Intro

I'm going to start blogging again. The main reason is because I have been having ideas, which didn't happen enough with my last blog, so I finished it. I am very much hoping that this blog will be better.

Since I started my last blog, a lot has changed in my life, and this year I am on a mission to make sense of the situation I find myself in. I have already started this process; it started from the moment things changed, but I would like to take some time to reflect on that in the hope that my experience may help others in a similar situation.

I also feel I have some things to say about disability and social work, and about how I felt about disability as an able-bodied person compared with how I feel now as a disabled person.

Finally I feel that it will help me communicate my feelings about my situation to other people. Reading other blogs has helped me to understand the writers' perspectives in a way which I wouldn't have through just talking to them. Reading the blogs of strangers helps me understand people that I might never get the chance to meet in real life, but whose perspective and opinions could still be useful in helping me better understand the world around me.

I hope that I can provide some useful food for thought for social workers and students. There will hopefully be a smattering of useful information and links too.

There are some things that I am deliberately not going to write about. It is not because I do not care about these things or don't have an opinion about them. It is just that there are plenty of other people who are saying it better than me. I will endeavour to point my readers in the direction of these people.

My first couple of posts have been pre-written and so will be published quickly. These will give a bit of background to me in terms of how I became a social worker and how I became ill. If you know me well, please feel free to skim or skip these posts, as you will probably know most of what I will be writing about.

These posts are not intended to be particularly in-depth and I hope that they do not come across as too emotional. The intention is purely to give context, and to have something to refer back to when I want to write about particular topics in more detail.

In the future, posts may not be as frequent because I have to write a bit at a time and cannot use the computer for long periods.

Also, please bear with me regarding layout, font etc. I have done my best so far but things may change as I get to grips with the technical side of blogging! Any suggestions regarding layout, accessibility and other technical things are welcome.

DISCLAIMER

The opinions in this blog are my personal opinions unless otherwise credited, referenced or linked.

I am not a social worker currently. It is a protected title and one has to be registered to use it. I was registered as a student from 2005-2008 and as a qualified social worker from 2008-2012.

Although I am not registered and cannot call myself a social worker now, I do have a degree in Social Work.

I am not employed by any organisation, university or local authority and do not represent the views of any of these.