A Creature of Play - "The play's the thing..."

On Twitter I've recently been reminiscing about my days as a professional theatre technician. The above pic is one of my lighting designs from an amateur production. I blame my time on 'Les Mis' for a lot of things really... not least a few creative inspirations.

During my career I invariably got sidelined by loud-mouthed numpties when it came to trying anything new but it didn't stop me from earning honorariums for sorting out their mess afterwards, mainly when they had had an accident of their own making e.g. falling down a ladder at home to squash their own cat and well, stuff like that. Both technician and cat survived and recovered, children. Something about the way both are trained to fall I think to be so fortunate.

Instead of staying in the West End, I found I was able to use my creativity, my 'people-skills' (aka 'communication' to normal folk) and my trouble-shooting abilities to much greater effect in community theatre. If I wanted to do a lighting design of my own to learn more I could more often do so by doing an amateur production to generate interest in the next generation too. Often they would inspire new ideas by asking how effects could be achieved.

I don't regret my time in the West End, but I prefer a more hands-on involvement with ordinary folk - yes I know... I'm a weirdo. I prefer smaller scale productions but producing houses are rarely well paid and contracts are usually very short-term indeed and so you end up trying everything to make ends meet (including a brief stint as a street lighting engineer apparently) until the wonderful day arrives when you find another job that suits you.

"To be happy at work, you need to know yourself really well."

The person you are today is not the person you were ten years ago nor yet the person you will be ten years from now, but you can learn what you next need or want to learn by spotting with accuracy what you are happiest doing and where you are happiest doing it too. There is no point battling with a whole company if you are the only one that doesn't like the way things are done. It's you that needs to change, not them unless they really are truly corrupt to the core which actually is very unlikely. They might be stupid, they might be short-sighted, they might be all manner of things but 'ifs' and 'buts' and 'maybes' don't change who anyone is. They might be right and you might be wrong if it comes to that. At some point, at some time we all are, myself included. (Always wise to admit to it and apologise when that happens, I find).

I digress... I learned more by returning to amateur theatre to test drive a few gizmos there than I would otherwise have ever tried by only working professionally. People have cottoned on to this now so that I seldom get a chance to play in amateur theatre either. Yup, I do sulk about this but I have other interests and these things tend to go in cycles anyway. I am still called occasionally to assist in a show no one wants to do or that no one else has the time to do.

The current and next generation deserve their opportunity of learning, do they not? They stand a better chance of learning well when experienced people (when off-duty) are there to help though, not least in ensuring that they don't fall off ladders onto live animals or anything silly like that. During my days as a professional I trained those with no knowledge at all some of whom have since toured on shows like 'Spamalot' and have earned good money for it (bastards - they owe me a drink still).

I wasn't responsible for their learning, they were and it wasn't just me they learnt from either. I cunningly passed them on to others more experienced than me when they started to ask too many awkward questions. I wasn't born an idiot - it takes me years to practice that one, some are just naturals I note.

Another of my proteges was a BBC sound engineer roped in to running sound and lights on an amateur production by his fiend, I mean friend. He was terrified of stage lighting, partly because he was a wheelchair user I think, but by the time I'd finished with him all fear had ceased. In fact he told me to sod off to let him edit everything within the space of three days. Charming fellow actually, I didn't mind at all but, I ended up having to run up and down ladders as per HIS instructions over MY lighting design, if you please. It was a stunning job too as we had no two gels that matched and zero budget for more. The result was very... 'resourceful and imaginative' because of my experience. It was also very good at hiding the flaws in the set build so that everyone gushed about the lighting as the acting and direction also required a lot of imagination, but you can't win them all.

Lack of training in all professions I've worked in has been largely due to the lack of time and budget for training paid staff. In the curious world of theatre, wonderful gadgets that you'd never seen before would  regularly arrive at your place of work in a receiving house for the technical team that came with it to play with. The most you could do was allow them access to power, watch and ask questions on how they worked. It became necessary to know as often the touring crew didn't know either, so you'd ask around to make the show and it's gadgets work. In any workplace, it pays to bide your time and to take time to learn properly.

