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capri0mniLast night, I decided to check out the Mudcat forum (folk music and blues), and near the top of the page, there was this thread:
Obit: Andy M. Stewart (1952-2015)
That's the "saddened" part of this post. Here's my addition to the thread (as "Guest"-- hadn't realized my cookie had expired):
Quote:
Unquote.
Now comes the "Enraged" portion of this post.
Today, while looking for web pages about him and his music, I came across the crowdfunding page his sister had put up to help him pay for his medical bills (it had not reached the goal by the time he'd died), and therein, she explains why she needs to raise money for him, including this passage (the added emphasis is mine):
Quote:
Unquote.
(The crowdfunding page is here: https://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-andy-m-get-mobile-/318806 It's now raising money for a funeral)
Okay. So I am under no illusion that having a motorized chair would definitely have lengthened his life (it might have... a little). But I do know from experience that spending extra time and physical energy just getting from one end of your house to the other puts a real damper on creative writing. The world could certainly have used more songs and humor from this fellow. And we are all poorer for the loss.
Now -- what about all the wonderful, creative people in this world who became disabled before they were famous?! What is the world missing? All because of fear mongering about fraud and disabled people "scrounging off" Society.
So I'm going to take a moment to lay deeply felt curse against those who keep trying to "tighten the restrictions on entitlement 'criteria'":
May every sweet thing you bite turn to ashes and hair in your mouth
And may every draught you swallow turn to mouldy slime.
And here: have an article (link courtesy ofjesse_the_k) about the real value of motorized chairs: Don't worry, he won't get far on foot -- he's dead
To end on a more upbeat note, have a video of Andy M. Stewart performing one of the songs he'd written, back in the day:
(I still don't have audio, but I've been in the audience when he's performed it on stage)
Obit: Andy M. Stewart (1952-2015)
That's the "saddened" part of this post. Here's my addition to the thread (as "Guest"-- hadn't realized my cookie had expired):
Quote:
Aw... Dammit.
I hadn't heard him perform in quite a while, but I was blessed enough to have heard him live in several performances. He was a great singer, songwriter, and a gracious performer on stage.
Unquote.
Now comes the "Enraged" portion of this post.
Today, while looking for web pages about him and his music, I came across the crowdfunding page his sister had put up to help him pay for his medical bills (it had not reached the goal by the time he'd died), and therein, she explains why she needs to raise money for him, including this passage (the added emphasis is mine):
Quote:
Having lost so much my brother is facing a situation where he will need to leave his home and move to wheelchair friendly accommodation. He will need daily nursing care to assist his living. He does not 'meet the criteria' for entitlement to a motorised wheelchair because he has the use of his arms, even though this kept him housebound for many months. Except for when someone visits to help get him out of the house that's what he will go back to.
Unquote.
(The crowdfunding page is here: https://www.youcaring.com/medical-fundraiser/help-andy-m-get-mobile-/318806 It's now raising money for a funeral)
Okay. So I am under no illusion that having a motorized chair would definitely have lengthened his life (it might have... a little). But I do know from experience that spending extra time and physical energy just getting from one end of your house to the other puts a real damper on creative writing. The world could certainly have used more songs and humor from this fellow. And we are all poorer for the loss.
Now -- what about all the wonderful, creative people in this world who became disabled before they were famous?! What is the world missing? All because of fear mongering about fraud and disabled people "scrounging off" Society.
So I'm going to take a moment to lay deeply felt curse against those who keep trying to "tighten the restrictions on entitlement 'criteria'":
And may every draught you swallow turn to mouldy slime.
And here: have an article (link courtesy of
jesse_the_k) about the real value of motorized chairs: Don't worry, he won't get far on foot -- he's deadTo end on a more upbeat note, have a video of Andy M. Stewart performing one of the songs he'd written, back in the day:
(I still don't have audio, but I've been in the audience when he's performed it on stage)
no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 05:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 05:40 pm (UTC)I imagine the family is busy dealing with their own grief right now, and may not be right on top of tidying up loose ends online (going by my own experience).
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Date: 2015-12-30 06:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 06:29 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 06:37 pm (UTC)Which is a whole 'nother source of GRAH-fuel.
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Date: 2015-12-30 06:33 pm (UTC)It's just I was prepared to make a simple "Oh, gee. An artist I admired is gone" post, only to have one of my big, red, anger buttons pushed on top of that ...
Like getting slapped in the face with a fish.
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Date: 2015-12-30 06:47 pm (UTC)I hope all the people grieving for Mr Stewart, as family or friends or fans, find comfort.
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Date: 2015-12-30 08:13 pm (UTC)Thanks.
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Date: 2015-12-30 06:56 pm (UTC)That both UK & US still have this unreal "homebound" rule, which presumes that leaving the house is irrelevant for those of us with mobility impairments makes me seeeeethe.
And then there's Barbara Dawson, who I can't write about because I'm too angry and too sad. A person with CHF who died without treatment because she was sick, black, female, and fat. No thanks to the cops who handcuffed and dragged her because her demands to be seen were "disorderly conduct."
http://www.tallahassee.com/story/news/2015/12/28/police-release-report-barbara-dawson-case/77973582/
has links to that paper's earlier coverage. Makes my hair stand on end and my blood pressure increase.
no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 07:46 pm (UTC)http://jesse-the-k.dreamwidth.org/183815.html
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Date: 2015-12-30 08:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-12-30 08:11 pm (UTC)This. This. So Much THIS!!!!
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Date: 2015-12-31 12:28 am (UTC)- the post office
- the chemist
- the physiotherapist
- the dr
- the dentist
etc etc.
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Date: 2015-12-31 11:04 am (UTC)Mainstream culture boasts about how we are so much more "Enlightened" and "Charitable" than we were in the foggy past, when people believed that whose maladies visible were "Bad omens" (the original meaning of the word "Monster") that they were driven from the village and left to die in the wilderness. Now, the story goes, we provide entitlements to those people, and the 'State' even buys expensive equipment for them...
But only on the condition that "Those people" never show their face in the village square.
The only way that condition makes any sense is that people are just as superstitious as they always were. Calling myself a "monster" is one of the ways I can say: "I see what you're doing, there. And I'm calling you out on your lies."
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Date: 2015-12-30 08:58 pm (UTC)That's 2 of them... :( (and omg did I love Johnny's fiddling.)
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Date: 2015-12-30 09:07 pm (UTC)