My e-mail server has been hacked recently, meaning that somebody has been sending e-mails appearing to come from me to many of the people in my e-mail address book.
No particular harm has come to me, and the worst that seems to have happened to anyone that has opened one of the e-mails purporting to come from me and clicking on the link inside has been making themselves the possible victim of an e-mail virus.
On balance, I suppose a great many worse things could happen to anybody, and since I use a Macintosh computer, I don't seem to have suffered from any virus intrusion into my computer. I have checked carefully, much more carefully than perhaps I have done before.
And I suppose it has been a wake-up call to make me find some kind of software that will check for viruses on my own computer, about which perhaps I had been too complacent in the past.
It has taken me a while to suddenly realize what has potentially happened, which is likely that somebody has discovered the password that gives me access to my online e-mail account, and is being able to send e-mails as if they have originated from myself.
I haven't lost anything, although perhaps some of my friends may have experienced more problems than I have, by virtue of the simple fact of running a PC as opposed to a Macintosh.
What I have recently done is to strengthen the nature of my password access to my e-mail account, and hopefully this will make future access for whomsoever has done this less easy.
The e-mails that have been sent in my name might have done some damage to my reputation, as they give the impression that I have just recovered from bankruptcy, and offer the opportunity to share in my good fortune by discovering the same get rich quick scheme that I have.
All of this of course is totally bogus, and I suppose whatever the virus will achieve for anyone not protected by appropriate virus protection software may be far worse than anything I have suffered.
But certainly, what has happened in my case, is that I have become far more wary about my use of this technology. And of course I am reminded that there are people that will go to extraordinary ends in the search for probably financial gain.
It is a reminder, long overdue in my case, that we can take nothing for granted in our use of a technology that is as useful as we make it. And as dangerous as we allow it to be.
I am hopeful that anyone that knows me will have seen that these spurious e-mails are totally out of character for me, and will have seen them for what they were, and not gone any further than simply opening them, which seems to have been harmless.
How I have suffered, rather invisibly, is in the confidence that I have previously placed in my computer, which has been totally shaken.
Let's hope that nothing worse than this transpires, and that I can rebuild that confidence, over time, since what a computer gives me over everything else is a means of keeping in touch with the world. As a severely disabled person, this is important to me perhaps more than for many.
I shall certainly be more careful in future, and be far more cautious in setting passwords that enable me to access the things that I take for granted.
Sunday 29 January 2012
Thursday 26 January 2012
An Interestng Poetry Competition
It isn't often these days that I discover something exciting locally that I can get involved with.
I have just discovered one such thing. For a couple of months now, I have been attending a fabulous open Art class at a local community centre, really just across the road from me in Worthing.
It has been quite inspirational to me, from a writing point of view, to attend this art class, run by a professional artist, and for modest fees open to simply drop in and do some painting or drawing.
My tactile ability is quite limited these days, but I've been doing some watercolour painting, not exactly the kind of paintings I might once want to have achieved, but simply working in these magical materials, and having a small amount of input to guide me, has been quite inspiring. A number of my poems have been published on the website of the art group, and I have just discovered that this rather wonderful local community venue is very close to where SWAG (the Sunny Worthing Arts Group) are going to host a writing competition, poetry and prose, linked with the forthcoming Queen's Jubilee.
The event is to be held on June 16, at the Heene Gallery, but the deadline for entries is February 29th. It is being organised by SWAG, a local voluntary arts group, and prose should be up to 1500 words, and poetry no longer than 40 lines. The cost per entry is just £3 , and I know from my previous experience of the Worthing Arts group that they are well worth supporting.
The theme of any entries is Jubilee, unsurprisingly, and entrants are encouraged to be creative in their interpretation of this theme. anything goes!
There will be a cabaret event at which poems will be read by those selected as winners, and full details can be obtained from enquiries at swagonline.org.
I'm certainly going to be entering, and who knows, maybe even some prose as well as poetry.
SkyBlue art classes can easily be googled, and quite a few of my poems are still to be seen on their site, if you follow the links to the poetry page.
It will be interesting for me to hopefully take part in the event itself, if I am fortunate enough to be selected to be able to read my work on the night. There isn't so much a financial reward by way of prizes, more the possibility of an invitation to read one's work. This appeals to me, and I suppose it touches upon the subject of one of my previous blogs, the idea that finding an audience is far more important than riches.
