feature story
A Winners Tale
It was with a heady mix of excitement and anxiety we left the house on our journey to Bristol Airport. Taking twin boys of 6 and a half and our wheelchair bound daughter on a plane was a new experience. I had been preparing tick lists and running through worse case scenarios for weeks but luckily all my worries were completely unnecessary and unfounded.
The booking and special assistance request with Easy Jet was amazing, everything was so smooth so that instead of being ‘very irritating people’ as we tried to get through with the wheelchair we felt like proper VIPs as we were whisked through check in, security and boarding. All the airport staff were friendly and genuinely helpful.
We were boarded first and given the first 2 rows of seats which was perfect for fidgety boys and Katia who is unable to sit up unaided so she was able to stretch out across the seats. Katia has profound learning disabilities and was disorientated and grumpy but the teenagers sitting behind her sang twinkle twinkle little star to her and made faces which helped distract her. We found bringing one of her favourite musical toys very helpful as it was a familiar object. The Portuguese staffs were equally as efficient and the disembarkation went very smoothly. Finally we were through customs and there we were in arrivals looking for Hazel and her pink folder.
Hazel waved vigorously to us, there was no question of not recognising us we were not a party that could not easily be missed. We all followed Hazel out into the warm air and with just enough time to shed some of our ‘English Summer ‘ layers we loaded into the transporter and set off to Funchal Ridge with me mentally crossing off each of my worries!
It was a late arrival at the apartment but as we wearily got out of the WAV and wandered through the prettily landscaped garden I could smell the wonderful ly aromatic smell of oleander and feel the warm air around us I knew then I was on holiday and it was going to be good. We had a quick look through the apartment but were too tired to take on much except it was huge, beautifully furnished , the fridge had been stocked up with a pre ordered food shop and vitally important there were PG tips tea bags for me to make a much needed cup of tea. Hazel and Bryn had also thoughtfully set out a plate of pastries and pate which gave us something to nibble on before getting some much needed sleep. We all settled down for the night, I chose to sleep with Katia as she was still a bit disorientated and Ben took the other double bed. The twins settled in to the 3rd
twin bedded room. (more…)
The United Nations (UN) drafted the ‘Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’ in 2006. Five years on we examine disability equality around the world to see if it looks any different.
If I were God, (any of them: you choose) looking down on the Earth today, what would I see? I’d see lots of different states, cultures, tribes, communities and groups living differently in different parts of the world. Even as God, I’d find it difficult to make sure that all of the tiny little dots – like you and I, lived together nicely treating each other fairly and empathetically. My options would appear to be surprisingly limited: send a flood, strike a few high profile people down with lightning or leave people to sort it out for themselves.
And so God created the UN. Well, that’s not strictly accurate, men and women of good will and intent created the UN to be more like God; as a way to run this fractured world of ours. The men and women of the UN aren’t perfect – because they aren’t God, but they do have a strong resolve to see violence replaced with peace, hunger replaced with contentedness and prejudice replaced by inclusion.
Respect and fairness
These ideals inform many of the roles and conventions of the UN. The convention I’d like to focus on for a few moments is the ‘International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities’. This is an expression of the UN’s efforts to make sure that disabled people are treated with the respect and fairness that all citizens of the world deserve.
The convention sets out what each Member State’s responsibilities are to disabled people. Even at 10,000 words in length, the document is succinct given its import. It feels as if the objective is for it to be as watertight as possible, using the ‘fewer words mean fewer possible interpretations’ model. Despite this, it efficiency espouses on subjects ranging from accessibility, right to life, access to justice and independent living. (more…)
The Muscle Help Foundation (MHF) raised nearly £13,000 at a glittering auction in central London on Wednesday 16th November 2011
Co-founder sings for his supper in London charity fundraiser that raises nearly £13,000 for its 2012 flagship Games Inspired Muscle Dreams programme
The charity hosted a record 200 guests at its high profile annual fundraiser, held at The Cumberland Hotel’s industrially-themed Carbon Bar for the first time.