"A hobby you might have today, could well end up being your career if you learn it well enough."

Hobbies can become careers, so it was with me as for many years I'd been interested in amateur dramatics until one day, I was the lighting operator, rigger and programmer of a production of 'Richard III'. It was an outdoor production in the summer in the UK. Which meant it rained prolifically. At the denouement of the piece is a battle scene at which point, the director trod on the lighting board cable and the end of it nearly dropped in a puddle. Electricity and H2O do mix, but not in a nice way. The speed at which I reconnected the cable and manually worked that board for the building of lighting states (also the director's fault) for the climax of the play resulted in a job offer. Recovery is everything when mistakes are made, folks.

That's my version of events... and the entire technical teams' version too. The true version is far more er... technical and involved i.e. it was a joint cock-up between director and lighting programmer. Well who ever heard of programming lighting in daylight!!! Daylight is when lighting technicians sleep - I thought everyone knew that. I still got the job offer though.

The first show I did professionally was at the Grosvenor House hotel - it was not a theatrical production at all. Over-brimming with self-esteem I rashly thought I would easily be able to do the get-in, fit-up, run a follow-spot, de-rig and go home as fresh as a daisy 28 hours later. Ooops. The get-in was at 2am and by 9.30am if breakfast hadn't arrived I think I would have needed an ambulance.

Still, at least I didn't fall asleep on the follow-spot as someone I know did during an award show. I did however forget my glasses which made it rather tricky to pick out table numbers for the pick-up to follow the award-winners to the stage and back. However, thanks to team work from the rest of the crew shouting in an increasingly exasperated state down the headset conflicting instructions of "left a bit" and "right a bit" I got there, mainly because I largely ignored their shouting. There are few things worse when you're panicking than conflicting instructions being yelled at you. Luckily someone found my glasses so things improved after that. I can only hope it was that bit that was televised really. (Top tip, always be on excellent terms with film editors!).

The salary was less than the lift got, but it was worth it for the experience as not all jobs would even cover your travel expenses to get to them I was to discover - so I refused those as that struck me as a very silly idea indeed to encourage by working on. One could end up bankrupt that way!

The hilarious tales from all theatrical people could keep you amused for decades, but don't be fooled by them - they are a living history and a testimony of how hard it is to get anything right and it does take it's toll on people. You can tell when this happens by how cranky people get and also by how bizarre the creativity gets too in some cases.

Directors, technicians and performers are always under a lot of pressure not to give audiences any cause to demand refunds and yet none are perfect; in common with all other professions, they too can be pushed to breaking point and it is never a pretty event to witness. It is not clever nor wise to do this to anyone as they tend to have friends and connections to ensure you can't do it to anyone they know again. After a while you run out of people who will work for you if you are nasty, with any luck. It is not surprising that mistakes are made, such as the actor who gave away who the murderer was in the first scene of a murder mystery on the opening night. Strangely they didn't turn up for the second night... or the rest of the run.

Then there's the director who decided to cast a deaf impaired person in a play which required them to wear a paper bag over their head. They could not hear when their fellow cast members went off the plot to be able to improvise to rescue them, which was a pity as I heard that the deaf actor was extremely good in plays that didn't starve him of his sight as well.

There was also an actress who was difficult to rescue from the top of a set because she had no underwear on and wouldn't allow anyone to foot a ladder for her to help her down. No one is quite sure why she had no knickers on as the piece didn't require it, I'm not even sure she was supposed to be at that height or who had aided her in reaching it. Mysteries of that kind do abound in a theatre.