I have just discovered one such thing. For a couple of months now, I have been attending a fabulous open Art class at a local community centre, really just across the road from me in Worthing.
It has been quite inspirational to me, from a writing point of view, to attend this art class, run by a professional artist, and for modest fees open to simply drop in and do some painting or drawing.
My tactile ability is quite limited these days, but I've been doing some watercolour painting, not exactly the kind of paintings I might once want to have achieved, but simply working in these magical materials, and having a small amount of input to guide me, has been quite inspiring. A number of my poems have been published on the website of the art group, and I have just discovered that this rather wonderful local community venue is very close to where SWAG (the Sunny Worthing Arts Group) are going to host a writing competition, poetry and prose, linked with the forthcoming Queen's Jubilee.
The event is to be held on June 16, at the Heene Gallery, but the deadline for entries is February 29th. It is being organised by SWAG, a local voluntary arts group, and prose should be up to 1500 words, and poetry no longer than 40 lines. The cost per entry is just £3 , and I know from my previous experience of the Worthing Arts group that they are well worth supporting.
The theme of any entries is Jubilee, unsurprisingly, and entrants are encouraged to be creative in their interpretation of this theme. anything goes!
There will be a cabaret event at which poems will be read by those selected as winners, and full details can be obtained from enquiries at swagonline.org.
I'm certainly going to be entering, and who knows, maybe even some prose as well as poetry.
SkyBlue art classes can easily be googled, and quite a few of my poems are still to be seen on their site, if you follow the links to the poetry page.
It will be interesting for me to hopefully take part in the event itself, if I am fortunate enough to be selected to be able to read my work on the night. There isn't so much a financial reward by way of prizes, more the possibility of an invitation to read one's work. This appeals to me, and I suppose it touches upon the subject of one of my previous blogs, the idea that finding an audience is far more important than riches.
Wednesday 18 January 2012
The Coming Year
My Care Manager asked me the other day if I had any plans for regular commitments over the next couple of months.
In some respects, I am very lucky to have someone to ask me this kind of question, someone that will play a role in helping me to manage my life.
I suppose the reason for this is the fact that I am severely disabled, and as a consequence I have a team of carers that enable me to live independently. I can do this because of the way in which West Sussex County Council runs a pilot scheme entitled self directed support. What this means is that instead of receiving care support through agencies appointed and monitored by the County, I receive my care budget direct, and I am able to employ carers directly myself.
I currently have a staff of about seven people that between them manage all of the things about my day-to-day life that I would not be able to undertake myself, like washing and dressing, preparing meals, and the person that I have appointed to be my Care Manager has additional responsibilities concerning the co-ordination of timetables for who is working on which day, and helps me to ensure that I manage my team of carers effectively.
It is a new way of working, and gives me as a disabled person much greater continuity of care, and I believe gives my carers a better quality of working life. Because the alternative is to work for an agency, which usually means having to travel a great deal and visit numerous clients according to a schedule determined centrally. And the one thing that seems to be common to all agency workers, is that they don't have the luxury of sufficient time with individual clients.
Self-directed support it is a way of countering this, and in my case it really does work. The County has appointed an agency to support people like myself with things like a payroll service, so that wages and tax are properly accounted for. In some respects, the bar has been lowered so that I can employ almost anybody to work for me in delivering the care I need. In practice, of course, training is given so that things can work smoothly and effectively and of course safely. Two of my carers are what you might describe as professional carers, that have worked for agencies for many years, and have consequently had the kind of professional training you would expect in a professional carer.
I have to have employer's liability insurance, and in some respects I am the chief executive of a small business, not-for-profit of course, and with particular objectives partly set by myself, through my participation in the writing of my care plan. There is nothing different in this, than if I were to be in receipt of care provided by agencies approved by the County, except by having a care team that have been appointed to meet my needs as well as to meet the requirements necessary for the expenditure of any public money, I am empowered to a far greater extent to be able to set out the kind of life I wish still to achieve.
Just because I am severely disabled does not mean that I don't have aspirations and a will to achieve certain things. Of course, what those things can be may well be prescribed to a greater extent by the limitations of my physical capacity, but if this is an experiment in how care and support can be organised more effectively, then in my case it is certainly an effective one.
