As I see it

Now I am finished with studying, for a while anyway, I am putting some time and energy into blogging amongst other things. I have a number of interests ranging from the intellectual side of things to the basic human side.

For quite some time it has bugged me how disability has been ignored, not discussed or even asked about. Also how disability is withing the LGBT Community, a minority within a minority. I feel a lot of people, in general, see me and jump to their own conclusions about what they think they see as opposed to asking if I would having a conversation about it.

I am sure a lot of people, from every walk of life can relate to being out and about and someone asking “how are you”? What gets me is before you can answer that person, they are gone! I mean if you are not going to hang around for the answer, why ask? Imagine going into a shop and being asked “how may I help you? So then you start asking for what you want, and halfway through the shop assistant goes on their lunch!

So I have decided, in the age of the internet this blog entry is going to be about my disability.

First off I should state my obvious disability is completely a physical one and is called “Cerebral Palsy”, CP for short. I will write how CP affects me as there are many different types of it.
CP is not a disease or an illness but a physical impairment affecting muscle control and movement. A person/child with cerebral palsy has difficulty controlling movement and posture; they may have problems walking, talking, eating and playing.
I have nearly all my movements under control, my posture is great, fantastic really. I learned to walk when I was 9  and it improves with practice, I only use the wheelchair when I have to like going out and about on my own  I have two, a powered one, johnny 5 and the manual, the batmobele.
Cerebral palsy does not get worse over time. There are different causes of cp, the majority of cases are due to negligence just before, during or shortly after birth. I have CP because I wasn't delivered fast enough and could have been and the cord was around my neck 3 times, so there was lack of oxygen to my brain.
Children with CP have damage to the part of the brain that controls muscle tone and movement. Muscle tone may be too tight (hypertonia) or too loose (hypotonia) or mixed. Infants with CP are often slow to reach developmental milestones such as learning to roll over, sitting, crawling and walking.

The type of cerebral palsy I have is Dyskinesia. This refers to involuntary writhing-like movements that cause severe disability. It is also called choreiform or athetoid movement. Now I don’t consider my disability severe, but according to the medics I shouldn’t be as good as I actually am. Muscle tone in people with dyskinesia is variable i.e. too tight at times and too loose at other times. They have trouble sitting upright or walking.  - apparently I have this one. I have involuntary  movements but they are practically always under control, although at times my right hand/arm goes crazy. Oh and I am a professional dancer too.

Others things associated with Cerebral Palsy are

Talking is difficult if control of the muscles in the lips, jaw, tongue and other muscles involved in speech is affected. - apparently my lower jaw is paralysed, makes no sense to me. always thought paralysed meant feck all movement, yet I can talk, you might figure that one.
Eating difficulties may arise because of problems with biting, chewing and swallowing. There may be poor growth due to inadequate nutrition. If the child has difficulty closing his mouth he may have a problem with drooling. - Again this is relevant I cut up my food and have mastered the art of chewing, oh I may need a hand to cut up my grub, I do gag at times, usually  brushing my teeth, not very sexy.
Epilepsy occurs in about thirty to fifty percent of children with cerebral palsy. – I was one of those fifty percent, but grew out of it and am not on any medication at all.

Right that’s  kind of the scientific way CP effects me. Now the social way, yes nearly all people if not all people with all disabilities tend to like to have a social life and be treated with general manners and respect.

I personally enjoy good conversation, a few drinks, dancing, shopping, DIY, photography to mention but a few. As I am Irish, and live in Ireland a huge part of our culture is socialise in pubs and clubs. This can be difficult at times, there are very few places completely accessible. I also find it difficult in Cork more so to find friends who will actually meet other places then a pub.  It can be difficult to socialise. Before going out I have considerations to take into account. If going out on my own the venue I choose must have an accessible toilet, if it doesn’t it means I am either coming from somewhere that had and am only having a drink before hitting the road, or I am going somewhere else I can access a loo. I do have to say I feel somewhat lucky that I can hop out of my chair and walk with the lend of an arm to access events, especially within the gay community which are up stairs. Even though I don’t agree with the lack of thought and funding which causes inaccessibility, where possible, I try not to isolate myself any more than I have to, so I walk up the stairs of venues and sometimes just have one drink for the night so the toilet isn’t required. On the other hand.a woman in her 30’s living in Ireland should not have to do that, should she? Should anyone?

