Some thoughts on starting a New Year

Last week I wrote a bit about last year personally, life on Tumblr and yes this blog but when out I decided to write something about the New Year.
There's a bit of a tradition in calling an New Year in honour of some cause or other like for instance 2019 is actually been designated the International Year of Indigenous Language which is supposed to help the awareness of languages native to the original people that are said to be at risk of being lost and the associated often oral history and culture that goes with them
I can recall two International Years that directly were relevant to me one, being the International Year of the Child in 1979 and 1981's International Year of the Disabled and to be honest I'm a bit skeptical over them.
When I think of that year as a physically and developmentally disabled teen at the time in high school the overwhelming though of myself and my peers was "more of the great and good saying we're sorry for your condition and here's some services we think you ought to be grateful for".
I mean the more inspirational thing around disability I read and saw was actually on Blue Peter about a man called Joey Deacon who like me had cerebal palsy and like I did for a period was unable to communicate through regular speech  who lived originally with his mother.
When she died early, he went to a institution and was labelled as 'simple minded' ignoring that he was intelligent and even though she could 'read' his output when it came to blinking or emitting sounds.
In time he met four friends also there who found they could understand him and this lead to a projected where between them they could transcribe them into the form of a book about his life.
This had come to prominence as it was the start of a period of closing such 'hospitals' down and resettling people into grouped bungalows and this turned in one of the tv programs appeals to raise funds for more bungalows, power outdoor electric wheelchairs and so on to promote greater independence.
It also helped to bridge a huge gap between the understanding of non-disabled children  and those of us who were.
To me that program as written in more detail in Blue Peter book eighteen did more good at the everyday level than any high faluting designated years and processions of big wigs.
It also showed often the biggest barriers are attitudes and that having an output problem - not being able to communicate to others  what you think - can lead to widespread prejudice even among the medical community.
It's why when I think about new years I tend to feel it's better for all of us to try to challenge other peoples ideas by showing them more of our lives as well as our being prepared to help others for how we can make lives better for one another.