I am able to benefit from continuity of contact with my team of carers, and this in itself is a great advantage over receiving time-limited visits from overstretched carers who have to achieve an almost impossible schedule of visits. Which often fail to take into account the social needs of the person receiving care, and for the sake of limited budgets, provide simply the minimal level of support required for survival.
In some respects, it is easy to make the assumption that this is a better system, without having hard evidence to demonstrate as much. It just seems to make sense that instead of an external agency taking a profit from the delivery of care, that the individual making their own decisions (within clear boundaries laid down by the assessment procedures of local authorities) will plan for more effective outcomes for the same resources.
It is a very different way of working, and not without its own set of problems. There is still a need to ensure that carers have the right skills to be able to do their work effectively. I suppose one answer to this is that it is easier to train someone for the specific needs of one individual than it is to train a carer to meet with every possible need they might be required to fulfil.
I have certainly found it possible to plan my life more effectively as a consequence of receiving support from a focused team of carers. I suppose I have been fortunate to find a team with a range of experience that ensures I am more well cared for. The people that work for me have a wide experience, and in most cases some training has been provided to ensure that they can fulfil all of the requirements of my care. For example, the safe operation of the hoist that has been installed in my bedroom, to enable transfers to my electric wheelchair from my bed.
There is a substantial team beyond those that I directly employ that I can call upon for specific help and support Whether it be from my occupational therapist, who has been able to supply me with equipment like the hoist that makes lifting safe both for me and for my carers,or my local physio.
I suppose I am fortunate in that my condition, multiple sclerosis, is fairly stable and does not require the kind of medical interventions by way of medication that require specialist medical support. My GP provides all of the medical care that I require, and occasional visits to see consultants are something we are all fortunate to be able to receive in the context of a National Health Service.
Perhaps I am also fortunate in that I have always had plenty to say for myself, and at present my condition does not affect my capacity to speak. Hence my ability to write this blog with the aid of voice-activated software.
That I have had previous experience of managing my workplace has in no way prepared me to manage the situation in which I am cared for. Hence, a new (for me) need to have among my staff someone that can take on the role of my Care Manager, to ensure that where I need to be assisted with the day-to-day management of my care, there is someone I can depend upon to help me to think things through, and where necessary, to challenge my thinking.
It can't be an easy task, I was never very organised when I was totally independent, and in truth I am dependent now on other people for virtually everything.
That I can express myself is one thing, but no amount of life experience can prepare anybody to be able to live life to the full, when almost everything is a matter of negotiation and compromise.
Don't get me wrong, my life is still just as full as anybody's with the issues we must all deal with, not least of all clarifying what it is we wish to achieve. In my case, this is particularly necessary, because I need to organise someone to help me achieve those things I wish to achieve.
In some respects, I am very lucky to have someone to ask me this kind of question, someone that will play a role in helping me to manage my life.
I suppose the reason for this is the fact that I am severely disabled, and as a consequence I have a team of carers that enable me to live independently. I can do this because of the way in which West Sussex County Council runs a pilot scheme entitled self directed support. What this means is that instead of receiving care support through agencies appointed and monitored by the County, I receive my care budget direct, and I am able to employ carers directly myself.
I currently have a staff of about seven people that between them manage all of the things about my day-to-day life that I would not be able to undertake myself, like washing and dressing, preparing meals, and the person that I have appointed to be my Care Manager has additional responsibilities concerning the co-ordination of timetables for who is working on which day, and helps me to ensure that I manage my team of carers effectively.
It is a new way of working, and gives me as a disabled person much greater continuity of care, and I believe gives my carers a better quality of working life. Because the alternative is to work for an agency, which usually means having to travel a great deal and visit numerous clients according to a schedule determined centrally. And the one thing that seems to be common to all agency workers, is that they don't have the luxury of sufficient time with individual clients.
Self-directed support it is a way of countering this, and in my case it really does work. The County has appointed an agency to support people like myself with things like a payroll service, so that wages and tax are properly accounted for. In some respects, the bar has been lowered so that I can employ almost anybody to work for me in delivering the care I need. In practice, of course, training is given so that things can work smoothly and effectively and of course safely. Two of my carers are what you might describe as professional carers, that have worked for agencies for many years, and have consequently had the kind of professional training you would expect in a professional carer.
