Nomination for Mind Media Awards 2013

Nominating myself for an award goes against all my self-depracating Britishness, but buoyed on by being named on the list of most influential people in Britain I thought I would give it a go.

Anyone who knows me knows that I have long-term mental health problems and this is something I write about regularly. I also produce a podcast whose first episode was dedicated to mental health and stigma, in an interview with Charlotte, aka Bipolar Blogger. The fact that I often write from a service user's point of view does not mean that I feel I can get away with poor research or inadequate information: I always thoroughly investigate whatever subject I am writing about.

I also try to write about mental health issues in forums which are not dedicated to health or disability issues. In particular, in the past year, I have written about mental health at The F-Word feminist website and for the New Statesman:

• Women Can't Win: Mental Health in Crisis (The F-Word)
• This Minimally Sane Lunatic Fights Back (The F-Word)
• Stigma, mental health, fear-mongering and murder (The New Statesman).

Challenging stigma is particularly important to me. The discrimination which occurs daily, and the prejudice displayed against people with mental health problems is an incredibly widespread problem and this is made worse by irresponsible reporting in the media. Making sure that I write responsibly is therefore a key priority, and in particular I take care to follow the Samaritans guidelines on writing about suicide and self-harm. I also publicise these and share them when appropriate on social media and with other writers. I also use Trigger Warnings and Content Notes when needed.

The platforms where my writing is published have considerable reach, and I expand this further by sharing the work on my Twitter, Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn and Pinterest accounts. This social sharing means that more people are able to find and read what I write, and can in turn share it with their friends and contacts. 

Being named on the Most Influential Disabled People in Britain list does demonstrate the reach and impact I have. Through my writing and social media work I have made contacts and been able to network with a wide array of people and organisations, and I particularly enjoy having the opportunity to connect with people who would be isolated without social media as a means of communication. 

It is for all these reasons that I am nominating myself for the Digital Media section of the Mind Media Awards 2013. I believe so strongly that reporting on mental health should be responsible and should have service user voices at its core that I follow these principles throughout my work, and it is because of these core beliefs that I am putting myself forward.

More of my writing can be found here. 

Converge Podcast 03 "Zines are a good place for radical hope" - Interview with Zinester Cath Elms

On this episode of the Converge Podcast, I talk to Cath Elms, feminist and author of feminist perzine Here. In my Head.

We talk about feminism, longevity, typewriters, relating real life events to feminist theory, the zine community, how and why to start your own zine and much, much more. Enjoy!

Say hi to Cath and Philippa on Twitter - the text is populated for you but you can edit it.

Show Notes

• Spill the zines 
• Marching Stars Zine Distro 
• Rebel Grrl Zine 
• Cath's site: catherineelms.co.uk 
• Blatantblithe.wordpress.com 
• Cath on Twitter 
• Spill the Zines on Twitter and Facebook 
• Swansea Feminist Network on Facebook 
• Vampire Sushi Distro 

Direct Download: converge_ce_zines_3.mp3

Subscribe to the podcast 

• RSS 
• iTunes 
• Stitcher Smart Radio

Converge Podcast 02 “Once you open your eyes and see it it doesn’t go away, it gets worse” – Interview with Cath Smith of The Women’s Room

When two women on Twitter heard BBC Radio 4′s flagship Today programme host discussions with all-male participants, and the show said they had not been able to find any qualified women to feature, they decided to do something about it. They set up The Women’s Room, where over 2,000 women have signed up to register their expertise and experience.

In this episode of the Converge Podcast I talk to one of the site’s co-founders about sexism, Twitter and women’s representation in the media.


Show Notes

• The Women's Room
• The Women's Room on Twitter

Music (Creative Commons Licences)

• Holloway Holiday by Scragfight (This is what feminism sounds like)
• I dunno by Grapes (ccMixter)

Direct download: 02_Converge_The_Womens_Room.mp3

Subscribe to the podcast 

• RSS 
• iTunes 
• Stitcher Smart Radio

Converge Podcast 01 "A place to explore what I was feeling, and why I thought I was feeling like that" - Interview with Bipolar Blogger

Mental health service users face regular discrimination and are misunderstood and misrepresented by public opinion and the media. In this first episode of the Converge Podcast, I talk to Charlotte Walker, also known as the Bipolar Blogger, about her experience of mental ill-health, and how she has developed her blog and social media presence. We compare notes, share similarities and offer hints and tips to anyone listening who wants to better understand the issues surrounding mental illness and stigma.


