Thankfully cinemas now cater for disabled people and I went to the local cinema last week to see a movie. It was a shame that I picked Wednesday as it was Orange Wednesday and queued up for 45 minutes. I did feel sorry for the people who were standing!

Buy Movie Tickets Online is the website that I seen the trailer for Inception on. A film with an interesting plot line but very long so I was I pleased I had brought my own comfortable seat along and did not need to suffer from the hard cinema seats.

There is a special deal for disabled people that buy one ticket and go in free plus level access, so it was great to go for a night out with no need to wory about getting in or out. It was a night when I felt sorry for the poor able bodied people who were queuing up and enduriung 2 and a half hours in hard cinema seats!

Now our bathroom to wet room conversion is complete I thought I would let you how it has all gone.

In my last post I explained what I thought the wet room conversion could do for me. The most important thing was getting some dignity and independence back. As a wheelchair user, my regular bathroom was just not suitable and made life unnecessarily difficult. I am glad to say that the new wet-room has lived up to and exceeded my expectations.

While the work was being done, the house was a bit chaotic as quite a lot of building work needed to be done. For example the door to be made wider, the airing cupboard had to be removed and a wall was reinforced for fitting grab rails . Now I don’t have to do a really tricky manoeuvre to get into the room; there is plenty of space to just roll in.

So that a pedestal-free wash basin could be mounted on the wall, the existing stud partition wall had to be made stronger. This also meant that grab rails could be fixed firmly to the shower wall.

With no bath in the room, there is so much space. Before, if I went in forwards I had to go out backwards; now I can turn around 360 degrees!

I can now reach things on shelves without asking for things to be passed to me. I can even see myself in the new low-down mirror (some would say this is not a good thing!)

The sink has taps with easy grip handles that I can turn easily. The shower controls are low down and very easily to operate.

I have a new self propelled shower chair. All I do is transfer into this (it is like a wheelchair, but very lightweight and the seat is like a toilet seat) then roll straight under the shower. The first time I had a shower in the new wet-room it was quite emotional. I hadn’t been able to get a shower in over 3 years, so to have a proper shower was just amazing. I stayed there for quite a while – I think my wife thought I had taken root! I really can’t explain how good it is too feel running water again.

The shower chair is great as it means I can also use the toilet easily. I just roll over it, with no need for a transfer onto the toilet. This makes life MUCH easier!

I am very pleased with the new room as it not only helps me immensely, but it doesn’t look like a ‘disabled’ bathroom. I worked closely with the workmen and have exactly what I wanted and needed. I didn’t want something that looked like it belongs in an hospital in my home. Just because I have a disability doesn’t mean I don’t have taste!

I am now in control of my own personal hygiene. That is priceless!

It is great that physically disabled people can attend and enjoy so many more events than they used to. Incredibly, if you can navigate the tents and muddy fields, you can now use a festival-ready off-road mobility scooter at Glastonbury!

We thought we would take a look at the other disabled friendly considerations that the Glastonbury festival made:

The site

There is little they can do about the site itself. Glastonbury festival is spread over green fields and farm land – so the weather plays a huge part in how accessible the site is to everyone.

Campsite

There was a disabled campsite located onsite, with special facilities, run by an experienced team who were on hand throughout the festival.

Campervans

If you can’t camp, but wanted to go to the festival, there were some spaces available for campervans and caravans in the disabled campsite.

Toilets

There were adapted toilets at locations throughout the Festival site.

Viewing Platforms

There were viewing platforms at the some of the stages with access ramps, for use by disabled festival goers.

British Sign Language Interpreters

DeafZone were onsite offering a free Interpreting service.

Event Mobility

Event Mobility was hiring out both electric and manual wheelchairs.

It all goes to show – don’t let disability get in the way of living your life how you want to. If you can get there and get around – enjoy yourself!

What made it all the more special was when the main headline act made a heartfelt plea during his performance at Glastonbury asking for increased accessibility for disabled people.

