tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-35986103889056039902024-02-08T12:28:01.654+00:00Kaspieman's blogKaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.comBlogger173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-44136646915453237752014-09-05T22:17:00.002+01:002014-09-05T22:52:13.932+01:00This happens and the media just don't care<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">On the 17th August 2014 an 18 year old male with Asperger's, fell, broke his spine in four places, and will, as a result, never walk again.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">You probably won't have heard about this in the media. It has hardly been mentioned. Not on social media forums, apart from ITV News on Facebook. It has hardly been mentioned on the national news.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">He now will have to face and come to terms with a permanent and life changing, not to mention mentally and physically devastating disability, as well as his Asperger's, which presented challenges in its own right. This was compounded with society misunderstanding him, and ignorance and bigotry.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">You might say that this is a tragic event or accident, and very sad for the young man, and his family, but, not really worth mentioning. Tragic and devastating accidents such as this do happen. There is one exception though. This wasn't an accident. It was caused because he was running away from bullies, whose hands Joshua had been suffering at for five years. Earlier this summer he refused to buy alcohol for local youths. For that, somebody jumped on his back, and started hitting him on the back of his head. Joshua retaliated and was charged for assault, making him scared to defend himself again.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">South Wales Police said it dealt with three allegations of assault against Joshua between April 2011 and June 2014. This still happened. Such is life. Such is the law.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">This incident has hardly been featured on the national news. No politicians or celebrities have spoke out against it. If they have, I haven't heard them. There's been no condemnation of it from Ed Miliband or David Cameron or Nick Clegg. There has been no national uproar or outrage. There have been no campaigns demanding that those responsible are brought to justice. Nobody has launched a "Justice for Josh" page on Facebook or Twitter. It hasn't made the front pages of hardly any national newspapers.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Yesterday an 82 year old woman was beheaded in a garden in North London. This was an horrific and barbaric murder. It also received gallons of media attention and publicity. Umpteen threads forums devoted and dedicated to it on social media. Pages and pages in the national newspapers. People demanding the shooting, hanging, and repatriation of all Muslims. It seems much of the public are enraged, just as they were, (rightly) over Lee Rigby's murder on 22nd May 2013, another horrible, brutal and savage crime.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The victim has been named as Palmira Silva. I send my condolences to Ms Silva's family. Her murderer, Muslim or not, is a brute, who has to be locked away for a very long time, if not for the rest of his natural life. If you can have such a disregard for human life, then you are a danger to the public and should not be mixing with them.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Why though, does one cruel and brutal crime receive wall to wall coverage and attention and the other almost indifference?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">What has happened to Joshua is a hate crime, which is as much as a social evil as racism, but whilst the latter is now a stigma (Rightly so) in society, the former is hardly mentioned or recognised. If those responsible are caught, they should receive at least five years in prison, their parents should be prosecuted and they and their parents should pay for his care for the rest of his life.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">If the media aren't talking about the beheading in North London, they are talking about the middle east situation, which was partly created by us invading Iraq illegally in 2003. Or they are talking about X-Factor and Big Brother.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">It makes you want to weep.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I think a Facebook group should be set up in support and demanding the convictions of those responsible.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Imagine if they had done it to a black man or an OAP. Imagine the outrage that would be occurring instead of the almost indifference from the media and society we are currently getting.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-91912892921506861092013-12-16T17:18:00.005+00:002013-12-16T17:19:33.370+00:00The variations of being normal <span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">People talk about "Normal" or why can't you be "Normal". For me that is a very subjective word. It also changes with time.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">It is December 2013. In December 1913 if you committed child abuse or were a pedophile, the chances were you would almost certainly have got away with it, as that sort of thing was not discussed in society back then. Nowadays it is viewed with horror and if you commit either act you will be looking at a prison sentence and will have to be protected in prison to stop other inmates from getting at you.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">If you were a homosexual back then and were caught in a relationship with another man, you would be sent to prison or at least to see a psychiatrist to be cured. As late as the early 70's homosexuality was seen as a mental illness. Nowadays the age for homosexual sex is the same as heterosexual sex in the Western World, and gay marriage is allowed. What was seen as odd in the past is seen as normal now. Abortion was banned until 1967. It is legalised now in the UK. Who would dream of banning abortion or criminalising homosexuality now or turning an eye to pedophilia?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The slave trade was once seen as normal and so was viewing the mentally ill as being possessed by the devil. Who believes either are now?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">It changes where in the word you live. What is seen as "Normal" in one culture or in one part of the world isn't in another.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">So what actually is this "Normal" that people talk about? Is it how you behave? How you dress? Your lifestyle? The music you like? Your political views? Your religious views? Your views on morality? Where you like to go for a holiday?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">What can it be when it changes so much with time, geography, culture and interpretation?</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-89334417932719661642013-03-06T18:32:00.004+00:002022-09-06T22:39:21.411+01:00Thinking Outside The Box<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">In life, we all have our own strengths and talents, that's what makes us individuals. For me what is termed as intelligence can be measured in numerous ways: Academic, Linguistic, Numerical, Practical, Sporting, Emotional, Common Sense, Ability to make money, Cunning even. I find that the "Academic" curriculum, or education system in the UK or that style of learning suits people who think inside the box. There is a certain kind of free-thinker who prospers in education, but you can find that people with AS, Autism, and Dyslexia have problems because they think outside the box. Some even throw the box away! Unfortunately in mainstream education unless you fit neatly into that box you're can be branded thick or be held back, which is not a good start to life for any young person. Sadly, as a result, and I am talking about NT people as well as non-NT people now, due to this they can develop and grow up with low self-esteem, which can get worse and worse as the years pass by.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I can find it difficult to follow instructions.. particularly when they are spoken, due to processing problems or misunderstanding what I am told or what the person speaking to me is trying to say. Sometimes instructions can be not very clear or long-winded, and by which time I lose interest or miss pieces out. Sometimes they can be vague. If someone shows me how to do something practically, it's much easier for me to do it. I seem to always do well on my own instructions and thinking but not always on other people's. When I am interested in something I hyper-focus and can read through it quickly and I understand things very fast. When I am not, I have to read, and re-read it so the information goes in, and that means writing it down as I read. I often become tired if I am not interested when trying to concentrate, because my brain is having to work twice hard to process information. Of course I can do it, but it is harder. I always seem to learn and do better in life with smaller groups of people around me. Like I have said before, I can function fine socially when I have to mix and converse with up to about eight people at once. When it starts getting more than that I struggle. In large groups I am often nervous and anxious.