A lack of information can really disable you.
“Let’s meet in Durham,” a family member suggested recently. However, once I researched the geography of the city I wasn’t so sure.
According to the cathedral website it wasn’t great for access, being set on a hill. As we have three young children, plus a wheelchair, to get around I wasn’t sure it was the best place in the world to have a day out.

I’ve noticed that people take little notice of accessibility until you actually need to. We are forever being asked to go to places that frankly are neither wheelchair nor child friendly, that have steps hidden all over the place, steep inclines, poor cafes with even poorer facilities. “It’s all about Space,” my husband says. As in ‘the Final Frontier’. He’s right of course; the time has come in my life where if there isn’t space to take a wheelchair and a buggy then we’re not interested in going. It’s one reason I’m sure that I see parents dragging children around shopping centres – our own local out-of-town complex is ‘Wheelchair City’!
Gone are the days of spotting a cosy wee tea room and popping in for a scone. Now I’m looking for somewhere I can get in without having to move half the clientele and apologise non-stop for the inconvenience. Those pretty seaside towns with their quaint cobbled streets, at an angle of 45 degrees, are not for me anymore.

What really surprises me, though, is the lack of information that’s available. Whenever I go anywhere new, I look for as much information as possible and – despite all the legislation in the world — it’s pretty hard to find out the things you really – I mean, really – need to know. Like, how flat is a town? Where’s the best place to park, realistically? What can I really see? Where are the easiest places to go for lunch? How many accessible loos are there? And – my biggest bugbear – is there gravel all over that ‘accessible’ path?
Because of current legislation I’m sure people tell you the wrong information: (a) in the hope of appearing accessible, when it only is with difficulty; (b) not having any training or firsthand experience of the needs of access; and (c), not wanting to be honest because they’re worried about being prosecuted.

The result of all this lack of information means that I stress horribly over visiting new places – as I have no idea what to expect – whether I should even go at all. On several information, I’ve had information so wrong that the day has been totally ruined for us.  It’s not rocket science to realise that wheelchairs, hills and steps are a really bad mix – is it?

I just don’t want the stress of attempting it and I know my husband doesn’t want my stress either. So it’s time that service providers gave the information we need – and not what they think we want to know.