No, it wasn't me, among my favourite calamities was the door that jammed solid to warrant a thin saw being used to release it while I was playing Gwendolin being proposed to in 'The Importance of Being Earnest.' For some reason my beau kept staring at the door behind me and the audience were wetting themselves with laughter even when no dialogue issued forth. I was completely oblivious to all this until Lady Bracknell kicked the door in to make yet another of her tediously interfering and meddlesome grandiose entrances. Why she didn't enter via the fireplace I shall never know.

There are the costume handicaps too such as the technical crew that drilled holes in a stage for smoke to emit from them via yards of hidden of ducting - we can't have trip hazards you know, not unless it's part of the set. The play was a costume drama which involved hooped skirts from the ladies. The scene was a serious and dramatically poignant funeral which only gave way to whoops of laughter whenever the ladies moved to release, (in a terrifically spectacular whoooosh), huge clouds of smoke as if they'd just relieved themselves of a century of stored up flatulence to emit something highly whiffy, noxious and possibly poisonous.

The technical crew had only been following instructions to hide all the ducting after all, no one told them how to so they used their initiative. The audience came to be entertained and... they were. Phew, no refunds required. Oh yes, if you find that stage smoke is whiffy, noxious and poisonous you should probably tell someone like a theatre manager or a doctor, as it's never supposed to be. With a bit of luck the manufacturers will have to deal with an enquiry from Trading Standards and their heads will roll in a delightful-to-witness fashion and go to jail without collecting £200 for passing 'go'.

"Those of us who work in live events do so for what goes wrong as much as for what goes according to plan." 

People think that theatre is a laugh a minute but folks, nothing is or can be unless you choose to look for what's funny. It's not very funny for highly talented and skilled people of any profession ending up being unemployed regularly through no fault of their own. In some cases people make themselves unemployed purely out of being bored rigid that everything is going well. Some do so politely and discreetly, while others cause a stink as if they've found a self-sabbotage button and decided to see what happens by hitting it - few people don't hit that button from time to time, but most, like me have a safety valve to bring us back from it. People who hit self-destruction buttons lose, is what happens. Most people can and will adapt and find something else which they might enjoy more or not. I consider myself to be someone who enjoys changes of scene, but I do rather prefer the ones of my choosing because, as I stated before, I'm a weirdo.

Some things are not funny, nor ever will be, such as accidents that lead to injury or death. Do be careful and adhere to safety and health warnings won't you? Risk-takers are responsible for every great development we have in our world, but I struggle to think of any risk taken that hasn't taken it's toll on others and indeed many a genius themselves. Risk-takers should not encourage others to be as they are when others are not built to handle, or can learn to cope with such dangers. If you do not know how to do something, you can always ask or look it up in a library. I don't recommend looking much up on the internet now as there are too many misleading articles designed to either con you into buying things you never wanted, never had any interest in and will never have the time to use regularly or simply to stir up your emotions until you become enraged because you can't have more of the same crap from them without getting into major debt! (I've never understood that behaviour).

Health and Safety would never have been such a major concern in our lives had we never been so rash or stupid as to think we know things when we blatantly don't. It takes time and practice and above all many decades of dedicated learning to understand anything. It takes patience with yourself and others too. If we don't want a nanny state that dictates what we are permitted to learn and who may or may not learn it and when we are allowed to use that knowledge, then perhaps we should learn to be more careful in all things in the first place and above all not break the rules and laws that actually keep us safe.

To learn how to learn should always be uppermost among personal goals. Take your time to learn your specialism properly, it can cost lives and livelihoods not to because; in my "everso humble" opinion, play is the thing. It's the thing we learn from most... especially when it's fun but above all made  and kept safe.

PS: If any technician can correctly identify which gels and gobos I used, as well as the luminaries I'd be most obliged - I might want to do another show like it and well, my own record keeping on my own amusing achievements doesn't seem to be as well-documented as those I do for others when paid to. I haven't quite figured out why this is as it remains puzzlement I haven't quite got round to resolving. 