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Never make the mistake in thinking lack of academic success is due to low or lack of intelligence. It can be, but more often than not, there are plenty of reasons why it occurs, and low or lack of intelligence is rarely one of them.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-38360385612776516772013-02-10T11:46:00.002+00:002013-02-10T11:46:22.126+00:00Naturals and Strugglers See Different Things<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">How many times have you heard it said that someone is a natural at doing something? Be it playing football or learning to drive or drawing or photography or anything else. I am not sure I subscribe to the "Naturals" theory anyway. There have been plenty of people described as "Naturals" when learning to drive, particularly when at the ages of 17 or 18, and have passed their driving test first time, only to crash their car in the first fortnight and totally write it off, whereas many other people have passed third and fourth time, and have drove for many years without a point or ticket to their name, or without being involved in any kind of accident or incident, so you have to ask who is the natural?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Communication, interacting and socialising, along with reading other people and their body language and processing what they say, is second nature to the vast majority of people who are not on the Autistic Spectrum. You could say they are naturals at it and that it is as natural to them as blinking is to me. They probably don't even think about doing it. As a result, when it comes to socialising, communicating, interacting and processing spoken information, I will refer to those not on the Autistic Spectrum as "Naturals".</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Yet most people on the Autistic Spectrum have to work very hard at doing it and are often worn out mentally and emotionally by having to do it, particularly if they have to do it for too long or if there are too many people around. I know I am.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I have a theory on why I can see through people or am rarely taken in by them, despite struggling in social situations or not being able to read them very well, whereas a lot of naturals in social situations often are taken in by unsavoury characters or dishonest people or can't see bad in others. Perhaps is because I am too busy focusing on them, and weighing them up, and not on the conversation, whereas a lot of naturals focus on the conversation. Eye contact, taking turns and body language come to them like blinking does to me. In situations such as that, I think to myself "He's alright. I don't like him, and I will work him out the next time I see him", and do you know what, I am very rarely wrong in my judgement or assessment of people... I don't know if it is a vibe I get or a hunch I have or intuition when I study them. I can't explain it, but I can explain that I am very rarely wrong in my judgement and assessments of other people.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I can only conclude that in social situations, people who are naturals and those who struggle see and process different things.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-86773440038005472672013-02-04T00:37:00.001+00:002013-02-04T00:37:31.630+00:00The Paradox of ASC's and NT's<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I find it a paradox that most people on the spectrum don't like or are afraid of unfamiliar people and situations, and yet are often accepting of differences in people, whereas many NT's embrace change and unfamiliar people and situations, and yet are intolerant or hostile towards anything or anyone that is different!</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-61599475985577534542013-01-20T17:27:00.002+00:002013-01-20T17:31:32.041+00:00The extent people will go to be famous<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Andy Warhol once said that everybody will be famous for 15 minutes. I don't quite agree with him but he has a point is that some people are famous and then fade away. For example, there are many rock stars or TV stars from the 1970's and 1980's, who are still alive and well, but you never hear about them nowadays in January 2013.. They don't make the news anymore and are more or less consigned to obscurity. Perhaps in some cases it is obscurity that is well deserved in some cases.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Does anybody remember Maureen Rees, that woman who took numerous attempts to pass her driving test? She was featured on a Reality TV show about 1997.. and for me, that programme triggered off the Reality TV crazy of the naughties and the tens. Of course there has always been Reality TV shows throughout the history of Television, but from about 1999 onwards there has been reality TV shows, after that, dominating our screens, on every Channel. Yet who hears about Maureen Rees nowadays? Or for that matter, many Pop Idol/X-factor winners or even notable contestants. Step forward Hearsay, Gareth Gates, Michelle McManus, Steve Brookstein and Shayne Ward. Do you see these people's faces plastered all over the national newspapers? Do you hear about them constantly on the national TV news?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">The problem is with fame is that for some people it is never enough. Some seek it at any price. Like for example, those who go on the X-factor auditions early on, who have no discernible singing talent. Yet they still go on there to humiliate themselves on National TV, in front of millions of people watching. You must ask why on earth do they do it? Do they possess no shame or sense of self-worth? Are they so desperate that they will do anything to be recognised or noticed? I remember this bloke in his mid 70's went on.. with a white beard and white hair and recited a poem. I personally can't see the connection between that and musical or singing talent but there you go.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Occasionally people seeking fame, who aren't particularly talented, have gone onto make names for themselves. Jedward for example, have established themselves as a novelty act and I am sure they are now both millionaires. I think their music is hideous, but they have done well out of it so good luck to them. There was this guy who went on Holland's version of the X-factor who had no musical talent. I can't exactly remember what is name was but he was voted off early and yet made a minor name for himself as a novelty act and opened a few shops and supermarkets. And of course I remember from a long time back, Michael "Eddie the Eagle" Edwards, who came last at the February 1988 Calgary Olympics for Britain. Edwards became an international celebrity and appeared in talk shows all over the world. I remember him on Wogan all those years ago. Edwards appeared in a number of advertising campaigns, e.g. on television, promoting cars. He was able to command fees of £10,000 an hour, and again, good luck to him.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">When you watch Snooker matches, people there seem to have a cough. Perhaps it must be a prerequisite to gain entrance to snooker matches that you have to have one. Whenever a player takes a shot, suddenly, everybody at once starts coughing!!! It seems that people are trying to get their cough on TV. When you watch football matches on TV as well, you see people waving at the TV cameras, or trying to get noticed.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Have you noticed with Songs of Praise it happens as well? On an average Sunday there will probably be about 6 people and a Dog in the Church. Then the TV cameras turn up and what happens? They are packed to the rafters.. even the Atheists turn up and start singing hymns just to get on TV... then the following week there are probably 6 people and a dog again in the same Church. And the regular congregation, the faithful who turn up every Sunday are shoved out of the way by the rest because the TV cameras are there.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-66752153909080786122013-01-12T19:58:00.005+00:002013-01-12T19:58:53.964+00:00A fortune or property might not be the only thing they find<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Has anybody seen that Heir Hunters programme on BBC1? If they look hard enough, finding heirs to fortune or property that has been left might not be the only thing the researchers come across if they search hard enough. It is formulaic that the deceased on the programme are loners or recluses who had hardly any friends, didn't bother with many of the neighbours, if any of them. In hindsight, from what we know nowadays, perhaps many of those who have died, who have been featured on the programme, were on the Spectrum and didn't know about it or were undiagnosed, or had at least psychiatric conditions or personality disorders which were undiagnosed? Watching that programme has made me realise that is actually a job I feel I would be good at. In fact I would be good at being both a recluse and heir hunter! I only accidentally came across my talent for research when I did my 95 year old Grandmothers family tree between March 2010 and March 2011.