I am deaf and have other disabilities. Throughout my life, I have explored philosophy and earned a BA in History, Linguistics, and Anthropology. After I updated my profile photo with ChatGPT, someone else with cerebral palsy and Deaf reached out and asked, ‘What am I looking out the window?’
I started this blog because the world is going through tough times, and it often feels like things are not getting better.
“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.”
― Albert Einstein
Now that I am over 60, I often think about the past and what we can learn from our great-grandparents. They lived through the Depression, wars, financial crises, and many other challenges. Today, we see wars like those between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, and conflicts in other places. Environmental disasters hit countries like Nepal and Tibet, and we face more heatwaves and floods. People protest government cuts, and funding for education, health, and especially disability services is still too low. Prices for food, fuel, electricity, and internet keep going up, but social security and pensions have not kept pace. Many people move to Australia or other countries for better jobs and pay, but often find the same problems there.
“Simplicity, patience, compassion.
These three are your greatest treasures.
Simple in actions and thoughts, you return to the source of being.
Patient with both friends and enemies,
you accord with the way things are.
Compassionate toward yourself,
you reconcile all beings in the world.”
― Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching
Many people believe these problems are caused by poor leadership, bad financial management, and not enough planning for trade and business growth. Government leaders, from the Prime Minister to members of Parliament, keep changing their plans for health, education, and transport. Too many promises have been broken again and again.
“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
― Margaret Mead
Margaret Mead is often linked to Deaf and disability studies for two main reasons. She had a close professional relationship with the well-known deaf anthropologist Ruth Benedict, and she was involved in disability rights advocacy. [1, 2]
“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world.”
― Anne Frank, Anne Frank’s Tales from the Secret Annex: A Collection of Her Short Stories, Fables, and Lesser-Known Writings
“A human being is a part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest, a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and affection for the few people nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.”
― Albert Einstein
When I look at our neighbour’s farm, I see there are no trees to act as windbreaks during strong winds, lightning, or tornadoes. Without trees, the soil dries out, erodes, and cows have no shade from the sun. On our property, we plant native trees and flax to help control the wind and keep the stream banks strong. A few years ago, a big storm broke a tree in half and brought down the main power line, cutting power to every house along the road. The broken tree was at the end of the road, where you can see my finger pointing in the video. Our trees were fine, with only a few small branches broken. Along the State Highway, several old trees also broke and brought down the power line. One of the good local men, who has three deaf cousins I know, often comes by to check our Hard Wattle Blackwood trees and asks if we need help. We do not get any help from the neighbours, not even the farmer who owns the land in the video.
Society in its full sense … is never an entity separable from the individuals who compose it. No individual can arrive even at the threshold of his potentialities without a culture in which he participates. Conversely, no civilisation has in it any element which in the last analysis is not the contribution of an individual.
No one culture has ever developed all human potentialities; it has always selected certain capacities, mental and emotional and moral, and stifled others. Each culture is a system of values which may well complement the values in another.
Social media has become very popular among younger generations, but it can also be scary and sometimes dangerous. There are more scams, bullying, stereotypes, and fake or AI-generated content. Still, young people have developed great IT skills that make life easier and more accessible for everyone, including people like us. However, the downside is the cost of technology, software, and the need for better security. We also have to be careful when using AI-generated programs and other online tools. Many seniors are learning as they go and need to be cautious when using social media, online banking, video chats, and other ways to keep in touch with family and friends.
