Grab bag the sequel
If I wuz you, CMOT, I'd go to university, but take a pragmatic approach. Take courses that open doors in the direction you want to explore.
Well, it should be understood that I couldn't have attended University using traditional academic channels anyway, I don't have the math. There are post secondry programs out there for people who haven't had conventional highschool educations, but they aren't particularly well advertised You need to dig, and have boring meetings in tiny overheated rooms with middle-aged underpaid civil servants in order to find them. In high schools across this great northern wasteland of a country, their are posters asking the white privileged non impaired elite to join those in the halls of higher learning. The state never asked me to do likewise, however.
That sounds like a cop-out to me. I passed high school algebra with but one mark to spare (that's 51% for the numerically challenged), and didn't have to take any math courses in university. Maybe entrance requirements are more rigorous today.
Even so, there are other options. The place where I work boasts how its online learning programs make it easy for someone to take postsecondary programs.
Well...
I did actually take six courses of a ten course General studies certificate through the Open University, but the last course I took was a second-year course on European history, and while I found it all very interesting,
I did find it quite heavy, and my mom ended up doing a fair share of the work just to get me through. After that I quit. My mom is worried that if I tackle university level courses head on (with homework, studying etc.) she would end up doing a lot of the work. The most obvious alternative is to audit classes(no homework! Woo hoo!) but here, there really isn't anything to audit, unless you want to audit a gun safety course or spend two months in "Spanish for Travelers" learning to say "hello" and "where's the bathroom."
The College of the Rockies does good work, but it just doesen't have much I'm interested in.
I wouldn't be in it just for raw academics anyway.This is what the government agencies don't get. Distance education is presented as an academic panacea, but there are social aspects to education that the bigwigs don't see, and that correspondence courses can't duplicate.
At one point I did try to get into a job training at mount royal college, but the woman who interviewed me scared the living shit out of me by saying that I wouldn't get the holidays I was used to, and that I would have to navigate Calgary myself when trying to get to the campus (a prospect that causes many normies to turn chalk white, howl and faint) it was a very bad experience. This happened about seven years ago, I've since crossed that option off my life list. For a society that talks so much about education, and finding jobs for people, we really do suck at providing both. Unless of course you happen to be young, white, able-bodied and affluent.
I hear ya.
Every year I get to be a "facilitator" for online courses. As someone who has been in that role, as well as that of a student using a computer instead of being face to face with a human being, allus I can say is that I really detest this method of education.
In B. C. There's a really cool program called Canasist which I believe operates out of UVic, and builds assistive devices for people with disabilities. You would think the B. C. Government would shout from the rooftops: WE HAVE THIS PROGRAM! IT'S BRILLIANT! But when my acheieve counsilor mentioned it, I hadn't even heard a whisper about it. Most privilaged able bodies know what avenues to take for education, but I think for many gimps (and others who float on the arc of the excluded) that isn't the case. There are lots of neat and useful programs out there, but the aren't publicized enough. Maybe if I lived in the lower mainland, I would hear about this stuff sooner.
This might not be of any use to you, but...
http://www.siast.sk.ca/distance/
I have taught at distance in an Education Program and been a student via distance in Cambrian's Learning Disability Specialist program. I found both experiences highly social although I have never met any of the other students at Cambrian.
Most universities will accept mature students as part-time students with fewer requirements than they ask for from students straight out of high school. It's a recognition of the value of life experience. What do you want to study CMOT?
Yeah, I only did up to grade 10 math, but I was still able to go to university, CMOT. Don't let that hold you back if university is what you want to do!
I would advise CMOT_D to try and pick an area of study that he feels passionately about, otherwise boredom could set in at some point, and then it becomes more toil and labour than love of study. Don't be so quick to rule out mathematics, because it's one area of study where no one can help you much except yourself. It's truly an individual effort and would be your own proving ground. And there are other degrees of study to prove yourself, and that you are able to teach yourself to learn how to learn. Many great and wonderful people started out with a liberal arts degree and very little math background. You want both sides of the coin so to speak with higher education, and to enrich your mind with a wide variety of courses from as many disciplines as possible. Higher ed is merely an introduction to the rest of your life, and it could be one of the best experiences of your life time. And I really think that interest and passion is the key to doing well. Wait a year or two if you have to in order to find the passion and desire.
Most universities will accept mature students as part-time students with fewer requirements than they ask for from students straight out of high school. It's a recognition of the value of life experience. What do you want to study CMOT?
Theology and women's studies.
(I'd take the material seriously, really I would!)
and maybe disability studies.
I am a white man. This allows me certain privileges (no one will throw rocks at me, although some probably want to). It's not politically correct to deport me, or harass my family, or tell me I'm a burden ( although if I were developmentally disabled they would feel safe about doing so). The fact is however, the state and the greater society, don't give a good god damn whether I exist or not. We are inconvienient, stumbling blocks on the way to a mythical society without death and decrepitude. Canadian society really wants me dead.
sorry
Actually, what I wrote last night was partially bullshit. I have received a lot of love and support from the people here, and it's not fair to condemn them. But when all is said and done, people with disabilities don't support the Capitalist system(we don't earn enough) and while the shield of ethnicity, class and mental ability protects me from the more vicious manifestations of ableism, the fact remains that if there is a massive shift in our economic fortunes, all gimps, white or brown, will be dragged off to death camps and murdered.