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-24122199601554138212013-01-04T00:18:00.002+00:002013-01-04T00:19:09.331+00:00No New Year's Resolutions For Me<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I won't be making any New Years Resolutions for 2013. I think I will make a New Year's Resolution not to make any New Year's Resolution! I see making them as pointless as you break them usually at some point, and besides, why do you wait for the start of a New Year to make a New Years resolution? You can try to change your ways or habits at any time in the year. No, no, no, they aren't for me. I just hope to learn from any mistakes I made this year or any other and resolve not to repeat them because if I don't then I will continue to repeat them.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-31513986336646346442012-12-22T22:46:00.001+00:002013-01-04T00:11:20.233+00:00It isn't just the elderly who are victims<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Earlier this month, I saw a TV programme on BBC 1 featuring elderly people who had been tricked out of money or their life savings by unscrupulous conmen or loan sharks. Perhaps this programme was put out because we are near Christmas, but one thought crossed my mind when I was watching it -and it was have you ever noticed how on TV shows like this, it is always the elderly who are shown being tricked by loan sharks or conmen or the unscrupulous, but they rarely, if ever, mention the mentally ill or disabled or people with conditions such as Autism, Asperger's Syndrome, General Learning Disabilities or those who are just vulnerable being conned, ripped off or taken advantage by conmen or loan sharks or the unscrupulous? They are just as much at risk at falling victim as the elderly. Some of the elderly are more mentally alert or astute than myself. Some of the elderly know exactly what they are doing and saying and many of them aren't tricked by conmen or loan sharks. Some of the elderly aren't vulnerable at all. It is time that others who could be taken advantage of and conned were featured on these programmes. How about readdressing the balance BBC and ITV?</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-24898586257280599152012-12-02T13:33:00.004+00:002012-12-02T13:35:34.886+00:00We Are All One-Offs<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">When somebody dies, one of the most frequently meaningless statements uttered is "He was a one-off" or "We will never see his like again". When I have heard that, I have thought to myself "I can't think of a more ordinary individual" or "Did this person invent a cure for Cancer or come up with a great invention or innovation? Did he live in an igloo in the Arctic for a year or did he dig his front garden dressed in a blue woolly hat, Y-fronts and Wellington Boots?".. if not.. then he wasn't a one-off. Maybe this is a glib or shallow way of saying that they will miss this person, but looking at it a different way, I have thought "Of course we will never see his like again.. we will never see most people's like again because all of us differ from each other in some way or another, and in that regard, most of us are one-offs".</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-34112987798682409502012-11-25T19:36:00.001+00:002012-11-27T11:20:20.248+00:00Formal Education Doesn't Educate You In Differences Of Life<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I have come to the conclusions that Primary certainly, and definitely Secondary School, are largely artificial, false and fake environments. Certainly in Secondary School, most people are conformity driven and uniformity obsessed. I remember when I was at Secondary School that nearly everybody supported Liverpool Football Club, because they were winning everything, including the Eurovision Song Contest and the Grand National, most people supported them. A few supported Arsenal or Everton and one or two Manchester United, and there were those of course, who didn't support anybody or didn't like football.. but I am sure some people supported them to fit in.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I was basically rejected by the majority of peers at Secondary School anyway, but I had the piss taken out of me for my music tastes when I was 13 for liking Queen and the Jam when most people were fans of Bros and Brother Beyond or whatever was in the charts at the time, though inhindsight the music scene in 1989 was not bad at all compared with 2012. I still like Queen and the Jam today, for what it is worth.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">In the Secondary School years, certainly, everybody tries to be like everybody else and ridicules or rejects anything or anyone that is different. Of course NT's tend to be like that in general, but it is definitely more pronounced people at that age.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-16392428975446054002012-11-24T14:36:00.005+00:002012-11-24T14:37:28.251+00:00You Can Make Anything Interesting Or Boring<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I was talking to a woman last Wednesday, who is a trainee Teacher, at University, about to finish her studies next summer. We talked about hidden conditions such as Asperger's Syndrome, Autism, ADHD, Dyslexia and Dyspraxia. She said something which reasonated with me straight away. It was that a person can make a subject boring or interesting. For example, someone can talk about the most boring topic on earth and make it interesting. I have been in that situation in life. Alternatively, someone can talk about an interesting subject or topic and make it dull and boring. I have also been in that situation. Teachers are best example of both, but you can get people like that in all walks of life.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-12312596787672368702012-11-16T12:25:00.002+00:002012-11-16T12:28:56.961+00:00What Is Funny?<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I suppose what we all find funny is subjective and differs from person to person but I don't find well-worn jokes funny or "I say I say I say" jokes. I also don't like statements which misrepresent an affliction. One example is "I am Schizophrenic: both of us". Schizophrenia is not about having a split personality where you are a Jekyll and Hyde character. It is about hearing voices, experiencing delusions and hallucinations or one can have Catatonic Schizophrenia or Hebrephrenic Schizophrenia or Simple Schizophrena, but the only split is a split from reality. However, if you were going to make a joke about Schizophrenia, you should say "I am not a Schizophrenic: I hear voices telling me I am not" because it is accurate.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I don't find jokes about Tourettes funny. Not that I don't find the subject funny in itself, but all the jokes I have heard about it are unoriginal. An example is "What do we want? A cure for Tourettes. When do we want it? Cunt".. Now I don't find that remotely funny at all, and it is unoriginal, because loads of people tell it on Facebook in posters. Another joke I don't find funny is that "Most of our political jokes get elected". Well, they maybe jokes but they don't make me laugh, and neither does that joke.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">What I find funny varies, I suppose I like off the cuff humour. That makes me laugh. I like daft thoughts, adlibs, puns, original humour or timely humour like when something happens. An example of timely humour is someone gets busted for drugs and the song "Ebenezeer Goode is being played on a CD at the time they are being busted, or Rainy Days Women No 12 and 35" by Bob Dylan, or "Cocaine" or "I got high" by Afroman.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">I find Fawlty Towers, One Foot in the Grave, the Young Ones and OFAH funny. I rarely tell a joke because I have a rubbish memory for them. I have a bit of an odd sense of humour.. but if having a normal sense of humour is laughing at "I say I say I say" jokes then I am pleased it is odd! I find lampooning famous people funny to an extent as well. Viz makes me laugh! I am surprised they have never done a Jeremy Kyle send-up! I have 26 Annuals of it dating back to the mid-1980's. I am not a big fan of comedians. Stewart Lee is quite good.. but I can't think of many others I have been in stitches laughing at..</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">In life you can be offensive and funny at the same time. It is possible to pull it off. I have seen certain people do it. However, simply slagging someone off isn't witty or clever or inventive. If I walked up to someone and called them a Tw*t or a Shithouse, I am not being witty or clever or inventive, I am just insulting them. If I did it in an inventive or ingenious way, then fair enough.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">Why often people like Jeremy Clarkson and others like that are hailed as having devastating, rapier wits, or even being comic geniuses is beyond me, because that is all they basically do. I laughed at one Top Gear situation when they drove through the deep South of the USA with "I am Gay" and "Hilary For President" written on their cars and other similar messages, and received death threats and honks and one-fingered salutes but I wouldn't say anybody on there is a comic genius!</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%;">However, people seem to mistake wit for loudness. This is seen notably in working-men's clubs or even pubs. People try to be the Alpha man or woman in those type of situations. People seem to think that the louder you are, the funnier you are. I disagree. Wit is about being quick, clever, inventive, and funny. It isn't about shouting or shouting someone down, or insulting someone. That isn't clever or inventive. If I walk up to someone and call them a knobhead or shithouse, I am not witty. I am just insulting them. That isn't clever or original. Anybody can do that.