Show Notes

• Mind
• Marbles: Mania, Depression, Michelangelo, and Me: A Graphic Memoir by Ellen Forney
• Charlotte's Blog
• Charlotte on Twitter
• Charlotte on Facebook

Music (Creative Commons Licences)

• Terminal by Drained Glory (Mansplaining on the Dancefloor
• I dunno by Grapes (ccMixter)

Direct download: 01_Converge_Bipolar_Blogger.mp3

Subscribe to the podcast 

• RSS 
• iTunes 
• Stitcher Smart Radio

Inked!

Hello, long-neglected blog, I have missed you! There is lots to say and update.

A year and a bit ago I became self-employed as a freelance writer. I didn't think I was going to be able to make it work, but somehow it went from strength to strength and I do seem to be holding my own in this business.

In seemingly unrelated news, I have wanted a tattoo for 15 years. My inability to make a decision about what it should depict means I have never done it. I would make a decision and change my mind and choose something else and change my mind. I was beginning to wonder if I would ever settle on something to actually get one done.

Back to the business... when I'd done it for a year, this felt super significant. Despite illness, disability, and sometimes feeling completely like I was floundering, I'd done it. It felt really important to mark it in some way. Of course, a tattoo came to mind, but that endless question - what would it be?

My eyes came upon a sign I have had by my desk for the whole year, which had encouraged me whenever I felt like I just couldn't do this thing. It reads, "She believed she could so she did". When I needed a confidence boost, I would look at the sign and realise I could do it. Not only did it help me, but I'd also looked at it most days for a whole year and still liked it...

So there I had it, the tattoo. I had it done yesterday and I love it.

Did it hurt?

Well, yes. However it was a lot, lot better than I'd imagined in that respect. It was sore, kind of like being scratched again and again and again. I wouldn't call it painful, although some spots were worse than others.

Where did you have it?

My left inner forearm. I've always known that my first tattoo would go there, for some reason. I think partly it's because when I used to self-harm, that part of my arm took the brunt of my frustrations, so this was a way to reclaim it somehow. The old scars means that the ink might not be entirely uniform, but I can live with that.

I also wanted it to be somewhere where it would be seen. I didn't want a tattoo somewhere like my back where neither I nor anybody else would ever see it, I wanted it to be visible.

Any regrets?

Not even a tiny one.

Who did it?

Nikk at Good Vibrations Tattoo in Crookes, Sheffield.

But what about when you're 94 and it's gross?

Source: Uploaded by user via Philippa on Pinterest

Love Sheffield

I love Sheffield. This morning I had an idea of simplicity and beauty, and created the Love Sheffield design. With encouragement from @andlavendercats I added it as a t-shirt range on RedBubble, including on baby clothes, then also as an iPhone case and a greeting card and postcard. Enjoy!

  "Love Sheffield" T-Shirts & Hoodies by incurablehippie:  

  "Love Sheffield" iPhone & iPod Cases by incurablehippie:

 

"Love Sheffield" Greetings Cards and Postcards by incurablehippie: 

Updates

I was interviewed for two fab articles with Women's Views on News:

• Crawling off a train: disability in the UK in 2012
  
• Disability: the Cinderella of feminism?

I also, amusingly, turned up on the ITV News website and a Canadian News site, CBC.ca, over a twitter hashtag game about the government's plans to snoop on every email we send, amongst other things.

Some posts I've done at The F-Word:

• Is it any surprise?, about rape culture
  
• Are you a neighbour from hell? You might be surprised, about poverty and disability.
  
• Dennis Waterman: "It's not hard for a woman to make a man hit her" about, well, about Dennis Waterman saying that.
  
