Emergency Alarm Cord ... only for the very tall!

The good thing about the Physical Features duties of the Disability Discrimination Act (Oct. 2004) becoming law is that service providers have to take reasonable steps to overcome physical barriers which stop, or make it difficult for, people with disabilities using a particular service.

There has been a steady increase in the number of hotels which have rooms suitably adapted for people with disabilities. Of course this has to be appluaded but one thing that really gets my goat is that these rooms are not always ready for use by a person with a disability.

Many hotels pride themselves in having accessible rooms with emergency call systems in them. Usually beside the bed, beside the toilet and in the shower area.

I have lost count of the number of times I visit hotel rooms and have to lower the emergency cords in the bathroom because someone else has tied them up to keep them out of the way!

There seems to be absolutely no point at all in having them if they are out of reach, and certainly they should be reachable from the floor, as if one has a fall that;s pretty much where one is going to end up!

So, if you see and emergency system cord tied up "out of the way" and indeed out of reach, please join me in:

a)bringing this to the attention of the proprietor

and

b) untying the cord and allowing to hang at its full length.

This cord wasn't easily reachable from my wheelchair let alone by someone who had fallen to the floor! The photo was taken in a hotel I stay in regularly, apart from untying the cords, I alerted the staff to this problem, it will be interesting to see what postion the cords are in upon my return!

Thumbs Up for the O2 Arena!

Back in July, I recorded here that the O2 Arena (formerly known as The Millenium Dome) had had a change of thought with regard to charging for the P.A.s / companions of people with disabilities attending shows there.

Finally, on 5th September, we got to attend the show we'd booked up for months ago, Elton John brought his Las Vegas Red Piano Show to London for one night only.

I realised with just a few days to go before the show that I would be in London overnight and of course Caesar, my trusty assistance dog would be with me. There's no question of Caesar not liking Eltons' music, but he doesn't quite like it at the volume it would be offered at during a live concert. So I hastily sent off an email to the O2 Customer Services Dept with a Special Needs request; viz, a dog sitter for during the show. (This type of thing is pretty commonplace in theatres and larger music venues in the UK). My email was sent at 15.20 on Saturday 1st September, and their reply arrived at 15.46!! 26 minutes to get a reply, very impressive! Pleasingly, it was a positive response and they said they'd be happy to look after Caesar in the Customer Services Dept.


When we arrived at the venue, somewhat later than planned (as we had mistakenly thought a riverboat from Westminster was the most efficient way to travel there), we made ourselves known at Customer Sevices and in no time someone was available to take Caesar to be looked after in a quieter area of the venue.


We went off to get something to eat, and then to find our seats, the wheelchair platform had a fantastic view of the stage, so much so it felt like when Elton was looking our way he was singing right to those on the platform. In fact we had such a good view the bouncers had to try and stop a few "normals" poaching places on the platform!


Thankfully the staff were very on the ball and ensured that the accessible toilets (which also usually get encroached upon at events like this) were only used by those who genuinely needed them.


It was a toe tapping, sing-a-long, packed with visual stunts kind of show that was very different to anything I have seen from Elton in the twenty odd shows I have seen before. Great stuff!


After the show we went to collect Caesar and his trusty Teddy from the Customer Services office and found him to be fast asleep ... no better assurance that he was content with his evening I'd say. Of course he was pleased to be reunited with us, and we all headed off back to our hotel, via another awful inaccessible riverboat experience.


Thumbs up and thank you O2 Arena, great customer service, we'll be back, but maybe next time on the tube ;o)

This picture shows the front rail of the wheelchair users platform and of course Elton on stage.

Thumbs up too for Elton as he didn't mind the audience taking photos throughout the show.

Disabled persons parking facilities, why abuse them?

One thing that is really close to the heart of many people with disabilities is the commonplace abuse of parking facilities. There are precious few accessible parking places within close proximity to the shops and banks in Broadstone, Dorset and this vehicle was seen occupying one of them ... there was no Blue Badge displayed on the vehicle and one can only imagine why they are parked there. Notice the clear road marking for the parking bay and also the fact that the parking signs are in clear view of the cab of the vehicle!