* * *

Written in memorial to Beryl who played Lady Bracknell - both formidable characters alive or dead,
I was very fortunate to have known Beryl well enough to be her friend.
"The show must, you know..."

(I have very few photos of shows I've lit for the simple reason that I seldom have the time to take them or
that pictures taken have strict controls over use - quite right too, say I!)

Planet Pots

 

I've been inspired by many things this year while battling with a serious health condition. If nothing else it proves that one can still be active creatively. I hope I have also proved to people that though many are ill and disabled it doesn't mean that we lose any ability to give moral support or that we loose any knowledge of things that we have learned whether in paid employment or not.

Once a healthcare worker, you don't suddenly forget how to save a life following the correct procedures. Similarly for teaching, admin, ops management, technical skills or any other trade or profession. The one constant of all our lives must surely be... learning.

Far from being idle while ill, I find I have achieved a lot on no income besides benefits from simply using what I already had and budgeting hard for things like a pottery course for the things I wanted to so. I have had to sell many, many things to achieve my dreams; save hard and pick wisely to accomplish every single one of these goals. I have not had to accept handouts this year which has been an improvement and throughout it all I have not ever been tempted to break any law, (although I might have parked in a few places longer than I should have when I got my second hand old banger of a car - fines have been paid).

The result? Well, aside from the team effort of 'The Tourist Guide to An Un-United Kingdom' I have self-published my 'Accounts of an Allotment' and been returning to pottery to prepare for a few more books on that subject.

Coming up next year I hope to release a second collaborative effort with Mindwalking called 'Shrinking' which is at the editing stage. Early 2015 I hope to be securing a couple of part-time work placements in admin once my health has improved enough to allow me to safely, and most of all start delivering Art workshops to the most disadvantaged groups to aid their recovery to enable and empower them to integrate with our broader community. I never forget what it takes, nor how many lovely people it takes to both keep a person healthy or aid recovery following any misfortune.

None of us should.

Already displayed on Pinterest and elsewhere... I hope I inspire you to try something creative with some of my pottery achievements of 2014.

Wishing you a Happy Christmas and a much healthier and calmer 2015 and beyond!

Mel Dixon

Research File: Part 2 - Jobsites for the Disadvantaged

Huge apology: to all those who have been waiting for this list and most of all to the followers who I just haven’t got the time and energy left to list. By 'followers' I mean those I have followed on Twitter regardless of whether or not they have reciprocated. That to me is irrelevant so long as everyone is helping the most disadvantaged in as many legal, ethical, caring, compassionate, efficient and above all, safe ways as possible. 

A warning about campaigning for rights

I have been doing my best to fight for the rights of the most vulnerable for a long time now – let my recent health problems serve as a warning to all. Never attempt to fight for rights on your own even when you have powerful connections. Those connections will never come out in the open when the world is this hostile if it jeopardises in any way whatsoever their own sterling efforts elsewhere which are usually far better established and therefore already recognised. Better to never ask them than risk losing their efforts too.

As before, I take no responsibility for how good or bad these services are; much depends on how receptive people are to accepting help and how good individual members of staff are. When it comes to staff though, it is ENTIRELY the employers responsibility to train employees properly and support not only their learning but, to do all they can to avert stress to ensure they can continue to be brilliant staff. Pressure, in my honest opinion, is a good thing as from it we exceed our own expectations and perceived limitations. Stress is very bad as it is a sign of overloading and target driven peformance and is therefore often not a good idea when it comes to the well being and welfare of others. Health before wealth is never more important than when it comes to empowering the disadvantaged.

When it comes to the disadvantaged though it gets rather complicated to legislate and be fair precisely because everyone is different and therefore everyone has very particular, individual and bespoke needs. Smaller organisations (staff wise), in my experience tend to fair better on delivery for this reason as the more personal the service is, the more bespoke it becomes and the higher the rate of success. It explains why smaller care facilities housing smaller groups of people have steadily emerged and grown in popularity. When it comes the housing the most in need that's perfect, but as to other services...