Rambelings, Events and the like Edition 2

As some of you may know, I sell rainbow merchandise, as it is pride week I am running some very special offers on some of my items for pride:

Offers
Offer 1:
Pink Magnet + Ashtray + Shot glass = €15

Offer 2:
Braces + You Too Can Be A Lesbian Magnet + I became a Lesbian Magnet = €20
Offer 3:
Rainbow Tie + Small Rainbow Flag = €20
I am also open to negations
DJ'ing
This is my 5th year DJing, over the years I have played Cork, Dublin and Galway Pride, The Cork Women's Fun Weekend, 18ths, 21sts, 30ths, 40'ths and 50th Birthday parties, I have played at fundraisers, and am very open to doing Garden Parties and house parties too., I will also do themed parties etc. I play music from each decade as well as party tunes, Country, Motown, Rock 'n Roll, dance too mention but a few. My price varies as to how long I play and includes equipment.


Thursday 3rd June
Mna Mna Choir performing at Memorial Service at St. Annes, Shandon Street @ 8PM.
The fantastic WITLESS take to the stage of Chambers, wohhhooo
Friday 4th June 6-9pm @ LinC

BBQ to celebrate Pride 2010 with music provided by DJ Proud Mary, this is a mixed event, all are welcome. (Please feel free to bring your own beer/wine)

Saturday 5th June 12 noon @ LinC
Pre Pride Parade Brunch, with music provided by DJ Proud Mary, this is a mixed event, all are welcome.

Sunday 6th June @ The Savoy.
Closing Party at the Savoy: 4 Rooms of Music and Live performances: Sammy Jo “Scissor Sisters” (dj set), John Broz (so excited) and The Darg Boutique with your host Miss Daisy Drips (Alternative Miss Cork 2010) there will be live performances from Daisy and a host of other well known Cork Drag artists there will also be private booths and some very interesting surprises indeed! The smoking area will also be The Karaoke Lounge” with the karaoke queen herself Jendaria Replacia with all your favorite big power ballads at hand for you to sing your little gay heart out! Tickets are €15 euro and are available from www.tickets.ie (booking fee will apply) The Other Place South Main street and Loafers Bar Douglas Street. Doors Open @ 10:30 pm

Groups

Marriage Equality have moved offices to 105, Capel Street, Dublin 1. Tel: 01-8734183. Their email address and website address are the same as always.

News


An update on last weeks news:

The president of Malawi has pardoned two gay men who were sentenced to 14 years in prison this month for gross indecency and unnatural acts, the country's solicitor general, Anthony Kamanga, said Saturday.
President Bingu wa Mutharika announced his pardon of Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga after meeting with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, Kamanga said.
Authorities arrested Monjeza and Chimbalanga in December at their home in Blantyre, Malawi after the couple professed their love in a traditional engagement ceremony. Police discovered the couple when local newspapers reported on their engagement ceremony.
The criminal case against them cast a light on prevailing African attitudes toward homosexuality, which is outlawed in more than 30 nations on the continent.
The White House said it is pleased to learn of the pardon, stressing that the people are "not criminals and their struggle is not unique."
"We must all recommit ourselves to ending the persecution and criminalization of sexual orientation and gender identity. We hope that President Mutharika's pardon marks the beginning of a new dialogue which reflects the country's history of tolerance and a new day for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender rights in Malawi and around the globe," it said.
Welcoming the action, the British government said, "Human rights apply to everyone regardless of their sexual orientation or gender identity."
"Britain has a close and strong partnership with Malawi and it is in this spirit that we raised our concerns about these convictions with the Government of Malawi," Britain said in a statement.
Some in the conservative southern African nation of Malawi supported the prosecution, and government officials have said they were simply upholding the law. Human rights groups and advocates for gays and lesbians argued that the arrests violated Malawi's constitution, which outlaws discrimination.
Monjeza and Chimbalanga are in their 20s. While they were awaiting trial, they were subjected to medical examinations intended to find evidence of sodomy, according to Human Rights Watch. They also underwent psychiatric evaluations. All the exams were done without the men's consent, the group said. The director of an organization that helped provide legal support to the couple, Gift Trapence of the Center for the Development of People, welcomed the news. The president's decision provides an example to African governments and the world in general, he said.
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In the news this week:

According to the Gay Liberation Network, on May 29th thirty Russian lesbian, gay and bisexual activists held a 10 minute flashmob Gay Parade on Moscow's Leningradsky Street despite the banning of such festivities.

Carrying a long rainbow flag and placards in Russian and English calling for "Rights for gays", the protesters chanted "No homophobia" and "Russia without homophobes."