Supporters dug deep to bid on a bounty of unique gifts and experiences during the auction, presided over by renowned Polar explorer, environmental entrepreneur and MHF supporter Pen Hadow.
Auction – popular lots included a day with personal trainer Richard Callender, star of ITV1′s The Biggest Loser and also an Ambassador to the charity, and a Porsche driving experience at the world famous Silverstone racing track.
Guests also snapped up Muscle Warrior t-shirts and supped on 657 cocktails – a
fruity concoction representing approximately every muscle in the human body.
Text donations – furthermore, MHF unveiled a new text donation service operated through JustTextGiving by Vodafone. The system enables users to make a donation of their choosing by texting the code MUSC13 and an amount of up to £10 to 70070. This innovation was kick-started by the charity’s co-founder and Chief Muscle Warrior Michael McGrath, who asked guests to text £10 as he courageously took to the stage to sing two renditions of Robbie Williams’ 1997 hit Angels. (more…)
Harry Wade Nov/Dec Column – Step By Step
Are you watching Strictly Come Dancing? I love it but, as I wrote in my autobiography Out On a Limb, dance steps are tricky with only one ankle. And I need to be given a leg that fits to be able to take any steps at all.
I want ‘out on a limb’ to mean I’m out and about, on my prosthetic limb, living the best quality life I can. I don’t want it to mean I’m isolated and unheard, fighting single-handed the services that provide it for me; single-legged of course in my case.
I’m going to be the wrong sort of single-legged and out on a limb if I can’t work with my prosthetist to get it right. Firstly, if you want to know if a prosthetic limb fits someone, you should ask them rather than tell them. It needs a two-way dialogue.
Dialogue is the rather obvious central idea to marketing, research & development and quality control. It’s a central idea of the social model of disability, which starts with the patient’s needs, rather than the medical model of disability, which starts with idea of ‘medicine man’ as omniscient expert. (more…)
Lorraine Hershon Nov/Dec Column – Pleasure Island
They do say that a change is as good as a rest, and that’s just what I needed.
This year hasn’t been the easiest, so as the summer rolled round again, I decided to look for an adventure.
First things first: I spent some weeks perusing websites and doing ‘costings,’ because I’m the kind of person who plans everything down to the finest detail. I should have been in the military such is my planning finesse.
Where should we go this year? The criteria were tough: accessible – ish, at least for me, suitable for a family with small boys, minimal boats (because my husband doesn’t do them) and of course affordability. (more…)
Axcess at Last
The Axcess caravan is doing much to update the image of caravanning. Far from being pokey and awkward, the Axcess has been specifically developed to provide comfortable, user friendly holidaying for disabled people – wherever they choose to tow it.
Simon Fry is the creative caravan engineer behind the concept and spoke enthusiastically with Able to explain his thinking. “The design concept is done by me.” He starts proudly, adding: “It’s based on my ideas through experience of building caravans since about 2005.” The whole notion of building an accessible caravan came from a request that got Simon thinking, as he explains: “One of our clients: Mr Brown, wanted a conversion done for his wife and nobody would listen to him and nobody would help him so he turned up and we had a cup of coffee.” After talking it over Simon began to identify just what the completed project would mean to his customer and I get the feeling that he just couldn’t resist the challenge.
This is perhaps backed up by Simon’s initial summary: “We’ve learnt that in doing bespoke it’s very difficult to make money. When you disturb something every action has a reaction, especially in a caravan because it’s so tight. You’ve got a small area and you’re trying to get a whole house in it.” Clearly it isn’t something that many caravan manufacturers, dealerships, engineers or tinkerers would take on. Simon outlines some of the basic challenges and more obvious solutions saying: “What you have to do is have a philosophy. First of all you have to have access, so you need a wider door. When you have a table at the front you need an L-shape because it’s the best way to get a wheelchair user able to sit at the table. Then you need to be able to get up and down (the length of the caravan) reasonably easily and then you want to be able to turn around at the back end and come back again.” (more…)
