Disidentities

I’m very excited to let you all know about the new layout and content I’ve been working on for the past week.

This is in response to online and face-to-face feedback from a number of people, who I’d like to thank for taking the time to visit disidentities. This feedback has been invaluable and exactly what the project is all about.

So, I’ll stop rambling and tell you what’s new and where you can find it…

1. I’ve rejigged the content to provide you with shorter and sweeter information about the project;
2. I’ve played around with the blog and made the Registration form easier to locate;
3. You can find out who and how current participants have contributed to the project;
4. There’s a **new** forum (feedback) to share information and make new suggestions; and
5. I’m progressing through a questionnaire (feedback) for those who’d like to take part this way.

…to experiences of disability and health

The key to this online project is you the user and the importance of your experiences. What would you like to say or hear about disability, health, illness, impairment and/or (chronic) pain?

There are multiple ways that you can be involved whether you would like to use this space to listen, to share and/or to collaborate. As a friend, relative, carer or more you may fill any one or more of these roles through your direct or indirect experiences of or with dis(abled) identities.

Do you feel like you have an experience to share? Or a thought that just needs expressing and you haven’t found the right place to do it yet?

Disblog can be used as you feel is appropriate,  expressing your ideas, experiences, thoughts and opinions in relation to everyday life and your experiences as they have changed through time. Change over time is the main focus and ties these different experiences together, so may be you wish to:

• discuss the process of applying for DLA and its importance to daily living;
• highlight the importance of different people in your life – this could draw on the past or present. For example, the role of a support group; the role of your partner or your role as a carer or relative;
• refer to a period of recovery following an operation, including how you felt before, during and after this process;
• talk about the things you tried or used to forget disability, health, illness or chronic pain. This might include medication; the way you organise daily tasks; how you attend physiotherapy sessions; or how you have tried or have thought about trying alternative therapies;
• perhaps you can think of the times you have felt more comfortable because of one of these experiences;
• this might make you think of different emotions and how they change from moment to moment; or place to place.

Why not spend some time exploring disidentities.com and think about how your experiences have changed over time. Then maybe you can join in and help to bring different ideas together, finding some commonalities to share with other disidentities users.

…after weeks of planning

The time has finally come to expose (my) blog, (my) ideas and (my) thoughts to those who are listening, reading, writing, researching and accessing dis(abled) identities and related topics through the internet. I’ve closed the emphasis on (my) work into brackets because whilst it may have started in my (it’s always my) head, ultimately the ideas exposed here can no longer be seen as belonging to one single author, but to those who join in and help to co-author the project.

This is the result of a number of weeks of (careful) planning, as well as agonising over what to include; how to say it; and where to host it. The content you find within should help to answer questions about my identity, the purpose of the blog, the focus on users and how you can take part.

Please go ahead by exploring, engaging and participating...

Once you’re exposed to the ideas outlined here and you’ve agreed to the carefully selected objectives; why not enthuse another person and tell them all about disidentities?