The Chicago's Gay Liberation Network stated "Through clever organizing and disciplined execution of their plan, Russian lesbian and gay organizers were able to outwit the vastly superior resources of the Russian state," "Russian gay organizers defied homophobic Mayor Yury Luzhkov's macho bluster, demonstrating great courage and determination. They showed, even in difficult circumstances, people can successfully organize for freedom.

"LGBT activists from Moscow, St Petersburg and Minsk staged today the first-ever successful Gay Pride in Moscow, despite the [government] ban," said Nikolai Alekseev, principal organizer for Moscow Pride. "Though the March was short - it happened. All the Russian media reported that for the first time in five years, the gay parade took place in Moscow without being arrested by the police and assaulted by protesters."
Homosexuality has been decriminalized in Russia since 1993, but is still widely despised.

An unauthorized gay pride parade was held in Moscow in 2007, but police detained gay rights activists, among them European lawmakers, as they tried to present a letter to Luzhkov. It attracted a hostile crowd of people who punched and threw eggs at the activists.

Perhaps when we are freely walking on Saturday, though the streets of Cork in Pride we will cast our minds to those in Russia and all over.

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Ireland is hosting an LGBT music festival, MILK, several artists are already confirmed including Samantha Fox, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Bananarama and Right Said Fred. It sounds like the best of the '80s and early '90s!

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In Hot Press interview, Courtney Love reveals she once had an affair with International supermodel Kate Moss. “It was Kate Moss, It was just a thing that happened in Milan in the 90s. It happened and it was fun. And she talks about it so I hope she doesn’t get mad that I outed her about it….. I feel like such a kiss and tell…. Kate’s great, though! Kate’s a good friend of mine.”
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Matt Lucas of Little Britian accepted undisclosed damages from the Daily Star newspaper after it printed incorrect information pertaining to the relationship between himself and his former civil partner Kevin McGee. According to the BBC, the High Court were told the paper "without foundation" published articles alleging the star was placed on suicide watch and the couple separated because of McGee's misuse of cocaine. The newspaper apologized for the inVasion of privacy and any distress caused by the articles. In October 2009 McGee hung himself following his civil partnership breakup,
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New research by UK gay rights organisation Stonewall has revealed that lesbian and gay asylum seekers are being routinely deported because of institutionalised discrimination within the system.
The report, No Going Back (published today) features detailed evidence from both LGB asylum seekers and staff at the UK Border Agency, who say they have received no solid guidelines on how to question LGB asylum claimants from Jamaica, Malawi and Uganda, reports Pinknews.
The report also details the rape, torture and death-threats that LGB people face in countries worldwide and sheds light on specific disadvantages unique to their cases as a direct consequence of their sexual orientation. Harrison, a Jamaican asylum seeker quoted in the survey said: "As long as you're recognised, you're victimsed. [We live] every day in fear."
The report also reveals that LGB asylum seekers are often assumed to be either lying or capable of modifying their behavior to escape detection, should they be returned to their country of origin.
As a result, Stonewall have issued a set of recommendations to rectify errors of judgment made by UKBA staff. These include robust policy and guidance and training of all UKBA decision-makers to ensure effective questioning and fair case-hearings.
It is also recommended that Home Office Country of Origin services be improved to reflect up-to-date and accurate information about the level and nature of anti-gay persecution in countries where it is currently prevalent – including the 80 member states of the United Nations where same-sex relations between consenting adults is illegal.
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Television:

