You get a bonus @evangelicalsnow.bsky.social column from me this month. Think of it as a Christmas gift! Using the '12 Days of Christmas' idea, I bring you '12 things not to say to a wheelchair user'. It's a fun piece😜 and yes, I've had all these & more said to me 😬 www.e-n.org.uk/comment/dont...

My latest for @EvangelicalsNow: Disabled people are constantly overlooked in mission & training/confs about mission. Only 5 to 10% of disabled people ever hear the gospel their lifetime (& most 'evangelism' is offers to heal/fix) - we need to do better. www.e-n.org.uk/comment/the-...

Here's our prayer activity using paper chains. Although it's a year round activity, it can easily be adapted for Christmas. It contains different ways to use them - depending on the size of your group or if you're doing it as a family activity. www.theponderingplatypus.com/paper-chain-... Enjoy!

This isn't an exhaustive list of accessibility in your church at Christmas (low word count!) There's more we can do. Have a page on your website listing accessibility info for your church - VERY helpful for many. Like help with more specific accessibility? Send a DM 😁 www.e-n.org.uk/features/how...

It's 'International Day of People with Disabilities' today. Hmmmm I would wish you a happy one, but....

Tomorrow we'll be doing some training at St Paul's Church in Parson Cross, Sheffield. As ever, prayers would be really appreciated. (Photo of me at a previous event added for interest!)

If, as a church, you're reading an advent book together, make sure it's one in all accessible formats - so EVERYONE can join in. If it's not available in accessible formats, then (nicely) lobby the publisher.

Great day with the Scripture Union council, trustees & leadership team y'day. Lots of exciting stuff to discuss & many encouraging reports. Some great stories from the summer & a highlight of a child leading a prayer group in her school! So grateful for the hard work of so many.

Tomorrow I'll be at the SU Council meeting in Brum (hoping train assist works!) Sun we're off to Blackpool for @FIEC Leader's conf starting Mon (Leaving Team Platypus at home/office). So, a few days of exciting things! Prayers appreciated for safety, energy & avoidance of germs/viruses.

Gift bag #Crochet has commenced! These 2 are #TunisianCrochet. Top one is in the round - it has multicoloured yarn woven behind the sparkling grey yarn in a honeycomb pattern. Below, the yellow project is flat Tunisian, in a repeating pattern. If you do crochet - why not have a go at Tunisian?!

We have another creative prayer activity! It's a general one for home or church this time. In this one we use a plaster to pray for those who are hurting. (For my American friends - a plaster is a Band Aid) Feel free to share! www.theponderingplatypus.com/Plaster-Pray...

Repeated partial dislocations in various joints has meant no amigurumi animal crochet, just the more gentle trying out new stitches to turn them into gift bags. Love this stitch done with some leftover variegated yarn. #Crochet

This cat with glasses went to his new home today. I had to have new reading lenses. It's taken nearly 3 months to sort but customer service was great & I ended up with new frames for free. So, the very patient man who dealt with this, is now the proud owner of said cat! 😺

You can do everything “right” and still become disabled. You can do everything “right” and have a child who is disabled. There is nothing wrong with being disabled, and if more of us approached disability with compassion, understanding, and advocacy instead of fear, the world would be better.

It seems a good time to reshare this prayer activity - praying for child refugees using Jelly Babies. You can adapt this activity to any refugee situation that reflects the community you live in. www.theponderingplatypus.com/jelly-babies...

My piece for @evangelicalsnow.bsky.social on the ludicrous announcement from the White House about Paracetamol...... www.e-n.org.uk/world-news/p... (Remember you can sign up for free to read a few articles a month)

Absolutely!!

Working with Gemini to produce child friendly (But not childish) pictures for the resources I create. The Ai was very kind in it's interpretation of what I look like 😅

Sunday we went to the 1st "Joy" group at St.Luke's, Thurnby; church for families who have kids with additional needs - it was amazing! Tonight I'm delivering training at St.John the Baptist church, Leic. Pic is of a weighted highland cow toy called 'Morag' who'll be with us tonight.

It's #GlobalPainAwarenessMonth. I'm already aware 😂 I'm celebrating with a square of 70% dark chocolate and some pain killers. The picture has a clear mistake....it only goes up to 10.

The Star Wars universe has more ramps and makes things more accessible for the droids than the real world does for disabled people.

Not my best work, but my feline project from last weekend - finished today! I'm not fishing for compliments - I truly have made better cats from this pattern 🤔 ...But it is oddly cute! 😂🐈😸 #Amigurumi #Crochet

Today I'm with the Church Society's JAEC conf - talking about "Loving Disabled People". For the last few conferences I've been talking mainly about Neurodivergence. For this one, someone else is taking that subject and I'm covering everything else, so just a small subject then! 😂

Having a break from making toys, just because amigurumi doesn't respond well to dozing off mid stitch 😴 So for my post convention recovery week, I've been responding to a plea for baby stuff from our local baby basics. I haven't got as far as I would normally because I keep dozing off....zzz

For three weeks I was having fun serving at #KesCon25. Then a further week recovering (think I might need a few more days!) I'll leave this photo here for you...with my own armed guard.... Make of that what you will 😜

I couldn't resist this hoodie!