</span><br /><br />Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-66793153267134411562012-11-09T16:06:00.003+00:002012-11-09T16:29:09.567+00:00Coincidence Or Joke?<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">When watching the BBC news last Monday Morning, I saw that a reporter on an item about school dinners was a man called Graham Satchell. I thought to myself, "Do they choose these people deliberately? Was it some kind of a joke or was it a coincidence?". Indeed, I thought it was the 5th November not the 1st April. However, I have seen Satchell reporting several other news items. It did get me thinking though if people chose names for their children that are fitting as a joke or whether it is a coincidence. Similarly when they live somewhere. For example, I heard some years ago that a Secondary School Teacher lived on a street called School Lane!!!</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">In March 2007 I was in Ely, Cambridgeshire, and I noticed on a Church wall a plaque saying "The Rev Alan Partridge. Tel 202666". The first one was funny in itself. However the three sixes on a telephone number for the plaque on a church wall?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I also read somewhere that this woman stated there was a teacher at her daughter's school called Mrs Schooler and an educational psychologist called Mrs Schools. And a Weather Forecaster in the Midlands is called Miss Blizzard!!!</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-33723846854047344722012-11-08T23:57:00.002+00:002022-09-06T22:46:27.150+01:00Check The Facts Not The Image<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Whenever I read a biography of a person or a publication which has been written about an event, regardless of what it is, I prefer tomes which are dispassionate, neutral and which are laden with facts that are detailed and can be substantiated, and when as much accurate and reliable information is provided as possible. I have found in general, autobiographies, unless totally and brutally honest, are too self-serving.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">This is certainly preferable to propaganda or hagiographies. Too many people are taken in by myths, half-truths, horseshit or bullshit which gets repeated and circulated and taken as gospel about a person or an event or an image that is projected in the media. Isn't it amazing how once spread, something like that gets set in stone?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">When I look for information on politics or current affairs, I try to obtain information from sources that are as neutral and unbiased as is possible. I wouldn't look for information in the Daily Mirror, which gives you left-wing propaganda. Nor would I look for information or facts in the Sun, or the Daily Express, or the Daily Mail, all of which give you right-wing, sometimes hard right-wing, propaganda and bias.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I have, in the last two years, encountered numerous books about several individuals or events where facts and data have been used to counteract the legend or the image. In 1994 the late football manager Brian Clough brought out his autobiography. No doubt it was read by the average football fan and taken to be 100% true. In one story, set in April 1959, Clough told of how he scored two goals in the last two minutes of a match against Liverpool to win the game for Middlesbrough who he played for at the time. At the end of the match Bill Shankly, the Liverpool manager, apparently walked across the pitch and told Harold Shepherdson, Clough's manager at the time, "He (Clough) hasn't had a F*cking kick!!!!". Shepherdson allegedly replied "Well he's had at least two to my knowledge Bill!!".</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">A good answer, and it could very well be that this event or exchange involving Shankly and Sheperdson did happen in a later match in Clough's career with Middlesbrough, but it was not on that occasion. Regarding the match in question, Clough did indeed score, but it wasn't near the end of the match, and one fact I am surprised nobody has ever noticed, least of all Jonathan Wilson in his book about Clough in 2011 which for me is the best and most detailed about the subject, which is that Shankly did not become Liverpool manager until December 1959, so for him to have said that to Shepherdson in April 1959 as Liverpool manager would never have happened. Yet this story has been repeated in various books and publications. In his 1994 autobiography Clough also described the late Sir Harold Thompson as a great "Mathematician" when he was a Chemist. There are other information and corrections in Jonathan Wilson's book regarding some of the stories Clough told.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Other publications which I have come across that have gave an unbiased account, or have corrected information which has been repeated, regurgitated and taken as gospel, or at least has gave a more even-handed account, which I have come across, have been Richard Sutcliffe's biography of Don Revie (2010). I am no Leeds United fan, but I find it interesting to read a more detailed, balanced and open-ended account of the man commonly portrayed as a traitor, a neurotic, a cheat and a mercenary, as he has so often has been by the press and his detractors, and the image has stuck. Revie might have engaged in activities that got him labelled as these things, but I wanted to know more about the man behind the labels.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Another one I have found interesting because it provides factual information and challenges the long-held presumptions of the story was "John Christie of Rillington Place: Biography of a Serial Killer" by Jonathan Oates (2012). The popular version of the story, in the publics mind, is that an intelligent but evil sexual psychopath killed the wife of Timothy Evans, a gullible and illiterate van driver, and his daughter and conned him into admitting he had done it, and as a result, Evans, wrongly (as widely believed) was hanged on Thursday 9th March 1950. Christie murdered several other people, including his wife, until his arrest, and subsequent and undisputably correct execution on Wednesday 15th July 1953. The book challenges the assumptions and provides factual and detailed information about the two men, their backgrounds and their families.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">If you ask many people who they think was the greatest boxer of all time, they will say "Mohammed Ali" or "Cassius Clay" as he was previously known as. Yes he was a brilliant boxer, at his peak, in the 1960's and 1970's. He was also a great showman. He was certainly the best, or if not one of the best during that era.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Despite all this information, to call him the best ever is stretching a point somewhat. Training methods and fitness are vastly different now than in the 1960's and 1970's. Would he have beaten Mike Tyson at his peak in the late 1980's? How can you argue with Rocky Marciano going 46 out of 46 fights undefeated? Would Ali have beaten Jack Dempsey? Would he have beaten Joe Louis at his peak? He might not have been the best ever boxer, to paraphrase, again, Brian Clough, but he was the top one!!!</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">A politician might come across as an avuncular figure or a nice guy. Yet his policies might be brutal or extreme.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">So yes, in life, I think it is vital that you check behind the facts and information before you are fooled by the image or rumour or heresay. Look at Jimmy Savile and the image he had. After his death we were given the reality of the man.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-72718572411984063902012-10-28T14:13:00.001+00:002012-11-23T15:24:34.777+00:00I am not a loner<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Way back in the dim and distant past, as it is now, when I was in my final year at Secondary School, a report written by my Career's Teacher said I was a "Loner" and rather "Fussy". A friend of my mum's said I was a loner in discussion with my mum in the mid-1990's. I accepted this. I repeatedly stated myself that I was a natural loner - in discussion with other people and on my website. I thought it was gospel and set in stone. Now I realise this wasn't the case and that I and others who thought it about me were so wrong. This belief persisted until about five years ago but now I no longer am bothered if people still believe it.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I now realise that I am not and never was a loner. If I did appear to be one, it was just that I was very careful who I socialised and mixed with, as I am today, and who I trusted, as I do today. I always go by my instincts, and if a person or situation doesn't feel right or if I don't like the look of either, I avoid them.