Lifestyle

Getting the right wheelchair is essential – what we mean by the “right wheelchair” is what they meets your needs and requirements and enables you to be as active and independent as possible. A wheelchair suitable for you can improve your quality of life, but unfortunately not all OT’s and wheelchair services are good and people end up with the wrong wheelchair for them. Before you speak to an OT, a physio or go along to the wheelchair services appointment speak to wheelchair users, browse the internet and go along to a specialist shop. When we say specialist shop we mean one that specialises in wheelchairs and has wheelchair users who work there – not your run of the mill mobility shop who will often sell you the one with the biggest profit margin. Then go armed with the info you have gathered – you are well within your right to have an opinion and discuss your needs and explain why you think such a type of wheelchair would be suitable for you. If you have extra available money then the best option is to get the wheelchair voucher and go to a specialist, place the order and pay for […]

Wheelchair To Access St Andrew’s West Sands Beach St Andrew’s West Sand Beach is an iconic spot with plenty of beautiful sceneries to watch. Just taking a stroll along its shore is sure to leave you with great memories and unmatched experiences. Exploring this magnificent West Sand Beach on a wheelchair is now a reality, thanks to a special pony-pulled vehicle. Named the iBex, this vehicle lets the wheelchair users roll onto it and stay seated even as it tackles the multiple terrains at the beach. The pony itself is named Obama. The first trip took place on the 28th of this month. Luckily to those who missed, there’s another trip scheduled for 31st July. On their tour of Scotland, Pony AxeS, a service that runs this great initiative, is scheduled to visit St Andrews on this day again. Other places that have been lucky to host Pony AxeS them include Portobello, Balmedie, and Broughty Ferry. Changing Places Toilets Away from the iBex, there will also be another special facility that will make things even smoother. PAMIS will be fetching to the beach one of its innovative changing places toilets. It’s a special accessible toilet that accommodates those with various […]

Wheelchair accessible vehicles can be accessed either by a ramp or by a lift. Each one has advantages and disadvantages that should be considered to help you decide which would be the best choice for your vehicle. Most ramps can be extended manually, this makes them less expensive and they require less maintenance, than a lift. It does mean, however, that the wheelchair user will almost certainly require assistance to deploy them, as they can be heavy and require a certain amount of dexterity. A rear entry wheelchair accessible vehicle with a ramp requires quite a large amount of space behind the vehicle in which to extend the ramp and for the wheelchair user to manoeuvre up it. Longer ramps are less steep and therefore easier to get up, but they require more room. A ramp should not have a slope of more than 13-degrees, and while most electric wheelchairs can make it up this grade of slope, be aware that some cannot. Winches can be installed to assist the entry of both manual and electric wheelchairs, but a winch cannot overcome the problem of an overly steep ramp. Descending from the vehicle involves reversing down the sloping ramp, which […]

The UK Government’s Access to Work scheme ensures that people with a disability or a health condition can receive the assistance they may need to help them to do their job. If you feel that you could do your job easier if some changes were made in your working hours, conditions, equipment or transport possibilities, this scheme may be able to help you. To be eligible for assistance you must be over 16-years of age, and a paid employee living and working in England, Wales or Scotland. You can be self-employed, an apprentice, doing an internship, or on a work experience or trial, but you must not earn not more than £120 a week, work between one and 16-hours and your work coach must be in agreement. If you are a paid employee, you can ask your employer to make reasonable adjustments, such as providing equipment or changing working hours to assist you in successfully executing your job. The Access to Work scheme can assist in assessing what adjustments need to be made and what the employer can reasonably be responsible for. If the employer is unable to make all of the necessary changes, you may be entitled to a […]

Getting kids interested in sports at an early age not only promotes good health through physical exercise but also teaches many other useful lessons that will stay with a child throughout his life. Participants in the School Games programme are encouraged to aspire to the six School Games values. These are, honesty, respect, passion, determination, teamwork and belief in oneself. The School Games programme believes that by making competitive sport an essential part of school life, young people are given the opportunity to compete against others and so can achieve their own personal best performance, and it also gives them the opportunity to develop leadership skills. The School Games is a government initiated programme which promotes competitive sport to young people of all capabilities. There are currently more than 20,000 schools registered in the four different types of School Games competitions. Level one consists of intra-school competition, level two, local inter-school competition, level three, county finals, and level four the national finals. All competitions follow formats established by the National Governing Body and inclusion for everybody, whatever their ability, is a very important part of the programme. To help schools to extend their provision of competitive sport to children with […]

Cory Shaw is a young person, who suffers from several debilitating conditions which make it very painful for her to stand for any length of time. Yet, she holds down a job and commutes daily by train. However, she frequently finds herself having to travel standing or having to ask people to give her their seat. Although she always carries her ‘please give me a seat’ card and wears her badge, people simply do not look up to see if anyone does need them to give up their seat. Incredibly, even when asked to do so, some people actually refuse. Now, Cory wants her, and all disabled people’s rights to be enforced. She is currently petitioning to get Transport for London to launch a new ‘Look Up’ campaign. The new campaign would have pre-recorded announcements which would be played after each stop. The announcement would say ‘Look up, does someone need your seat?’ Most trains and buses already provide upcoming stop information or ‘watch the gap’ safety announcements. Cory hopes that hearing and announcement will spurn people into action to be more considerate of the needs of fellow passengers.  The announcements could be especially helpful for people with visual impairments […]

Using public transport is the right of all citizens. However, for people with disabilities, it seems that their rights are still being ignored. Incredibly, a new rail station, the Brent Cross West Thameslink, in north-west London, a 4.5-billion-pound project which is set to open in 2022, does not have step-free access from the platform onto the train. If the plans are approved, that means that wheelchair users will not be able to get on the train if there is not a member of staff available to put down the ramp for them. Unfortunately, Govia Thameslink Railway, admit that most Thameslink services are operated with just a driver and do not even have any other staff on board who can assist disabled passengers. Furthermore, the company met with protests after recently issuing a guidance which told staff not to attempt to get “persons of reduced mobility” onto a train if there was the possibility of causing a delay in the service!!!!!! Many older train stations do not offer wheelchair access, but instead of putting more money into improvement projects recently released figures reveal that over £80-million has been slashed from the Access for All Scheme over the last 5-years. The government […]