Best blogs of the week – 8 April

Following the popularity of last week’s blog round up here are some of my picks for this week.  I’ve not been prolific for the beginning of this week (although I’m making up for lost time) so I haven’t joined in my usual link ups.  Instead I’ve been reading the blogs that pop up on my two Twitter feeds so this is a slightly more varied set than last week covering topic including self-esteem, insensitivity, art, memories, setting our own expectations, treating people as people not as an ‘inspiration’, mental health and teaching children about different viewpoints.

Summat 2 Think On

The title of Quirky, am I? is deceptive.  This is a masterclass in character assassination made all the more terrifying as it represents a conversation between the author and their subconscious picking away at every facet of their personality.

An Elefunk Never Forgets

A devastating post on emotional illiteracy and some truly awful handling of the complexities and sensitivities of grief.  There is a hopeful coda to this which is also worth a read.

Barrister Blogger

Using the fictional example of the domestic abuse storyline in The Archers is a great way to show the complexities of criminal law.  See also An Immigration Lawyer reviews Paddington.

This post sets out how a criminal lawyer may approach defence.  Another good blog from the perspective of forensic psychology and details around statistics and legislation is here and the Anxious Dragon has written her views on that legislation here.

Single Mum Speaks

A provocative post on trying to navigate the difficulties of differing view points and the challenge of teaching our children about them.

Lisa Says

A post critically assessing the work left to do to address mental health stigma acknowledging that while some small progress is being made there’s still a long way to go.

So no, the stigma of mental illness is not a thing of the past. It is ugly, cruel, destructive and ever-present. Like racism, sexism and homophobia, it will never truly go away. We have to be vigilant. And we have to keep working at it.

Lisa has also written on the mental health angle of The Archers storyline too.

Writing about mental health and The Archers was fun. Writing this piece was harder but far more satisfying. I will try not to care how many people read it.

Because the ones who do are the ones who matter.

Stars & Spirals

This post full of eloquent righteous indignation about well meant but ultimately patronising comments and attitudes around people with disabilities is a brilliant read.

Disabled people have a tough time of it because of stigma and the way we are portrayed in media. It’s regularly turned into ‘if they can do it, what’s your excuse?’. It turns disabled people into a motivational tool instead of being seen as people, it’s dehumanising us by taking away the nuance of our situations. It doesn’t actually inspire anyone to do anything though, it is just used as a way to make people without disabilities feel better about their lives; ‘hell yeah, I don’t have a disability’, in essence. We are also used as a resource for information and stories to make people feel their life isn’t so bad after all, and are often expected to provide this for free because of the awareness it raises around disability issues.

Misadventures of an Adoptive Dad

A fascinating guest post on the idea of ‘updating memories‘ with some very personal reflections about events in the past, family reactions to them and the unspoken context.

“The concept is simple by discussing certain memories as an adult I can re-label them with an updated adult perspective, discharging some of the emotional impact they have. This should hopefully mean that I am then able to process some of my triggers more calmly.”

Legal Hackette

Interesting interview and insight into the stories behind those court sketches we see in newspapers and television and the artist responsible for them.

Mum in Brum

A much needed post about not being the kind of blogger that blogs everyday.  It helped me to realise the only pressure to post was being applied by me.  It was getting silly when I felt guilty about not commenting enough on linkies where I hadn’t even added a post!  I worked myself into a minor funk over not writing enough or regularly enough and this post by Mum in Brum gave me a hefty kick.  So hefty I’ve now written three in the space of a day.

How about you?

As ever, please share any great posts you have encountered in the comments or let me know if any of these picks piqued your interest.  If they do please comment and share them!