As stated in a tweet, not everyone who is disadvantaged wants to use the support services on offer simply because they do not ever wish to be seen as victims or as being in anyway vulnerable. Name me someone who isn’t vulnerable, disabled or not? This is why Part 1 of these Jobsite lists was for everyone. 'Disabled' is a word I detest with a purple passion when it comes to people – far better it was only used for inanimate things. I loathe it being used for people as it instantly puts others in the wrong frame of mind with regard to viewing their fellow humans simply for being different from ourselves. The word implies limits. Again, name me someone who hasn’t got them! 

Being flat footed I doubt I would ever have made a world class footballer, although that is more to do with my lack of interest than what is possible as last year’s Paralympics more than amply demonstrated. This time last year most of us able-bodied Brits were wondering whether it would even be worth watching and were quite prepared to laugh at what we saw as well as cringe. Have we changed as a result of what we saw? I did... I thought I had respect for the 'disabled' before... now I am just blown away by them. What to me remains sad about the Paralympics is that while great strides (pardon the pun), have been made to aid paraplegics, the blind, the deaf etc a huge barriers to accessing these wonderful resources persist and that barrier is extremely complex; doubly so if we think of it in psychological terms as well. 

Top of the list of impediments to progress is finance of course. We are living in dark times financially and in a world where people are still commonly perceived to be unable to contribute through work due to health reasons, people don’t want to spend the time and money to empower them to be able to. Am I wrong? Bizarre when one thinks that if no one had we would not have the likes of Stephen Hawkings or the benefit of his brain power to unlock many a scientific mystery and it is after all science we rely on most to help solve health problems of all kinds, right? Therefore it is illogical and unethical in the extreme not to help all the disadvantaged find their of communicating and contributing to our world, which includes the homeless, the mentally ill and many others that you never noticed at the Paralympics. How many great talents have we missed due to such ‘retarded’ thinking throughout all history so far? How many are we missing right now that could sort out the economic crisis in a minute or global warming or... who knows? We DO NOT know unless WE try harder to help them share what they know. 

I am disgusted that despite my own best efforts this list is so woefully short. Quite frankly it shouldn’t be. Therein lies the real crux of the problem – prejudice, fear of the unknown and stigma of all kinds has to stop as it costs nations so much money to maintain for it only ever serves to escalate and self-perpetuate problems. Remember that this is all for the lack of wit for the investment required.

Do we prefer negative equity situation and bottomless financial pit OR do we prefer a positive profit situation where everyone can contribute in some way for the good of the economy and of its nation’s health. IF we can get it right then that really would be a win/win situation as people want to feel valued and want to feel needed regardless of how many limbs they have, learning difficulties, mentally illness, blindness, deafness, homelessness, addiction problem or being mute etc. THIS IS A UNIVERSAL FACT - so please world... let’s help all can we and stop wasting any more time over it.

Oh... I went of topic again... I can't think why. Maybe it's because I am not convinced that enough people are smart enough yet to recognised the wisdom of supporting the most in need. Back to why people choose different methods and routes of support, (as it if shouldn't already be obvious)! 

Some disadvantaged people prefer dedicated employment services tailored to their disadvantages to empower them, hence this list. Phew

THE LIST - PLEASE BUILD IT!

By far the best general source of information I found was BASE; hence it’s top of the list, whether it’s had time to update since I last looked, I simply don’t know. As before all links were working when I found them... heaven knows if they are now though. Regional services often have counterparts in other areas thanks to recent government initiatives and most work collaboratively. Be patient while you take your turn in the long queue and while they assess YOUR needs. Miracles don’t tend to happen instantaneously for the disadvantaged of any ilk. Regrettably, they are all to accustomed to having to wait their turn in such queues.

