Blog on
other issues concerning William Walker
Top Issues
Not going anywhere – A lot of work
yet to do before my next trip which is a long way off
On October 3, 2007, I
was advised by the hospital in Darwin that a specialist appointment for my ear,
nose & throat issues is still a month or two away. This combined with the uncertainty
surrounding the federal election date is causing me to put off any planned
trips including the proposed Christmas trip. That means I have no option but to
cancel any coming trip for the remainder of 2007 and possibly all of 2008.
The possibility of
the appointment and the election being held in late November or early December
will not leave me with enough time to arrange such trips and that together with
the possibility of Darwin getting more cyclones this coming wet season of 2007
/ 2008 could well mean I am very likely to stay in Darwin throughout this
coming wet season including all of Christmas and new year. So spending Christmas and new year in Ayr has been ruled out due to factors that is
beyond my control.
I was advised by the
hospital, I cannot transfer the appointment to different states, because it is
a state & territory responsibility and not a federal government
responsibility, and the Northern Territory via my GP already know my health
background. If I had to leave
Darwin just to please a few including my family, I would have to start up all
over again, and that would cause more health worries.
And finally the next
trip seems a very long way off, so I have a lot of work to do before I enjoy my
next trip.
Staying firm in my steadfast refusal to
go to Ayr despite increasing anger
In a
major backlash back in April 2007 against people who continue to call for me to
relocate to Ayr to live, despite leaving Darwin, I stopped at Townsville,
changed course and direction and unexpectedly caught a bus to go to Cairns,
even though I originally planned to go to Ayr.
I changed
course at Townsville because of seeing the mighty Burdekin River as soon as I
approached Townsville and decided to give Ayr a miss despite many people
calling for me to return to Ayr to be with my dad which I steadfastly refuse to
do because of various reasons.
I am glad
to go to Cairns instead of Ayr because I never felt happy about the town of
Ayr, and I have felt happier at cairns compared to the past trips to Queensland
which I usually end up at Ayr, but not this time.
Ayr is
NOT a town I should stay in because it has few services, few people and no
transport at all. People have to
understand that if I go back to Ayr just to please them they cannot expect me
to achieve the results expected of them, so people who call for me to live in
Ayr are not acting in my best interests.
It is not in my best interests to live in Ayr because it is bad for my
health, and my grandma is not there anymore.
I gave my
stressed out dad, a lashing telling my dad to get out of Ayr and get a life
because I fear for our future. We
are heading in the wrong direction because my dad has stayed in the same boring
town for far too long, and he never tries to give another bigger city a try to
live in, and that is why I am refusing to visit my dad at Ayr for many reasons.
I have a
friend who is staying at Ayr nearly his life. He spent a few years in Sydney enjoying
life but was ordered to go back to Ayr by his father. The result? He couldn’t read money and he
couldn’t read anything and got very moody, told lies and spread gossip
about other people because that is the best he could do. There is simply nothing in Ayr for Deaf
people and given that my friend had a poor education he didn’t try to
give another bigger place like Darwin a try unlike in my case.
I am
fighting with my dad because I am worried he and other people may get very
controlling and try to force me to stay at Ayr which I steadfastly won’t
for a lot of reasons. I am trying
to avoid the same mistake as my friend have made. He made the mistake of abiding by his
dad’s wishes and because of that, the long term consequences are he
simply did not make the best of his life and couldn’t read, and he simply
doesn’t have too many friends because he is simply in the wrong place at
the wrong time and that is Ayr.
People
have to realise there are side effects to deaf people living in country towns
such as Ayr and their parents has to learn not to be so controlling of their
children, otherwise their children won’t learn or make the best of their
lives.
I am not
only turning away from my dad, but I am also turning away from my
friend’s parents at Ayr attacking their controlling attitude over their
children and I am attacking the people for abiding by their parent’s
wishes because they are not making full use of life.
I believe
I am acting in my best interests by NOT abiding to my dad’s or other
people’s wishes to see me live or stay at Ayr, because I just won’t
and I am just too stubborn to do so.
I do not want to destroy my chances of life because I have done some
damage to it already and people are just plain wrong if they think relocating
to Ayr is the best solution to the problems which it is not.
I just
hope people can get the message in the reasons why I refuse to go to Ayr or
stay there despite coming from the area.
Repeated Calls to return to Ayr rejected
Time
after time there has been calls from people and my
father & family to return to Ayr to live from Darwin where I currently
live.
My
response to these calls is a loud resounding no. I am not going to Ayr to live and I am
perfectly happy where I am in Darwin.
Even if people are disappointed and angry my response is still going to
be the same. So please stop making
these calls on returning to Ayr to live because I won’t respond to these
calls under any circumstances at any given time regardless of whether my dad
lives there or not.
The
reasons why I am not returning to Ayr to live is because there is no public
transport there, and I cannot access any services such as carer and if I do I
would only get a few hours of care a week, and my dad has to work, and there is
simply no one else to keep company with me after my grandma and grandpa passed
away years ago.
I have
tried living in Ayr in early 2006 but it has failed because the life is not the
same without my grandma and I was more lonely at Ayr without any public
transport and that has caused behaviour problems so I had no choice but to
return to Darwin because the lifestyle in Darwin is better where as I could
catch public transport.
Anybody
who says the best solution to the present accommodation woes is to return back
to Ayr is purely living in fairy land and fantasy land. That just goes on to show that
Australians are not interested in giving people with disabilities the life they
deserve and Australians are too ready to turn back the clock and wield the big
stick on people with disabilities and say that people with disabilities have no
life and do not have the same rights as a normal abled
person.
I would
rather make uncaring Australians angry and disappointed by rejecting these
calls to move back to Ayr to live because I feel determined to do away with
life in Ayr and it is in my best interests to remain in Darwin to live.
I reject
suggestions my safety is at risk because I am refusing to live in Ayr, and that
is a load of rubbish. There are risks in everyday life and so forth.
Even if
people call Centrelink or any government departments
to force me to return to Ayr, I will resist these calls with a loud resounding
no. Not even threats of loss of
welfare or penalties of any form will dare to force me to go to Ayr to live at
any time. Not even loss of home or
conditions here in Darwin would ever convince me to return to Ayr to live
because I am perfectly happy at Darwin and not going anywhere at all.
Lastly I
urge everybody to stop making those calls to make me go to Ayr because I just
won’t and people are wasting their energy by getting angry with me
because I am just too stubborn to listen to their cause. Please for the last time stop making
those calls to return back to Ayr because I just won’t listen to them and
they are just wasting their time.
William Walker