“Make It Accessible”

Stevie Wonder said,

“I want you to encourage the world to make things more accessible for those who are physically challenged. Make it more accessible. Let there be nowhere that I can’t go being blind, that someone cannot go being deaf, someone cannot go being paraplegic or quadriplegic. Make it accessible so that we can celebrate the world as well as you can.”

Stevie Wonder is a United Nations Messenger of Peace and has often spoken out for the rights of disabled people.

You are SO RIGHT Stevie – thankyou!

After struggling for too long with bathing and even getting into our bathroom, we are finally turning our bathroom into a wet-room.

I am a wheelchair user and the bathroom is the most difficult room to use. Everything is designed for someone who is able-bodied. I have lots of mobility aids; like a bath board, shower chair, handgrips and rails, which have made a difference, but it is still just far too difficult.

The problems we have at the moment.

• The furniture – the toilet and the sink are in the wrong place.
• I can’t easily get into the bath which has a shower over it.
• I can’t roll my wheelchair properly under the sink as the pedestal gets in the way.
• The bathroom cabinet goes above the sink – but it just too high.
• The toilet is too close to the wall at the side.
• The controls for the shower are too high.
• The bath takes up so much room, and this means that there is so little space left that I can’t turn my wheelchair around once I am in the bathroom.
• The door is only just wide enough for me to roll through.

I am hoping the new wet-room and adaptations will help with the following:

• A wider door will let me get into the room more easily.
• A completely flat floor, will mean I can just roll under the shower.
• A sink with no pedestal will mean my wheelchair will fit underneath comfortably.
• A toilet that has plenty of room all around it will help me with transfers.
• Sensible grab-rails that are in the right place for me will make a huge difference. Not only so I keep my balance in the shower (when I shut my eyes I feel dizzy, so being able to hold on to a grab-rail with one hand while I wash my hair will be invaluable) but also so I can transfer to the toilet more easily..
• No bath – so there will be so much more room to move.
• Shelves and storage that I can reach will be so helpful.
• Shower controls that I can operate myself will be an obvious but important help.

I am looking forward to the new wet-room. Instead of asking for help all the time, (or worse, not being able to wash myself) – I will get my independence and dignity back.

Once the building work is done, I will write another article reviewing how good (or bad) the new wet-room is.

It sounds so simple. It is basically a small piece of strong plastic about 3 inches high. It is wedge shape and goes down to nothing at one side. It is just under 3 feet wide, The same width as a door and it has made a huge difference in my life.

What am I talking about?

A threshold ramp.

Before I got one, getting out of the house was a huge hurdle. The lip on the door was only 3 inches high, but it could have been 1 inch or 17 inches – any lip stopped me from getting out of the door in my wheelchair. Even a matchstick on the floor feels like a tree stump when I roll over it. I had no chance with the door. I would come to a grinding halt. Well, that is not exactly true – I would come to a split second stop.

The threshold ramp solves my problems in getting out of the house.

• It is not too steep to be able to get up it on my own.
• It is extremely light and portable (made of fibreglass) so it can go in the car in case it is needed to help me when I am out.
• It is bright yellow – so I always know if it in position or not.
• It has raised bumps on it – so there is no slipping even if my wheels are wet or muddy.
• It is strong enough to feel secure going up and down it everyday.

If you are need to get somewhere that hasn’t installed a disabled access ramp; then your own portable threshold ramp can often be the way to get in! I have used my ramp to get into friends houses more easily.

I never realised quite how useful my ramp would be.

More on ramps…

Height

• Threshold ramps come in different heights depending on the height of the threshold lip and the width of the doorway.

Weight

• Threshold ramps are able to carry different weights.
• Some are suitable for manual wheelchairs, others electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters.

Folding threshold ramps.

• These go up one side of the door, over the threshold then down the other side. This is great for getting from one room to another where there is a door with a lip in the way. My conservatory is like this. Now I can get to all the rooms in my house, which gives me the freedom I want and need.

You can get ramps that help you to get into vehicles, with your wheelchair or scooter.

Ramps can be fixed and permanent, or lightweight and portable. Depending on the location and use.

Have a look at our article  Information on choosing a ramp for more about ramps.

