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Solo GDC is kind of rough yeah. If you want to meet up or just have someone with common interests to talk to shoot me an email, [email protected] and we can try and make something happen.

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I'm going to try to keep things concise, but apologies in advance if this turns into a slightly longer post.

 

As some of you from IRC already know, I'm going to go back to university. I never actually finished uni the first time, having started a distance degree with an American university that I eventually grew disenchanted with and dropped. It was a colossal waste of money and time (partly my fault, partly the course), and honestly my life has been somewhat adrift ever since. Obviously there have been ups as well as downs, but overall I haven't really had a true plan or purpose for years.

 

In the last few weeks, however, I think I might have found myself a purpose again. I'm kind of surprised by it myself, but it turns out that I really want to do something with my life after all. Beyond that, I want to do something worthwhile, something to help people, and I think that direction is going to be medical. At the moment I'm not totally sure whether I'm going to try to do a degree in Radiography or in Medicine, but either way there is a step that must come first.

 

You see in the UK we have an intermediary step between high school and university, which is called college. At college you take A levels, and these are the qualifications that mostly determine which courses and universities you can get into. Unfortunately I both took the wrong A levels (no natural sciences) and did poorly in them - this post isn't going to be long enough to explain my fucked teenage years, but take it as read that I can't simply apply to one of these courses at this time.

 

For the last couple of weeks, therefore, I've been contacting university admissions departments and asking what kind of qualifications would lead to me being able to actually apply to such a course. The answer would seem to be some combination of retaking qualifications I already have and doing what's called an Access to Higher Education diploma. This is something you can do in the UK at a sub-university level (for example a college as described before) to prove academic potential for an undergraduate degree. I'm not quite finished talking to universities, but nevertheless I've provisionally applied for such a course at a local college to at least get the ball rolling.

 

Obviously I'm pretty excited about all of this, and pretty scared/worried too. There are some loans available for this kind of situation, but financially it's still probably going to be a nightmare. I don't really know what I'm going to do in terms of living situation, at least until I can make use of university accommodation. Most of all, the education system itself is not exactly welcoming to mature students and at least half of the universities I've spoken to aren't particularly interested in people trying to prove themselves with diplomas and such after college, or want specific diplomas from specific colleges in their area and ignore all others. It is definitely going to be an uphill battle.

 

Nevertheless, having a sense of purpose again and an idea about what I want to do with my life after so long drifting is something I think I desperately needed. As I said in IRC, I'm going to try to ride this mental momentum for as long as I possibly can.

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I'm going to try to keep things concise, but apologies in advance if this turns into a slightly longer post.

 

As some of you from IRC already know, I'm going to go back to university. I never actually finished uni the first time, having started a distance degree with an American university that I eventually grew disenchanted with and dropped. It was a colossal waste of money and time (partly my fault, partly the course), and honestly my life has been somewhat adrift ever since. Obviously there have been ups as well as downs, but overall I haven't really had a true plan or purpose for years.

 

In the last few weeks, however, I think I might have found myself a purpose again. I'm kind of surprised by it myself, but it turns out that I really want to do something with my life after all. Beyond that, I want to do something worthwhile, something to help people, and I think that direction is going to be medical. At the moment I'm not totally sure whether I'm going to try to do a degree in Radiography or in Medicine, but either way there is a step that must come first.

 

You see in the UK we have an intermediary step between high school and university, which is called college. At college you take A levels, and these are the qualifications that mostly determine which courses and universities you can get into. Unfortunately I both took the wrong A levels (no natural sciences) and did poorly in them - this post isn't going to be long enough to explain my fucked teenage years, but take it as read that I can't simply apply to one of these courses at this time.

 

For the last couple of weeks, therefore, I've been contacting university admissions departments and asking what kind of qualifications would lead to me being able to actually apply to such a course. The answer would seem to be some combination of retaking qualifications I already have and doing what's called an Access to Higher Education diploma. This is something you can do in the UK at a sub-university level (for example a college as described before) to prove academic potential for an undergraduate degree. I'm not quite finished talking to universities, but nevertheless I've provisionally applied for such a course at a local college to at least get the ball rolling.