I have to have employer's liability insurance, and in some respects I am the chief executive of a small business, not-for-profit of course, and with particular objectives partly set by myself, through my participation in the writing of my care plan. There is nothing different in this, than if I were to be in receipt of care provided by agencies approved by the County, except by having a care team that have been appointed to meet my needs as well as to meet the requirements necessary for the expenditure of any public money, I am empowered to a far greater extent to be able to set out the kind of life I wish still to achieve.
Just because I am severely disabled does not mean that I don't have aspirations and a will to achieve certain things. Of course, what those things can be may well be prescribed to a greater extent by the limitations of my physical capacity, but if this is an experiment in how care and support can be organised more effectively, then in my case it is certainly an effective one.
I am able to benefit from continuity of contact with my team of carers, and this in itself is a great advantage over receiving time-limited visits from overstretched carers who have to achieve an almost impossible schedule of visits. Which often fail to take into account the social needs of the person receiving care, and for the sake of limited budgets, provide simply the minimal level of support required for survival.
In some respects, it is easy to make the assumption that this is a better system, without having hard evidence to demonstrate as much. It just seems to make sense that instead of an external agency taking a profit from the delivery of care, that the individual making their own decisions (within clear boundaries laid down by the assessment procedures of local authorities) will plan for more effective outcomes for the same resources.
It is a very different way of working, and not without its own set of problems. There is still a need to ensure that carers have the right skills to be able to do their work effectively. I suppose one answer to this is that it is easier to train someone for the specific needs of one individual than it is to train a carer to meet with every possible need they might be required to fulfil.
I have certainly found it possible to plan my life more effectively as a consequence of receiving support from a focused team of carers. I suppose I have been fortunate to find a team with a range of experience that ensures I am more well cared for. The people that work for me have a wide experience, and in most cases some training has been provided to ensure that they can fulfil all of the requirements of my care. For example, the safe operation of the hoist that has been installed in my bedroom, to enable transfers to my electric wheelchair from my bed.
There is a substantial team beyond those that I directly employ that I can call upon for specific help and support Whether it be from my occupational therapist, who has been able to supply me with equipment like the hoist that makes lifting safe both for me and for my carers,or my local physio.
I suppose I am fortunate in that my condition, multiple sclerosis, is fairly stable and does not require the kind of medical interventions by way of medication that require specialist medical support. My GP provides all of the medical care that I require, and occasional visits to see consultants are something we are all fortunate to be able to receive in the context of a National Health Service.
Perhaps I am also fortunate in that I have always had plenty to say for myself, and at present my condition does not affect my capacity to speak. Hence my ability to write this blog with the aid of voice-activated software.
That I have had previous experience of managing my workplace has in no way prepared me to manage the situation in which I am cared for. Hence, a new (for me) need to have among my staff someone that can take on the role of my Care Manager, to ensure that where I need to be assisted with the day-to-day management of my care, there is someone I can depend upon to help me to think things through, and where necessary, to challenge my thinking.
It can't be an easy task, I was never very organised when I was totally independent, and in truth I am dependent now on other people for virtually everything.
That I can express myself is one thing, but no amount of life experience can prepare anybody to be able to live life to the full, when almost everything is a matter of negotiation and compromise.
Don't get me wrong, my life is still just as full as anybody's with the issues we must all deal with, not least of all clarifying what it is we wish to achieve. In my case, this is particularly necessary, because I need to organise someone to help me achieve those things I wish to achieve.
Friday 13 January 2012
In Search Of An Audience
I suppose this is everyone's concern. Just like in a conversation, and we want to be heard, and sometimes we don't listen as well as we should. It's quite human really, this need and desire for communication.
I want to get more traffic for my YouTube site, so that I feel my efforts in making short films are not in vain. Strangely, one of my films seems to be getting an increasing number of hits from as far afield as Saudi Arabia and India and Bangladesh. It is the film I made for the training of social workers, commissioned by my local County Council, West Sussex.
The film I would most like to be seen, over and above my selected entry for the International Festival in Canada, The Chantry, is Uses For Lipstick. This uses as its soundtrack my reading of my poem of the same name, which gained for me my first ever literary prize. Okay, only a £20 Waterstones book token, but I am still incredibly proud of this. It was judged to be the best poem in a competition to write a poem inspired by the movies. Hard not to be inspired by the movies, really.