Last Monday night, The Secret Diaries of Miss Anne Lister were televised on BBC2. It was a bold and passionate drama telling the story of Anne Lister, 1791-1840, a Yorkshire landowner, industrialist, traveller and diarist. She was a lesbian, who, despite needing to keep her orientation secret from society at large, in private defied the conventions of her times by living with her female lover. Anne kept a detailed account of her life, her loves and her emotions in a fascinating and painfully honest 4,000,000-word journal. A sizeable portion was written in code, and the recent deciphering of the diaries provides an astonishing insight into the life of the woman who has been called Britain's first modern lesbian. This programe was followed by a one-hour documentary, presented by the fantastic Sue Perkins, telling the story of Lister and the decoding of her diaries.
Background:
Early 19th century England is usually seen through the eyes of Jane Austen and the Brontë sisters. Sue Perkins explores a very different version of this era, as lived and recorded by the remarkable Anne Lister.
Anne was born in Halifax in 1791. A Yorkshire landowner, she was a polymath, autodidact and traveler who kept a detailed diary. Running to more than 4,000,000 words, deemed to be one of the most important journals in English literature. Parts of Anne's diary were written in code: when broken they reveal graphic details of Anne's many love affairs with women. She was 15 when she started writing the journals, she spent time at a York boarding school for ladies in 804 where she met her first love at the age of 13 with a girl called Eliza.
Anne's hot spot after boarding school for finding women was actually at church! Soon enough she became infatuated with Ms Browne and after two years finally pecked her on the lips. She then became involved with a doctors daughter, Marianna who after three years she married into money, an older businessman and moved the Cheshire. For five years the two women met for nights of passion. Marianne got uncomfortable with Anne's increasingly mescaline physic. Anne’s uncle passed away and inherited Shibden Hall and looked around for an eligible wife and met a young wealthy lady, Anne Walker. In 1834 the ladies got a blessing at church, they actually engineered a same-sex marriage, after which Anne Walker moved into Shibden hall. Anne then got into coal mining and was very successful. After which both women travelled to Europe for some time. The next time people heard of Anne Lister was in the local newspaper in the obituaries section. Anne Walker brought her remains back to Halifax which took six months.
Sue visits Halifax's public library to explore what Anne Lister's life reveals about her society. She meets Helena Whitbread, who spent 25 years cracking Anne's code and who was responsible for the publication of the diaries in 1988. Helena tells Sue the moving and tragic story of Marianne Belcome, the love of Anne's life.
Sue visited Shibden Hall, Anne's ancestral home, and discovers that Regency England was surprisingly tolerant of Anne's chosen lifestyle. Dr Margaret Reynolds and Prof Amanda Vickery told Sue that relations between young women were tacitly encouraged as a useful preparation for marriage. Anne was able to follow her sexual preferences in relative peace. It was only when she sought to profit from the Industrial Revolution by sinking a coal mine on her land that criticism of her private life became public. Anne acquired the capital for the mine from a wealthy female landowner, Anne Walker, with whom she enjoyed a relationship as close to marriage as the times would permit. Sue finds out that what happened to Anne Lister's diaries after her death is almost as remarkable as the story of Anne's life.
A relation, John Lister found the diaries who was a homosexual so buried the dairy’s and died in 1933. A woman called Murial Green found the transcripts two weeks after his death. In the 1960’s a local historian studied the diaries for eight years but publication of her studies were refused by the Halifax town council. In 1988 Helena published her book

-- DJ Proud Mary

Ramblings, events and the like, Edition 1

News:

This Sunday Cork Pride is kicking off and there is plenty planned to keep you occupied throughout, it is running from May 29th to June 7th inclusive.

There are tones of events arranged over the week, however the one I am most excited about is the Closing Party at the Savoy, 4 Rooms of Music and Live performances: Sammy Jo “Scissor Sisters” (dj set), John Broz (so excited) and The Darg Boutique with your host Miss Daisy Drips (Alternative Miss Cork 2010) there will be live performances from Daisy and a host of other well known Cork Drag artists there will also be private booths and some very interesting surprises indeed! The smoking area will also be The Karaoke Lounge” with the karaoke queen herself Jendaria Replacia with all your favourite favourite big power ballads at hand for you to sing your little gay heart out! Tickets are €15 euro and are availible from www.tickets.ie (booking fee will apply) The Other Place South Main street and Loafers Bar Douglas Street. Doors Open @ 10:30 pm

However before pride week starts, we the Eurovision Final to look forward to with the awesome Niamh Kavanagh representing us in Norway. Saturday night the curtains go up at 8pm on RTE1, why not pop into Loafers and watch the contest before I take to the decks and spin the tunes till close...

News:

Steven Monjeza and Tiwonge Chimbalanga, the Malawian couple sentenced last week to 14 years in prison with hard labour, have been separated by the authorities. Previously, the couple were held together in Chichiri prison. Eventhough in separate cells, they were allowed occasional contact. Recently Mr Monjeza was transferred to the notorious Zomba prison.

Human Rights campaigner Peter Tatchell said: "The decision by Malawian authorities to split up [the] jailed lovers. . . is a cruel, malicious and vindictive attempt to cause the couple psychological stress and heartache." He added: "Now they will have no contact at all. This move will be particularly hard for Steven. Of the two, he is more vulnerable and stressed. Tiwonge, in contrast, is robust and resilient."

Mr Tatchell also said that anecdotal reports suggested many Malawains thought the sentence too harsh, despite the widespread national belief that homosexuality is a sin. Lawyers for Mr Monjeza and Mr Chimbalanga are optimistic that their appeal may be heard around the end of June, and even suggested Mr Monjeza might be returned to Chichiri prison by the beginning of the appeal process. Mr Tatchell he remained "sceptical" and added: "My fear is that the appeal court may reduce the jail term but not revoke it."

Warm regards,

DJ Proud Mary.