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I take the view that every single stranger I meet could be potential shithouse until I assess them. I like to work people out and weigh them up. You might ask how I weigh people up? I am rubbish at reading other people and their body language. This has got me into trouble throughout my life but I wouldn't say I am totally clueless because I understand the basics of it even though it does not come naturally or easily to me. However, whilst I am not very good at naturally reading people, I feel I am very good at assessing individuals. I go by gut feeling and vibes which I get about a person or situation. I might not be able to tell you why I dislike a person or a situation, or why someone is an individual to avoid. They might not have ever done anything to me, but I am very rarely wrong.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Why is it that some NT's who can read people like books are often blinded to the faults of others, tricked by or taken in by people and I rarely am, if ever? I don't follow crowds or am misled by people or causes. I don't befriend or move into the circles of shithouses, arseholes, dickheads, thieves, thugs, criminals, Heroin Addicts, hooligans, loudmouths and generally unsavoury characters. I don't want to know that kind of person let alone have them in social circle. Anyone I befriend is a law-abiding, civilised person who treats others how they would want to be treated. Perhaps I have this ability or quality to compensate for my defects in areas that come natural to NT's?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">There aren't a lot of people in life I trust 100%. I don't let just anybody come into the inner sanctum of my life and anything or anyone that disrupts or threatens to disrupt the stability of my existence is ejected without a bat of an eyelid. I do trust an handful of people, such as close family members and a handful of close friends to that level. The rest get to know what I want them to know. There are people I trust in varying degrees. Some I will tell a lot of things to but not everything. There are another group of people I would give some information to, and there are others I would not trust as far as I could throw a 80-stone person.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I never put personal details on Facebook or give any information out concerning my private life. You are asking for trouble if you do that. In 2010 one of my Facebook contacts announced to all and sundry that she was going abroad on holiday. I emailed her privately and told her to take it off because someone could break into her house. She said she would be fine. What happened? The week after she went, she got burgled. People have announced on Facebook that they are throwing parties and all sorts of strangers have turned up. I wouldn't let anyone who I didn't know into my home.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">That said, regarding people I am close to, I try to be totally loyal to them and would almost die for them, let alone help in any situation in life that they might find themselves having difficulty with. I do try to help a lot of people out, unless I dislike them, but more so those I am close to, who I try to stick by times good and bad. Whereas I can be totally uncaring about anybody I dislike, if you gain my trust you gain everything you can it 100% and everything with myself.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I am fine in social groups or situations with 10 to 15 individuals around me but I get mentally and sometimes emotionally overwhelmed and overloaded, or even confused if a huge amount of people are around or if a lot of noise is going off at the same time. That is one aspect of my Asperger's I hate, but there is nothing I can do about it.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">So never think that someone is a loner because they are alone constantly or a billy-no-mates or unpopular if they are NOT an objectionable or unpleasant person. I know I am not a loner.</span></span><br/><br/>
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-47705967772253968332012-10-27T13:58:00.001+01:002012-10-28T11:08:47.477+00:00Nobody has Paedophile, Rapist or Serial Killer branded on their forehead<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">This month the truth has finally emerged about the late Jimmy Savile, the former Radio One DJ, who worked for the station for over 20 years until 1989, who hosted Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It, between 1974 and 1994, where childen wrote up and asked if he would fix it so they could fulfill an ambition of theirs, be it going up into the sky in an hot air balloon, or Roller Skating or meeting a famous person.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">A friend of mine from the 1980's and 1990's wrote to Savile asking if he could have football lessons with Kenny Dalglish, the former player and manager. I can't remember what year it was, but it was around the time when Liverpool FC were winning the FA Cup, League title, League Cup, Eurovision Song Contest, Grand National and the Boat Race, year in year out. He never got a reply. As the allegations finally were disclosed earlier this month he said "After all those years of disappointment, I am pleased Jim didn't fix it for me!!!".</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">The revelations, that Savile was almost certainly a predatory paedophile, with 300 people saying that he sexually assaulted or abused them, across the UK, over a 40 year period, beginning around 1958, show three things. That nobody has paedophile branded on their forehead and that you never say you really know someone and that you can't go on appearances. The public were taken in by Savile's image of being a "Man of the people", as he was a working-class lad from Leeds made good, a former wrestler and coal miner who worked his way to fame and they were taken in by his charity work, at St James's Hospital in Leeds, Stoke Mandeville Spinal Injuries Hospital in Buckinghamshire, where he had a room, and Guys Hospital in London. There he had easy access to patients who he could abuse, the mentally ill were victims as well as children.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I personally never suspected him of being a paedophile but I always felt that, as well as being eccentric and odd, he was hiding something. That you never really knew the real him. That he was wearing a mask. Now we know what it was, and didn't it work? Prime Ministers, Royalty, and other celebrities were all taken him and his public image. Not many members of the public suspected he was a paedophile apart from the victims.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">What does a paedophile or an abuser look like? Nobody has paedophile or child molester stamped or branded on their forehead. Neither does a rapist or a serial killer. A paedophile looks like anybody else. Society has to got to get rid of this stereotype that a paedophile is an homosexual or a weirdo, loner, a drifter, a misfit, or oddball, who is unemployable or doesn't work, has no friends, who is introverted or has problems interacting with others, who lives in a rundown grotty flat, is unable to form relationships with people, or that a paedophile is some dirty, leering old man with a comb over or a wig wearing a Mac. Yes Savile never married. Yes he never had children. Yes he was eccentric or an oddball but so what? He was popular, he was rich, he was famous, he was successful. </span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">A paedophile can be a Priest, as has been seen with Catholic Church's priests sexual abuse of young boys for many years on end, until the silence was broken in the last few years and the truth came to light. A paedophile can be an homosexual, hetrosexual, black, white, Asian, a Doctor, or a Judge, or a Laywer, or an Accountant, or a Teacher, or an HGV driver, or a binman or someone on the dole.. or a former Top of the Pops presenter.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">A paedophile can never marry. A paedophile might be the guy who looks like a member of the perfect model of how a family should be. Mr married, the man who has two or three children, the man with a good job and a company car, or a mortgage. He might not abuse his own children but does other peoples. This stereotype that misfits are criminals or abuse young children almost certainly led to the disgraceful and wrongful conviction of Stefan Kiszko in 1976, of Leslie Molseed. The actual killer was a married man with children who was a comic book dealer. This belief also created the suspicion that Colin Stagg murdered Rachel Nickell on Wimbledon Common in 1992, which persisted for many years, until Robert Napper was finally convicted of her murder.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Though it is rarer, a paedophile can be a woman as well.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">It is too late to prosecute Savile now, of course, dead people can't be tried or can't speak, so in the legal world you can never say he did this, and to be fair, some opportunists will have come out, hoping to make some money or for a quick payout, but for me, too many have said it and they have come from too far and wide across the UK for ALL of this to be lies. What convinced me of Savile's guilt what his defence of Gary Glitter after the conviction. Who on earth defends Gary Glitter nowadays?