Annotated R code to create the maps and results in my post “15 minutes from the Lee-to-Sea Greenway“.
Continue reading Annotated analysis of the Lee to Sea dataCategory Archives: Community outreach
Car-free Cork in 15 minutes, walking and cycling
Cork City centre is compact, varied and contains all the amenities for most people’s everyday needs. The City centre shops and facilities are within 15 minutes walk (green) for 22,530 residents, within 30 minutes walk (cyan) for 53,481 residents and 45 minutes walk, or 20 minutes cycling (pink) for 106,200 residents.
These residents are, equally, the consumer base of many of the businesses within Cork City centre, and the audience for appeals on footfall and invigorating activity in Cork.
I use the boundaries of Cork City, as defined at the time of the 2016 census, to count and plot how many can (and do!) walk, cycle, use public transport and live without cars or private motorised vehicles in Cork City. Links to the full CSO Small Area Population Statistics (SAPS) are included (and repeated in full at the end), as well as some excellent sources of information about the City, including the Pedestrian Cork Survey 2020.
(See also “Conserving accesible urban space” for a discussion on accessibility and sensory overload in Cork City).
Continue reading Car-free Cork in 15 minutes, walking and cyclingModelling an epidemic
Two contrasting approaches to predicting (guessing) the outcome of an epidemic are 1) projecting data from similar situations observed in the past; and 2) modelling from varying degrees of first principles. Models must match reality for any reasonable usefulness, but are often extremely sensitive to intitial (unknown) conditions and the slightest variation in input parameters.
Here are both approaches, in broad outline, to generate boundaries around expected outcome.
NB1: Code in R (requires population and death or case time series)
NB: My thesis “Mathematical modelling of inherent susceptibility to fatal diseases” has some relevance, but not to epidemic modelling.
Continue reading Modelling an epidemicAutism and dual diagnosis in a psychiatric dystopia
As someone with both an autism spectrum diagnosis and a history of mental illness, I fall into that intersectionality politely called ’dual diagnosis’, although it often feels more like ’falling between two stools’ than eligibility for duplicated supports. I am lucky to have won the postcode lottery and live in Cork City, the base of the only HSE-funded community support service in the country for adults with Asperger syndrome, where I get excellent social and other supports from Aspect, part of the Cork Association for Autism. I am unlucky to live in a country that otherwise has no services whatsoever for autistic adults (post 18 years) and where ’dual diagnosis’ means being shuffled between mental health services (as and when mental health is impacted) and social or disability support services. About 70-80% of people with Asperger syndrome also experience depression, anxiety and emotional difficulties. Suicidal thoughts are common and often difficult to identify. I want to share a particularly difficult recent encounter with psychiatric care that others in a similar position may find helpful to talk about.
Continue reading Autism and dual diagnosis in a psychiatric dystopia
Aspect A.S. support service
Aspect, 73 Penrose Wharf, Penrose Quay, Cork
021 239 3678 or 2396462
info@caaspect.ie
corkautism.ie/aspect
Aspect is the A.S. support service of the Cork Association for Autism. Aspect offers a wide range of support services to adults with autism spectrum diagnoses living in the community in the Munster area.