A NEW BEGINNING; CREATING VISIBILITY

                                                        CREATING VISIBILITY

                                                              BY BREAKING BARRIERS

The time has come, long overdue, when we start integrating the hidden population into mainstream society. We have an aging population and too many available jobs so the timing works for institutions, organizations and employers. Oh, we have played at creating a world that is more inclusive by changing laws of accessibility, Human Rights codes that do not allow employers to discriminate, creating public access so people with disabilities can spend their few dollars. But, when it comes right down to it we have not progressed very far.

Western society has hidden people who are different from the norm. Who defined "normal" is not a subject open for discussion. Primarily those who did not have physical, developmental or mental disabilities,  heterosexual, procreating white males, wealthy people, churches, government and other institutions.

Asylums were built to house people with any sort of disability, psychiatric patients, "fallen women" (who made them fallen? or prostitutes), criminals, women suffering from post-natal or work related stress, what were once called lunatic asylums, people with autism, ADHD (although the terminology wasn't developed yet) and so on. Families willingly placed their tiny children in asylums in appalling conditions if they were born with "Down's Syndrome" or were otherwise different. These are all well documented with a quick search on the internet. Social norms dictated that we hide anyone "different" without questioning what all of the assigned individuals could offer our society.

Now, because we need more people in the workforce and because people are demanding inclusivity we are creating a world where visibility is becoming attainable. I will explain this later, but for now I would like to focus on society's so called accessibility and anti-discrimination policies.

I saw an employment ad that stated they encouraged people with disabilities to apply and their Human Resources would accommodate special needs. I have disabilities. I lost my finger tips and my toes were amputated when I had pneumonia sepsis. The office was close to me so I gathered my pertinent documents and decided to apply in person.

I arrived to find the offices were up a dark, steep set of stairs with no elevator. They did not have a wheelchair door, their were 5 doors to go through (none of them wheelchair doors or wide enough for a wheelchair) before coming to the person on the hiring committee. Now, you are saying, but you do not use a wheelchair. No, I do not, but my balance is precarious with no toes, especially going downstairs. I was not just thinking of myself. Many disabled people are in wheelchairs. This office had no means of accommodating for any disability never mind an obvious one like someone in a wheelchair or who uses a walker or is on crutches.

Another example of blatant discrimination was a job ad I saw recently that stated no criminals need apply. I reported this to the Labour Board because companies are not allowed to exclude anyone. Do you know what the job was for? Someone to work on a ginkgo farm, 7 days per week, 12 hours per day for 5 weeks at minimum wage.. Let's analyse this.

Let's say a person was convicted of car theft 5 years ago. Even if he hasn't changed, which he has, what harm is he going to do working so hard he doesn't have time to look up, never mind find a car to steal in the fields. Or, another client convicted of cocaine possession with the intention to sell. He went to a rehab centre then finished high school and was waiting to start college in the fall to become an addictions counsellor. He was willing to work at any job to save for college. What was he going to do? Smoke the ginkgo? Even if he did, he would only get valuable vitamins and minerals.

Everyone has something to offer our communities. People may think differently with developmental disabilities but are often more patient, slower to rush into judging or harming others, organized because they have learned different techniques to face their challenges and look at ideas differently. I have learned so much from my clients with different emotional, educational, mental health issues. In fact, I have probably learned more from all of my clients then theory taught me.

 I do not necessarily agree with the government insisting people with disabilities work. What I do support is making the disabled clients visible. We need to show that people with visible and invisible disabilities can offer our work places and communities valuable contributions and are worth taking out of hiding.

 We need to address employers who cannot employ some people. I am not suggesting employers and companies complete overwhelming renovations at outrageous costs to make their environment more accommodating. Just explain their limitations to better focus on who can work with them. A healthy, able bodied person with learning disabilities might be the right person for the job.

We need to look at what people can offer, learn to accept different ways of thinking and try changing our own beliefs to honour everyone who has the right to employment. I am a strong advocate for anyone needed a voice. People determine what type of employment they want and how many hours they can work. We need to break down barriers and help individuals find realistic steps to their goals. 

