Such a lot has happened in my life since my last blog post
back in February 2019
New beginnings:
We moved from the North to the South, so that I could take
up a new position: as a part time Disability Advisor and part time Chaplain
amongst Deaf people, both in the same Diocese.
I genuinely thought I had arrived at my final destination
and that this dual role was what I'd been looking for.
Endings:
However, after a year in post I took the difficult decision (with
the HR department) to relinquish the role of Deaf Chaplain - that post came to
an end for me on 31st August 2020. I remain in the role of part time disability
advisor.
Pandemic:
it's never a good time to end a role but it's especially
difficult when a pandemic arrives during that process.
The pandemic caught us all by surprise and I think many of
us genuinely thought it would have burnt out within four to six months…
Our household willingly shielded, altogether – Mr T being a kidney
transplant recipient is immune suppressed and therefore although he is very
healthy he is extremely vulnerable to viruses.
We embraced (the first) lockdown because as a country we
were “in it together”.
Church buildings closed and moved worship into the online
space - discovering perhaps to its surprise that Christians were already
gathered there being church together and had been for some time.
The second lockdown was more difficult - I think because it
signalled the fact that the pandemic would not go away anytime soon. There was
no end date in sight. It became apparent that no one could place a date in a
calendar when we could return to ‘freedom’ in all of its senses.
The third lockdown was almost impossible, mentally. Schools
were under enormous pressure to make home schooling provision as rigorous as
being on site in a school building. There seemed to be little consistency from
parliament around restrictions and mitigations.
2020 had been a time of clarity.
2021 seemed to be a time of complete uncertainty.
2022 appears to be ‘every man for himself’,
‘you do you and I'll do me’
- which is not how a virus works and certainly not how a
virus is brought to an end.
60% of COVID deaths involve disabled people.
Anybody who was once categorised by the government as Clinically
Extremely Vulnerable is now being told to “stop being afraid”, “come out from behind
your sofa”, and “get on with it”.
CEV and disabled people are now being blamed for restrictions.
“why don't you just stay indoors and let the rest of us get
on with our lives”…
So much for the government rhetoric of “being in it together”.
So much for the Christian rhetoric of being “the Body of
Christ”.
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