Collegiate.... an interesting combination....

and, mutually interdependent....

Sits 'formerly' ......


*scene - commences*  (atmosphere - suffocating)

*reveal*

We are in 'some' place...... mentally stroked....

'en chant meant'

The ... whatever the plural for Genius is... meet, deciding collectively, given that only so few of them actually .....'get this': .i.e:- speak the language (Genius has it's own private language). They consider the past, present, future participles......how to ensure authenticity and trustworthy feedback data and criteria... identification by humour....

(subtle)

"What about - historical evidence?"

"What about ad or disadvantage?

"What about - gain?"

Then there were Seven.....

.

.

Of course, it's 

Still work in progress.... 

But....

I'm using this painting to 

Depict a number of things, 

not least 

some of my most favourite characters ...

Along with ....

Recursion, relativity, parallels.....

Who would you invite...

If you could invite anyone to supper... alive or dead....?

Here's who I'd hope to see ... (so far)

"Supper - At Last"

Still working on this painting which I started yesterday - late afternoon. I still need to work on John Lennon's portrait and I'm almost happy with Princess Diana's. 

A lot of work to do before I'll have everyone I'd like to include in this painting, but ... I am happy with progress so far.

Multi verses.....

Satellite = A Moon = Lisa ?

The Eye Sees

"Intro - Spection"

Dancing..... (inc. updates)

.



Well, it's a possible title component...

for one of the paintings I'm currently working on, 

                             

                             at least...      

River Dancer (?)

Alternatively, ......

"In decision" (?)
(Oils on Canvas Board - 16 x 12 inches)

I started this painting yesterday, I'm very happy with the progress I've made so far. There's a few additions I want to make to the foreground and slight alterations to the face - which is actually another portrait of my daughter. 

All parents are associated with bias, but as an artist, I think - 

she really is Beautiful

(updated)

I used the following photographs (taken by myself) as the reference material for my daughter's portrait within this landscape.....

As she doesn't like it when her fringe doesn't fall exactly the way she wants, 

I did use artistic license when painting.....I also didn't feel the scarf was necessary to the scene....

I also used this photo as a source for another painting (21st C. Kev), but updated his style of clothes

Re - Flections .....

Like Father

......Like Sun..

One of the saddest phenomena of our current lifestyle (in the West at least) appears to be the lack of fatherly investment....

Okay, I'm a single mother and I have brought my children up with practically no assistance from their father.

Maybe that's unusual, but it appears to me to be fairly typical in most single parent families.

I say this without judgement or bias, because what concerns me as a mother of three sons is that, as a woman I have limitations that I'm fully aware of.

Whilst it's certainly true to say that women are far more independent today than they've ever been previously (probably), and I'd not suggest that they're not capable of competently completing the majority of tasks previously associated with men, it's still true (I think) that we're limited by gender - in so far as providing a positive male role model for our sons is at least concerned.

Surely that task, at least, remains the responsibility of men?

This is where, I suspect, the greatest division of the sexes lie.

I've wondered what obstacles are perceived, or real, to a father's involvement in his child(ren)'s lives. There appears to be a whole host of possibilities and, whether I like it or not, I suspect most men, that feel prohibited from playing an active role in their children's lives, blame their mothers.

On the other side of the coin, the majority of single mothers probably blame the fathers.

For the child inbetween (regardless of gender), there's little that's positive - from this scenario - to be gained either way.

It seems to me, perhaps the most beneficial change we could ever make, for the benefit of mankind, is to address this issue openly and constructively.

Is that too ambitious?

Wisdom...

..... Doesn't come easily, but then, no one said it would....

Did they?

So many philosophies, theories and changes in appreciation of each.

Yet, still we ask (essentially) the same 'historical' questions.

What marks our species as inherently different from any other?    ....

I think what has changed most, certainly during the last 40 years or so, is the political influences in relation to each individuals fundamental desire, and expression in regards to the answers.

However, much of what was originally held to be true, still is.

Although how that's applied, or what it's called now, may have changed - certainly the modern descriptive definitions and understanding of the terms have.

Perhaps more interesting (?), is the lack of these questions or dismissal in any lifetime

Adult Auditory Processing (with a) "Difference"

What quickly became apparent to me when researching this subject was that if you're an adult, there's significantly little information of any reassuring nature available. When I was actually informed of this condition in diagnosis, the basic rudiments of the nature of APD were explained to me. In so far as, "The processing centre in the brain performs differently and this means that you're unable to filter out additional 'background' sound."

That's all that the Audiologist told me.

Reading through the small amount of information online, I was concerned when reading how clinicians are associating the condition with various other disabilities: Autism Spectrum, ADHD, etc.

The apduk.org site added to the increasing sense of alarm by informing readers that, in addition to a range of difficulties, there were factors that the individual with APD might not themselves be aware of. I have tried to access this particular page in order to quote, but been unable to do so today.

Wikipedia's initial descriptive definition however states:

Auditory Processing Disorder (APD), also known as (Central) Auditory Processing Disorder ((C)APD) is an umbrella term for a variety of disorders^{[citation needed]} that affect the way the brain processes auditory information. It is not a sensory (inner ear) hearing impairment; individuals with APD usually have normal peripheral hearing ability. However, they cannot process the information they hear in the same way as others do, which leads to difficulties in recognizing and interpreting sounds, especially the sounds composing speech.

APD can affect both children and adults. Approximately 2-3% of children and 17-20% of adults have this disorder. Males are two times more likely to be affected by the disorder than females. 

Now, as an adult With the condition, and relatively recently diagnosed, I found this suggestion alarming.

My first thoughts were that, I had some additional issues that I'd somehow managed to hide from the world (and myself) and perhaps it was time I found out what these were.

