Access - Is it Really that Bad?

OK disabled people all moan about it, all have horror stories to tell but as a w/chair user of more than thirty years and having a long memory I can positively say ‘things are definitely on the up’

OK before you shoot me down in flames with your stories of ‘I can’t get in here or I cant get in there’ let me explain a little more.

30 years ago at the tender age of 16, I came out of hospital after being in for 11 ½ months. I could not cross most roads as dropped curbs were a rare thing. Going into a pub (yes even at 16) was near on impossible and you would be frowned upon for doing so.

I remember being denied access to many places such as cinemas because I was a Health & Safety risk’ in case a fire broke out. Booking a hotel was near on impossible and as for flying, I’d have more luck trying to grow wings.

Disabled people didn’t drive cars either, they had (Bright Blue) ‘invalid carriages’ that stood out like a sore thumb and shouted out ‘Look I’m disabled’

Not only have there been many improvements in this time but more importantly peoples attitudes have changed a great deal and I really do mean a GREAT deal. We now have a place in society but further more are excepted in the big bad outside world.

OK so there are still places we cant access and to be honest there always will be but on a whole we have evolved in leaps and bounds.

Correcting all the worlds access issues is a mammoth task, especially in a country as old as the UK but we are getting there, no longer can we be denied access to cinemas, booking (most) hotels is now possible and yes, they even have disabled rooms (Something that was not heard of not so long ago in the past) not only have ‘Invalid carriages’ been scrapped but the word invalid has been scrapped with it. (UK)

We are getting there, we just need to see it.

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Information from mobility scooters to disabled arts
Disabled Sports & Hobbies

Yes, I often remind myself how lucky I am to be living at this time in history, and in this country (Australia). By no means is the place perfect but if only we were the worst in the world!!

My biggest gripe is that They won't let me onto roller-coasters and other fun rides, even if I bring my own lifter to get me on and off. "You must be able to evacuate yourself in case of emergency". I haven't tried tandem hang-gliding or sky-diving - I wonder what the response of those operators would be. After all, no-one can evacuate either of those situations... Anyone know?

Re plane travel - alleluia! One domestic airline still lets wheelchair-users fly without a carer (Qantas). We're just lowest in priority when it comes to being helped off the burning wreckage. Ah, let me go down with the plane, I say (even if the idea of spending my last moments in the midst of an inferno aint that appealing).

Hi monkey

I think it will be sometime before disabled people have equal right on board a plane, in the UK that currently stops once you leave the terminal, either exiting or via departure.

As for safety on board, I always sit at the rear of the plane, on account of the fact ive never heard of a plane reversing into a mountain

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Information from mobility scooters to disabled arts
Disabled Sports & Hobbies

Hello,

Ryan Thompson (that's me!), a wheelchair using teenager with quad CP, has set up an e-petition campaigning for more accessible public transport to be made available.

I hope you will lend me your full support.

Accessible transport is needed to avoid the cost of taxi's and the embarrassment of having to have some else take us there!

The more signatures' on this petition, the more the government will listen to the needs of young and old people alike.

Please pass this message onto anyone you know!

If you wish to sign, the website address is: http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/transportaccess/

Thank you.

I too have reached the age when you can say things are certainly better and to take nothing from your contribution - it's exactly that attitude that I'm finding in my Access Group. People are kinder, more understanding and we have a lot to be greatful for etc.. etc.

Then I wake up and realise... Hey, they, the Government and the rest are giving us nothing. All progress has been made not by kindness and consideration but by cetain people fighting all their hard lives to attain basic standards of care that are threatened eveytime we have a new budget published or the local council needs an easy target to see through cuts in social care. 13 years after the introduction of the DDA I'm still sitting in my wheels outside a police station talking into a telephone, on the high street, explaining my business. A woman who tried to holiday where I live (a lovely town in East Sussex) tried 23 hotels in this area before she was finally granted a room with a lowered sink and doors wide enough to get into to wash - forget wheel in shower or accessible bath - and people are grateful!!! to pay money to such so called service providers. They even had a celebration peice in the local paper recently that a local bank (big high street name) at last had lowered two large steps and could accommodate scooters & wheelchairs. My question is why the Devil aren't we suing these firms & businesses. We follow the USA in most things negative but why do we shy away from getting our rights so often - do they put something in the water?

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Information from mobility scooters to disabled arts
Disabled Sports & Hobbies

Hi Scipilot,

Again, let me say you are right in the first instance about progress being made - no one could argue that, but my point was it wasn't given , it was fought for.

13 years on and with the introduction of the new DED things are still progressing and will need to. Problems? Yeah there are a few left to solve and full marks to you and yours for solving and making your own way, but, the DDA was meant to for all, not just those with the means to be on the Internet or those able to use it. And if you're seriously telling me that the promises made by hoteliers re advertising are always to be believed then, Boy have you led a charmed life!

Inclusion doesn't mean some hotels have access, some don't. It doesn't mean some kerbs dropped others not! It means access for all, everywhere - yeah, idealistic, impossible, but then as you may remember those were the same excuses being made to halt progress way back in the good old days too!

When the guys come back in peices from the two wars we are currently waging and once left to themselves by the services and the system they are gallantly fighting to protect, perhaps (I can only hope) we will have yougsters angry and willing to fight all over again for their needs - and the way social care is being axed, God help them.

Me? Ive used the law (though funnily enough it went through on existing legislation referring to road maintenance) to gain access but go off the tourist path in most towns anywhere along the coast and you will encounter much financial deprevation and little access. The picture postcards only show the good bits. Many older and disabled people are trapped on islands around their accommodation because only adds to their feeling of exclusion because in the eyes of planners, their road doesn't lead anywhere (ie shops) to warrant such expenditure. The fact it's their only route to friends, doctors etc is ignored and they are continualy fobbed off with excuses of financial burdens elsewhere. And whatever the ability to adapt to the outer environment - it all comes to nothing if the place where you live means being a prisoner, and not all can work and not all can afford to buy a place suitable to their needs - No, not going off the thread, all this is still about access and has it improved - for some yes, perhaps us older ones simply have learnt the ropes - but I sincerely hope that those coming up won't see the advances made lost by neglect or apathy.

Great thread and worthwhile looking at - sincere best wishes Riskit