This is also true of the clients we want to sell to. Stand back for a minute and see how your store is arranged. Are the aisles wide enough, are there stairs people cannot manage, are clothing articles too high. I come across this all the time. I do not consider my 5'3" height too short, yet clothing stores often place things so high I can't read the size label. The fact that the store clerk needs to get a pole with a hook on it to check the size for me tells me that the store and their managers are more interested in profit then accommodating even for their employees.

If we all take the time to view the situation through a different set of lenses, we can see where change is needed. As I think on this there is a store I frequent, but I am stopping. They are one of the stores that put clothing up too high for the average person to reach. I will explain why and follow up with the chain to present their practices.

My Views This Week: Why are our dishes changing sizes, again?

Have you noticed that dinner plate size is changing, again??? 


Food is one thing all of us share and how food changes over time determines many aspects of our life. It effects global economy, like wheat prices, soya production is not just for cows anymore, more and more vegans result in scientists creating more genetically altered vegetables and so on. It also affects the size of our dishes, what we eat off and how much we eat.


When farmers worked in the fields, before agri-farms took over the industry, family members ate huge meals 3 times a day and used huge bowls and plates. They needed a lot of energy to work outdoors, plowing, planting, harvesting and operating a farm. All family members participated in the economy of the farm and all family members required large meals to sustain them until sundown, when work ended and family's retired for the evening.


Farmers, of days gone by, did not care about the size of their plate other then making sure it would hold what they needed to eat to sustain themselves for the hard work that day.  Rarely did you see an obese farmer. They did not care about fat content like eating bacon and eggs. They grew their own produce, had chickens, some kept a number of different farm animals for food, others kept farm animals for their livelihood, like cattle in Alberta.


When farming changed to large agricultural business' subsuming smaller farmers land of only a few thousand acres (my family heritage was farming & I studied the process at university), farmers were forced to find new jobs, unless they were part of the lucky few who accepted large settlements and could retire. 


This is one of Canada's myths, that farmers received huge settlements to sell out. Most farmers knew no other kind of business, this was their life, not just their economic means of survival. When they were offered money and turned it down, agri-business' waited until farmers had no choice, because big business took over every aspect of farming and farmers could not compete with prices, so ended up settling for less then their farms were worth or starve to death if they remained.


Back to plates. this is a very simplified version of why plates change over time, and, in our society of more, more, more, will likely fluctuate as trends do. It started with plates downsizing for a number of years because people were eating from grocery stores, for the first time ever. The food offered was not as fresh, bread not as wholesome so not as filling, and people started filling up on empty calories. Macaroni and cheese, pastas of all sorts became a mainstay. Smaller plates accommodated the smaller amount required to fill you up.


As time progressed, decorating became big business along with suburban housing. Box lunches became the vogue, before restaurants made box lunches obsolete. It was a "keep up with the Jones" era, beginning and would grow to proportions that we now see in huge box stores, decorating shows by the numbers on TV, computer use and so on.


As part of this, immigration moved up it's pace in the 1970's and ethnic food became part of big business and started filling the shelves of supermarkets. TV dinners, of a different sort appeared on our SUPER-market shelves, and did not require large dinner plates. You could eat out of the packaged container. If this trend continued, we would not need plates, but that would affect the economy too much.


We started going back to our "roots" and eating healthier. Not the large plates of beef, potatoes and fresh garden vegetables, plucked that morning from the garden. Instead, organic food was introduced and a number of groups, such as communes (today there are 174 known communes that are 100% profit sharing, view web statistics) and introduced beans and legumes as part of a mainstay diet; healthy and low cost. This didn't last because, ultimately, we have a western society brought up on meat and potatoes. This is changing but meat is still a part of most people's diet and, in it's own way, determines plate size.


