What do Instagram Faves Reveal?

 

Due to health-issues, for most of 2024 thus far I have been mainly avoiding the majority of my social-media. However, looking at images on Instagram (IG) is mostly innocuous and does not generally cause me anxiety nor stress.

I wondered what my favourited (in IG-jargon ‘saved’ images) might say about me. The reader can come to their own conclusions. However, below the screenshots of all my favourited images from 1st January to 31st March I have attempted a very light-touch analysis for anyone interested.

For myself, it helped me reälise that these past few months have not been all doom-and-gloom, but pockets of stimulation and interest.

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So what themes appear? I have attempted to group labels under general terms. These are then listed alphabetically.

Arts:

Aboriginal Art, Art, Artworks, Cinema, Collage, Colours, Dance, Elias Alpha, Illustration, Landscapes, Literature, Mosaïc, Music, Oriental Art, Painting, Photography, Portraiture, Sculpture, Tattooing, Textile Art, Tristor Blue, Western Art.

Attire:

Clothes, Fashion, Garments, Sex-Clothing, Underwear.

Beliefs:

Christianity, Humanism, Jesus, Religion, Spirituality.

Books:

Bibliophilia, Comics, Harry Potter, Le Petit Prince, Libraries, Literature, Reading, The Little Prince, Webcomics.

Buildings:

Architecture, Colour, Décor, Design, Furniture, Homes, Kitchen Design, Rooms, Ruins, Svenskt Tenn™️, Urban Landscapes.

Emotions:

Affection, Affinities, Comedy, Encouragement, Humour, Interactions, Laughs, Motivational Messages, Relationships, Smiles, Tenderness.

Entertainment:

Games, Jigsaws, Lego™️, Television.

Food:

Baking, Cakes, Cheese, Cooking, Cuisine, Drinks, Eateries, Eating, Fish, Gastronomy, Pizza, Prawns, Prosecco, Recipes, Restaurants, Salmon, Seafood, Sushi, Wine.

Health:

Covid, Disabilities, Health, Health-Issues, Chronic-Illness, Health-Messages, Ill-Health, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.

Language:

English, Etymology, Foreign Languages, Languages, French, German, Spanish, Words.

Mythology:

Angels, Demons, Dragons, Elves, Fauns, Chinese Dragons, Chinese New Year, Saint George, Saint Michael, Unicorns, Vampires, Wood-Dragons, Year of the Dragon, Year of the Wood-Dragon, Zodiacs.

Nature:

Animals:

Bears, Birds, Cats, Feathers, Foxes, Greyhounds, Owls, Sea-Life, Tigers, Wolves;

Plants:

Floristry, Flowers, Fruit, Gardens, Garden-Design, Garden-Landscapes, Nature, Skyscapes, Trees, Vegetables, Waterways, Weather, Woodlands.

Occasions:

Chinese New Year, Palentine’s Day, Saint Patrick’s Day, Valentine’s Day, Year of the Dragon, Year of the Wood-Dragon.

Politics:

Advocacy, Political Messages.

Sexuality:

Bears, Beards, Bellies, Bodies, Body-Imagery, Breasts, Chests, Daddies, Erotica, Gingers, Hirsuteness, Homoëroticism, Homosexuality, Jockstraps, Kinks, Kissing, Leather, LGBTQIA, Masculinity, Men, Moustaches, Rubber, Sapiosexuality, Sex, Sex-Clothing, Queerness, Underwear, Wimmin/Women.

Travel:

Andalusia, Australia, Austria, Brazil, China, England, Finland, France, Japan, Leeds, Locality, London, Manchester, South Africa, Spain, Trains, USA.

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In conclusion, my life seems to have been much fuller than I had reälised. I am so glad I made the effort to review my first quarter of the year. I feel far more positive about my life than I did prior to this endeavour.

Per ATOS/DWP: Able to Leave Home, Fit to Travel Anywhere

Those poor folk at ATOS appear to be working the bank holiday as I have just received a response to the complaint I did not make!

On 24th May ATOS issued the following letter in respect to my last email to them, outlined in my previous blog-post, ATOS & DWP question whether disabled can go abroad.

Dear Mr Hunter

Thank you for your recent communication, in which you expressed concerns regarding your application for Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

An investigation will now take place into the issues you have raised and we aim to complete our investigation within 20 working days. However, if the investigation takes longer than anticipated I will continue to update you of our progress.

Should you have any queries in the meantime, please do not hesitate to contact our customer service team on the above telephone number or myself at the address below.

Yours sincerely

Annmarie Cowley

Client Relations Officer
Atos Healthcare
PIP Customer Relations
PO Box 1006
Stockton-on-Tees
TS19 1UL

Today's response is:

Dear Mr Hunter

Thank you for your email, in which you express your concerns with regard to your application for Personal Independence Payment (PIP).

As part of Atos Healthcare’s commitment to provide a service of the highest standard, it is important that we continue to be open and receptive to the views of those whose lives are affected by the service that we provide. I am, therefore, grateful for your feedback.

I understand from your correspondence that after you received a letter for a face to face assessment you contacted the Customer Service Centre and the Agent requested a Home Consultation (HC) which unfortunately was denied.

Home Consultations (HC) are reserved for claimants who do not leave their properties for any reason due to their conditions. In some instances, exceptions can be made to this rule providing that certain criteria can been met. Upon review of your questionnaire, it was established that you were able to travel abroad therefore could attend an Assessment Centre (AC), however you have explained the circumstances behind this and a Paper Based Review (PBR) has been completed after Atos Healthcare spoke with health professionals involved in your care.

