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Sunday 23 December 2012

Birthday Blog entry



Yesterday was my 31st birthday. I can't believe where the years have gone but I'm really proud of what I've done in life up till now. It's about 14°C,  so it is  actually not too cold and a nice temperature for this time of year I had a lot of nice phone calls and text from friends and family, plus cards and some gifts. I'm really pleased that I've got 3E loves wheelchair heart stuff. I'm now the proud owner of a Hoodie,  some badges,  some wheelchair heart decals , and a wheelchair heart temporary tattoo! We ate Chinese food and then had my birthday cake which was an ice cream cake with vanilla ice cream, caramel ice cream, a biscuit base and a chocolate topping – it was delicious!

We also went out to see the Christmas lights on streets near where we live. I'll put some more photos on Facebook soon.

A couple of days ago, we went to see Madrid horse week which

was an exhibition with showjumping and events such as gymnastics on the horses and processions by members of the police and other organisations. I loved it!

Today I'm just relaxing doing some reading and thinking about working a little bit more on my book. I'm really excited about writing it. I'm also really glad that I have Dragon dictation software as this is a real help as it always has been to me in the past when I was studying at school and university, as throughout my life my fingers and hands spasm and cramp to the point I cannot hold a pen or press a key (even on a virtual keyboard) and am unable to move

any part of my hand as the spasms are painful  when I write or type for any length of time, no matter how short. An OT told me this is due to the over-activity of the muscles in my arms and hands and spasticity as its hard for me to achieve adequate posture to hold a pen or press a key.
For me, my birthday always has a slightly melancholy  undertone, as I remember Natalie, my identical
twin, born just minutes before me, and wish she were here. Happy birthday for yesterday, I love and
miss you. That said, I'm glad I have my sister Nicky to make up for Natalie not being here.
I'm really looking forward to all my birthdays still to come, and I plan to enjoy every one of them equally as much!
I've decided  that I want the book published in various formats including paperback e-book a large print format book and audio book in order to make it as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.  I also want to start making a couple of videos for  my Facebook pages.

Friday 14 December 2012

Christmas and my birthday are almost here!

So far in our Christmas preparations, we've put up our tree, put up the Christmas cards so we can see them better, bought lots of oranges and satsumas, and bought the turrĂ³n - which for those of you who don't know is like nougat and typical at Christmas in Spain. We've bought milk chocolate, white chocolate and coconut varieties. We've not yet decided if we will eat chicken, turkey or something else. I've posted off some Christmas cards and am working on getting others sent by email or as ecards. We have also bought some Pannetones to eat. We've got snow spray for  windows and doors which we've yet to use. As usual I'm still thinking about what to do for my birthday. The weather's getting colder and I hope it holds up for then! 
Merry christmas and a very happy 2013 to everyone! 


Monday 3 December 2012

International Day of Disabled People 2012

Today is the International Day of Disabled People, which I found put about a few weeks ago whilst looking on YouTube for interesting videos for all my pages.. This, like November 17 (World Prematurity Day - about which I have another blog post) was a day I was especially looking forward to, as it spreads awareness of disabled people worldwide. I found out today whilst watching some current affairs programs on TV that today is actually part of Disability Week, which started on 27 November. Yesterday, there was a huge march in Madrid and today the same thing happened in Barcelona and Valencia, an opportunity for disabled people to assert their rights to care services, and anything else needed. 
I would have loved to have been there, but I saw good coverage on TV. I'm really glad today exists, although I don't think there's nearly enough done to promote it before the day, as it was lucky I looked on YouTube, or I wouldn't have known about it. I certainly wasn't aware it even existed this time last year!. Despite today being the day it is, I think society still has a long way to go in its 
acceptance of and 
provision for, disabled people. Even the level of understanding of disability in general is far from acceptable. I'm constantly having to explain about my cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus and the severity of my vision. I don't mind though, I'm quite happy to explain and always have been. 
I have to say, today has made me feel prouder than ever to be disabled: after all, I don't know any different, and my disability is, always was, and always will be part of me. Please feel free to see 
my blog post about World Prematurity Day
 http://katherinehaywardmylifewithcp.blogspot.com.es/2012/
11/yesterday-was-world-i-didnt-realise.html