This morning I cut my finger nails!

This time last year it was a simple task I could not carry out. It sounds crazy but nail clippers are small, shiny, slippery objects and very difficult to hold, combined with a lack of co-ordination it became a risk to either cutting my fingers off, losing the nail clippers or getting somebody else to cut them for me. I ended up referring to the latter much to my disappointment.

Most people take a simple tasks like cutting their finger nails for granted and I was one of them until I could not do it. I would hold the clippers in one hand, rest against a table and insert the nail to be cut, Missed! As the clippers shot out my hand, no nail was cut and I had to look to find where the clippers had ended up!

The bureaucracy had gone mad as my carer was unable to cut my nails, due to health and safety! So my nails got longer and longer. I was thinking of entering the Guiness book of records, I had nails the length a young woman would love but not a young man. I was still stuck with the problem of how to cut my own nails!

I then discovered the best mobility aids I had seen, it was simple. A pair of nail clippers mounted on a sturdy board, you place your finger in and press down, click that was one finger done and in 5 minutes I had cut all my own fingernails! An incredible little gadget that ensured I was able to look after my own personal grooming without the need for somebody else or a carer to tell me a list of reasons why they could not cut my nails.

There is actually a wide range of gadgets especially designed for people with different needs and it was not until I started looking did I see how many variations there are available. Nail clippers for people witha arthritis, desk mounted nail clippers, extra large nail clippers. You name it, it was there somebody else had the same problem as me and a company created a solution to the problem.

On this website I think you will find a lot of solutions to problems and gadgets you never thought existed!

In the days when I drove a car; it had a 2 litre engine, and did 0-60 in seconds. I would drive about about hundreds of miles in a week, and I thought driving a mobility scooter would be easy!

I hadn’t driven for several years thanks to my disability,  so the increase in traffic was the first thing I noticed. As a passenger in a car I hadn’t really noticed this. The next thing I noticed unfortunately was how vulnerable I felt.

My scooter only did 8mph on the road, but at first  it felt really fast. That said; other traffic whizzing past me made feel dizzy! I felt the annoyance of car drivers as they passed me. I felt they were annoyed and frustrated with me in my slow scooter using the road. I suppose I had little patience with scooter users when I drove a car, so maybe it was my just desserts!

In time I realised that I was just as entitled to use the road as everyone else. Maybe even more so. I have little choice – use my scooter or stay in the house. Other people have the luxury of walking miles or taking the bus, car, train – you name it. I don’t feel in the way anymore, but I do take precautions when I drive my mobility scooter on the road.

These are the things that I think are essential and make you feel safer when using your mobility scooter on the road:

• Make sure you have enough battery power for your journey and to get back home (You wouldn’t drive you car without having enough petrol in the tank)
• Make sure your scooter is well maintained
• Make sure you have planned your journey well, especially if it is a new place that you are going. You don’t want to find that you are almost there and your scooter just can’t make the 3 steps that are in your way! (I find a couple of phone calls to the place you are going often solves this one quickly.)

Once these are done, I feel much more confident about my journey. Now I don’t feel so vulnerable, I feel freedom and independence!

I use a wheelchair most of the time, but can walk a little and standing up is really good exercise for my legs and back. So I bought a standard walking frame. I thought this would help assist me walking and standing as both of these are very difficult to do without help.

My frame is:

• lightweight and weighsunder 3kg
• made from aluminium tubing
• Very rigid and strong

I have outlined below what I think are my walking frame’s good and bad points:

Good Points

Height adjustable

It is great that the frame’s height is adjustable. Having it at just the right height for me is so important. I don’t have to stoop, or stand in an unnatural position – I just changed the height of each leg in turn.

I am 5′ 10″ and use don’t use the frame on it’s maximum height. I think the frame would be suitable for people much shorter or taller than me. It’s height dimensions are 88-99 cms or 32-39 inches

No wheels
Some walking frames have wheels on 2 of the legs. I personally don’t like this. It probably makes it easier to push along, but they make me feel wobbly.