Then dining became an art. Chargers were introduced, place settings on tables, especially in famous decorating magazines, became a work of art as did food. The reintroduction of larger plates took over stores that the general public could afford to purchase dishes from; IKEA, warehouse and liquidation stores.  Add to this the new trend of everyone owning a television set and then computers and we developed one of the most global problems we are addressing today; childhood obesity. Huge plates of food, sedentary life style, equals health problems that often start with obesity, like diabetes, sleep disorders and the list goes on.


The World Health Organization (WHO) found 2 major problems to address this decade and will continue next decade as well. Childhood obesity in the Western World and Childhood Poverty also in the Western World and around the globe. Altho, plates are now coming down in size so hopefully this helps a bit with obesity where too much tv and computer prevent children from going outdoors to actually "play".


 I saw this with my daughter, who is 12 years younger then her brothers. She didn't go outside to play as much once she went to school. School projects were done on computers, kids chat thru email on computers, no one picks up a phone or walks down the street to talk to their friends anymore. With my older boys, the phone was their stay at home friend and the beginning of nintendo games. But, by then they loved sports too much to stop outdoor activity, because that was the main part of their life until these games controlled their attention


I have listed this in such simplistic terms that it doesn't follow the real life activities and economics of the true happenings that have determined the size of our plates. I would love to write a paper about it but as I am no longer in university, I would be writing it for me and I know the whole story in my head because I took Sociology of Change and we looked at food to study this (with a brilliant professor, Harriet Friedman). Please read at least one of her books to understand how local economy buying is crucial to keep our prices low and our foods fresh (http://blog.newint.org/editors/2009/12/01/torontos-food-grove/)


Now, we have WHO addressing the serious concern of child poverty, here at home and globally. A huge issue in our local election agenda is poverty. Poverty is one factor that leads to obesity, along with sedentary lifestyle. If you cannot afford fresh fruit and vegetables and lean meats, you need to feed your family with low cost pasta's, not the exotic pastas of the past, simply noodles. Parents are conscientious and want to feed their families well but cannot do so, even with 2 incomes in our community. They feed their kids carrots in season and what they can. 


School programs are now necessary to pick up the slack. So, we have smaller plates so people will eat less and we have smaller plates so it doesn't look like nothing is on your plate. What size should our plates be? How can each of help? I don't have money to help myself, never mind contribute to the needs of other families. But, I can do my part.


My daughter and I, when she was about 3, started buying one thing every time we shopped and it was her job to put the item/s in the food bank bin. The goal was to make her socially aware. I had a job then but when I first moved on my own, with the children, I needed to use food banks. I deliberately used smaller plates back then. 


I never forgot, and while I was grateful it was also a humbling experience. My belief that it is my responsibility to give back to those who gave freely to me. Now, as I age and my health deteriorates and my economic resources were cut by 3/4 because of my disability of fibromyalgia, I may need to start using the food bank again. But, when soup goes on sale, I make my donation. It just gets smaller now.

Portuguese Water Dog PUPPIES FOR SALE

Pepsi's championship puppies are available for sale at Bayport Water Dogs; breeders who ensure all puppies are socialized with children, healthy and vet checked and appropriate shots etc, sires bred for championship lines, temperament and all around fun puppies.

Pepsi is an adorable mom, is learning to count to make sure all puppies are where she wants them and takes such good care of them. It is funny to watch because any other PWD around her, male or female, all poke their heads in, give Pepsi an hello and gently lick the puppies heads to ensure they are ok. I wish I had a picture of a 65 lb dog licking the head of a pup, all stretched out is about 8" long; as big as the gentle giants paw.

Make sure you fill out your application quickly. I have provided a link for you. There are only 2 girls and I know one is sold. The breeder is Pam and she is always willing to answer questions and have you check out the puppies and where they live. 

http://www.portuguesewaterdogs.ca/index.php?option=com_mosforms&Itemid=14

Sherry

An Alternate Theory - Complex and Diabolical

The saga continues. With deliberate intent. A gaggle of fools continue their attempts to discredit a reputable business and their owner. But, "they" are using a make believe world to keep themselves safe?


