Monthly Archives: Dec 2023

The worst histories of 2023 are Israel and the Gaza Strip. The war started on October 7th 2023, by the Israel Defense Forces, per instruction from Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu. The horror of the war of continuous bombings on many thousands of infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, refugee camps, housings and other buildings by flattening them down into pieces. Once again, Gaza City is no longer a city, and all buildings are demolished to the ground into broken pieces of concrete, window frames, wiring exposed and many more lying on the ground.

It is called genocide and indiscriminate bombardment! There are 2.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and 3.2 million Palestinians in the West Bank. Nevertheless, the total population is 14.3 Palestinians around.

The result of this bombardment was the hostages by the Hamas, and the hostages’ families wanted Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu to give the order a negotiable between Hamas and Israelian Defence Forces. The deal from Hamas wants the extirpation of the Jewish state. In the past, there was a Two-State Solution that suggested by the United Nations that Hamas and Israel might work separately in their state. The main problem is that Israel rejected the Two-State Solution for many years.

https://www.voanews.com/a/can-a-two-state-solution-survive-the-israel-hamas-conflict/7356565.html

Map of the world that recognised the state of Palestine here.
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Palestine_recognition_only.svg

The aid, such as food and water supplies and medical supplies, are not getting through to hundreds and thousands of Palestinians in the temporary makeshift camps or unknown places. The problem is that there was no new ceasefire, and the trucks with recognised logos, such as the Red Cross and World Vision, were not allowed to cross the border and try to reach the largest camps.

“Violations will continue for as long as there is impunity. Any party who violates the sanctity of healthcare must be independently investigated and held accountable. We demand an immediate end to attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel, and an urgent ceasefire to allow the health system to recover and aid to flow to all who need it.”
Attacks on healthcare are exacerbating the worst humanitarian crisis ever seen in Gaza. More than 19,400 people have been killed and at least 52,000 injured in Israel’s indiscriminate bombardment. Infectious diseases are spreading rapidly in overcrowded shelters, with 360,000 cases reported, including respiratory infections, diarrhoea, hepatitis and skin diseases. Meanwhile, hospitals and clinics seeking to care for them face acute shortages of supplies including medicines, fuel, water and food.” https://www.map.org.uk/news/archive/post/1543-more-health-workers-killed-in-israelas-assault-on-gaza-than-all-countries-in-conflict-in-any-year-since-2016

There were thirty-six hospitals around Palestine; now, nine hospitals are left partially running low or struggling to keep up to date with supplies and fuel in South Gaza, leaving one minimally functioning hospital – Al Ahil in North Gaza: Al-Shifa, Al Awda and Al Sahaba hospitals – sheltering hundred thousand displaced people. Al Ahli Hospital does not take any newly displaced people but only treats wounded people, including children and babies. Ten remaining staff – junior doctors and nurses- provide basic first aid and pain management at Al Ahli Hospital. The WHO and other U.N. partners said they recently delivered supplies, including medicine, IV fluids, surgical supplies, wound treatment and birthing supplies, to Al Ahli Arab Hospital and Al Shifa Hospital in northern Gaza.

“More than 85 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes. U.N. officials say a quarter of the territory’s population is starving under Israel’s siege, which allows in a trickle of food, water, fuel, medicine and other supplies.” https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/israel-hamas-war-israeli-military-says-gaza-ground-offensive-has-expanded-into-urban-refugee-camps/6UMS4TRL4FGKTOZCMQYB44WIWA/

The Palestinian people do not receive equal income, pensions, or disability pensions along with the Israeli people.
Currently, 50,000 Palestinians with disabilities face difficulty through continuous bombardment or death. Strangely, Israel signed the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In the end, Israel chose to ignore Palestinians with Disabilities for safety, providing safe passages, medical supplies, and the list goes on.
https://www.aljazeera.com/program/newsfeed/2023/11/23/palestinians-with-disabilities-face-immense-hardship-in-gaza

One of the most promised disabled person leaders was Bader Mosleh. Unfortunately, disability rights defender Bader Mosleh was killed by an Israeli airstrike in Deir al Balah, Gaza Strip, on December 7th. He leaves a legacy of courage and dedication. The link here – https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/bader-mosleh

Does anyone remember the fateful day back on May 15th 1948? If not, then it was called Nakba Day – a catastrophe referring to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine in 1948. Map show here and link https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/5/15/nakba-mapping-palestinian-villages-destroyed-by-israel-in-1948

