those external to it, than to those who have actually achieved it.

To use my own life as an example of this, I have worked as a trader at one of the biggest and if I may say so myself, the best investment banks in the world. I managed risk on a daily basis and worked within several teams. For many this would be successful in its very nature, whether able bodied or disabled. For me however, it was a function of where I wanted to get to and was not the climax of a successful endeavour.

People have written endless books and articles about career defining moments, whether they be of a sporting nature like David Beckham’s goal against Greece or a business venture such as Bill Gates setting up Microsoft. I find it curious that these events often occur when people are between the ages of 30 and 40. So if this is a person defining age, what is next for me? The answer, to be honest, is that I don’t know. Having left the city, I do hope to set up my own company. Whether I can achieve this, only time will tell. Moving forward with Priority is also vital work that I need to continue to do. And this work is somewhat reliant on my success. So we enter what could be either a vicious or virtuous circle.

So what is success and why do we strive for it? Is it for others, is it for yourself? Or is it for the family of emotions that go with the accomplishment of achieving something? On this matter, I can only speak for myself. For me the act of doing and giving is more verifying than the act of receiving and I have become very aware that one must be careful of what one wishes for. So in my next ten years on this planet, I will set my goals as high as they’ve ever been, aiming to achieve what may seem impossible to many. I ask you the reader to contemplate what would make you happy?

So as a parting shot, I think the reader should bare these thoughts in mind:

That one should be proud of what one has done and one should never stop believing that a person can do more.

For me, travelling can be a concoction of challenging adventure and painful ordeal. I have many things to take with me such as my wheelchair, portable hoist, foldable shower chair numerous cables and chargers associated with such gadgets, as well as many things to organise such as airport assistance and accessible airport transfer. Additionally thrown into the mix is fear of baggage handlers damaging my wheelchair (which has happened several times previously!) and a nagging worry that quite possibly the accessible hotel room that I booked is not as “accessible” as claimed on the hotel website. Suffice to say, I have to be well organised!

Nonetheless, the trips were great! Everything went pretty much to plan. Nothing broke down, all the equipment I took remained intact and all hotel rooms were fantastically accessible (and had the all important roll-in shower). But even more importantly, it was great to catch up with friends that I met up with in all three cities!

But for this blog article, instead of droning on about how much of a good time I had, I thought I would share some interesting observations and discoveries.

1.       Brussels has dreadful wheelchair access!

Although a beautiful city with many friendly and helpful people, getting around can be really difficult. Much of the city centre is cobbled, which for me wasn’t too much of a nuisance. But what did annoy me was the fact many curbs do not have proper drop downs, most bars and cafe’s have steps to enter and local amenities such as banks and shops were routinely inaccessible.

Now…. I accept it is unfair to request that a historic section of the city be dug up and re-laid in smooth tarmac or small independent cafe’s invest a fortune re-building their premises. But it did seem strange, especially in the “modern” part of the city that is home to many prominent EU institutions, that wheelchair access could be so under par. Crossing a road en route to the EU Parliament should simply not be something that causes a problem!

2.       Warsaw has surprisingly good access…

This was a real surprise to me. While not as accessible as a city in the UK or US, getting around Warsaw city centre was much easier than I thought it would be. My friend also found an excellent taxi service with a fleet of London cabs called WaWa (http://www.wawataxi.pl/ – the site is in Polish, and also note that drivers and the person taking bookings may not speak much English). Additionally, Warsaw International Airport is very new and spacious.

3.       Travelling can be expensive, especially when a PA is needed to travel with you

I guess this is stating the obvious, but interestingly though, the UK hotels in the Holiday Inn chain do not charge for a spare room for a PA. I am yet to find a major chain outside of the UK that operate a similar policy.

4.       Edinburgh and the Scottish Highlands are amazing!

Having good weather during my time there (which I hear is rare that far up north!) helped considerably as well! Despite parts of Edinburgh being really hilly and some areas (especially near the castle) having quite a few cobbled streets and inaccessible buildings, it was relatively easy to get around.  All buses seemed wheelchair accessible and all taxis were “black cab style” and this is further assisted by the fact that Edinburgh is quite a compact city.

The Highlands are simply awesome, but naturally, the degree to which you can venture of the beaten track is limited by an individual’s level of mobility. However, many fantastic towns and villages are spread across the Highlands and the places we visited were really convenient locations for venturing around.

I finish writing this entry just after coming back from Florida, but I guess, I shall leave any thoughts on Florida for next time.

