Even though I enjoy traveling and staying in different places I don't enjoy those standard little white tea/coffee cups and saucers that seem to proliferate motels, meetings, conferences, workshops, information sessions etc. They are everywhere. Even hospitals. It's like you just get to taste your tea or coffee and then the cup's empty. I actually take my own mug with me now, stowed away in my suitcase. It's nothing special, my mug. It's not expensive. But it does hold more tea than those little white things and it's color and patterns reflect my likes and preferences. I chose my mug. It's mine.
This reminds me of the disability service sector. For many people with disability, the generic white cup has been their only choice. Services, lifestyles, activities offered or available have been of the boring, standard utilitarian white cup variety. Sturdy, easy to clean, easy to stack, allowing only a predetermined amount of tea or coffee in those bland, safe, sensible cups.
It used to scare me. The thought that my daughter and her friends would have to drink from those sterile vessels one day. But the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS ) offers the chance for choice. Not only will my daughter get to choose her own cup or mug she can paint the darn thing any color she wants. She can design it if she likes or choose one from an op shop, a fancy kitchen store or from the many, many places where you can find such things. She can choose when and where to have her tea, coffee or even wine. She can go elsewhere if a venue can't accommodate her unique needs!!! She can decide to drink milo, or swig lemonade from a bottle if she likes.
We can still choose to drink from the boring brigade of blandness. We can accept the utilitarian approach of easy to stack, easy to wash, lack of choice and control that was the past. Or we can create our own cup and fill it with whatever sustains and nourishes us.