Did anyone know 500,000 Israeli settlers are living in the West Bank, with another 200,000 living in East Jerusalem currently early this year? In the first six months of 2023, 13,000 housing units were built in settlements, which is almost three times more than in the whole of 2022 – https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-hands-smotrich-full-authority-to-expand-existing-settlements/
It is illegal to build for the Israeli settlers than the Palestinian settlers. Israel’s Ministry ignored the international law and United Nations-Human Rights policies. Back in 1993, there was an agreement called the Oslo Peace Process between PLO and Israel where Israel recognised “the PLO as the representative of the Palestinian people”. However, Israel does not recognise the State of Palestine.

Palestinan enclaves map in May 2023.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli–Palestinian_conflict#/media/File:West_Bank_Access_Restrictions_(United_Nations_OCHA_oPt)_May_2023.jpg

Anyone can see that the State of Israel has been accused of inciting genocide against the Palestinians for many years, and this result is linked to the conceptualisation of Israel as a settler colonial state as one whole state. Looking back, there were so many conflicts/wars, such as Nakba, the Sabra and Shatila massacre, the blockade of the Gaza Strip, the 2014 Gaza War and the 2023 Israel-Hamas war, and this meant material instantiations of genocide.

Remember we are one people in the world with different religions, cultures, ethnicity and with disabilities as we respects everyone equally. There is no need to hate or bring in war/conflicts in the world.

Early this year, there were floodings, cyclone-hurricanes, heatwaves, droughts, fires, and several earthquakes. Then came severe violent wars, which shocked everyone and angered them. There is a never-ending cycle of bad timing, bad news, bad weather and destructive disasters. 

It is nearly Christmas time/holiday season/Hanukkah – Festival of Lights. And the Prophet’s Ascension and the Prophet Muhammad’s Birthday. 

“A philosophy of life is defined as having, at a minimum, two components: a metaphysics and an ethics. A metaphysics is an account of how the world hangs together. An ethics is an account of how we should live in the world.”

Everyone will celebrate their own belief and custom holidays around the world, but not everyone will celebrate due to hardship, surviving victims of the wars, having no family to share, and even having no friends. They live in urban and rural countries, while others live in civilised countries. 

Families come together, or families within other families live apart in the world, but what about families who lost their loved ones during the violent and hardship ongoing wars. There are more orphan children/teenagers and disabled children/teenagers than before due to endless wars and climate change – agriculture, crops, and water. There is no celebration for these children/teenagers due to their loss of parents and families. 

Yes, many countries, such as the environment, are changing due to the people and machinery, such as making shifts, building infrastructure for more people to live in, and raining down many weapons to militate terrorists. Global warming is one of the highest changing patterns every year. People can be selfish, greedy for their desires, want to emulate terrorists or criminals and refuse to repent for other people’s lives. 

Between fifty and fifty per cent of disabled people, D/deaf and D/deaf with disabilities are more or less better with financial, employment, poverty, hardships, unable to remove the barriers that prevent their access, health issues and living conditions in their homes. 

We have different opinions of life here, away from the city, where we are in the rural. We are fine and happy to have lived here for nearly ten years where there were several issues, such as a car accident that killed a mother and a young daughter less than three months old close to our property, not much water left inside the water tank due to leaking without warning, burst water from the water meter. We keep learning by doing things in our daily lives, and our personal values are courage, learning, and humility. 

Our gardens have expanded since we moved here; more native birds draw to our trees, shrubs and flowering plants for food, except for so many rabbits enjoying and basking in the sunshine here. Grow many vegetables and fruits for our needs food and allow me to share/give away to the Food Banks and a couple Deaf people with disabilities. I support/assist them each week. We are here to make good things happen for us and the community where I work as the purpose in life. The personal values are relationships, empathy and compassion. 

How can other people learn and tell them there are no failures but learn results from them? 

“Tenacity is behind this philosophy; you keep going no matter what happens to you.

No matter how many less-than-desirable results you get, you keep moving toward your goal and taking action to get closer to it.

You know that every so-called failure is just a result you can learn from, and you view setbacks with a growth mindset to seek out the lesson. 

You look at what went wrong or what you can do to get a better result next time. And you try again.

