I have lived in a supported housing, in Northeast Scotland, since July 2018. It is a beautiful place to stay, and the carers are all good, lovely people. Broadband is fantastic, and it enables me to do virtually everything online from my academic studies to writing books to ordering groceries. Being a bit of a tech-head, I use technology to make my life easier, such as voice recognition devices to keep me entertained and to switch on the lights.
I need a lot of care, and all the carers are so kind and we have a good laugh. Because I rely on them to do everything for me, we have a special relationship. I trust them empirically. Of course, I find the whole situation strange at times—having others look after me, especially since I cherished my independence so much and assumed, like most people do, that I would always be able to look after myself and live independently.
Life is unpredictable at the best of times. You never know what’s around the corner. You learn to adapt, and what might have seemed strange becomes your new normal. Over the passage of time I have found an inner tranquility and acceptance of my new reality. I understand that others must look after me instead of me looking after myself. Admitting to yourself that you need more help than would normally be the case is the first step toward living your life to the full. Life is what you make of it!
One of my greatest achievements is earning three university degrees in Science from the Open University. This photo was taken at my graduation ceremony, a day that will always stand out as a highlight of my life. I encourage you to set the bar high for yourself and dream big. You can do it!
Iain M. MacLeod
Open University
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Educator of the masses without societal barriers
All coming together in a common unity
Society’s class statuses hold no governing rule
Instead passion and enthusiasm and eagerness
Advancement and achievement and pride objectives
Giving hope to the dejected and dreams to dreamers
In a voyage of discovery to explore unforeseen worlds
The OU largest educator of disabled
Societal barriers of preconceptions
Imbecilic condescending supercilious chains are broken
My beloved OU is there in dark and joyous times
Non-judgmental of physical imperfections
Neural achievements are the only criteria
A constant when life becomes overbearing
Access with no barriers and an addicted student
True equality and not just meaningless sound bites
Opportunity of sameness is refreshing in its parity
No diminishing of educational standards
Same TMAs and EMAs exasperated expectations
Same frustrating neural stress and pleasurable thrill
Equality at its finest with no barriers
In a world of uncertainty and fakery
The OU is a shining light to show the way
Few can follow the leader though try but fail
Educator of the masses and destroyer of myths
Restoring confidence and hope to ultimate success
Iain M. MacLeod is the published author of two books and an advocate for disability access and inclusivity. Iain's books are 10 Seconds That Changed My Life and Wheels Galore!
When I lived independently in my own house in my beloved Fochabers (a lovely village in the Northeast of Scotland) my favourite spot to sit was looking down The Spey, a source of great solace, peace and tranquility. I spent a lot of time at the Memorial Gardens gazing at The Spey flowing past. There is a bench on the grassy bank to invite people to sit and enjoy the view. I loved sitting next to it in my electric wheelchair. That bench inspired me to write the poem “The Seat”. I wondered one day how many people sat on that bench enjoying the same view that I loved. On nice summer days, I loved to watch the kayaks and canoes meandering down the river.
