Firstly, I wanted to say thank you for the film I made with Inside Housing. I know it has been shared widely and made more people want to share their stories of fuel poverty. The winds of change come when people boldly step forward (despite having to deal with the consequences of poverty and neglect).
Exclusion is much more than having no Christmas presents under the tree or missing out on Black Friday sales. Exclusion means having potentially no healthcare, no way to escape poverty and no life. When was the last time you heard a disabled radio presenter on your way to work? When was the last wedding you attended where the bridesmaid had a disability? When were you last served by a sales assistant with a disability? Did you date a potentially disabled ‘girl/boyfriend’ when you were a teenager? You could go on to all areas of modern life. Until March of next year, I may have no work as the crisis in the hospitality trade deepens. Basically not enough of us are staying in hotels or having birthday parties and too many are using Zoom for monthly sale figure forecasts.
Another reason why the trade is struggling is staff shortage. Hospitality‘s image is low pay and not a profession you can have a promising career with. My biggest barrier to returning to work in March is not the current problems in hospitality. It has to do with the almost impossibility of getting healthcare in Cornwall as I’m painfully aware due to my ganglion cyst. Yes care but if you are not eligible then you simply aren’t, unfortunately, I don’t make the rules, someone who has very little experience in London does instead (a concept very few understand).
My wishes for 2023, are well for all the barriers to disappear and yes, I would like to return to work and yes a better life, like so many who desperately need a helping hand across Planet Earth. We shouldn’t have to wait another 200 years for humanity to do the right thing and for the inequalities which are destroying lives to be stopped. And yes remember not to leave taps running!
Turning a shoe box into a shuttle bay on Christmas day. nearly all of the images and models I have used for digital orchestra have been brought and created using pennies. A mark of a good artist is how everyday objects can be turned into something magical (Eventually the shuttle bay will launch Japanese flowers)
A computer-driven Hollywood still uses Model Making skills. Disability has the skills in a society that continually won’t value them.
My Christmas gift from my brother was an Aston martin thirty years ago a lego set on Christmas day. It won’t remain sealed for too long but today it is another story. This set is being sold for six pounds more on eBay than Argos is currently retaining it. Are Lego bricks and sets worth more than gold? regardless of their worth, lego and construction toys are brilliant ways to learn about imagination.
Christmas help left by my neighbours. Charity alone will not solve the underlying reasons for exclusion nor mend the horrendous consequences of neglect. Is a society that only thinks about the vulnerable at Christmas time a particularly good one? And more fundamentally keeps people vulnerable?
Bank holiday bus blues, This bus had started its journey from outside of Cornwall. Not being able to access healthcare deepens rural poverty and destroys the quality of life. I’m tired of a Cornwall that doesn’t respect human life.
Written by Chris Burns.