</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">To stop distress which might occur to other people who have family or friends who are buried in the same cemetery as Savile, I think it would be for the best if he was dug up, cremated and his ashes scattered down a toilet somewhere. I believe though that it is never too late for someone to face the consequences of their crimes. If anybody was involved in what he did, then they should be prosecuted, no matter how rich, no matter how famous, no matter how powerful or no matter how long ago it was. That also applies to anybody who covered up for him or turned a blind eye and knew what he was doing ..... be it 10 years ago or 40 years ago.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-8954658039100585992012-10-26T16:01:00.002+01:002012-10-26T22:04:21.538+01:00Being Detached can cut you off and help you<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">In many situations in life, I believe it is for the best if you don't get too attached, and hold back to an extent. That applies to practically any situation you might find yourself in. I don't generally trust people, and am naturally suspicious and wary of individuals I don't know. That can fade or reduce if I either like them or if I get to know them well, but I have to get to know a person first, so I can assess them and weigh them up and make a considered judgement.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">By being detached to an extent, for me, at least, it ensures that you are not blind to people's faults. Whether that person is your partner, family, close friends, acquaintances or someone who is in the public eye. There are people I can't stand the sight of and I hope I never see again if I live to be 120 years of age, and on the other hand, people I care for very much or feel totally at ease in their company, but with regards to both categories, I am not blinded to their faults.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I have seen situations where mother's, in particular, have grown too attached to their son or girlfriends partner, praising them to the hilt, glorifying them and their qualities and then have been very disappointed or upset or wounded if the relationship has broken down or if the pair have split up. When that has happened, in a few incidences, the mother has then started criticising the person who their son or daughter split with, or even has said that they never really liked them in the first place!!! I think it is better to expect that anything can happen, because lets face it, there is nothing certain in this life, apart from the fact that you are going to be die. I have seen marriages where two people have married, and everybody has said they were meant for each other and it was meant to be and similar words to that effect, and they have split up after 3 or 4 years. So again, it is better in such situations to hold back, reserve judgement and view the event in a more detached manner.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">When you are in a relationship with someone, be it a gay or straight relationship, of course you should love them, and be caring, dedicated and attentive to the person you are in the relationship with, or persons, if you lead a double life, along with their needs. If the relationship is not working you get out. I don't believe in cheating. If it is worth cheating it is worth splitting up. However, I think it is not healthy to give your 100% because if the relationship ever does split or break up, then the hurt or pain of the break up might be less, or at least not as severe as it would otherwise be.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">In an employment situation, not being too attached to a person or persons can be important. Such positions include being a football manager. If a player has come to the end of his career, be it through loss of form, or injury, or lack of fitness, or you have found a better player for that position, or a young trainee isn't good enough, and you have to break the news to him that you are letting him go for that reason, then you have to have some degree of detachment. If you get too attached to the player or players, then that job is going to be very difficult for you to do.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Being too attached is no good if you are a manager or a boss in a job. It is also no good if you are a Doctor, and have to tell someone they have a terminal illness. That must be an horrid thing to do in most circumstances. I would hate having to do to it but you have to have an element of detachment. Same as being a nurse. Just think of all the difficult or upsetting situations you are going to encounter with people are ill, but you must have a degree of detachment and self-control to be in order to carry out your duties. You have to leave your work at work and not bring it home with you.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I feel that being slightly detached is important if you are interviewing criminals or murderers. When you are dealing with people who have committted horrific, dreadful, inhuman crimes, like some serial killers or torturers, or paedophiles, then a lot of people's instincts would be to bash them, or strange the person they are interviewing or lose their temper at least. As awful as the crimes which are being described to you are, in that situation, you cannot be too attached. Same as being a barrister in court, defending an evil criminal or murderer.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Despite what I have said, I don't mean being void or without human feelings whatsoever. Of course you must keep them. I think it is important to be sympathetic and compassionate for other people and situations, particularly towards human suffering, or those with disabilities, illnesses, conditiosn or the less fortunate or towards someone who is going through difficult times. It could be just that holding back to a small extent might help you to manage better some situations in life. I find that if you view issues or subjects or life from the approach I have suggested, or at least try to be objective, then you make more rational judgements and are ruled by your head and less by your heart.</span><br /><br /> Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-45106784696047111682012-10-09T01:37:00.001+01:002022-09-06T22:47:51.191+01:00World Mental Health Day Part 2
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">How do you challenge people's myths about mental illness? Education is one way, and personal experience is another. Challenging the many myths about mental illness can be a good way to get people thinking and talking...</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Here are many of the myths commonly stated about mental illness, and underneath, the reality of that myth.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Myth: Some people with mental illness never recover.
Reality: Some people with mental illness can and do recover. Others cannot. It depends on the severity of the illness.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Myth: People with mental illnesses are either dangerous, violent and unpredictable.
Reality: People with mental illness are more likely to be a victim of violence. Of course some are violent, but then so are members of the non-mentally ill people. They aren't any more violent than any other group of people.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Myth: It's best to leave people alone if they develop a mental health problem.
Reality: Most people with mental health problems want to keep in touch with friends, family and colleagues, it can be a great help in their recovery.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Myth: People aren't discriminated against because of mental health problems.
Reality: Nine out of ten people with mental health problems widespread experience stigma and discrimination.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Myth: Mental Health problems are the same as General Learning Disabilities.
Reality: They are two seperate conditions. General Learning Disabilities are pervasive and affect one's ability to learn, comprehend and take in new information. The majority of people with Mental Health problems don't suffer such problems. Some people with Mental Health problems are capable of going to University or higher education with the right support, though that said, some people with General Learning Disabilities can, and do, suffer from mental health problems.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Myth: Mental Health problems never occur in children.
Reality: Conditions such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar usually develops and starts at some point between the ages of 16 and the mid 20's, but depression, anxiety and OCD can occur in children at ages under 16. About 10% of children have a mental health problem at any one time. So never say to a young person "Depression? Depression? at your age? Depression? You shouldn't know what it means.. you should be out there, having the time of your life". As if it discriminates with age either. </span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Myth: People with Schizophrenia have split personalities or two personalities.
Reality: People with Schizophrenia frequently experience delusions of grandeur or persecution, auditory or visual hallucinations, thought disorder, and loss of interest in life. The split is a split from reality.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Other information about mental health shows that:
1) Suicides rates show that British men are three times as likely to die by suicide than British women.
2) Self-harm statistics for the UK show one of the highest rates in Europe: 400 per 100,000 population.