• Cinderella Ate My Daughters, about a great podcast I listened to.

Personally, things have been busy. I'm missing writing for Where's the Benefit? but since the Welfare Reform Bill (oh, sorry, Act) came into law I've felt entirely powerless over it. I need to get beyond a place where every possible action seems pointless, in that respect.

"Got another forgery then, have you?"

The last few weeks I've been on two crutches rather than one. This started when I tripped and tore a toenail off, then continued when I got new neurological symptoms in a rather large new section of my left thigh.

While I am normally all in favour of the wonder of mobility aids, because they give people freedom and independence and, well, mobility, I get seriously less enthusiastic when I need two crutches rather than one. It means I am hurting my elbows and wrists on both arms instead of just one, it makes doing nearly anything a nightmare. I have to ask for help a lot more, it hurts, I hate it.

If it turns out to be long-term I'll just have to get the hang of it, but in the meantime, I'm seriously unimpressed.

This morning I got on the bus. It's a local service where it tends to be the same drivers most of the time, so I know some of them. Today, on spotting that I had two crutches and not one, a driver I know reasonably well said, "got another forgery then, have you?", and laughed.

It was banter. That bloody word. Can't I take a joke?

On top of feeling distinctly unimpressed with the two crutch situation already, this idiot added a whole other layer of fed-up-ness to the mix. For the rest of the day I felt self-conscious. Do all these people think I'm faking?

If he had thought about it, even for a millisecond, he would perhaps have realised that an increase in the number of crutches perhaps corresponded with a deterioration in my health. He would perhaps have realised that I might not be overjoyed about that.

Today was so painful. My arms are completely wrecked, and my right hand is considerably worse than usual. I don't know if that is a progression of the condition, or just a reaction to too much crutch use today.

It's not funny. It's not banter. It's thoughtless and fucking cruel, if you take even a second to think about it.

Gay marriage is really very scary

A terrified umbrella group has been set up who believe that because of the gays, that teetering, vulnerable institution which is heterosexual marriage, is under threat.



Warning of the Profound Consequences of legalising same sex marriage, the Coalition for Marriage fear that, "if marriage is redefined, those who believe in traditional marriage will be sidelined". They also, somewhat inexplicably, warn that "People's careers could be harmed, couples seeking to adopt or foster could be excluded". Because presumably, if the gays can marry, this will cause widespread redundancies and it will mean that social services will no longer accept heterosexual married couples as potential adopters or foster carers.



Following is that infamous slippery slope, "If marriage is redefined once, what is to stop it being redefined to allow polygamy?". I'm surprised they didn't carry on to the usual "or what is to stop people marrying their pets?". Are the Coalition for Marriage so fearful that if same sex relationships get equal rights, heterosexual people will abandon traditional marriage in droves, to marry their gay best friend instead?

The Coalition for Marriage are running a petition which, they say, "demonstrates that there is broad public opposition to redefining marriage". They may have jumped the gun with this statement, as the 'broad public support' currently stands at 124 signatories, the vast majority of whom are Bishops, Rectors, members of the General Synod of the Church of England, vicars, Ministers and Pastors. Three Labour MPs and four Conservative MPs have also signed, but the people who have signed can be considered to be neither numerous nor broad in range at this stage.

They begrudgingly promote Civil Partnerships as justification for now allowing same sex marriage, before pointing out that "It's not discriminatory to support traditional marriage", going on to say, "People should not feel pressurised to go along with same-sex marriage just because of political correctness. They should be free to express their views". So, I'm expressing my views.

Quite why allowing same sex people to marry fills these people with such dread is not something I can understand. If I marry a girlfriend, it doesn't have to be karmically balanced out by a straight couple getting divorced. Heterosexual marriage is one of the most established institutions in the whole world - just what do they imagine might happen if I could join in? It's almost flattering that they think equal marriage rights would be such a powerful move that the entire heteropatriarchal institution would be under immediate threat. I would be quite happy if it would, but I fear it is overestimating what two men or two women getting married would actually mean.