You don’t accept failure because every result that exceeds your hopes teaches you more than you might expect. Every faltering step is still a step.” 

When someone visits me and asks for advice, seeks solutions, or requests suggestions, I give them my best recommendation by teaching them to understand where they have gone or gone in the wrong direction of a learning curve. The personal values are resilience, tenacity and courage. 

 Let’s hope everything will be okay when people and people with disabilities learn something from dangers and climate change and make a ceasefire happen to stop the war and start rebuilding again, but we don’t know if it will be successful or if it will struggle in the new year 2024. 

We need the answer to make it happen and are still determining what the future will look like. 

United Nations IDPwD 2023 Theme

The theme for IDPwD 2023 is ‘United in action to rescue and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for, with and by persons with disabilities. ‘ The 2023 theme for IDPwD asks everyone to work together to make the world better and fairer for people with disabilities.

https://social.desa.un.org/issues/disability/events/2023-international-day-of-persons-with-disabilities-idpd

Every December 3rd, we, people with disabilities, celebrate International Day of the People with Disabilities. Our mission is to raise awareness of equity, human rights, and sign language and to promote collaboration and the closure of community gaps. Note the language – people with disabilities vs disabled people is more or less where people call themselves depending on informal or formal. “This term should always be avoided because disabled people do not want to be grouped as one. The preferred term would be disabled people (or people with disabilities, depending on which term you prefer).” https://celebratingdisability.co.uk/disability-language/#:~:text=Collective%20Labels%20and%20Positive%20Language&text=This%20term%20should%20always%20be,on%20which%20term%20you%20prefer).

In New Zealand, they address/call ‘disabled people’ than people with disabilities. 

Have a read the United Nations Office in Geneva article. This article will help you understand more and how to address anyone with disabilities/disability. 

Click to access Disability-Inclusive-Language-Guidelines.pdf

What are Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)? 

We, people with disabilities, live in houses, flats, and rest homes, working and non-working in the communities, and are often forgotten people in the communities by other people. Sure, here you go:

It is imperative that we are granted equal rights by all members of society, including agencies, the health sector, the business sector, the cabinet team, and political members. Denying us these rights is unjust and hinders progress and growth for all. Let us work together towards a fair and equitable society where everyone lives and works with respect and dignity.

We must not forget people/children with disabilities who lost their infrastructures such as homes, rest homes, hospitals, transports, and special equipment during the wars and floodings. Technologies such as mobiles and computers/laptops are valuable tools for communicating with their families and friends. Without technology, they will be lost and face giant, complicated, complex lives. 

What about the playground for all children/teenagers with disabilities?

Is it accessible for all or not? Let’s start putting a thinking cap on and make the community playground more accessible and friendly by designing equipment, grounds, tactile and visual picture communication, non-verbal sharing, and hand-physical tools. 

The Deputy Mayor of Hamilton confidently inaugurated the Magical Bridge Playground on December 1st, 2023, in the Hamilton, Waikato, New Zealand community, emphasising the event’s significance for the city’s residents. We are the first to establish the Magical Bridge Playground with a partnership with the Magical Bridge Foundation of Palo Alto, California, US, in the Southern Hemisphere of New Zealand. We are the first International Magical Bridge Playground. Currently, there are nine Magical Bridge Playgrounds, and we are the number ninth in the world. Five more playgrounds are coming – two in Singapore and three in California. I will have to double check often on the number of playgrounds.

https://www.magicalbridge.org

Watch TEDxTalks here.

Having participated actively in the Disabilities Forum for several years, I was thrilled to join the discussion group Peter van Vroohoven requested through the forum in 2020 for a very short time.

My experience with many forums has taught me how important it is to have a platform where individuals with disabilities can come together to share their stories, exchange ideas, and discuss their unique challenges. As a result, I was excited to be a part of this discussion group and contribute to the conversation in any way possible. 

I have been in touch with old friends, Bernice and Jack, who live in California, and we met through our Italy trip many years ago. We kept in touch every year, and I visited them at least six times in the past. Bernice wrote me a long letter about the Magical Bridge Playground in 2014-2018. Yesterday, in my mind, it was sad that I could not let Bernice know that we have a Magical Bridge Playground because Bernice and Jack have passed away, so I contacted her daughter and son through email. They were thrilled to hear about our news. 

https://www.magicalbridge.co.nz/claudelands-project/