Maybe... hell, look at how we are still collectively denying the plight of the people who already get dragged off and murdered every week from our streets.
But you could want to look at the situation another way: how can such a view be affecting your self-image, agency and interactions with non-gimps now?
That move sounds exciting - fo you have a date yet? We're all rooting for ya!
Don't be sorry for #11 CMOT Dibbler, we hear you. Thanks for posting it. I'm sorry I can't be of more help than that at the moment.
Please note that by "our economic fortunes" I meant Canada's economic fortunes.
That move sounds exciting - fo you have a date yet? We're all rooting for ya!
No. I don't have a date yet. The lady who oversees Steveston Residence has recieved my application, now it's just a matter of waiting.
You know, it's odd that I would talk about oppression because if you look at my life, there isn't really a lot to gripe about, and there have been cases where I have taken on the role of oppressor.
But there have been several small instances over the last little while that have really pissed me off:
Last night I found out that one of my workers will finish working for me at the end of November. The understanding was that he would keep doing his job in december but he couldn't take on more hours. He didn't tell me about his new plans, he told my mom instead. Now, my mom is in charge of scheduling, so it makes sense to tell her, but to leave me out of the loop is ridiculous. I am his employer, even if I am just a figure head.
The other thing that has been bothering me has to do with the local Arts station. It's the most interesting place in town and I would maim myself without it. The difficulty is that the handicapped accessible walkway is never cleared in the winter. This means that if I attend a concert in the season of death (winter) I have to use my manual chair and have to be lifted up a series of steps. I really shouldn't have to be faced with this situation. I can't lobby by myself. The Arts Council is poor and my rage over this issue is concerned cute or inconvenient. I wish I had a Donald Sutherland-esque mentor who could help me shake my anger into something more subtle. As it stands I just come across as juvenile and pathetic.
Have you considered threatening to sue? You'd be surprised how quickly a well-worded letter from an attorney and a phone call from authorities can convince slacker administrations to find the few hundred bucks it would take to have that walkway cleared. Not as elegant as a Donald Sutherland glare, but when you feel like Kiefer... give 'em the Jack Bauer treatment!
give 'em the Jack Bauer treatment!
You mean hold the arts council hostage and scream, WHERE'S THE BOMB!? Every five minutes?That's if you want to clear the room, not the walkway...
Seriously, you have got a significant building code violation on your side. Let'em have it from both wheels...
Why is your mom in charge of scheduling? You seem perfectly capable of taking that on. My brother-in-law became a quadraplegic at 19 years old. After his release from the hospital he lived with his parents for several years but then he got his own apartment and has lived independently ever since. He does have use of the upper muscles of his arms but he can't grip anything with his hands. He lives entirely on government support. He didn't get any big insurance settlements. He had someone come in twice a day to help him in and out of bed as well as a nurse 3 times a week. (he is also on his second marriage) I'm not suggesting you try to duplicate his life choices, I just wanted to point out that you may be able to attain more independence than you think.
It's probably become a habit for your mother to do things for you because it's easier that way but that might also be where a bit of your anger is coming from.
Maybe you need to consider what your actual goals are. It doesn't seem like your desire to go to university is based on a career objective which is fine. But, it's important to know what it is you value about the experience. For example, is a way to escape the house while also developing intellectually?
Many universities have an office for students with disabilities that could help you out. You could be considered a full time student while only taking two classes a week which would make you eligible for student aid.
You mention that the Arts Council is poor. Maybe they can't afford to hire anyone to do the task. If there is a bulletin board perhaps a volunteer could be found that would be willing to shovel the walk. Alternately, if a business near by uses a snow blower they might be willing. A snow-clearing business might also be willing to do the task for free if they have other customers on the same street.
I'm not suggesting you try to duplicate his life choices, I just wanted to point out that you may be able to attain more independence than you think.
It's probably become a habit for your mother to do things for you because it's easier that way but that might also be where a bit of your anger is coming from.
Yes I can, yes she does Yes I think it probably is where it comes from, to an extentDon't be sorry for #11 CMOT Dibbler, we hear you. Thanks for posting it. I'm sorry I can't be of more help than that at the moment.
No. I was saying sorry because I made a double post.
Maybe... hell, look at how we are still collectively denying the plight of the people who already get dragged off and murdered every week from our streets.
Martin, I was actually thinking about something a bit more systimatic, similar to what Hitler did to the disabled in the thirties and forties.But then, most people who are extra poor and/ or extra radical will probably be killed in the camps when the final reckoning comes. Makwa, Oldgoat, Maysae, Michelle and I will probably be bunking together
I'll be in vancouver in January(just for the month) I don't how often I'll be able to update the All Hail threads or Youtube Goodies.
Juvanile rant.
Juvanile Rant...
Well, ladies and gentleman, I'm taking the plunge and moving to Vancouver. JARONAMO!