(Clue, it would mean they were married, then got on with their lives like everyone else)

The Coalition are asking for people to sign up to the following statement,

I support the legal definition of marriage which is the voluntary union for life of one man and one woman to the exclusion of all others. I oppose any attempt to redefine it.

Personally, I support the rights of same sex couples to marry, and of mixed sex couples to get a Civil Partnership.

Mind you, having just watched this video, maybe the Coalition for Marriage is right: gay marriage could in fact end humanity.



In all seriousness, however, many people struggle greatly with the inability to commit to marriage within their relationships. A video of Kitty Lambert in New York expresses powerfully just how ridiculous the current laws are.



You can see the full-length version of that video here.

[The first image is a screenshot of the Coalition for Marriage website. The second is a cartoon from Lefty Cartoons, used under a Creative Commons Licence. Hat tip to @bhiggi for helping me to find the second video. This post originally appeared at The F-Word]

Schtuff

Some things I have written elsewhere but have not cross-posted here for one reason or another.

Most excitingly, I wrote in The Guardian Comment is Free about getting abuse for being disabled.

And at The F-Word I vow to refuse to attend events with an all-male line-up on the panel

Gauge Your Victim-Blaming

Privacy and Prejudice

When is an affair not an affair? (Trigger warning)

Shocked Headline as Fat Disabled Woman Has Fun.

I have other big news which I will update the blog with as soon as I can!

Adult Sleepwalking

I sleepwalked last night. It is something I have started doing this year, for reasons unknown. It is horrible, and I wake up too freaked out to get back to sleep. I'm writing this because it's bedtime again and I'm scared now.

It's not even just sleepwalking. Last night I got to sleep about 2.30am. I woke up at 4. I was downstairs, and had sleepwalked. Not just that. I woke up vomiting, because I had eaten tonnes of food in my sleep. I have no idea where my glasses are (I have spares now, thankfully, mainly because of this very thing).

I woke up vomiting over myself, after 1.5 hours sleep, because I had eaten so much. In my sleep.

It is foul, I hate it, it scares me.

Can't imagine this post will stay up long, because it's all quite humiliating. But maybe writing it down will help me to freak out less in anticipation of sleeping tonight.

Subscribe to hippie blog on Kindle

In exciting news, as well as subscribing by RSS feed, you can also now subscribe to incurable hippie blog on your Kindle!



As far as I can tell it is only available in the UK and the US.

You're Frightening Me

It started with a blog post, where David Gillon challenged 38 degrees about why, despite a disability benefit cuts campaign receiving lots of votes, it never reached the 'call to action' stage.

Then there was an article (now amended) which described an athlete's move from Paralympic to Olympic competition as a "move up".

I then read in Jezebel about a sex worker who is awesome because she works with disabled clients, which apparently makes her intriguing.

And I started to wonder, what do you think of us? Of me? In these three stages, the mainstream, and the left-wing, tell me that I am inferior, and I am other. So very, very other.

Then Lisa Egan wrote a post (trigger warning) about suicide, and her despair at the lack of support from even campaigning organisations, and I still, somehow, didn't cry.

Then, finally, the article that did make me cry, in which I learned that 2/3 of people avoid disabled people because they don't know how to act around us. In addition,

A third of those questioned demonstrated hardened negative attitudes towards the disabled. Reasons cited for this ranged from disabled people being seen as a burden on society (38%), ill feeling around the perceived extra support given to disabled people (28%), and the personal worries and sensitivities which rise to the fore during a recession (79%).

It went on,

Some 60% of Britons admit to staring at disabled people because they are different, with more than half of people (51%) admitting they feel uncomfortable when they meet a disabled person for the first time, with more men (54%) admitting to being uncomfortable compared to women (50%).

At a time when cuts are actually killing disabled people, we are also experiencing more negative attitudes, perceptions of being a burden, an additional cost, especially during a recession. How very inconsiderate of us to not wait to attain crippled status until the economy is fixed.