BASE British Association for Supported Employment
base-uk.org/information-jobseekers

Extremely useful sources of help

Action for Blind People

www.actionforblindpeople.org.uk
Apprenticeships

www.apprenticeships.org.uk

Central London Connexions (young people)

www.centrallondonconnexions.org.uk

Clacks Supported Employment Services (Scotland)

www.clacksweb.org.uk/social

Crisis (for homeless people)

www.crisis.org.uk/pages/crisis-employment-services

Ellingham (for learning disabilities)

www.ellingham.org.uk

Enterprise Lab

www.enterpriselab.co.uk

IAS Imagine, Act & Succeed (Learning Disabilities)

www.imagineactandsucceed.co.uk/Services/Supported-Employment

Into Work (Scotland)

www.intowork.org.uk/services

Jobsteps

www.jobsteps.org

Keysteps (mental health or learning disabilities)

www.pembrokeshire-frame.org.uk/keysteps

Leonard Cheshire Disability

www.lcdisability.org

National Autism Society

www.autism.org.uk/prospects

Norwood

www.norwood.org.uk/What-we-do/adult-services/employment-service

Optalis

www.optalis.org/welcome/community-support/supported-employment

Princes Trust (which also helps with people over 50 wanting to start a business)

www.princes-trust.org.uk

Pure Innovations Ltd

www.pureinnovations.co.uk

Queen Elizabeth's Foundation

http://qef.org.uk

RBLI (Armed Forces)

www.rbli.co.uk/employment_solutions

Remploy (for disabled people)

www.remploy.co.uk/employment-services

Richmond Fellowship

www.richmondfellowship.org.uk

Royal Association for Deaf People

www.royaldeaf.org.uk/advocacy-and-employment

Scope (for disabled people)

www.scope.org.uk/services/employment-service

Stepping Stones

www.stepping-stones-coaching.com

The Shaw Trust

www.shaw-trust.org.uk/home

Turning Point

www.turning-point.co.uk

United Response

www.unitedresponse.org.uk/what-we-do/supported-employment

Youth Employment Network

www.ilo.org/public/english/employment

Other Employment Adviser Services

Ah yes, other employment adviser services... what a can of worms. While on benefits I have test driven a couple of these and while they can and often are very good for some, again the attitude of one fix cures all is er... less than helpful not to mention archiac. Aside from the National Skills Council, whose website leaves a lot to be desired when I last looked at it but otherwise they were superb, I applied to most of the following companies for a job as an employment adviser. I was rejected by all of them and not even short-listed for interview by any despite being supported with the applications! The feedback when they bothered to give me any was interesting...

“We don’t employ from our service users, past or present” and “we didn’t feel you had any relevant qualifications or experience.” and “You don’t have any recruitment qualifications.”

The latter is quite right, I don’t. What I have is real life experience of hiring, firing and disciplinary procedures as a manager who employed people. Evidently that is totally irrelevant to the real world of employment despite having done so as nearly my very first job. This is not to say qualifications are unnecessary (I myself have teaching, BSL and counselling qualifications to name a few - again no possible use to the unemployed needing help and to learn new skills), but... qualifications are not always necessary as I have found when I have employed people. Attitude and aptitude for me have always been far more important as an employer especially if you have to unpick bad habits from bad training. Silly me for even bothering to try to be an employment advisor – I mean it’s not as if I could come up with a more comprehensive list than any of those I test drove have to date is it? 

What is even more worrying is that by rejecting candidates from their service users none of them can claim to offer a particularly good service and yet most of them are paid £14,000 per service user from the government for providing it last time I checked. They are not even trying to endorse their own services and often do not even follow their own advice with regard to providing feedback. These are facts and the thing about facts is that you can never argue with them. I sincerely hope this blog will go some way to instigate much needed reforms as I don’t know about anyone else, but I am rather weary of con-merchants giving good companies a bad name. As ever I won’t name and shame individual companies as it’s up to them to figure out solutions for their faults and as mentioned not all of them are con-merchants - they might have changed or are changing their ways already. Try them, complain if need be and move on to try another is all I can suggest.