3) Mental health problems cost the country an estimated £77billion a year in healthcare, benefits and lost productivity.
4) Fewer than four in ten employers would consider employing someone with a history of mental health problems, compared to more than six in ten for candidates with physical disability.
5) Only about 20% of people with severe mental health problems and around 50% of those with less serious problems are in paid employment, yet 80% want to work.
6) People with serious mental health problems die on average 10 years younger than other people. This is because of the greater risk of physical health problems and poorer access to healthcare.
7) Most people say they would not want anyone to know if they developed a mental illness.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">There could well be a correlation between levels of mental illness and physical ill health, regarding how affluent an area is. Levels of mental health could be lower, for example, in areas such as Kensington and Chelsea, (Where the life expectancy is the highest in the UK), Alderley Edge, or Harpenden, than in areas which have high unemployment, deprivation and poverty, and associated social problems of drug addiction and crime. </span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">On a personal level, I have suffered from anxiety, and it has plagued me all my life, but it depends on where I am if I suffer from it. In some situations I suffer from it. In others I don't. One of my Secondary School reports stated that I was "Very nervous". Another said I had "No confidence". I am not a confident person in social situations but I am if I feel strongly on a subject or issue or if I know about something. wouldn't, alternatively, get anxious if speaking to an audience about my condition. I take the view that it is structured. I am talking about what I want to. There aren't going to be random comments or remarks thrown up by others, and in situations like that it is like "I am here... you are there. You have got your space and I have got mine".</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I get anxious when a lot of people are around me at once, or if I am in a social situation like that, as well as mentally overloaded and confused. Other situations which bring on anxiety are when I go to new places, beforehand. However, once I am settled in, I usually am fine, if I feel comfortable.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">I don't make friends with people easily but the friendships I do develop tend to be close and long-lasting. That said, anything or anyone that threatens to disrupt the stability and equilibrium of my life is out and I won't bat an eyelid in doing so.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">My anxiety is also demonstrated when I walk up and down repeatedly, talk or mutter to myself, rubbmy hair or shake my legs or tap my feet or fiddle with my belt or talk a great deal very quickly. I have chewed pens and pencils since I was 4 years old. I also get anxious if I am meeting someone and they turn up late without contacting me to tell me why they are going to be late or to let me know beforehand that they are going to be late. I get anxious and agitated when I am late for something, because I feel like I am letting the person down who I have arranged to meet, particularly if there is no way of contacting them.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">So, tomorrow, if you get the time or chance, think of people suffering from mental health problems, and if you have the time, maybe sit down and learn about them. Maybe if you do have prejudices against mental illness or people suffering from it, you could read about it in greater detail. As stated, one day they could affect the life of a close family member, your children, your parents, a close friend, or yourself.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-60254007127088835492012-10-09T01:25:00.001+01:002012-10-09T07:43:37.489+01:00World Mental Health Day Part 1<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Tomorrow, Wednesday, 10th October 2012, is World Mental Health Day. Like myself, Asperger's Syndrome and Autism, Cancer or many other kinds of illnesses and death itself, mental illness is no respecter of skin colour, ethnic origin, wealth, social background, educational or life achievements or area where one lives. It does not discriminate, though I would say there are numerous causes of it. Your DNA and genes or at least a genetic predisposition is one deciding factor. What has happened to you in life such as a traumatic event can be another factor, or it can be environmental, or it can be caused by heavy alcohol consumption, as alcohol is a depressant on the nervous system, or heavy smoking of Cannabis, as that can cause Psychosis, or several other factors and issues.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Many people believe that people with Mental Health problems are dangerous or violent. This prejudicial belief or fear has been reinforced, and aided and abetted by headlines in the national media such as "BONKERS BRUNO LOCKED UP", "KNIFE WIELDING SCHIZO JAILED FOR MURDER" or "CRAZED SCHIZO KILLS 3". However, why don't they also publish, when it happens, "KNIFE WIELDING PSYCHOPATH JAILED FOR MURDER" or simply, "KNIFE WIELDING ORDINARY PERSON LOCKED UP"?. Perhaps because it is less overly dramatic and is less likely to sell newspapers.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Despite these myths, research indicates that those being treated for mental health problems are no more violent or dangerous than the general population. If anything, they are more likely to be the victims of violence, especially self-harm. Everybody who suffers from mental health problems is an individual, just like you and I, and you will get people who are violent who do suffer from mental health problems, but the violence might arise because of a personality disorder, or simply their nature or temperament. In some cases, such behaviour could have been seen before the person fell ill. In fact, alcohol or drug consumption are bigger contributing factors to general violence than mental illness.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Mental illness is not rare. About one in every hundred people will develop schizophrenia at some time in their lives and about one in fifty people will develop bipolar disorder. Overall, one in four people will experience some form of mental health problem at some time in their lives, which represents a quarter of the British population, or about 15 million people.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">What does the term "Mental illness" mean? For me, the definition is a variety or wide spectrum of illness or conditions. It can be defined as being illnesses which I have already stated such as Bipolar and Schizophrenia, but also depression, either acute or chronic, or reactionary, because of a sad or traumatic event in one's life. Psychosis is a form of mental illness, where the patient is out of touch with reality with their thoughts or beliefs, but doesn't know or realise or understand that they are out of touch with reality.</span><br /><br />
<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 130%;">Under illnesses defined as psychotic, there is Schizophrenia, Bipolar, Paranoid Psychosis, and a condition called Schizoaffective disorder, which is a combination of Schizophrenia and Bipolar but there is not enough symptoms of either for it to be classed as that. Mental health problems aren't solely about being out of touch with reality. You can suffer from neurosis, where the individual knows what s/he is doing is wrong or irrational, but can't stop it. This type of behaviour occurs with people who have OCD, as well as Anxiety or Depression.</span><br /><br />
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-1105739044811835482012-09-30T21:03:00.000+01:002012-09-30T21:03:07.269+01:00Customer service is right but the customer isn't always<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">I believe in Customer service but I can't agree with or accept the phrase that "The customer is always right". No, far from it. This morning, I was in Morrison's supermarket and this girl was collecting money for an Under 15's girls football team. She was about 15 or 16 years old. I am not quite sure, but anyway she offered to pack my bags for me. In response, I said that she could.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">Due to her friendly and polite manner, I put a pound in the bucket for the cause she was collecting for. She thanked me. Had she been rude or surly or unpleasant, then she would not have got a penny from me. That rule also applies to other places where I have been a customer or purchased something. If the staff are friendly or helpful or pleasant, then I will want to go back again. If they are rude, objectionable or disinterested, I will not want to.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">That said, I don't always go along with this idea the customer is right. I have seen in stores or shops and have seen some customers speak to checkout staff or store workers like they are a piece of shit, in the most disgusting manner. I have also seen customers purchase items, then change their mind a minute later. Therefore, it works both ways. On occasion I can see why sometimes a staff member MIGHT snap a customer.