If you're questioning whether this is a feminist issue, then the point is being missed. I am a woman who 38% of people polled consider to be a burden. I am a woman who 2/3 of people polled admit to avoiding for reasons of prejudice. I am a woman who 50% of women polled admitted to being uncomfortable to meet. I am a woman who is witnessing her friends become more and more afraid to leave the house, for fear of government- and Daily Mail-inspired abuse in the street. I've experienced it myself.

There are so many issues at the moment which are putting us all into a state of crisis. This is one of many: people are starting to frighten me. Is the person I'm talking to one of the 38%? Or the 50% Or the 65%?

Given that women are the hardest hit by spending cuts, and disabled people are the hardest hit by spending cuts, disabled women are being overlooked, avoided, resented, marginalised and othered. It takes non-disabled people, at this stage, to make some of the changes that need to happen.

(Cross-posted at The F-Word and Where's the Benefit?)

[The image is a photograph of handmade print next to one of the stencils. They read "FEAR MORE HOPE LESS". The photograph and artwork are by Ben Murphy and are used under a Creative Commons Licence]

Divide and rule works both ways

When I complained about Julian Assange speaking at Occupy LSX, I was told I was being divisive. When I drew attention to zohra moosa and Chitra Nagarajan's experiences of racism at the same occupy camp, I was also told I was being divisive. Complaining about the Labour Party, about the Lib Dems, about rapes at other Occupy camps, about inaccessible feminist meetings, and about issues being ignored under the heading of #solidarity, all get me called divisive.

The idea is that if you complain about something, you risk dividing the movement, at which point the opposition - be it the patriarchy, the 'right', the rich, the government - can move in and rule. And I understand this concern. When a movement is struggling for a voice, the last thing it needs is the people within it arguing amongst themselves, instead of against the people they are uniting to fight.

However, there comes a point when supporting a movement whose ideology or aims you broadly agree with becomes one painful compromise too many. And if you speak up, the 'divisive' accusations pour forth. But in my daily, lived experience, the division does not come from me raising awareness, the problem comes from the issues arising in the first place.

Because if I cannot physically get into your occupy camp, it is not me who has divided the movement. There is a very literal division between the non-disabled people who can get in, and the disabled people who can't. And because if there have been rapes at your occupy camp, or your occupy camp produces a document telling anyone who is raped at the camp to not go to the police, it is not me who divides the movement by drawing attention to it, it is those who rape, and those who attempt to suppress legal redress against rapists who cause a division. And because if disabled people who can't leave the house spend hours and days and weeks live tweeting events to take part in, and raise awareness of, a demonstration, and then those same disabled people actually plead with the protesters to add benefit and social care cuts to their banners and chants, and are ignored at every turn, the division is being created by them, not me.

I understand that in a broad movement, gathered together ideologically but not always agreeing, compromises will need to be made. I am becoming less and less understanding, however, about how often the white, heterosexual, cis, non-disabled men are asked to compromise, in comparison to the rest of us. Because being called divisive is sometimes very similar to being silenced.

This was originally posted at The F-Word.

[The image is a black and white close-up photograph of a person's mouth, with piercing, with a finger held up against it in a 'shush' position. It was taken by Ko_An and is used under a Creative Commons Licence]

Today I will mostly be listening to

CSC Funk Band via freemusicarchive.org.

Procrastination Podcast and Book

Anyone who knows me knows that I am a chronic procrastinator. In an effort to improve this really stressful trait in my life I have been reading up and studying all about it, and one of the best resources I have found is the iProcrastinate Podcast. I have been listening to the whole back catalogue over the last couple of months, and trying to implement some of the strategies that Dr. Tim Pychyl recommends and explains.

Since my year in France, as part of my degree, I've always wondered why French people apparently do not procrastinate. They don't even have a word for it (dictionary said, "faire quelquechose demain qu'on devrait faire aujourd'hui" - do something tomorrow that you should do today). So, as Tim sometimes answers listener queries on his podcast, I decided to email him. To my very pleasant surprise, he responded quickly and has now made a podcast episode all about it.

I am very much looking forward to listening to it, and you should go listen too! Go on, it'll be good, I promise.

