Amy’s family approached their local wheelchair service but they were unable to provide Amy with a powered indoor/outdoor wheelchair which would meet her needs.

For Amy to live an independent and active life she needed a wheelchair that met her social, educational and clinical needs. Through the support of The Priority Trust Amy has recently received an indoor/outdoor chair with a riser function called an Otto Bock. The riser function is important because it means that Amy can to raise herself up when she wants to, have eye contact with her peers and reach things like equipment at school.

The chair is ideal for use at school where it gives Amy her independence, but it also allows her to get out and about in the village where that she lives and enjoy the nearby countryside with rough and hilly terrain

Amy’s Otto Bock has already made an enormous difference and the fantastic news is that it will hopefully continue to do so for a long-time to come as it should last for five to six years. Speaking about the difference, Amy’s parents commented:

“Amy’s Wheelchair has certainly given her a new found independence, it’s a pleasure to see her doing the things she wants to do under her own steam.”

Firstly Rudolph had a visible impairment yet ironically it did not effect his day to day life physically. Infrastructure was not a barrier for Rudy as he had full mobility. So social barrier 1 physical environment was ok. However he had some big problems with the attitudinal barriers faced by many wheely and more hidden impairments. After all the other reindeers would laugh and call him names, to quote. I imagine he would get rather annoyed by this insensitive reindeer humour. However social barrier number 3 (2 being attitudinal) is the organisational barriers. Now Im in 2 minds here on this one. On the one hand, Santa may have had disability awareness training, knew Rudy was the best reindeer for the job on that cold and foggy christmas eve it was right to promote the red nosed wonder. On the other hand was it just that it made sense this night to use Rudy but actually he would join in with the other reindeers generally mocking. We have no real proof on this either way but regardless I’d like to think once Rudy proved himself there was no need for organisational policy changes or awareness training as they would just see through that big red nose and embrace him as a reindeer. The big issue for me is a red nose classified disabled under the DDA, any thoughts?

So I hope you like my take on this. As you can tell I’m feeling much chirpier. I went back to work Thursday and it was a slog still full of cold. I made it and after a visit to my beloved south bank yesterday for hot chocolate with Beata (on her second shift) I think the colds shifting in time for xmas. today Im roasting my dinner and then Nicola is coming over for some tv and a catch up.

I will be doing Martyn’s review of the year vlog on Tuesday or Wednesday (probably only on www.martynsibley.com, but will see if it can be on priority site too) so keep an eye out for that and in the meantime stay safe kids!

What I do want to do is an overarching blog on transport bouncing off of an interesting book I’m reading. Its by Ben Elton and called Gridlocked and was recommended by my aunty Diane and her boyfriend Dave at Sibfest. Very quickly Sibfest was the name given by work colleagues to the family gathering I attended Saturday. Beyond this my weekend was minimal due to feeling under par. Diane and Dave have ME and a guest blog on the subject is coming soon.

So without ruining or spoiling the book, it is a thriller about the head of a motor company wanting to kill an inventor for their new invention that could kill the entire road industry. The twist is the inventor has cerebral palsy and the reason for the invention is to win the love of a girl who was put in a wheelchair due to a car hitting her. The invention will allow her to be more mobile.

The point is while the book is well written, with a great plot and hilariously funny, it also explains disability so well. For example the way taht getting a wheelchair on a bus results in people staring the way you do at a person holding you up at the supermarket checkout while they write a cheque (the same as when I am carried on to planes too). Also how taxis are just hit and miss if they stop, but then the tube!

He looks at this as a parallel to apartheid in South Africa, which sounds way OTT. However when you see that a citizen of the UK cannot access the main form of transport in the capital city it is incredulous. Realism says that there’s money and physical limitations to changing the Victorian underground. Flip side is even if it takes 100 years we should seek to practically stop this basic form of segregation.

Outlining these issue here does not show the humour and vigour of the book. Please do read it! It does show how my car breaking stresses me much more. It is my lower stressed route to everywhere. Any other transport thoughts, please do share…

Reading about Fiona and her family’s isolation and exclusion from society got me thinking more on the subject of inclusivity. I think I have always been quite outspoken that my upbringing was more inclusive. However there have been, still are and always will be times when I feel this sense of difference. For me they have often come with change. Starting primary and secondary school, university and moving to London were all massive changes with things to consider that most would never imagine – access, personal care and of course new people.

I can chart the changes of attitude in a person I meet, from assuming I may not have any sense or speech, being patronising, to apprehension of what to say in not offending me and finally “I don’t see you as disabled”! It’s a necessary must to walk people through this but a tad tedious sometimes, especially when it’s a more superficial meeting in say a club and there is not the time for such a journey.

Once the change has occurred and things settled down I gain more confidence knowing my surroundings. I am then more apt at grabbing life and pushing onwards to achieve in all senses compared to non-disabled people too. It’s about understanding yourself, understanding others and being positive and pragmatic to remove the barriers placed in your way.

The real problem of exclusion is when you have limited access, limited/no personal care and are unable to meet and bond with new people always. Despite every effort to integrate and achieve with the most sociable, intelligent being – it is simply impossible. Take a very close friend of mine. Since moving into a new city it took them months to get a flat, they are still not receiving enough care and hence have less chances to be out and about and embrace what should be a new time after uni, meeting many new friends and having new experiences. The knock on effect is periods of depression and questioning things that were once obvious. The horror of this from a social care perspective is the “savings” made, are lost in other ways with reduced physical health levels and mental health implications.

The result of what I am saying here is social exclusion can be overcome by a long term strategy. Instead of cutting costs on access and personal care in the short term, we are losing more through physical and mental health care costs, have a loss of economic input and tax revenue, while overall happiness and welfare plummets. The answer is to provide these basic factors so people can flourish into who they want to be. Society benefits as a whole and the public will see disabled people more included and easier to chat with in an instant, like they would with anyone and everybody else.