I am pleased to tell you that the report has now been completed and returned to the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), for a decision to be made. For any further update the DWP can be contacted on 0345 850 33 22.

This concludes the investigation carried out in regards to your complaint. I understand you feel we have not met your expectations during this time and I would like to apologise for
any distress or upset caused; I can assure you this is never our intention. I do hope that any future dealings you may have with our service will not cause you any further concern.

Yours sincerely,

Annmarie Cowley

Apparently: "Home Consultations (HC) are reserved for claimants who do not leave their properties for any reason due to their conditions."

What an absurd position!

You can get to a hospital appointment - no HC

You can get to your GP's - no HC
 
You can get to the dentist - no HC
 
You can get to the optician - no HC
 
You can get to the podiatrist - no HC
 
You can get to the physiotherapist - no HC
 
You can be wheeled out for a breath of fresh air - no HC

Such absolutist stances are disablist and contrary to common-sense. No account is taken of fluctuating conditions; the need for medication prior to, during and post appointments, nor their effects on one's mental capabilities; the ability or not to travel over distance; the amount of stress, whether physical &/or emotional; the need for support to attend appointments; the ability to travel on public-transport; and so on.

And note: I only got somewhere because I had the gumption to stand up for myself and wrote back to ATOS pointing out the stupidity of their position. Most folk would probably have done as instructed, i.e. refer back to the DWP. At the point where I raised the possibility that attending a medical examination centre would not be possible, ATOS ought then to have acted pro-actively and contacted my medics for their medical opinions. I had to press them to do so.

Health is not black and white: if x then y. It is innumerable shades of grey: if a then b or c or d or…

ATOS' standard of healthcare is illogical, unreasonable and contrary to common-sense and additionally costs the tax-payers of the country each time they carry out a review. As I stated previously, if ATOS returns cases to the DWP, they can then claim a further payment for a further review.

Scotland is getting rid of private contractors from the social security system. It's about time England followed suite!

 

 

Crippled, Queer, Anglo-European Ranter's Fourth Birthday

 

Last year I was too exhausted to celebrate my blog's third birthday. So I am writing this ahead of the date this year to ensure I remember to mark its fourth birthday!

 

[Image description: cakes! %P]

I can scarcely believe that there have been nearly 412,000 viewings. My greatest success numerically (with 145,468) by far is my blog-post from June 2012 Alan Turing: a Queer Hero, which I suspect was boosted by the release in 2015 of a biopic on the said computer scientist & mathematician.

The second most viewed item is the same as two years ago, from October 2013, Bloom Brasserie @ Bloom Live, which has reached nearly 83,084 hits. A shame that the venue closed some "two months later - hopefully not due to my review!" 

And still in third place is my second report on my favourite male musician, from June 2013, Matt Alber in Birmingham (not Alabama!), which has been visited on some 74,708 occasions.

Whilst large numbers do not read all my postings, I am just as happy when handfuls of folk read my poems. Especially pleasurable is when some reader picks one from early on in the blog's history, as this says to me that the person has actually looked out the poem for some reason.

 

[Image description: map of top-ten countries; list of top-ten countries with number of page views.

The screen-shot was taken on 24th April, two days prior to the fourth anniversary]

Two years ago my blog was mainly visited by UK and US readers, then France, Germany and Sweden. At that time these five countries constituted two-thirds of my readership. Now the US represents more than half of all my viewings. Then the UK followed very closely by France. Germany is still in fourth position. But Russia has leapt up the chart to fifth position, with Sweden still making the top-ten at number nine. 

The index of terms that appears at the bottom of every blog-page has increased to 189 words that appear four or more times.

The top-fifteen terms are listed in the chart above.

#1     disabled with 67 references

#2     review with 41

#3     disability with 35

#4     blog with 30

#5     Manchester & poetry each with 27

#7     wheelchair with 25

#8     DWP with 24

#9     WoWPetition with 23

#10   Facebook, service & Spain each with 22

#13   Benalmádena, queer & UK each with 20

The above chart lists the rest of the double-digit entries, a further twenty terms. There are now a total of thirty-five terms with ten or more references, as opposed to seventeen back in 2014. All the words listed in 2014 are still contained in the two charts above. Thus, my prediction back then, that the same issues would continue to be of interest to me, was pretty much spot-on.

Dozens of new terms have been added to the four-plus club. The most notable (with five or more) are listed in the above chart. The new entry with the highest references is Newcastle-upon-Tyne. I took a holiday there, so had lots to relate. Other than that the terms cover travel, health, food, politics and disability issues. I suppose that fairly sums up my life!

Blogging Against Disablism Day 2016 (#BADD2016) is on 1st May. I am hoping to host a gallery of artworks that may speak to folk with disabilities as well as a blog-post on "Art for All". Additionally May is International M.E. Awareness month, so I am hoping I shall be well enough to add something to that. Additionally, I have my fingers crossed that I can write up about more of the things I did on my recent trip to Berlin, supported and cared for by two wonderful assistants (thank you both). Perhaps the reader might be enticed to return for one of more of these.

As ever: many thanks to my seven stalwart followers (feel free to join them if you care to do so) and of course the many, many readers across the globe (except Antarctica - still!). xxx