Perhaps my best chance of gaining a greater audience will be through my writing for a National magazine, one that most people won't ever have heard of, Care Talk. It's fairly new, and is targeted at professionals in they care sector, from carers of all kinds, right through to professionals working in the sector at the highest level.
My first article was published in the December issue, which can be seen online free of charge. Just search for Care Talk, and my article is on page 20 and 21. I am very proud of the photographs, taken by my friend Marc, which capture in a much more documentary style myself and the subject of the article, my favourite taxi driver Len.Taxis take on a totally different meaning when you are a wheelchair user like me. Read the article, and you will see what I mean.
I was able to get one of my poems published as part of the article, Bluebells In The Azured Wood, an homage to A E Houseman. Unsurprisingly it was inspired by a visit to a wood with the bluebells just beginning to blossom.
I've got another article being published in the March edition, and the editor has accepted an idea of mine for an article about technology that enables access. Such as the way in which I am writing this blog with the assistance of voice activated software. Now if that isn't an excuse for some of my writing to be published, I don't know what is.
I did have the opportunity of writing the article myself, but I'm glad that the article is to be written by another freelance, because believe it or not I don't want simply to grandstand my work. I would rather someone else had some perspective on it.
Using voice-activated software, once you are used to it, for someone who is most interested in poetry is a fantastic advantage. And the way in which the technology has really improved means that I can type so much faster than once I was able. And since the advice is nearly always to read your work aloud, I suppose I have the advantage that my work is created using the natural rhythms of speech.
Recently I have discovered the way in which things like this blog entry can be linked to my Facebook page, as I have also discovered any films can be linked. So perhaps that long fabled moment when technologies converge is almost upon us. All we have to do is to find interesting ways in which to make it interesting. That, as they say, is the rub.
I want to get more traffic for my YouTube site, so that I feel my efforts in making short films are not in vain. Strangely, one of my films seems to be getting an increasing number of hits from as far afield as Saudi Arabia and India and Bangladesh. It is the film I made for the training of social workers, commissioned by my local County Council, West Sussex.
The film I would most like to be seen, over and above my selected entry for the International Festival in Canada, The Chantry, is Uses For Lipstick. This uses as its soundtrack my reading of my poem of the same name, which gained for me my first ever literary prize. Okay, only a £20 Waterstones book token, but I am still incredibly proud of this. It was judged to be the best poem in a competition to write a poem inspired by the movies. Hard not to be inspired by the movies, really.
Perhaps my best chance of gaining a greater audience will be through my writing for a National magazine, one that most people won't ever have heard of, Care Talk. It's fairly new, and is targeted at professionals in they care sector, from carers of all kinds, right through to professionals working in the sector at the highest level.
My first article was published in the December issue, which can be seen online free of charge. Just search for Care Talk, and my article is on page 20 and 21. I am very proud of the photographs, taken by my friend Marc, which capture in a much more documentary style myself and the subject of the article, my favourite taxi driver Len.Taxis take on a totally different meaning when you are a wheelchair user like me. Read the article, and you will see what I mean.
I was able to get one of my poems published as part of the article, Bluebells In The Azured Wood, an homage to A E Houseman. Unsurprisingly it was inspired by a visit to a wood with the bluebells just beginning to blossom.
I've got another article being published in the March edition, and the editor has accepted an idea of mine for an article about technology that enables access. Such as the way in which I am writing this blog with the assistance of voice activated software. Now if that isn't an excuse for some of my writing to be published, I don't know what is.
I did have the opportunity of writing the article myself, but I'm glad that the article is to be written by another freelance, because believe it or not I don't want simply to grandstand my work. I would rather someone else had some perspective on it.
Using voice-activated software, once you are used to it, for someone who is most interested in poetry is a fantastic advantage. And the way in which the technology has really improved means that I can type so much faster than once I was able. And since the advice is nearly always to read your work aloud, I suppose I have the advantage that my work is created using the natural rhythms of speech.
Recently I have discovered the way in which things like this blog entry can be linked to my Facebook page, as I have also discovered any films can be linked. So perhaps that long fabled moment when technologies converge is almost upon us. All we have to do is to find interesting ways in which to make it interesting. That, as they say, is the rub.
