Melissa Madsen’s Posthaven

Stop motion clip created from photos taken at 2016 Royal Show, Adelaide, using iMovie.

Sea Shepherd's M/Y Steve Irwin is in Port Adelaide this weekend. Crowds of people were queuing for a ship tour around 3pm when we visited.  We took avocados as a donation for the ship's galley - the crew member who took the avocados seemed more grateful than any person should be for a few avocados.

I noticed this poster at work last week, and it struck me as odd verging on offensive. It seems to be one in a series of work, health and safety (WHS) encouragement posters that appear from time to time in the building where the WHS unit is located. 

Just to be clear, I have nothing against WHS per se - it is a noble, worthy and legislatively necessary cause. I should know too - in 22 years of employment with my current employer, I have been hit by cars at work, not once, but twice.  I guess that's only once every ten or so years, but still I have managed not to get hit by cars in any other life domain.  Fortunately on both occasions, the cars were travelling slowly and my wheelchair took the brunt of the impact.

But I digress ... 

Let's unpack this poster's message.  The benefits of staying injury free are not entirely obvious from this poster, despite its stated message.  Is it trying to say that people with an injury or disability will not get the benefits of:

1. A partner/spouse/husband/wife (and an opposite-sex one at that);
2. Kids;
3. Walking barefoot along the beach.

Whilst TV programs like Channel 4's "The Undateables" certainly show that's it's harder for disabled people* to find love and relationships (and there are many valid criticisms of the show itself), it is definitely not the case that these are out of the question for disabled people. And new plastic beach mats plus beach wheelchairs are making strolling along the beach (whether barefoot or not) in reach of more folks than ever before.

So by all means, encourage safety in the workplace, but don't reinforce ableist assumptions about disabled people in the process or use outdated and unfounded fears of disability to make your point. After all, some of us work in your workplaces too.

* Note: I liked this article by Jax Jacki Brown "#SayTheWord: Why I'm reclaiming the word 'disabled'" so much, I'm reclaiming 'disabled' too.

Photographs of street art taken in and around Johnston Street, Fitzroy, Melbourne in January 2016.

The background music was not added by me - they actually played this on the day.

We were up early this morning at 5:45am to be first in the queue at 7:25am to see our GP.  She doesn't take appointments and it's first-come, first-served when the GP clinic opens at 8am on Saturdays.  Plus she is very popular, so when the doors open at 8am, there is a mad, unseemly scramble up the stairs to get to the reception desk.  

But it makes you get the most out of every visit.  Repeat prescriptions - check; flu vaccine - check; forms for blood tests - check; weight measured - check; blood pressure checked - check.  

Our earlier than usual start meant we were in the city to borrow books at the University of Adelaide before 10am, and caught the march of Afghanistan veterans as it progressed through the university.

My partner and I went to Mardi Gras 1999 - marched in the parade on a float organised by my ex as a tribute to suburban queers and their pets.  We were so cute back then and skinny!

You can tell it's festival time in Adelaide by the queues of people in Rundle Mall with carts of musical instruments and other accessories, waiting for their designated busking slot.  Every second person seems to be a performer of some description.  Plus dudes in much-too-revealing orange onesies.  Eww.  These guys were good though - as evidenced by the young woman getting her groove on.