Tim has also written an awesome book, The Procrastinator's Digest, (also on Kindle for only a few pennies over £2!) and you can see his website here.

[The image is a photomosaic of 36 clocks. It was taken by Leo Reynolds and is used under a Creative Commons Licence]

Disability and Sexuality Resources

I have been doing some research on sex and disability, and thought I would share some of the links I have found. This will be useful for me in the future as a resource, and hopefully to others too.

Disability and Sex General Links

• Disability Dharma: What Including & Learning From Disability Can Teach (Everyone) About Sex
  
• How to Meet, Date and Have Sex When You're Disabled
  
• Sexual Pleasure & the Disabled Adult
  
• Disability and Body Image
  
• Sex and Disability
  
• Good Sex Positions for Disabled Sex
  
• Let's Get Physical
  
• Disability and Orgasm: Your Orgasmic Potential
  
• Practical Sex Tips for Disabled People
  
• No Big Deal: Sex & Disability
  
• Self-Advocates Speak Up About Sex
  
• Sexuality and Disability Myths and Facts
  
• Disabled and No Sexual Pleasure
  
• Sex, Disability and the DSP: Ethically Supporting Sexual Choices
  
• Sex and Disability: Impacts of Disability on Sex
  
• Sexual Expression for Adults with Disabilities: The Role of Guardianship
  
• Disability and Sexual Activity: The Mechanics of it All
  
• Contraception for People with Disabilities
  
• Disabled? Discovering Your Sexual Self
  
• Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual
  
• Talking About Sensitive Topics
  
• Personal Relationships and People with Physical Disabilities
  
• Physical Problems and Female Sexual Dysfunction
  
• Talking about Disability on a Date
  
• Lovers with Disabilities Become Liberated with Tantric Sex
  
• My Partner is Scared to Try
  
• Getting Assistance: Having Sex and Using Your Sex Toy
  
• Physical Disability and Sexual Intercourse
  
• A Sexuality Policy That Truly Supports People with Disabilities
  
• Two Lovers With Disabilities Need Help
  
• How to Meet, Date and "Do It" When You're Disabled
  
• Sex and Disability Webliography
  
• Eli Clare - Challenging Our Differences
  
  Sex, Disability and Young People
  
• Sex Education for Physically Disabled Teenagers
  
• Growing Up: A teachers's guide to Sex and Relationships Education for Young People with Physical Disabilities
  
• Sex and Your Child with a Disability
  
• Talking about sex and relationships: the views of young people with learning disabilities
  
• Sexuality Education for Children and Adolescents with Developmental Disabilities
  
• Sexuality and Persons with Disabilities
  
• Sexuality Meets Intellectual Disability: What Every Parent Should Know
  
• Sexuality and Cystic Fibrosis: Information for Adolescents
  
  Medications and Sex
  
• Sexual Side Effects of Medications: How prescription and OTC medications can have sexual side effects
  Effects of Medications on Female Sexual Response
  
• Researching Sexual Side Effects of Prescription Medications
  
• Sexual Side Effects of Prescription Medications
  
• How To Manage Sexual Side Effects of Prescription Medications
  
• Physical Sexual Side Effects of Medications
  
  Disability and Sex Toys
  
• Top 10 Ideas on Adapting Sex Toys
  
• Making Sex Toys Accessible
  
• Sex Toys and Disability
  
• Disability and Sex Toys
  
• Research Before Adapting Sex Toys
  
• Accessible Sex Toys
  
• Adapting Toys for Decreased Sensation
  
• Adapting Toys for Increased Sensation
  
• Fatigue and Sex Toys
  
• Adapting Toys for Mobility and Motor Control
  
• Paraplegic Sex and Quadriplegic Sex: Good Vibrations
  
• Adapting Sex Toys for Privacy
  
• Sex Toy Accessibility Checklist
  
• Adapting Sex Toys for Fatigue
  
• Sex Toys and Allergies
  
  Fatigue and Sex
  
• Sex and Fatigue: How Do You Stay Sexual When You Have No Energy for Sex?
  
