The full list of signatures and the text of the letter is now available:
Source: Open letter: Deaf & disabled people 4 #JeremyCorbyn. List of signatures
If you scroll far enough down the list of signatures you get to this…

The full list of signatures and the text of the letter is now available:
Source: Open letter: Deaf & disabled people 4 #JeremyCorbyn. List of signatures
If you scroll far enough down the list of signatures you get to this…

An introduction to the Autism Awareness Cup, a couple of important links (please follow up on both), and a classic infographic with a link to the original post in which I found it.
This post is about an event that has been organised by a young man named Grant Cotton as a fund-raising autism awareness event. I have also included one of the finest autism related infographics I have yet come across.
The tournament will take place on July 10th, using the artificial pitch at Lynnsport, 1.5 miles (2.4 kilometres) from the centre of King’s Lynn, and each team will have the name of a country (England, Holland and the Republic of Ireland have all been bagged already). Reproduced below is Grant Cotton’s poster for the event, which can be seen in its original setting by clicking here:

My first link, courtesy of my friends at DPAC, is to details of a court case which will impact on the enforcement of the law regarding wheelchair bays on buses (this law is not open to misinterpretation – it states clearly that if a wheelchair bay is not in use the driver has discretion to allow a non-wheelchair user to use it, but the needs of wheelchair users come first – a non-wheelchair user in a wheelchair bay is legally obliged to move for a wheelchair user). I urge anyone who lives in London or who can travel there on Wednesday to be at the court to make our presence felt. I have already shared this story on facebook and twitter and pressed a link on my London transport themed website www.londontu.be.
My other link comes courtesy of NAS, and concerns a new Too Much Information film which will be showing at various shopping centres over the next few months. Of reasonably local interest are the showings that will be happening at Chapelfield, Norwich on August 27 and 28.
I spotted this on blondemomsense this morning and had to include it. The original blog post from which I extracted it can be viewed here:

From the wonderful folk at DPAC comes this – please read and share the original…
Source: 5th May We Support #ENILILDAY
From thepoorsideoflife by way of dpac (please note the request at the end of the dpac version to contact your MP – I have already done so)
Source: You cannot serve two masters.. Universal credit and your employer.
From DPAC comes this excellent piece about SCOPE. I have history with this charity, having volunteered at one of their shops and subsequently been ignored when I applied for a paid position with them. Please follow the link below and read this piece.
Source: SCOPE #endthebullshit!
Accounts of a public meeting about disability and a protest against the possible closure of the Fermoy Unit, enlivened with photographs. Read, enjoy and please share!
I am treating these two events together because my attendance at each was connected, and I talked about one at the other. While I had strong personal reasons for attending both events, I was also motivated by not wanting to be in a position of “when they came for me there was no one left to speak out”. I will deal with the two events in chronological order and at the very end will also share some unrelated photos.
This toom place at the Vauxhall Centre in Norwich on Thursday evening. After speeches from various prominent local campaigners came the keynote speech of the evening. This was Roddy Slorach, author of “The Politics of Disability”, talking about the ideas expounded in his book. After this there was time for contributions from the floor. It was during this period that today’s demonstration was mentioned, and more details provided by me as the second part of my own contribution following mentioning the Positive Autism Awareness Conference of the previous Friday. Here are some photos from that evening for you…





I took custody of the National Autistic Society West Norfolk Branch banners and some NAS flags yesterday evening, and worked out a way to set up the banners that was suitable for them being on a march:

We assembled at the bandstand in The Walks at 12 noon, and Jo Rust who did most of the organizing introduced a few speakers, before we set off on our march around the town. Many people expressed support for us while we marched through town, and at least one person took the trouble to express their gratitude that NAS were represented on the march. The event then finished with a few speeches outside the Majestic Cinema. Although organized by the local Labour Party and the King’s Lynn and District Trades Union Council this march was not a party political event, and Sir Henry Bellingham MP had been invited to attend and to make a speech, an invitation that he spurned. The turnout was excellent, helped by bright sunny weather (yes there was a serious nip to the wind, but this is King’s Lynn after all).
I finish this brief account with a few photos…





I start this section with a photographic message for those who have reached this part of the post…