When unemployed, you haven’t the time to campaign – except to add your name to petitions that already exist. Only when employed, do people bother to rate you as worthy of holding an opinion... even if you’ve been a highly successful CEO but for health or other reasons... tough you won't be heard if you're not working. So... good luck. DO hop on a search engine for more ‘employment adviser services’ to find more links.

Top of the list this time is a government funded operation, because they do try extremely hard to help... despite appearances and many an error. No one can correct errors if they are not logically, lucidly and calmly reported. Yes, I know I am struggling with that again... I wonder why!

National Skills Service

www.nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk

A4e Scotland
www.a4escotland.co.uk

A4e Wales

www.a4ewales.co.uk

AGAS

www.agcas.org.uk

Bedford Training Group

www.btg.org.uk

Career recruit

www.careerrecruit.co.uk

EAS Employment Advisory Specialists

www.eas-challis.co.uk

F10

www.f10.co.uk

Fusion People

www.fusionpeople.com

Ingeus UK Ltd

www.ingeus.co.uk

Kennedy Scott
www.kennedyscott.co.uk

Learning Links

www.learninglinks.co.uk/services-for-adults

Morgan Hunt

www.morganhunt.com

NASES (support for students)

www.nases.org.uk

SEETEC

www.seetec.co.uk

Spirit Resourcing

www.spiritresourcing.com

Spring Personnel

www.springpersonnel.com

Student Employment Services

www.studentemploymentservices.co.uk

Workplace Options

www.workplaceoptions.co.uk

GOOD NEWS!

Things are changing rapidly so new companies and organisations are emerging all the time among charities, social enterprises, (including CICs) and among social firms which specialise in helping every kind of disadvantaged person gain paid employment or voluntary work of some kind. There are so many of them popping up now that it is nigh on impossible to keep track of them... unless the government can help by providing us with a directory of all of them at some point. (Good luck to the admin team on that one as that’s no easy or quick undertaking!)

Conclusion

As ALL unemployed people are highly intelligent I am sure that by some means or another they will be able to find all the NEW services that are emerging that I have spotted and started to follow on twitter. Twitter is a font of knowledge, some pleasing some alarming. Be selective in what you seek as it is the best source I know of for spotting new initiatives to continuously to those I follow almost daily. As before, this Jobsite list is only a starting point. I’ve worked with the disadvantaged one way or another most of my life now – there’s not one of them that cannot achieve what THEY WANT given the time and support.

Much depends on where they are on their journey as to the level of support they require as well as what exactly it is that they choose to explore or do with their lives. Same for everyone isn’t it? Well, no actually it isn’t because while all the principles and laws are there to help... access and people’s ability to function remains largely restrictive for the most vulnerable people of all. A few people make it but way too many slip through all the safety nets there are to prevent it happening. To fight for your rights from that position is arguably the MOST stressful thing anyone could ever think of trying. 

Well done to those how have done so thus far. Some have died in their attempts already. Would that we had seen the back of all that by now, but at least we are overall, heading in the right direction at last. Delays for me are always caused by dealing with numpties and the unenlightened. I have a new policy for dealing with them... I have resolved to not give them my time anymore... seems fair when they studiously avoid giving me theirs. If they don’t like it, well... they shouldn’t dish it out! Simple as. That's how I was brought up to deal with bullies.

I can forgive mistakes when people own up to making them, but otherwise... forget it if they are that determined to repeat them ad infinitum to the detriment and suffering of others which in many cases is wholly avoidable.

I hope my meagre efforts trigger greater ones from you!

PS: Perhaps now I can get back to MY chosen creative endeavours to help people in the first instance find their voice. Updates later, after I and my family have dealt with my medical results. Hence, why I am supremely disinterested in debts, creditors, or profit and loss figures just now. Sorry and all that but deal with it... I don't have the choice.