             I am so naive sometimes. And, when I find out what passed over my head, I cannot believe I could be so gullible. Why didn't I think of this before? The silly part is that only a very few people knew the inside story, knew it was a joke, was laughable and unbelievable from the beginning, and not even about the real topic that continues to plague an innocent family


Did she deliberately have untruths printed, thinking no one could disprove the information because the person blurting out the information wasn't even a real person? But, a real person comes forth with the truth, telling the real story about something that has absolutely nothing to do with the blog topic and blows everything out of the water.


One of the things I learned from a brilliant professor, who taught my creative writing class, at U of T,  was how to tell the truth when writing a work of fiction. That you have to believe and make the rest of the world believe in what you are telling them. But, if it wasn't believed to begin with, it would not fly. That is why I finally caught on.


You see, too many things didn't make sense to me. Not only didn't they make sense, there was such a risk of slander liability that I was astounded that the people involved  continued to publish such untruths.


Now, here is where I am at a loss. Is it an untruth if you are using fictitious names to discredit someone? Let us say, hypothetically, that someone, using the name of an historical figure, respond to a blog and continues to state blatant lies. It becomes a work of fiction but is attached to a real life blog intended to harm real people. Is the person using a fictitious name libel for the blatant untruths spoken on a published website? 


Why didn't the  (hypothetical) historical person fear the law; because to slander someone and/or their business, is an illegal offense, chargeable in a court of law with serious consequences. But, if the person responding is using a make believe name, who will get charged? Who is stating the untruth.


For example, let's say I typed in the name Charles V B, in the google search engine, knowing this person was reportedly a war hero in the 1890's. Now, to continue the hypothesis, let's say that Charles V B is following a blog that is published for all to read. Knowingly using a fictitious name (because the real CVB died in the late 1800's and no new births were recorded with that name - hypothetically speaking), he adds insult to injury by telling more unbelievable and ridiculous statements. Is the pretender libel for his slanderous dribble? Or, because he is not using his own name, can he deny ever saying that, thinking no one could prove otherwise. Diabolical! 


A make believe tale, intentionally written  as a lie to seriously harm an honest family? Does that make it fiction? Or truth, developed by people so devious as to create a novel within the supposedly true story, published for all to read, with one intent.


 Revenge!
    Because they did not like the outcomes in their own lives. They didn't follow normal procedures for the situation they were in, never had facts validated, in fact, swept everything under the carpet before real research could begin. 


The game of blame became a story, one I may even write about. Add a murderer and we have a mystery fiction worthy of the Best Sellers list.

Disclaimer:
      I should be careful. I am thinking on paper about writing a book of fiction. Will this be turned into another reason someone takes the blame for nothing to do with them?

IN DEFENSE OF BAYPORT WATER DOGS... con`d - TRUTH WINS OUT

Today, I cut and pasted the response I sent to the unknown author of a blog      

entitled:   Problems with Bayport Water Dog, posted Aug 17, 2010 

I posted this to my own blog because it is important to me that people know the truth, about my life, people in my life, dogs in my life. I am an advocate for many things, but truth is at the top.

But, my response sent was deleted as were other peoples responses that did not agree with the woman who wrote the blog. Removed, discarded, deleted, just gone. . Because I don't have a name, I will just call her, "Problem" so we can differentiate between which blog I refer to.

Why, I asked myself?  Was I removed because (yikes, I cannot believe I made a typo in the very first word, something that will haunt me as a would be writer) because of typing errors. I was writing in haste, my incredulity overwhelming. Theories abound, but of course come back to reality. Because, the other people who responded to "Problem" wrote before I did, defending and offering inarguable facts to counter "Problems" blog. Yes, they were deleted too.

Truth hurts. And, it forces us to look at ourselves. Sometimes that is manifested in unusual ways, particularly if we do not want to admit or apologize or even think we know the truth.