Lots of people are running camps, residentials and holiday clubs for children and youth this summer. They are most likely feeling very overstretched at the moment as they do final planning. I'm praying for them with this prayer activity - please join me! www.theponderingplatypus.com/fidget-toy-p...

MPs: Over 1,500 of us, led by clinicians, are begging you—please vote against disability benefits cuts. The DWP already destroys lives. This Green Paper will unleash a tsunami of death, anguish, and irreversible harm. Don’t let this happen. #TakingThePIP tinyurl.com/2n3utkmp

'The reason we have PIP is because it costs Disabled people £1,000 more each month to live to the same standard as non-disabled people, because of decisions Governments have made to not address that.' Kill the Welfare Reform Bill! 🎙️DR UK's Mikey Erhardt on LBC News today

Every single non-disabled person who is supporting the PIP cuts should be handed a £15k “disability costs” bill each year and asked how they plan on paying it. Because people don’t really need benefits? You’ll be able to find £15k on top of rent, food, utilities and your summer holiday? Right?

My latest comment piece, this time about prayer. We can't all pray in the way we're told we 'should'. We all know that, and yet we often feel guilty about how our prayer life looks. If you're disabled, neurodivergent or struggle with anxiety, how do you pray? www.e-n.org.uk/comment/not-...

The Tories have told GBNews they would slash £12 billion from the benefits bill if the party wins the next election. 12 billion! Remember the opposition the Conservatives show this week is self-serving hate. They object to embarrass Labour and because, to them, the cuts don’t go far enough.

The extra cost of being disabled in the UK will rise by almost 12% in five years, says Scope. That means having to find another £15k a year just to live at the same standard as non-disabled people. But MPs should cut PIP tomorrow, right? Seems logical and humane? www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

This blog is full of truth & righteous anger about 'The Church's' silence on d!sability benefit cuts. "D!sabled people are used in the argument against assisted dying, but we're not prayed for when we face losing what helps us to live!" thatsjustthewaythingsare.blogspot.com/2025/06/when...

1/2 Well Evangelical Times - such a lot of *** in this! You're talking about conditions with a known physical diagnostic criteria with no psychiatric basis to them. The writer's ideas were blasted out of the water by professionals years ago!! www.evangelical-times.org/dubious-diag...

Every young girl abused by these gangs deserves justice and that includes the state-led failures: from the police to social workers who dismissed working class children as “prostitutes”. But the hard right should not be allowed to control the narrative or distract from the need for criminal justice.

Had real issues getting this crochet hook. It was ordered last Dec. After many messages & complaints from customers, family of the small business owner stepped in to sort things out. I'm the 1st of many disgruntled customers to receive my missing hook... And a free one by way of an apology!

He was supposed to be a keyring... He arrived four times bigger and planning world domination!

NHS frontline staff are refusing the flu jab in ever-greater numbers and putting patients at risk. Almost 9 in 10 at one of England’s largest hospital trusts were unvaccinated last winter. Appalling selfishness towards disabled patients that’s sadly not surprising. www.thetimes.com/uk/healthcar...

The little known and rare arctic giraffe always looks cold with his blue ears and nose. I've tried to do him justice with this #Amigurumi creation - which is yet to be finished....I need another bank holiday weekend to complete his legs!

1/1 I've always said that the roles of Minister of State for Social Security, and for Disability should be two separate roles. The comments from Rt Hon Sir Stephen Timms MP and his actions (or lack of) in the meeting shows these roles are not compatible. www.disabilitynewsservice.com/shock-of-act...

The reason why actual disabled people need to be consulted on accessibility:

@sammobile.com how do I contact someone about the new UI 7 update & find out when visual impairment accessibility glitches will be ironed out! (And battery drain). If this carries on much longer I'm going to have to buy a new phone (NOT Samsung!) #AnnoyingWaste

My Samsung phone updated & true to form - it's killed some of my access settings. It's got some new access settings to help non disabled people to use them just for comfort, but not checked other parts of the updated platform for continued access for those with a visual impairment. Nice one Samsung!

The RFK Jr. version of health, where health creates health and healthy people don't get sick and the thing that keeps you healthy is /living the right way/ is very seductive to a lot of people. It also places the burden of illness back on the ill, which decreases the value of human life.

So many people are STILL struggling with the truth about what PIP actually is. What is being suggested in disability cuts will NOT save money, it will just cost more in other areas such as social care and the NHS. If these cuts go ahead I will no longer be able to work. 31 yrs of ministry - gone.

From Judy Hamilton on X: "Do you get it yet? The @UKLabour Cull Cutting #PIP, main group affected over 50’s ..... which will affect Carers Allowance, stopping visas for Care workers from abroad, cutting #NHS services including Palliative Care & introducing #AssistedSuicide"

This little dinosaur is supervising the making of his last spine spike, before the final sew together. I'm trying out some new yarn that's perfect for #Amigurumi #Crochet

I'm amazed how many people assume I'll be free to take an event booking with 4 wks notice, & are surprised I'm already booked up - for the next 2 months! Probably not to do with being disabled - but then; this scenario does happen disproportionately more to disabled people who work in ministry 😬

"At one event, a delegate refused to let me into a venue because 'the leadership team is meeting in there'... they couldn’t see how a disabled woman could be part of the leadership team." @platypuskay.bsky.social www.e-n.org.uk/comment/smil...