• Sex and Fatigue
  
• Your Sex Drive With Fibromyalgia & Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
  
• Fatigue and Sex Toys
  
• Sex, Fatigue and Depression
  
• Adapting Sex Toys for Fatigue
  
  Multiple Sclerosis and Sex
  
• Multiple Sclerosis & Sex
  
• My husband has MS and doesn't like sex anymore. Why?
  
• My wife has MS and doesn't want to have sex anymore. Why not and what can I do?
  
• Multiple Sclerosis and Sexual Problems
  
• Top 10 Sex Tips for Men with Multiple Sclerosis
  
• Sex and Multiple Sclerosis
  
  Arthritis and Sex
  
• Love, Sex and Arthritis
  
• Sex and Arthritis
  
  Spinal Cord Injury and Sex
  
• The ABCs of Sex After Spinal Cord Injury
  
• Sexuality in Spinal Injury: The spinal cord injured female: Orgasm
  
• Sexuality in Spinal Injury: The spinal cord injured female: Fertility, Childbirth and Contraception
  
• Sexuality in Spinal Injury: The spinal cord injured female: Sexual Behaviour and Activity
  
• Best Sex Positions for Spinal Cord Injured Women
  
• User's Guide to the Paralyzed Penis: Sex after Spinal Cord Injury
  
• Paraplegic Sex and Quadriplegic Sex: Good Vibrations
  
• Sexuality in Spinal Injury: the spinal cord injured male: Erections
  
• Sexuality in Spinal Injury: the spinal cord injured male: Ejaculation, Orgasm and Coitus
  
• Sexuality in Spinal Injury: the spinal cord injured male: Sexual Drive and Activity
  
• Intercourse & Pleasure With a Spinal Cord Injury
  
• Sexuality and Fertility - Impact on Men with SCI
  
• Sexuality and Fertility - Impact on Women with SCI
  
  Cancer and Sex
  
• Cancer and Sex: How Cancer Affects Your Sex Life
  
• Intimacy and Sexuality for cancer patients and their partners
  
  Diabetes and Sex
  
• Sex and Diabetes
  
• Diabetes and Sex: Does It Have to Doom Your Sex Life?
  
• Sexuality and Diabetes
  
• Erectile Dysfunction Treatments for Patients with Diabetes
  
  Fibromyalgia and Sex
  
• Fibromyalgia and Your Sex Life
  
  Parkinson's Disease and Sex
  
• Parkinson's Disease and Your Sex Drive
  
• Parkinson's Disease and Sex
  
  ALS / Lou Gehrig's Disease and Sex
  
• ALS & Your Sex Life
  
  Learning Disabilities and Sex
  
• Talking about sex and relationships: the views of young people with learning disabilities
  
• Sex and Learning Disabilities
  
• Sexuality Meets Intellectual Disability: What Every Parent Should Know
  
  Ostomy and Sex
  
• Sex and the Person with an Ostomy
  
  Continence and Sex
  
• Continence and Sex
  
  Cystic Fibrosis and Sex
  
• Sexuality and Cystic Fibrosis: Information for Adolescents
  
• Sexuality, Fertility and Cystic Fibrosis: Information for Adults
  
  Back Pain and Sex
  
• Sex Tips for Back Pain Sufferers
  
• Ways to Enjoy Sex While Helping Your Back
  
  Augmentative and Alternative Communication and Sex
  
• Promoting Healthy Sexuality and Safeguarding in Youth who Use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
  
• Sexual Health Education for AAC Users - Speak Up Findings
  
• Promoting Healthy Sexuality and Safeguarding in Youth who use Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC)
  
• Sexual Health: Knowledge and Skills for People who Use AAC
  
• Sexual Health Issues for People who Use AAC
  
  

A well-loved man.

Earlier this year, a friend of several of my friends died. He was young, and the circumstances were tragic and, at the time, somewhat newsworthy. But the news media can all too easily lose sight of the very real grief and sadness surrounding someone's death, by getting caught up in the 'story'.