My remaining photos are presented as a’tiled mosaic’ – to view an individual image at full size click on it…
DPAC on Stephen Crabb….
Source: Is the new Work and Pensions Minister the REAL David Brent? #EIFNatCon #TheOrifice
Some pictures, a mention of a DPAC public meeting in Norwich, some stuff about the London Mayoral Elections, and some autism related stuff.
I have many things to cover in this post and some photographs to share.
The first few pictures I shall be sharing are from earlier in the week, but yesterday morning, with Saturday being treated as Sunday because my mother is travelling to Tonbridge today for an 11-week return to teaching, I went for a walk before going to my aunt’s for the journey to East Rudham, and that is where the rest of the pics in this section com from.
DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) are holding a public meeting in Norwich on Thursday 21st April. I shall definitely be attending. A jpg of their official poster for this meeting is below:

A few things caught my eye while at my parents house for lunch, and here are some pictures from there…
Although it is nearly 17 years since I last called the city home, I have been keeping an eye on the London Mayoral Elections (after all, the fact that I run a London transport themed website is evidence that I still retain some interest in the place), and there have been several interesting developments. The full list of candidates looks like this:

Of these, seven have done nothing to merit being taken seriously, namely David Furness, George Galloway, Paul Golding, Lee Harris, Ankit Love, Sophie Walker and Prince Zylinski. Of these seven, I would hope that Furness and Golding finish at the bottom of the heap, and a severe kicking for Mr Galloway would be no bad thing either. Now to move on to the big five:

Peter Whittle is as despicable as one would expect a UKIP candidate to be. Caroline Pidgeon has some good ideas but is standing for a party whose credibility is utterly shot after a disastrous five years in cahoots with the Tories. Sadiq Khan, the bookies favourite, also has some good ideas, and a win for him would be a good result. Sian Berry has run by far the best campaign to date, and has lots of good ideas. To borrow some terminology from the great bridge player and writer of the distant past S J Simon, a win for Sian Berry would be the best possible result for this election, while a win for Sadiq Khan would be in the category of a best result possible. I have left to the last Zac Goldsmith, the Conservative Party candidate. He and has team have run a despicable, divisive, negative campaign and deserve to have a disastrous result. I have two links relating to Mr Goldsmith’s failings:
My first is to a New Statesman piece in which a long-standing Conservative Party activist gives a crushing analysis of everything that is wrong about the Goldsmith campaign. The other link is to a Huffington Post piece regarding a spectacularly inadequate performance by Mr Goldsmith when quizzed about the city of which he wants to be mayor. Goldsmith achieved a risible 5 out of 9. When I took the similar quiz that Huffington Post produced to for people to measure their own performance I managed 8 out of 9, with the one question I got wrong being about a TV program set in London that have never watched. Those who follow the link and take the quiz are welcome to comment on their own scores.
This Friday, April 15th, is the day of NAS West Norfolk’s Positive Autism Awareness Conference, at which I shall be presenting a photographic display. Thursday April 21st as already mentioned is when the DPAC public meeting in Norwich takes place. Wednesday April 27th is James and Sons April auction, for which a full catalogue can be viewed online. On Saturday April 30th I will be attending a training session at the National Autistic Society’s London HQ. This is base closed to Angel station, and therefore within walking distance of King’s Cross, as the map with which I finish this post demonstrates.

A pot-pourri of a post in which you can read a great story from Paula Peters of DPAC, an account of England’s win in the World T20, find a petition to sign and share and link to the latest post on my website.
I have a few new pictures to share, a few good links to share, a good news story that has already had considerable attention but is so great I just have to share it (it will also be going on my London transport themed website for reasons that will become obvious) and news of today’s game in the World T20.

England lost the toss and were put in by Sri Lanka in today’s all-or-nothing game in the World T20. A magnificent innings by Jos Buttler (66 off 37 balls) boosted England’s total to an adequate 170. It looked even better when Sri Lanka were 25-4 in the sixth over of the reply, but this England team never seem to do things the easy way. With Angelo Matthews blazing away, Sri Lanka got back into the contest and at times looked like they could do it. Then, with 15 needed off the final over, Ben Stokes who had earlier hit the last ball of the England innings for 6 (the only ball he faced as well!) and taken a fine catch, kept a cool head, and remarkably conceded just four off that over to finish with 0-19 from his four overs. Thus England won by four runs, and will face New Zealand in the semi-final, at the same ground and on the same day as the England women take on Australia in their semi-final.
Just a couple of links today:















Please read and share this wonderful piece about yesterday’s events in Parliament by Paula Peters..
Would like to add some things from yesterday’s action of parliament by disabled people and their supporters yesterday.
The first one is this: Yesterday action was not a rally, it was not a protest. It was an occupation a direct action, an act of civil disobedience in direct defiance of the way the conservative government are treating disabled people and denying them their basic human rights….
Source: An account of the Westminster Lobby Protest on 23rd March by Paula Peters