Monthly Archives: February 2016

#TOTW from 21-02-16 ‘Abraxane’

Cioa!

Have you heard of Abraxane before? Chances are you haven’t – unless that is you have been diagnosed with cancer of the pancreas. A friend and former colleague of mine has just had such news and so this week I wanted to give more people the opportunity with my #TOTW to look at this petition on keeping the life-extending drug available to those who need it:

Please read & sign this petition: MUST be put back on CDF list to improve survival of

Please click on the link, read the petition and sign it if you feel able to.

Thank you.

Ben

 

#TOTW from 16-02-16 “People don’t understand that mental is physical”

Hey folks!

Slightly earlier than usual this week as i’m on nights – again – from tonight! I’ve covered quite a wide range of topics this last week, including FGM, CFS, sepsis, transgender and cancer. However, I have decided to use my #TOTW to highlight mental health:

“People don’t understand that mental is physical”

If you didn’t see my tweet or catch the interview on BBC Breakfast, then take a quick look now – it’s only a short clip, but Ruby Wax hits the nail on the head when she says that, “People don’t understand that mental is physical.” I’ve tweeted about mental health so many times since I began started using #SoMe, and although undoubtedly things are improving in terms of getting the message out there, it still remains that on the whole we are far more accepting of someone with their arm or leg in plaster than we are of someone whose mental health is “broken.”

What can we do to change this? We can continue to talk about it! We can talk amongst our friends, and we can – as I do – reach out to a wider circle of friends and associates by use of social media and any other ways in which we can try and redress the imbalance between how we view physical and mental health. They are one and the same, so let’s start treating them as such.

As always, thanks for listening…those few of you that do!

Ben 🙂

#TOTW from 11-02-16 ‘Is the world finally waking up to intersex rights?’

Ciao!

So I guess before you think of an answer to the question posed above, a more appropriate one would be, ‘have you heard of intersex?’ If so, what do you know? This week’s #TOTW is a great article about intersex with some facts and figures about how many intersex people there are:

“For about one in 2,000 people binary notions of male and female are particularly problematic”

One of the most striking passages from the article I found was:

“For about one in 2,000 people binary notions of male and female are particularly problematic. Research has found between 0.05% and 1.7% of the global population (pdf) are born with intersex traits – biological sex characteristics that don’t conform to typical notions of male or female. The upper estimation is around the same number of red haired people, yet intersex people are far less visible.”

Another striking (and pretty sad) quote I thought was:

“complete indifference [is shown] to life-threatening genital mutilations and infanticide that intersex children suffer”.

Read the full article and make your own mind up. Even though i’ve tweeted about intersex before, I wasn’t aware of the stats and the torture that children in some countries go through. It’s pretty upsetting to be honest, but a worthwhile read and one that will hopefully provide you with a basic understanding of how difficult it is for those people that don’t fit into the rigid male/female label we like to assign at birth.

As always – thank for reading!

Ben 🙂

#GoLearn

#TOTW from 04-02-16 ‘#ADayToUnite’

Ciao!

OK, so i’m a couple of days later than usual due to putting out January’s #TOTM at the weekend, but I didn’t want to miss the opportunity to get this message out again, so for last week’s #TOTW I give you:

Today is World Cancer Day. Join us for a , donate and help beat cancer sooner:

Now it seems to me – and i’m sure i’m not the only one – that there is an awareness day for something or other pretty much everyday of the week! That’s because there are so many worthwhile causes out there that need our support. OK, so you can’t support all of them, but pretty much all of us will be affected by cancer in some way or another at some point in our lives. There is some phenomenal research going on each and every day to try and find a cure for cancer, or should I say cures for the many different types of cancer. That is why I chose to start making a regular donation to Cancer Research UK. I know there are many great charities out there working to find cures and to look after those affected by cancer. I chose this one. If you could afford to make either a one-off or a more regular donation then that would be amazing. However, if you aren’t able to give money, then you can help just as much by spreading the word for the amazing work that this and the many other cancer charities do, day in, day out.

Like it says in one of the short videos from the link above – “WE CAN ALL DO SOMETHING ABOUT CANCER!”

It’s not just about the one day a charity or cause chooses to promote awareness, it’s about supporting that cause regularly – in whatever way you can.

Thanks for listening…well, reading!

Ben

#TOTM from 12-01-16: ‘Ok, so it’s an ad for Samsung…’

Hey, hey, hey!

Long time no blog, I know! I’ve been away on me holidays and busy with an assignment for my postgrad, but I thought I should kick things off with a #TOTM for January:

A great demonstration of how learning a little sign language can make a big difference.

It’s a retweet of a tweet from @BritishSignBSL and I just think it’s a great ad. So, no i’m not advocating or endorsing the use of Samsung products, but I am praising Samsung for an ad that will hopefully make you smile – or even cry, as it did me! As it says when you click on the link, it’s not British sign language, but you get the message – hopefully! Now it’s only a few minutes, so please click on the link and watch the video – if you haven’t already seen it that is!

Once i’ve got my postgrad out the way in a few months time i’m going to be “signing” (pun intended!) up to British Sign Language’s online ‘Introducing BSL‘ course:

http://www.british-sign.co.uk/learn-online-british-sign-language-course/

Learning some BSL is something that i’ve wanted to do for many years now and I figure it’s time I pull my finger out and start using it to communicate – in an appropriate manner naturally!

Have a look and maybe sign-up yourself!

It’s good to be back – I hope you agree!

Ben 🙂