Some months later, and this 'story' has re-appeared in the local news, because his inquest has taken place. The real loss facing his friends and family has been overlooked in favour, yet again, of sensationalised details of his death.

Because he died by suicide, even more care than usual should be taken when reporting his death. According to the Press Complaints Commission's Editors' Code of Practice, "When reporting suicide, care should be taken to avoid excessive detail about the method used.". This is also backed up by the Samaritans, who say that

certain types of suicide reporting are particularly harmful and can act as a catalyst to influence the behaviour of people who are already vulnerable.[...] Research suggests that media portrayal can influence suicidal behaviour and this may result in an overall increase in suicide and/or an increase in uses of particular methods.

They also specifically advise the media to "Avoid explicit or technical details of suicide in reports".

On a more personal level, this man's friends and family are devastated at his loss. In particular, it is felt that reports like the one in today's Star not only dramatise a tragic situation, they also ignore that this was a person who was loved, and whose life amounted to so much more than what was portrayed. In addition, the mention of his child is worded in such a way that his friends are concerned that this could cause her to blame herself for his death when she is older.

This man died because of depression, and responsible reporting should include information on how people who are feeling depressed can seek help. Ethical reporting should refrain from including unnecessary, distressing details of his last moments. And respectful reporting should take into account the feelings of those who loved him, who will read this news report with a pain that is difficult to describe, but devastating to experience.

I did not know this man, but have seen similar newspaper reports on the suicides of two of my friends, so I know this pain well.

Disabled people occupy the UK / Occupy Sheffield access info

While I hadn't been able to join an occupation on a Sunday, I went to my local occupation this afternoon and spent an hour or so there drinking tea and putting the world to right. What follows is not an in-depth access survey, but is rather the impression I got, based on the information I was told or observed.

The Sheffield Occupation is in front of the Cathedral, so trams and buses stop nearby. It is on a flat courtyard and while there are some steps to access it from some directions, there are sloped alternatives alongside them.

The Occupy Sheffield has one portaloo, which is not accessible. The local Quaker Meeting House is offering the occupiers use of their toilets, and they do have wheelchair accessible toilets on each floor (with lift access to each floor). Once they close from 9pm - 9am, use of the portaloo begins, excluding many disabled people from using it.

The closest Changing Places toilets to the site are at Sheffield Town Hall and at Ponds Forge Sports Centre.

They have generators for electricity, but try to only use these at night. They also have gas heat, which is basic. If you need electrical power for any of your equipment, this could be problematic at the Occupy Sheffield camp. If you have a need to keep warm that would go beyond wrapping up really well, then again it may be an inaccessible protest for you in that respect too.

There is a good supply of food and hot drinks. I was the only visibly disabled person at the camp when I was there, but talked to a man who was a mental health service user. Another disabled person had clearly been at the camp at some point too. This photo is of a piece of paper taped to the main tent, which reads "I am one of the few disabled people who has a job. I am mad about what our society has become. I am the 99%".

The photo at the top of the post is of the main tent. It has a large banner on it, reading "Occupy Sheffield", and another fabric banner reading We Heart NHS. Both were taken by me.

There is a lot more I could say about the experience at #occupysheffield and maybe I will, but for now, this is a very basic accessibility survey for the site.

What I've Been Up To

The main thing I've been up to is setting up a massive database to link feminists on twitter with similar interests. It's been a lot of work, but 258 people have already signed up and filled it in, and that's in 24 hours!

If you are a feminist on twitter, fill in the form, then find others on the spreadsheet. See my blog post about it here.

Other things I have been doing, have been:

• a post about LaDIYFest Sheffield at The F-Word
  
• a post about the renewed Michaela Hague murder appeal at The F-Word
  

My favourite things today have been this video, and this news story.

As usual I'm on twitter as me, and my writer / social media self is also there @PhilippaWrites. There will be more news on this in a few weeks. I also run the F-Word twitter account and sometimes post from Where's the Benefit? account too.

And I may as well list everything while I'm at it, eh? So you can see the daftness I post on tumblr, find me on google+ and on Linked In.