I have always said that I would love the readers to engage with my blogs more. My awareness of all things disability related is limited, as is my opinion. I would love to add more news from you guys and hear and reference some of your views too. I am just trying to give a platform for everyone to chat around these issues.

So having laid out a semi plea for some two way activity. My news is less news related or political. Will be interesting how ed milliband settles into the opposition leader role. Disability wise we await the CSR roll out soon and hope there is some mercy.

My past days started with a talk I gave for local councillors in Hackney on the roll out of Personalisation from my personal experience. Very interesting stuff. Then I returned home to 3 German friends – Rico, his girlfriend Chrissi and his friend Michael. We chilled Wednesday night. I worked Thursday/Friday as saving holiday for November and hopefully a big trip. Thursday I collected Grimsby Rich, my big dog, from Euston (thats gangster speak, not me saying I have dog at a train station). We returned home to Bratwurst sausages and the full german works J

Friday we honoured Ricos love of Nandos, followed by a drink in Stokey and some singstar. We all KO’d early as we were so shattered. After my needed lie in Saturday morning i felt great. My good friend Matt or @smegfirk as twitter peeps know him as came down to my flat with his PA. Video available here of the following events http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJdLYmFwjxE

I will not repeat the video but can say the hanging out with good friends, singing on singstar and the clubbing did me so much good. Since i squared it with myself about relaxing and not overdoing things, I have got myself back up to speed. The weekend showed i do need to chill after working but that a good night out is good for the soul sometimes too. I can say how later myself and Rich managed to annoy two bus drivers by requiring the ramp, and terminating the first bus hence annoying a lot of passengers. Basically the ramp would not go back inside the bus so we all had to get off at 3am and wait for the next one. Oooops.

I Had a massive chill and a massive roast dinner after the germans left yesterday with rich and myself catching up ‘uni style’ with tea and music tv. He went home today. Work was good today and I am all set for swimming tomorrow. Hope you all had a great weekend too. Will check back in soon peeps!

The afternoon was spent with Srin and the Vikster on the Southbank. The Thames festival was in full swing, the sun was out and we managed to chill out while catching up. It came to me how interesting the dynamics of being disabled is, the friends you have (disabled and not) as well as the bigger picture of the disabled community. For me personally I did not have so many disabled friends until I was around 11. I believe I have mentioned already I benefited from seeing I was not the only person in the world the way I was. Then at uni I lived with other disabled people and met one of my best mates in the world – Grimsby Rich. We get on in so many ways and part of it undoubtedly is having an empathy some of my other mates just could not. Rich and I are also great mates without our disabilities, as we just click.

Kicking it with Srin and Vik opened up some thoughts around disability, how we approach this and some of our personality traits. Us 3 all have SMA and so in theory are very similar. Sure, physically there are similarities but we have different personalities, jobs, sense of humour and even views on our SMA. The following part of the blog is not of our conversation but some thoughts and observations I have had since. Really our chat was quite brief and mainly how we approach care. We then moved onto eating our Nandos, but it planted the seed of thought that has grown into this blog.

Its actually obvious to say disabled people will have different occupations, interests, personalities etc. Another point that is obvious (but fair to mention alongside this) is how different impairments make disability a very varied thing. Someone in a wheelchair to being deaf, dyslexic, having ME and so forth will have massive differences in the effects to them as a person. The point of where all this grabbed my thoughts is around solutions to disability or indeed government decisions around social care and benefits. Clearly generalisations have to be made, but when people have ‘normal’ but varied traits (loud, quiet, shy, outgoing, thoughtful, practical, etc)  - a one size fits all approach is hard. Support for a wheelchair user being a builder is a different matter to a dyslexic teacher, yet both should be possible. Furthermore someone who is blind needs a totally different care package and financial support to someone with ME.

Clearly my area of experience and ‘strength’ is from a wheelchair users perspective. Having ‘generalised’ in some of my blogs I was right to learn of other impairments and know my blogging limitations on disability. However I do feel sometimes the disabled community can accidentally knock the points a person makes on a specific impairment, to enhance the profile of another part of the community. For me, to enable the government and other key decision makers to make the right solutions, the disabled community has to find its own common ground.