With no disrespect to anyone with Autism, ADHD etc - as a matter of preference, I'd rather Not have the disadvantageous associations with these myself. However, I set about finding out what exactly I might have.

A reliable clinical psychological assessment seemed the obvious first choice. Despite obstacles, I managed to arrange this.

The assessor knew nothing about APD, so was willing to arrange the assessment on the basis that it provided them with, I suppose, some kind of benchmark and personal experience of understanding the condition.

They were further motivated too by the Government Dept that were paying for this at the time.

I met with the psychologist 3 times in all, over a period of 4-5 months. During which, we discussed my concerns, a psychological test was completed, and the assessment report results were given to me - verbally (which, given the nature of APD seemed rather defeatist to me, but I'm not a clinical psychologist).

Fortunately, the conclusion was that (although I'd not completed the whole assessment - after being informed I could skip some parts and had) whatever effects APD had, they were more than compensated for.

In comparison with expected 'normal' results, I'd scored very highly. The psychologist added that, had I completed the whole assessment, my overall score would have been (considerably/probably) higher - even if I'd got most of it wrong.

Her conclusion was that, APD had no significant effect on me in my day to day life and certainly wouldn't be obvious.

Which seemed pretty good, but I still wanted to test this further.

I applied for disability allowance, exaggerating every aspect (as most who apply for this allowance feel they need generally do). I figured, as everyone in (clinical terms) concerned with APD explained the condition in such negative terms, perhaps I needed to.

The government dept's response was that they felt this condition didn't meet their understanding of disability in so far as, they could not provide the allowance within the criteria for disability as laid down by their dept.

Not 'officially' disabled then.

This of course didn't mean I'm not disabled... so I arranged an appointment at my GPs.

Having moved from South Wales to Stafford, England, my new surgery had no previous knowledge of me so I checked that they had all my health records before arranging the appointment.

When I attended the appointment, I dressed smartly - I wanted to be taken seriously.

The doctor I saw was newly appointed and whilst sympathetic, didn't know anything about APD. I asked if the surgery had received my health records, he searched the surgery's database. I suggested that my appointment was financially orientated, prompted by government related procedures. I explained how I felt that the 'condition' was affecting my immediate prospects.

As I'm unable to be dishonest, I was having problems with job applications. Whilst there are a number of  disability discrimination laws in the UK, (unless you select a specific area on a form - thus ensuring an obligatory interview) if you provide any suggestion of a medical condition without so doing, apparently no one wanted to interview.

Immediately prior to including this small reference to APD, I'd had a great number of interviews for a range of jobs. Removing the APD comment had significant results. Clearly there was a problem, but not one I could actually address legally.

Consequently, I explained, I needed the medical support in relation to the effects of APD to access the additional provisions available.

The newly appointed GP felt he lacked the background knowledge and experience to assist me and arranged a further appointment with one of the surgeries leading partners.

A couple of weeks later I attended this appointment.

After a short conversation, the Partner read through the notes in my health records (confirming the diagnosis in relation to APD). Then told me that she felt I was highly employable, clearly intelligently articulate and shouldn't have any problems etc etc. Though she did agree to provide a small note, which - in relation to APD - stated that I was probably best employed in an area of work that didn't involve phones.

So, to summarise....

Everyone concerned in a clinical assessment essentially concluded that not only was I highly intelligent, but that I had no obvious disadvantage due to disability or associated behavioural issues.

I couldn't PROVOKE a negative diagnosis.

Yet, it still remained a problem according to the reports, comments, descriptive terms, and definitions available for research online. Anyone who might employ me and wanted additional information would get this negative impression from clinicians.

Catch 22?

I couldn't announce it without being subjected to misinformation, misrepresentation and miss association.

What does DISCRIMINATION mean in practice?

Let's consider basic descriptions:

Definitions

Within sociology, 'discrimination' is the prejudicial treatment of an individual based on their membership in a certain group or category. Discrimination is the actual behavior towards members of another group. It involves excluding or restricting members of one group from opportunities that are available to other groups.^[2] Moral philosophers have defined it as disadvantageous treatment or consideration. This is a comparative definition. An individual need not be actually harmed in order to be discriminated against. He or she just needs to be treated worse than others for some arbitrary reason. If someone decides to donate to help orphan children, but decides to donate less, say, to black children out of a racist attitude, he or she will be acting in a discriminatory way even if he or she actually benefits the people he discriminates against by donating some money to them.^[3]

The United Nations stance on discrimination includes a statement that: "Discriminatory behaviors take many forms, but they all involve some form of exclusion or rejection."^[4

Employment discrimination

Main article: Employment discrimination

Employment discrimination refers to disabling certain people to apply and receive jobs based on their race, age, gender, religion, height, weight, nationality, disability, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Disability discrimination

Main article: Disability discrimination

Discrimination against people with disabilities in favor of people who are not is called ableism or disablism. Disability discrimination, which treats non-disabled individuals as the standard of ‘normal living’, results in public and private places and services, education, and social work that are built to serve 'standard' people, thereby excluding those with various disabilities.

 Social theories such as Egalitarianism claim that social equality should prevail. In some societies, including most developed countries, each individual's civil rights include the right to be free from government sponsored social discrimination.^[42

Religious discriminationMain article: Religious discrimination

Freedom of religion
Concepts[show]
Status by country[show]
Religious persecution[show]
Religion Portal
v · d · e

Religious discrimination is valuing or treating a person or group differently because of what they do or do not believe.

Labeling theoryDiscrimination, in labeling theory, takes form as mental categorisation of minorities and the use of stereotype. This theory describes difference as deviance from the norm, which results in internal devaluation and social stigma^[45] that may be seen as discrimination. It is started by describing a 'natural' social order. 

There is another aspect that the medical profession seem to be (largely) completely overlooking....


.
.

Just saying... like