Thursday 12 January 2012
A New Edition
The Queen Alexandra Hospital Home for Soldiers, which is just across the road from where I live in Worthing, have just approved the manuscript of my new edition of my first collection of poems,50 x 50 - Useful Poetry For Troubled Times, which they are going to use as a fundraising tool. This should get my poetry to a much wider audience, and will raise much needed funds for this worthy cause. The hospital has a history that goes right back to 1915, when it first began to be a place of healing and rehabilitation for men returning from the trenches. Needless to say, their work never ceases, and at present they are a home to servicemen aged between 22 and 100.
The collection of my poems can be viewed in its original edition from my website, and the fundraising edition is fundamentally the same, but is based on the hardback edition, which required additional pages simply far the blinding of the hardback. I happened to choose as additional material for the hardback an essay about meeting Dame Vera Lynn at the hospital open day last summer, as well as a short story from my collection of short stories, mother and child with other stories.
The fact that I had included that piece about meeting with Dame Vera Lynn at the hospital has meant that not only has my book of poems been made available at the Worthing Lending Library, but a copy has also been placed in the prestigious County Local History Library, where it is rubbing shoulders with works by Shelley, Kipling, and Balzac.
It was this that gave me the idea of approaching the hospital, and since I am unable to earn royalties from sales of my work, it seemed like a good way of getting my work to reach a wider audience. I am greatly honoured that they have agreed to my proposition, and now we have agreement over the contents of the special edition, it will only be a few weeks before they can start selling copies.
I am hopeful that the inclusion of my film in the 2012 international Disability Film Festival may mean that sales of this edition may stretch as far afield as Canada. Who knows.
The collection of my poems can be viewed in its original edition from my website, and the fundraising edition is fundamentally the same, but is based on the hardback edition, which required additional pages simply far the blinding of the hardback. I happened to choose as additional material for the hardback an essay about meeting Dame Vera Lynn at the hospital open day last summer, as well as a short story from my collection of short stories, mother and child with other stories.
The fact that I had included that piece about meeting with Dame Vera Lynn at the hospital has meant that not only has my book of poems been made available at the Worthing Lending Library, but a copy has also been placed in the prestigious County Local History Library, where it is rubbing shoulders with works by Shelley, Kipling, and Balzac.
It was this that gave me the idea of approaching the hospital, and since I am unable to earn royalties from sales of my work, it seemed like a good way of getting my work to reach a wider audience. I am greatly honoured that they have agreed to my proposition, and now we have agreement over the contents of the special edition, it will only be a few weeks before they can start selling copies.
I am hopeful that the inclusion of my film in the 2012 international Disability Film Festival may mean that sales of this edition may stretch as far afield as Canada. Who knows.
My Film Accepted For Exhibition
I am very excited over the fact that my film, The Chantry, has been accepted for exhibition at the International Festival of disability film for the 2012 Festival.
It is only a short film, 12 minutes duration, and I suppose it is a celebration of the quality of care I received at a care home in Ipswich back in 2004.
The film is available to be viewed on my YouTube Channel, which has the same name as my blogger name, and there are several other films that can be viewed there.
The film combines film shot with a DV camera in the grounds of a house that goes back to the 16th century, with poetry written during my stay. I'm glad that it will be more widely seen, I have never entered any kind of public event like this, none of my arty films have been seen in public, although for example I was commissioned by my County Council to create a short film which is used for the training of social workers across the County. It has been used for training social workers as far afield as London, in Camden Town, and I know that the staff at West Sussex where I live are really pleased and proud of it. As indeed am I.
It is only a short film, 12 minutes duration, and I suppose it is a celebration of the quality of care I received at a care home in Ipswich back in 2004.
The film is available to be viewed on my YouTube Channel, which has the same name as my blogger name, and there are several other films that can be viewed there.
The film combines film shot with a DV camera in the grounds of a house that goes back to the 16th century, with poetry written during my stay. I'm glad that it will be more widely seen, I have never entered any kind of public event like this, none of my arty films have been seen in public, although for example I was commissioned by my County Council to create a short film which is used for the training of social workers across the County. It has been used for training social workers as far afield as London, in Camden Town, and I know that the staff at West Sussex where I live are really pleased and proud of it. As indeed am I.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)