Humanity Platform

 After writing several blog posts on International Women's Day, I decided to stop writing on this topic because I didn't want to be mansplaining women's issues. A conversation I had recently with a female work colleague changed my opinion on this however.  We were talking about a male colleague who had disrespected her and I naively responded, "Really? He was always so nice to me!".  My colleague then looked at me and said, "I know you have experienced prejudice because of your disability but think about it for a second. You are a white middle class man with a disability. He was hardly going to treat you the same way he was going to treat me." This short conversation I had with her made me stop and think. In 2021, gender stereotypes should not exist yet the conversations that the March 4 Justice and the Me Too movement have sparked show society that we need to work harder for true gender equality.  Men, including myself, need to work with women to make g...

 From the age of three I have used an electric wheelchair. When I got my first wheelchair all I could do was go round and round in circles but now my wheelchair is my independence.  Over the years I have had a total of five electric wheelchairs and each time the process for getting a new chair is slightly different. Before the NDIS, the amount I was allocated for a new chair depended heavily on the report writing skills of the occupational therapist.  Each time I tried out a new range of chairs I always felt a bit uncomfortable because in my opinion I do not think that enough time for trialling new chairs is allowed. Once the selection process has been made, you then have to fit the chair to my individual needs. In years gone past this meant literally carving and sculpting the chair to my body type but in 2021 wheelchair providers prefer to use off the shelf mix and match components to supposedly cut down on costs. In my experience this means the final product is not as c...

 In 2020 the newsXpress website organised a national writing competition.  The competition had two categories, poetry and short stories.  At the urging of my brother I decided to enter the competition and to my big surprise my poem Breaking News Agency won the open age category. The newsXpress judges said "Chris' poem,  Breaking News Agency, was inspiring and heartwarming, connecting with hopes and dreams, which can become a reality." Those words about something I wrote mean a lot to me because one of the reasons I love creative writing is to make people feel.  In life I am an extremely competitive person. When I play a game, I don't just play for fun. I have to win.  When I am creating though the only person I am competing with is myself. The only reason I ever enter writing or film competitions is in the hope that my work will be highlighted. The fact that Breaking News Agency won a prize, to me, means it was worth highlighting not that I am better than...

 In 2020 our lives were a bit all over the place but I, and the world, have great expectations for 2021. The darling that is democracy will hopefully become stable once more with the dumping of Trump and the powerhouse team of Biden and Harris taking the reigns.  It is important however to remember that not everything will be fixed overnight. We have to be prepared to go with the rhythm of the world. COVID-19 is not over yet. We have to be willing to alter our timing based on the scientific advice. We have to go with the flow and realise that it is time to put runs on the board and worry about the victory years down the track. We are all part of one human family.  With a new democratic president being sworn in I am reminded of the question JFK posed to the world, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country’.  This is going to be my approach to 2021. I have set myself the goal of using my acting skills to demonstrate what is possible...

 This year is drawing to a close and only one word can describe it:  unprecedented .  Every year I set myself an army of goals but in 2020 I quickly realised that I needed to adjust my expectations.  The first sign of the potential apocalypse this year was the Australian bushfires.  Just as the smoke had cleared came the first news of COVID-19 and the pandemic that would sweep the world.  I immediately jumped to calm leadership mode. I knew because of my disability I had to keep my family and myself safe but I also wanted to help those suffering. So I dramatically increased my social media presence posting uplifting messages.  I felt that just the pictures weren’t cutting through enough so I moved to Phase 2 of my plan which was to create a series of videos drawing on my life living with a disability and the lessons it has taught me.  To keep myself calm during the peak times of stress in the pandemic I turned to literature. I started 2020 by read...

 Celebrating International Day of People with a Disability is something I’ve been looking forward to for months because this year I have made it my mission to focus on great community leaders with a disability.  My social media feeds in 2020 are full of people I have decided to model myself after.  This all started when I learned about Amberley Synder, a kick arse rodeo cowgirl who hasn’t let her disability stop her. Apart from her awesomeness on the rodeo circuit her motivational speaking blew me away.  Then I started to hear about Kyle Maynard, a wrestler and MMA fighter with a disability. Kyle is proof that there is a fighter in all of us.  Then of course no list of great leaders with a disability would be complete without talking about my man Dylan Alcott who continues to smash it on the tennis court, in the media, and as an entrepreneur.  Being a poet, public speaker, political activist, and professional actor, I of course cannot forget the leaders wit...

It is right that there has been an extraordinary focus on the coronavirus in 2020 but it is still important to pay attention to social justice.  Many governments around the world, including Australia, have been using the pandemic as cover to shift focus away from important social justice, humanitarian and environmental work. One glaring example of something our government has tried to get passed is the cut to the number of refugees we will accept each year just so they can save the budget 1.8 billion dollars.  This policy does not make any sense considering one of the key indicators for getting the country out of recession is population growth. We should be taking in more refugees not less.  This decision by the Morrison government is exacerbated by yet more cuts to foreign aid.  Social justice for refugees is something we must continue to fight for and if you have any doubt about this you should watch the ABC series Stateless. A story inspired by true events that to...