Simon Minty's recent thoughts and more

Whilst delivering training ( Managing Mental Health  in the time of Covid) we were discussing what has been tough this year. One delegate explained lockdown's impact on her work wasn't that novel as being freelance in the creative industries meant her work always fluctuated. However, she said she was exhausted, not because of Covid stresses but because she had spent the second half of the year explaining and educating people, who increasingly asked her about being a black person. She said this took more effort than anything else she’d experienced this year. It reminded me of being on a panel on International Day of Disabled People convened as part of Purple Space’s 24 hour worldwide broadcast. It was a rather illustrious panel with representatives from the World Health Organisation, International Labour Organization and the European Union and hosted by the razor-sharp Susan Scott-Parker . I was asked to explore if we could measure the progress of disability rights by the pr

Disability Arts Cymru event Friday 24th July 2020 I was asked to speak at an event, along with Dr Erin Pritchard, who I believe instigated it, and Tammy Reynolds. There are two paragraphs explaining the topic below and then my response.  Please note - there are references to depression and suicide in this piece.  Dwarfism and the ethics of humour "Why is it that people who are shorter than the ‘average’ person, people born with a variety of conditions under the medical banner of ‘dwarfism’ are so often seen as the butt of the joke, an easy target to make fun of. As children many will experience bullying, some to such an extent that they become suicidal.  Yet, there is an industry that exploits people with dwarfism to act in shows such as Snow White and the Seven  Dwarfs, once being doubly exploited as they were filmed for a TV show about the seven cast members living in a house together as if that’s especially interesting to watch people go up and down stairs, ope

Spend a couple of minutes thinking about the answers to these questions.  What’s working ok for work and for home? What’s difficult? What do you do to make yourself happy?                         OK, I’ve thought about it. Here’s mine... Understated mug Work - Like many, I’m working from home. For me that means delivering virtual training. I’ve bought a fan to cool me as my office area gets hot. I have acquired two understated mugs so, during video calls I look professional and not a teenager with a Simpsons or Snoopy mug. I like my ‘commute’ from the kitchen to the office.  Home - Communication with my family is way more than usual. Video calls, audio calls, even the odd card or letter. I like that. I sleep a bit more.  Difficult - The loss of human contact, someone in the same room, a handshake, a hug, a wink. I miss going to dinner with an interesting person, not seeing theatre or ballet. I miss not having these in my diary to look forward to. I long for

Lockdown, shake up, lay down This is longer than the page. On a desktop, scroll down the body of the text to read it all.  Well what are we to do? Everything has changed. We sort of saw it coming but by golly, it got big very quickly. I’m in lockdown in London. I don’t have a specific underlying condition in addition to my impairment, making me more susceptible. By the way I prefer the word susceptible to vulnerable any day of the week. However, I am staying in.  Going out for a bit I had a busy diary, March through mid-July. And then in the middle of March, I saw diary appointments, conferences, training, travel, all fade away. Within a week, my diary was empty, save a stubborn, optimistic appointment in July. I did my last face to face training on 17th March in Bristol; Managing mental health at work. It already felt like we (me and co-trainer Juliette Burton) shouldn’t be there. The hotel was empty and felt weird when we arrived. Hand sanitiser on every desk, kind

Simon about to go on stage at EY, with a poster quote above him asking 'why do uncertain times need the certainty of purpose?' It's been quite a start to the year. Various projects were postponed from the end of 2018 and like a concertina, they bunched up into the start of 2019. That meant a lot of travel, including two trips to Berlin, one to Munich, then to Zurich, one to Australia and one to the USA all before April.  A trip to a very cold Berlin, in January was for pleasure as was the long trip 'down under', but the remainder have been work.  I love travel and working abroad. You can read how much in a  blog  from last year. Indeed, I've recently written a chapter for a forthcoming book about international consultancy and diversity with Middlesex University. However, on the final trip when I was in the USA I got what I only can describe as travellers’ blues. I've talked about it on stage at a few conferences subsequently with C

Not so much a blog, more to let you know about what I fear might be too many podcasts!  My regular monthly ones, BBC Ouch and The Phil & Simon Show have cracking new shows out. There's also a new one, where I am a guest. This podcast is called WB-40 and I was interviewed by the most excellent Matt Ballantine who was asking how comedy and humour can be used to influence people. I've put links to the shows in the title and links to the individuals by clicking on their name.  If find yourself needing a distraction from Christmas television or want to try out the new headphones someone gave you as a present, take a listen. Let me know what you think.                     BBC Ouch                      Left to Right -  author  Christian Donlan , co host Kate Monaghan                       Purple Space's Kate Nash , co-host Simon Minty, Derek's assistant                       pianist Derek Paravacini  and  make up and CoverGirl Lucy Edwards.