In acknowledging different impairments, acknowledging different perspectives, observations, viewpoints, opinions, approaches and other human traits would be a good start. Then to find the overarching objectives and similarities is the next step. There would be no need for shouting to represent a particular impairment, no need to push the agenda of a shy disabled person over an extravert, or indeed advocating for a ‘poorer’ fraction of the community over a ‘wealthier’ part (to generalise). This answer would allow for all impairments, all personalities, incomes and types of lifestyles to live fully. Only then will the government be hearing one loud, inescapable lobbying power. Until then I worry the smaller voices representing different parts of a massively disparate group of people will counter act itself rather than achieve the overall point – the right policies for each and every disabled individual!

I do not know of this overarching solution and stress these are just my personal thoughts over the past months. I would love to hear if you as a reader think this approach is flawed, could be tweaked more or you agree with its sentiments. The gold at the end of the rainbow is not coming tomorrow, but I believe to consider the disabled community in this way enables a more holistic way of reaching it sooner.

Thats enough heavy stuff for Monday night! Off to watch the Inbetweeners now

• I was pretty unwell for the first prolonged time of my working life in the winter months
• The car was an absolute nightmare throughout winter too
• I picked myself up with an amazing trip to Mexico – dolphins and scuba diving
• I started a new job at Scope straight after
• I setup my first ever disability event (‘Sunnier Days’ starring Natasha Wood and Sophie Morgan)
• I also carried out some consultancy projects around Personalisation and social media
• Had articles published on these subjects in Disability Now
• Been co-opted on the committee for Tottenham Hotspurs disabled supporters
• Co-ran a workshop on disability tips/hints at the JTSMA conference
• Had some great times with family and friends – clubbing, Bournemouth, Stratford etc
• Flew a bloody plane and recorded a song (coming soon)

More recently I have been both exhausted and unwell. I know now I have to watch how much I do in life at any one time. We all live and learn. I’d still say no regrets as the push I have had the past year means I can continue these great things but only when I have it in the tank. Its definitely been worth it.

The past week my ex girlfriend, but definite life-long friend Lena has been over. I was a little frustrated I had so little energy and the cold was bad that I couldn’t be as sociable as normal. However its been a great week catching up nonetheless. We had a real good chin wag and managed a great evening on the Southbank before cruising around the London sights in the car afterwards to some tunes last night.

Also the past couple of days I have been very aware of my concerns about being ill so early in the year, with winter coming and my ability to carry on normal life if the colds keep coming. The problem is I enter a vicious circle of getting ill, worrying about how bad it will be and if I can work ok, that it doesn’t improve as quick. Having had a chat with work and creating a strategy for a) preventing my getting run down and b) what to do if I am ill, I am feeling so much more positive.

This led onto the first clear thinking I have had on life for a long while. People who know me understand I don’t let my disability stop me, I hate doing things ‘differently’ and I am a sociable and ambitious fellow. Having calmed myself around health and working with the coming colder months, I came to the following conclusion of my priorities:

• First is my health. I plan to take Echinacea, vitamins and most importantly eat better. Also to not overdo anything and listen to my body when it says chill. Looking forward to swimming starting up again after schools holidays.
• Second is my job. I love working at Scope and obviously it provides me with the means to be independent. Now I can relax about health worries and totally enjoy my role.
• Third is social life. While I cant overdo it I reckon I need a night a week and something on the weekend to enjoy. I plan to book some concerts I have spotted (with birthday money), read books more, just chill in a coffee bar sometimes and still manage a good booze up with mates too. Furthermore spurs are in the champions league too J
• Last but not least is extra stuff. I love blogging, supporting disability charities, writing articles, advising the Tottenham Disabled Supporters Association, consulting on social media and personalisation. These will definitely not stop. I am simply going to space out these projects and run them as a marathon and not a sprint (as I maybe have done this summer).

So I will be interested to see how much I stuck to this new insight and plan. Lets have a look at 28, or even New Years Eve. Either way it feels great to see the world from a simpler, workable and happy perspective. I do still feel a little tired and under par but I think it will pass soon.

All that is left is to get to work tomorrow, enjoy my team birthday lunch at Wagamama and then enjoy mine and Shashika’s joint birthday bash in Angel. Looks like well over 50 Scope people are attending. Could get messy. Then I am back to mums Saturday for a potential barbecue and St.Ives massive get together in town. Dad then suggested Sunday pub lunch to see him and get pressies. Then I have Monday off for annual leave and a nice chill, plus to spend some of my bday money. Finally I am off to Wales Tuesday/Wednesday before a meeting with Tottenham Hotspurs for work on Thursday. Happy times.  I will check in again in the meantime I am sure. Cheers, Martyn.