Fochabers
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Driving away that Friday night heralded a new chapter
Late September weather transition merged
Friday night Fochabers, Saturday Inverness
Not realising the empathetic pull of the village
Bonds deepen over the rolling years
House crafted and tailored to suit
Doors marked are characteristics of hidden happiness
Satisfaction of ecstasy a gauge of blissful contentment
Contented dwelling is testament of pride and fulfilment
Unconscious realisation of singleton reality
Wheeled freedom represents solitude tranquility
Aimlessly chaired wandering naturally rejuvenates
Physical barriers of normal chains are briefly broken
The northeast village unaware of personal happiness
Spinning striped recognition being inner contentment
In a world of uncertainty and insecurity
Fochabers restores clarity and peaceful satisfaction
The Spey a source of great joyous pleasure
Looking down the undulating waters of restoration
Calming qualities of tranquility soothingly washes
In an act of contemplative meditation
A neural confusion to placid peacefulness
The Seat
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Picture framed between trees
Overlooking the flowing Spey
Salmon forms the migratory dance
Canoes weaving their way eastwards
The seat is witness to all habitation
Exposed to all weather elements
From snow to baking heat
Patiently wait for its next passing viewer to sit
Generations finding solitude and comfort
Retired GPs to Londoners seeking romance
All searching for inner peace
Lost in contemplative pondering
Admiring the picturesque scenary
Mind drifting and reflecting
Troubles being purified
Amidst the uninterrupted continuous rush
Reflecting on life's strangeness and tragic woes
Finding peaceful calmness and inner tranquility
Glassic-Gibbon wrote "the land endures"
But, the seat endures
Restoring rationality and peacefulness
Unknowingly the Spey surges past
Unaware of its regulating serenity
The Wind
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Ripples of icy-cold water swirls down the Spey
In an act of abeyance to the icy December wind
Bowing respectfully to its master's superiority
Preponderance ascendancy and pre-eminence
Bone chillingly cold, yet strangely invigorating
Glacial rawness on your face
Blasts of the Northerly on your cheeks
Artic chill penetrating through the layers
Eyes-smarting and nose constantly running
Cocooned in synthetic down
The icy wind blow down the Spey
Little sign of life in the water
The banks looks bare and baron
Distant landscapes lie bleak and deserted
Shortest Day heralds balmy summery warmth
The Spey
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Majestic sounds of the water flowing past
Streaming over rocks in a fluidity of forcefulness
Salmon leaping on their migratory journey
Canoes weave their way to their destination
I sit in reflective solitude
My beloved Spey soothes and washes and cleanses
Picturesque vistas and flowing, restores neural calmness
The waters inspire as well as rejuvenate
Neural synaptic connections intertwine galvanised thought processes
My beloved Spey swirls and surges on its journey
unaware of its comforting tranquility
I was born in Stornoway in the Western Isles of Scotland and spent many happy summer holidays at my Granny's croft cottage there.
Some days, when the weather was perfect, I ventured to the old cow shed at the bottom of the croft, or to my favourite place, the water well, which was situated about halfway down the croft and had a small gray stone arch covering it. It had the best spring water I had ever tasted, or probably ever will taste.
The water was always cold all year round. On hot summer days the water was so refreshing. We would take enough well water with us to make tea when we went to Loch Grinivat, where Granny had her peat-cutting bank.
I miss my Stornoway holidays with nostalgic reflection, but I particularly miss the cold sweet water from the well.
Callanish Stones
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A land shrouded in mystery and an ancient past
People worshipped celestial Gods
Offering of ritual appeasements
To improve body or receive spiritual forgiveness
Callias respectful of their ancient past
Stone circle in praise of astronomical wonderment
The village gracious courteous of centuries past
Their achievements and pious reverence
Stones of a past civilization erected in homage
Their mystical significance remains lost in the past
Ancestral ancestry impregnate my DNA
My time capsule to the past lies biologically hidden
The linerage will end with me
Stornoway Gael
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Madainn mhath and Feasgar math
Gaelic phrases of my youth
In a land of ancient tradition and cleared people
Sheep over people
I lie in the sofa bed, in a Laxdale living room, watching the magenta skyline
Watching, through the four paneled windows, the sodium silhouette of Stornoway
Land of my nostalgic reminiscences and pride
Berthed Sullivan ready to return to Ullapool
Right lies Stornoway Castle standing guard over the island
Laxdale, a few miles north of Stornoway
Up the cluthan and to the right
Tar roofed white cottage with lovingly crafted peat stack
Long days cutting peats at Loch Crinabhat
Eaten alive by midges