 

Obviously I'm pretty excited about all of this, and pretty scared/worried too. There are some loans available for this kind of situation, but financially it's still probably going to be a nightmare. I don't really know what I'm going to do in terms of living situation, at least until I can make use of university accommodation. Most of all, the education system itself is not exactly welcoming to mature students and at least half of the universities I've spoken to aren't particularly interested in people trying to prove themselves with diplomas and such after college, or want specific diplomas from specific colleges in their area and ignore all others. It is definitely going to be an uphill battle.

 

Nevertheless, having a sense of purpose again and an idea about what I want to do with my life after so long drifting is something I think I desperately needed. As I said in IRC, I'm going to try to ride this mental momentum for as long as I possibly can.

 

Best of luck with this, i know several people who've gone back back into higher learning in the UK with varying amounts of success, and while it's true what you say that as a mature student the red tape surrounding university isn't exactly designed with you in mind don't be deterred. As you say having a sense of purpose again after a period of drifting is a wonderful thing even if the climb ahead is a bit rocky.

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My female boss dropped "rape" as a casual term in our biweekly department meeting today. *dances away, throwing flowers everywhere* 

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*dances away, throwing flowers everywhere* 

 

You have a weird reaction to inappropriate workplace language.

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My female boss dropped "rape" as a casual term in our biweekly department meeting today. *dances away, throwing flowers everywhere* 

 

My friend's started using "retarded" a lot and thus far I've lacked the combination of opportunity and courage to tell him to cut it out. Solidarity! Not that you should be telling off your boss, but ugh.

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You have a weird reaction to inappropriate workplace language.

 

It was a really awkward, unsettling moment that I'm juxtaposing with the visual image of casually ignoring it because I really can't address it within the confines of my employment.

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My female boss dropped "rape" as a casual term in our biweekly department meeting today. *dances away, throwing flowers everywhere* 

How on earth was this phrased?!

 

Makes me think of an Office episode where Michael says, "Let's gang bang this thing and go home."

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I don't think "retarded" is anywhere near the same as "rape". I think saying retarded is fine, as long as you're not in front of any retarded people.

 

No.

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Seconding the no, and the phrase in question was "We're getting raped by postage costs" or something similar. I've had to correct my own sister to not use rape casually, it's so much more weird when women bust it out. 

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Thirding the no. That's like saying it's okay to casually drop racial slurs just because everyone around is white. Like what.

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The point is that regardless of the subject matter, when you casually toss around offensive terms you're expressing an unconscious ideology in the language you use, the intent behind which is entirely opaque to the listener. So even if you're not around retarded people, you're presenting an ideology that normalizes the treatment of mental retardation as socially unacceptable or "bad".

 

Rape is the same thing, except you're presenting an ideology that normalizes rape. It's the same practice.

 

It's not about some arbitrary sliding scale of how offensive something is, it's the qualitative traits that you give them that permeates culture and makes everything shitty for everybody.

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Retard is a word that I've had to work really, really, really hard to scrub from my vocabulary.  And I still screw up occasionally.  But I've tried to understand the number of people who get hurtfully labeled with it and other shitty words, whether they be developmentally disabled, have a learning disability or some other reason, and tried to understand how those kinds of words and labels affect them.  That's an awkward sentence, but I'm struggling to explain this. 

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Consider that charity "The Spastic Society" renamed themselves to Scope and you can probably extrapolate.

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I'm going to try to keep things concise, but apologies in advance if this turns into a slightly longer post.

As some of you from IRC already know, I'm going to go back to university. I never actually finished uni the first time, having started a distance degree with an American university that I eventually grew disenchanted with and dropped. It was a colossal waste of money and time (partly my fault, partly the course), and honestly my life has been somewhat adrift ever since. Obviously there have been ups as well as downs, but overall I haven't really had a true plan or purpose for years.