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">So whilst I appreciate pleasant and helpful staff in a supermarket, shop or store, I don't buy into the philosophy that the customer is always right. If someone snaps at you as a one-off, you don't know what might have happened beforehand or what bullshit they might have had to put up with from some customers.</span></span><br/><br/>Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-54239969815878938872012-09-25T14:33:00.001+01:002012-09-25T14:35:50.761+01:00Why buy what you don't need or use?<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">How many times is it said by someone "If I won the lottery I would do this or that or go there"? Say if I won 20 million on the Eurolottery, I would tour Britain, Europe, the USA, Canada, visit Australia, New Zealand, Alaska, and go on a round world cruise. Apart from that, there is nowhere else in the world I plan on visiting!</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">I would never, if I had that sort of money, buy something I don't need or just spend for spending's sake. I can never understand people who win millions on the lottery, who buy Mansions with Tennis Courts, Swimming Pools and Music Rooms when they don't play Tennis or hate the game, don't swim very often or never, and can't sing or play a note. It is the same with people who buy Rolex watches who have loads of money. It must be a status symbol or something. Why spend thousands of pounds on one watch? It just tells the time like any other. I have had my Casio Watch which I wear since August 2005. It has needed two new batteries putting in during that time. If I had that sort of money, I would buy hundreds of Casio watches rather than thousands on one Rolex. Same as having 10 cars. I can understand having two or three yes, but you can only drive one car at a time.</span></span><br/><br/>
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-70386398555876946492012-09-24T00:31:00.001+01:002012-09-24T14:08:33.522+01:00Asperger's affects what makes me angry, where and when<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">Isn't it odd that some things make us very angry and want to explode and others don't? What can make one person very angry might not affect or bother another. The location we are in at one moment can also affect how we react to events or stimuli. Certainly with me it does. I am more likely to snap at somebody or something, if I receive some bad news or something unpleasant happens in my life, if someone is prattling on too much at the time or is asking me too many questions at once or in a situation where there is a lot going off around me or too many people around me than in a quiet, calm environment.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">In fact, the unexpected or mental overload seems to make me angry or want to explode more than a bad or sad event or more than provocation. At least I can tolerate provocation up to a certain point.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">There are irritations which piss a lot of people off and yet don't bother me. What makes me have to count to ten are traffic jams, queues, hold-ups, being late for an event, because I feel I am letting the person down I have arranged to see or someone being late without telling me or phoning me, which I consider to be extremely rude, or too much going off at once. I also get irritated and agitated by stimuli such as car alarms, burglar alarms and bus engines and pneumatic drills.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">I also will never visit a relative if s/he has visitors. I feel like I am intruding, and I hate to do that or to butt in something which isn't anything to do with me.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">I guess it is all related to my Asperger's.</span></span><br/><br/>
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-7026512050724511712012-09-23T20:54:00.002+01:002012-09-23T21:02:32.964+01:00Charity Becomes Big Business<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">Yesterday I was asked to donate to an Animal Rescue Charity, which I did, because I care a great deal about the welfare of animals, such as Dogs, Cats, Birds etc, and can't stand to see cruelty of any kind towards them. Shortly after making the donation, say 200 yards later, I was stopped by someone who almost jumped out at me, asking if I wanted to make monthly donations to the Red Cross Charity by Direct Debit. I explained that I couldn't do it. I would make a small donation then but they explained they would only take donations via direct debit.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">A short time after that, I was stopped and asked if I wanted to donate to a children with cancer charity, again, by a monthly sum, via direct debit. No donations. All of these charities are good causes, that is beyond doubt, but the simple fact is you cannot donate to every charity under the Sun. Even if at times I might feel a shithouse for doing so. Autism and Animal charities are my favourites along with one or two others and they are the first ones I always make donations to.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">I can still remember being horrified seeing Michael Burke's report on the Ethophian Famine as a kid, when watching the news. This led to the release of the single "Feed the world" by Band AID, and then the famous Live AID concert at Wembley, masterminded by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, on the 13th July following year, which I can vaguely remember. The USA also held a concert as well for the same charity. In late 1989, famine threatened Ethopia again, and this time a new BAND AID was formed, led by Mike Stock, Matt Aitken and Pete Waterman. At Christmas 2004 the single was released for the 3rd time in 20 years, and each time go to number and rightfully so. However, it makes me wonder where the money is going with issues such as famine relief when it repeatedly occurs after vast donations of money? Is it going into the pockets of corrupt dictators in Africa? Is it not going to the people who need it and who the donations were intended for?</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">It isn't necessarily corrupt dictators who embezzele money or charitable donations intended for the starving or poor in their country. Sometimes, those you want to help or support don't receive it as your donations can become gobbled up in administration and costs.</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">A lot of famous or non-famous people do charity work behind the scenes and don't feel the need to tell everybody about it or to boast to all and sundry. I admire those types of people. However, you get many famous people, and some who aren't famous, who make sure that the TV cameras are there so they can be seen doing charity work, or in the case of famous individuals, they do it to live down a scandal or get back into the publics good books after a scandal or crisis, or if I am going to be really cynical, to get their MBE or OBE or knighthood. I have no time for egotistical charity workers who seek fame, praise, gongs or glory or do it to make themselves look good or better.</span></span><br/><br/>
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3598610388905603990.post-32497455011038731952012-09-22T13:53:00.001+01:002012-09-23T21:03:43.596+01:00You don't have to be famous to say something deep or profound <span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">Have you ever noticed that world-famous people who have changed the course of history, such as Churchill, Einstein, Shakespeare, Oscar Wilde and Bruce Forsyth are quoted and their sayings are used by others repeatedly. That is very well and good, but what about non-famous people who have said things just as witty or as profound or inspirational... For example, Harry Shufflebottom, a 63 year old shit-shoveller might say something witty or original or profound, or William Stickers, a 45 year old building site labourer. </span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">For example, would "Follow your instincts, more often than not, they are right".. Harry Shufflebottom, a 63 year old steelworker, Thursday 13th September 1979 or "How successful your life is depends on how happy you are. If you are happy then your life is a success"... Fred Wood, a 40 year old Mill worker - Monday 20th October 1952 or "Happiness is whatever you define it to be in your own mind" - Albert Burkinshaw, a 29 year old coal miner - Sunday 1st February 1914.... be quoted and repeated worldwide if made by a famous person?</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">One of my favourite sayings is "If your life has been a success depends if you are happy. If you are happy, then your life has been a success. Someone might be married, kids, beautiful home and luxury cars and holidays and be miserable as sin or someone might have nothing and not have two pennies to rub together and be happy..."</span></span><br/><br/>
<span style="font-family:arial;font-size:130%">I am a nobody and even today, despite the advent of the Internet and social media, I can't see my saying being circulated and spread around the world.</span></span><br/><br/>
Kaspiemanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14068124401721481321noreply@blogger.com0