Tea made from ice-cold well water, best ever
Crackan biscuits, hard insides and brown outer
Superbly delicious with butter and jam
An anticipated treat
Recollections of a bygone age
Brown corrugated cowshed at the bottom of the croft
Once a sanctuary of bovine activity
Now a refuse for feral kittens
Walking down the starran for adventures
Green wire-meshed gate; end of a stony dirt track
Protection from the outside world
Running down the croft
Before becoming a member of the lifelong club
Asian flu robbing a boy of his childhood and adulthood
Instead succumbing to societal vagaries
Relatives reminding of this loss
“I remember when...!” only served to frustrate
Early years of forgotten blankness
Now, on the downward spiral, a time to reflect
Long summers of distant memories
Rose tinted views of idealism and utopian perfection
Though it might not have been
The desire to go back to Stornoway does not appeal
Reminiscences are historical recollections of the past
Always will be proud of being a Gael and of my heritage
Scotland's Hills
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Scotland's hills of towering majestic magnificence
Brings memories of wonderment and magnitude
Deceptively deceiving in their imposing splendour
Glen Coe draws the brave and foolhardy
Osmotically drinking-in the atmosphere with each breath
Captivated with their impressive grandeur
Buachaille Etive Beag and Bidean nam Bian and Meall Dearg and Sgórr nam Fiannaidh
Guardians of a massacre centuries past
Climbers climb being mesmerised by beauty
Some triumph and some do not
Remain encapsulated in a world without end
Hills of tranquility and seductive elegance
Geology often overcomes biological endeavour
Patronising Perceptions
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The figure sits in his own small world
Bereft of sense and neuronal connections
How graciously society bestows accolades
Readily the crown of physical imperfections honoured
Broca's area damage just adds to the patronisation
Educated to write their names
"After all that's all 'they' will need"
The professionals procrastinate
Preaching Fruedian misguided nonsense
In a world of psychological bombastic bureaucrats
The figure sits thinking about his thesis and possabilities
Lost in his world of higher educational attainment
Higher than the procrastinating professionals
Who want to take the praise and credit
Personal endeavour the only driving force
Lady with the mystic smile
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*People move to the side, let the wheelchair through* security said loudly
Shuffling of feet; parting of the waves
Symbol of recognisable difference
Da Vinci's Mona Lisa still magnetically draws
Osmotically drinking in the picture
Lady's smile and charisma
Shrouded in mystery just adds to the fascination
Who was she? What was the connection?
Centuries pass and theories speculate
The conundrum continues
The Louvre is home to Mona Lisa
Her far removed from Italy
Now, being spied upon in a conspicuous capital
Solitary hinging for all to admire and marvel
Small in presence through tall in populous recognition
Eyes following in an act of seeing observation
Old school yard
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Weathered building boarded up
Unknowing of past years of educational achievements
Visitors unaware of childhood dreams
Abandoned and neglected
Unsuspecting testiment to the past
Children played and laughed and loved together
Not caring about the world and its introspective hoarseness
Unaware of life's multipicity of layered carpeting
Labelled boxes of physical imperfections
Lifelong barriers of barrage and unfulfilled aspirations
Those were the days of untarnished minds
Unconcerned and carefree childhoods
Indifferent about the world and the future
How the labelled boxes would hamper and hinder
Days of uncluttered purity and innocent childhoods
Distant recollections in a sterile environment
Decades pass and memories become transient
Old school yard slowly fades into the mists of time
Autumn colours
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Crimson reds and rust browns and lemony yellows
Interspersed amongst a lime canopy
A waterfall of multi-coluored descending leaves
Multi-coloured branches
Remembrance of dearly departed
Overlooking the Spey
Guarded by the flowing water
White horses forming swirls
Water glints in Autumn sun
Like leaves falling from the trees
Blanketing the soil in readiness for Spring
Sanctimonious Hypocrisy
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Rotationally geocentrically orbiting the earth
Milky Way of infinite empty space
Revolving ball of humanity and caring sanctuary
A world of righteous duplicity and perfection
Hypocritical impurities and puritanism
The latest teabag or the seasonality of the weather
Designed to show the simplicity of character
Subliminal Darwinism is purposely disguised
Survival of the fittest ensures differentation continues
Denial rigorously refuted with epitaph proportionality
The world continues to spin on its axis
Caring do-gooders still speak of new teabags
Simplistic patronisation still judged on Biracial appearance
Spontaneity will never be without character familiarisation
Species propagation assured and superiority maintained