Sturdy
I like the sturdy and strong feel of my frame. Once standing up using it, I feel very safe and secure. It is quite wide (56cms/22.5inches) which I think helps it be very sturdy.

Hand grips
The hand grips are comfortable and in the right place. They are made of rubber, so do not get really cold to touch.

Rubber supports (ferrules) on the feet
These make it secure when using it on a laminate, tiled or vinyl floors.

Folds up
It folds up easily and I store it down the side of the wardrobe.

User weight
When I look at the specifications of the frame, it can be used by people up to 180 kg or 28 stone.

Bad Point

I have found only one bad point to do with my walking frame. It is difficult to walk with it as you have to lift the frame up and move it before each step. It makes you walk in a very stop/start manner. For me, it’s not a natural walking aid, due to having no wheels.

Overall
For me it is a really good frame for standing up with but not for walking with. I have tried and used many different kinds of mobilty equipment and I must say that my walking frame is one that I use everyday.

As a young person with a disability it annoys me when I see businesses, especially online that do not offer services to disabled people. Life is hard enough with a disability without the need to look at complicated websites.  I spend most of my money shopping online as it is a lot easier for me than going to the shops. I am sure I am not alone! – However there are only a few websites that are easy to use and cater for disabled people.

Here is some food for thought…………..

• 1 in 3 people in the UK are disabled or close to somebody who has a disability.
  [Source: Office of National Statistics Census 2001]
• 10 million disabled people live in the UK with a combined annual spending power of over £80 billion
  [Source: DWP 2004]
• UK’s 50 to 70 year-olds currently runs at £300 billion a year, and this group buy more designer fashion, premium cars, and other expensive goods than any other group.
  [Source: The Guardian]
• 33% of people in the UK aged 50 – 65 have a disability; 42% of people over 65 have a disability.
  [Source: Labour Force Survey, Autumn 2005]
• 67% of disabled people choose businesses which are good at serving disabled customers
  [Source: Employers' Forum on Disability customer survey, 2006]

So to conclude…….

It makes sense for business to fully include disabled people like myself – a wheelchair user. They have a spending power of over £80 billion and taking a person’s disability into account is not only important it is essential!

When I am out of the house I use a wheelchair most of the time. This has just been my personal preference. Recently I have been thinking that a scooter might be easier and better for me though.

These are the things I have been looking at:

My situation:

• I can stand a little.
• I can’t walk far without assistance.
• I like to get out and about everyday.
• I am very independent (some would say stubborn) and like as little help as possible.
• Using my wheelchair tires me out, so I can’t always go where I want to go, or need to go.

What I am looking for:

• Something light and small that can be put in the car. I can’t drive anymore but friends and family can, and I want to go where they go.
• Something I can use in all weathers.
• Something that can move about easily. I like going to the shops and wheeling around town.
• Something that goes further than 10 miles in a day. I don’t go this far in my wheelchair, but if I am going to use a mobility scooter I want to get the maximum use out of it.
• Something that looks good. I don’t want something old fashioned. I like to think I am a young man. Mobility scooters might not be trendy, but I don’t want to look silly using one either.

My conclusions:

I am going to have to use 2 scooters in order to fit my needs.

Scooter No1

• A 4 wheel scooter that can travel 8mph. These can go on the road as well as the pavement. Some more heavy duty ones can also go off-road. Generally they can travel further distances than other scooters. They are quite large and can’t be folded up to transport them, but I will be able to go as far as I want to and go everywhere I need to go. I’ll use it for travelling into town, driving around and visiting friends and family.

Scooter No2

• A really  portable, travel, lightweight mobility scooter. This will be one of the many 3 wheel mobility scooters which can be packed into the car. I can use it on holiday and when I away from home. I can use it for shorter journeys and when I go to the supermarket, or shopping.

In all honesty I will probably just use/buy the bigger heavyduty mobility scooter and use my wheelchair at other times. This will solve many problems. I will be able to choose which ‘vehicle’ is the best for each journey. Sometimes it will be the scooter other times the wheelchair. I am happy with this situation, and am glad that I researched into mobility scooters and am going to take the plunge. I am hoping it will make a big difference to me.