In the last few weeks, however, I think I might have found myself a purpose again. I'm kind of surprised by it myself, but it turns out that I really want to do something with my life after all. Beyond that, I want to do something worthwhile, something to help people, and I think that direction is going to be medical. At the moment I'm not totally sure whether I'm going to try to do a degree in Radiography or in Medicine, but either way there is a step that must come first.

You see in the UK we have an intermediary step between high school and university, which is called college. At college you take A levels, and these are the qualifications that mostly determine which courses and universities you can get into. Unfortunately I both took the wrong A levels (no natural sciences) and did poorly in them - this post isn't going to be long enough to explain my fucked teenage years, but take it as read that I can't simply apply to one of these courses at this time.

For the last couple of weeks, therefore, I've been contacting university admissions departments and asking what kind of qualifications would lead to me being able to actually apply to such a course. The answer would seem to be some combination of retaking qualifications I already have and doing what's called an Access to Higher Education diploma. This is something you can do in the UK at a sub-university level (for example a college as described before) to prove academic potential for an undergraduate degree. I'm not quite finished talking to universities, but nevertheless I've provisionally applied for such a course at a local college to at least get the ball rolling.

Obviously I'm pretty excited about all of this, and pretty scared/worried too. There are some loans available for this kind of situation, but financially it's still probably going to be a nightmare. I don't really know what I'm going to do in terms of living situation, at least until I can make use of university accommodation. Most of all, the education system itself is not exactly welcoming to mature students and at least half of the universities I've spoken to aren't particularly interested in people trying to prove themselves with diplomas and such after college, or want specific diplomas from specific colleges in their area and ignore all others. It is definitely going to be an uphill battle.

Nevertheless, having a sense of purpose again and an idea about what I want to do with my life after so long drifting is something I think I desperately needed. As I said in IRC, I'm going to try to ride this mental momentum for as long as I possibly can.

If you have any interest in going to university in America, let me know! I do seasonal work in undergraduate admissions at a well respected university and, while I may not be able to answer all your questions off hand, I work with someone whose job is only handling applicants from the UK so I'd be able to very easily get answers that I don't have.

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I don't want to start another thing, but what is your opinion on "spastic"? That is a bloody nice word if I say so myself.

 

My general rule is, "Does the word or phrase have a current or historical context of degradation, and are there people currently who find it hurtful and offensive?"  If yes, it's probably better to avoid it, if no, then cool.  So lots of people might find fuckstick to be offensive, but they can go sit in shit for all I care, because there is no context for which it was ever a labeling word whose purpose was to cause harm.  If people directly affected by those words want to reclaim them, cool, that's their decision, but I'll still generally avoid them unless I know I'm a hundred percent in a context where it's not only okay, but better to use potentially offensive words.  As in, I have friends who would rather be called queer to describe their sexuality, and other friends who proudly identify as sluts, but I wouldn't use either of those words with company I was unfamiliar with. 

 

I curse like a sailor, both online and off, and am often a pretty cynical person.  While it's taken some time and work, modifying my own language use really hasn't been that hard, particularly if I've saved someone else some unintentional pain or awkwardness in the process.  And selfishly, no one will ever notice that I never use certain words, but I probably would have been looked down upon by some had I used them.  It's an all around good thing to be really conscious of the words you are using. 

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Ableism really is a thing, so I've scrubbed many of those terms out of my language, and I'm slowly working on completely removing any language that degrades people's intellect in general. 

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May I suggest 'fuckwit' as a replacement for ableist words that are intended to suggest someone who's wilfully ignorant and doesn't see a problem with that?

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My brother's had "spastic" used against him and I know that it upsets him (or at least has in the past - haven't talked about it in a long time), so I avoid it and cringe when I hear it.

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I work with mentally handicapped children. If you use words like that around me, I don't care how you actually intended it. I will immediately think that you're a shitty excuse for a human being and start to disregard anything else you're saying. So yeah, don't use "retarded" or "spastic" unless you like being thought of as a complete asshole.

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