For example, it is suspicious if we refuse to show our name in the profile section or any details at all. This is particularly so if the information changes from the original post. Oh, we don't have to disclose our personal information if we fear harm, but a name, something to validate that the whole blog isn't a story or a work of fiction. Give us something. Or, give us the truth.

I cannot speak for others or make guesses and I have no intention of judging. I want to address a few items in "Problems" blog, by herself or others she has allowed to remain on her blogs. As well, I will expand on my own experience with Pam, the reputable breeder and owner of Bayport Water Dogs

One report stated that Pam over bred her dogs for money, "a money breeder" she was called. I have a lovely PWD from the only PWD breeder in southern Ontario that I would even consider working with. I did speak with other PWD breeders and PWD rescuers and was appalled at conditions, especially where rescue dogs were kept. When I first met Pam, she thought it was a good idea that I take in a rescue dog or doggy sit for PWD`s waiting for permanent homes, because PWD`s are unlike any other dog you may want to adopt.. I did that, fell in love and the next step was my own bundle of energy, Pepsi.

During the first 18 months of Pepsi's life, Pam came to my home to take Pepsi for testing, various kinds, at different stages for different durations. Pepsi came back with 100% flying colours, or she would not breed. But, when it was time for Pepsi to first breed, I was ill. Pam kindly took Pepsi back to her home and cared for her until I was well enough to have her home. Pepsi is very high energy, as all PWD's are and I could not walk well so could not take her for long walks. Pam and I both agreed it was better to wait for Pepsi to breed until things were back to normal. The back & forth was upsetting to Pepsi (and me) and Pam felt we were better left to heal together before breeding. This was heat 3. 

Good news. Pepsi, after her 4th heat, just gave birth to 10, yes 10, healthy puppies. You see, these are very large dogs. It is silly to suggest they would have 3 or 4 puppies as they would be so huge in mom's tummy they would not pass through the birth canal. 10 was a lot, 8 normal for a 1st litter but she was on her 4th heat. I know who she was bred with, how old he is, what other pups he sired, his championship lines, his rest schedules and, of course, I know the whole story about Pepsi. I first brought her home when she was 12 weeks old.
   I think it is fair to say, my dog is NOT OVER BRED and PAM CARED MORE FOR MY FEELINGS AND PEPSI'S WELL BEING THEN "money breeding".

Several blogs suggested Pam would not return phone calls. You are right, under certain circumstances. Let me give you an example.
   At about 1:00AM, Wednesday morning, Pepsi started into labour and finished delivering puppies and all were cleaned, information recorded, documents filled out etc, around 1:00PM. Pam sat with Pepsi throughout and I sat there for hours helping out. The phone rang non-stop. I don`t know how she manages that on a regular day. I would unplug the phone, but she is running a business and this is normal. Pam is also a very active community member, keeping her active as she helps out. 
However, for this day, and like any other day Pam is delivering puppies, she sits with them, cleans them up, makes sure the whelping bed is clean and disinfected at all times (this is messy work), keeping other puppies warm when Pepsi is pushing a pup out or cleaning other puppies. It is a non-stop process and between the two of us (I wanted to be at Pepsi`s birthing and knew how to deliver) we were hopping & mopping, Pam was getting puppies warmed and cleaning them and charting birth order and tagging and on and on. I don`t know how she does this on her own.
? I think not. 
   But, Pam takes calls, I watch her. Pam is professional at all times, informative and knowledgeable. She has dignity and will not allow people to name call, yell, swear or argue. She responds, in her quiet, gentle way, that she will happily call back when that person calms down so they can speak about solutions.

I am in total disbelief at the lies flying around that have the power to seriously damage this family. It is unconscionable!  Bayport Water Dogs is a business that was built on one woman`s knowledge, education, integrity and diligence, to support her children and herself, as she continues to do. There are records to support all of the health tests every Bayport Water Dog undergoes, where the dogs are purchased, lineage, breeding, selling and so on. Do you not think veterinarians and CKC and every other club Pam belongs to has records validating her unquestionable ethics? 

Truth wins out. 

 Sherry