This is a classic example of the need for the Baywatch Campaign which is supported by Disability Now, Mobilise, The British Polio Fellowship and Time to Get Equal.

You took the parking place, will you take the disability too?

All's well that ends well ... or is it?

Finally, the right sized replacement wheels arrived on Wednesday ... so back in action and able to use my new wheelchair again. As Elton John sang, "Sorry seems to be the hardest word" not one word of apology that my chair let me down so badly has been uttered!

Aparently the wheels I have now been supplied from Spinergy via my wheelcahir supplier are non faulty types with reinforced hubs ... well see chaps won't we? The average length of life of a wheelchair is meant to be 3 years, so I'll have plenty of time to find out! Forgive me if I seem a tad cynical, but this new chair does seem to be a bit of a lemon, I'm hoping I have had all the teething problems in the first two months and it will be plain sailing from here on in.

The problem is, when a wheelchair fails, especially away from home, one is left up the creek without a paddle, or in this recent case, in the gutter in a dark street, miles from home on a Saturday night!
Pictures of the wheel hub showing where the spokes ripped the hub, and also showing how the wheel buckled under the chair.

The new wheels arrived ... elation turned to despondency!

I was delighted that my replacement, non faulty hub wheels arrived from the wheelchair supplier today, only about 26 hours after I had flagged the problem up to them. Good job, I thought as I eagerly opened the box ... oh dear, they sent the wrong size wheels! Now this is the company that sold me the "just a smidgeon under" £3000 wheelchair only 8 weeks ago, you'd imagine they of all people would know the size wouldn't you?

Several phone calls later, I got a promise of another new wheel delivery tomorrow ...

We ended up in a Police Car!

On Saturday we went to Birmingham to watch Manchester United play Birmingham City, our first away match as United fans. Caesar had the day off as he has told me before football isn't really his cup of tea ;o) There were a few access hiccups en route but nothing major; the trains weren't running on the first part of our journey and were replaced by inaccessible buses, so the rail company had to pay for a taxi the first thirty miles or so! They also had to provide a taxi the last thirty miles on the way home.

We enjoyed the match and had a good vantage point once we had moved, originally we were sat just alongside the goal mouth but it became clear the photographers would block our view as the ground level was actually about eye level for me while sitting in my wheelchair. I always think you can tell a lot about an orgainsation by the way they treat their disabled patrons!

United won 1-0 and and all that was left was a quick stroll the couple of miles from the ground to Birmingham New Street station for our train back to Dorset.

We were making good speed behind the Coppers in riot gear (kind of slipstreaming) when I went down a kerb and CRUNCH ... a wheel on my eight week old, "just a smidgeon under" £3000 wheelchair collapsed beneath me. Utter shock ... apart from realising we'd miss our train, I was now rendered helpless in the gutter. One of the riot gear clad Coppers said "wait right there, I'll get help to you". (Maybe he realised two Utd shirt clad fans in the gutter of a dark sidestreet were sitting ducks)!

In minutes we were rescued by a police car, darn, the wheelchair plus us two wouldn't fit into the car, so they summoned a white police van as well. We were soon on our way in the back of the police car and my wheelchair and trike followed in the van. What a way to arrive at the station! I've never been in a police car before ...

We arrived at the station just as our train was due to leave. Thankfully, there was another train an hour later and the railway staff were very helpful in assisting the police get us to our train in a borrowed station wheelchair. We finally got home around 2am, but at least we, if not the wheelchair were in one piece!

Today I called the w/c company and heck, would you believe it, after some enquiries they discover that Spinergy supplied a duff batch of wheel hubs where the spokes are threaded too close to the edge and they hadn't done a product recall! I can imagine before too long someone is going to get really hurt coming out of a chair due to this. Needless to say the air in my house this morning was blue, but sanity was restored when my supplier promised to deliver 2 new wheels tomorrow with new (non faulty hubs).

So a big thanks is due to the West Midlands Police & Virgin Trains for their quick thinking and sensible help!