This commitment is even more inspiring given that Anna, who has cerebral palsy, needs a powered wheelchair to provide her with independent mobility.  Her previous power chair, provided through local contacts would break down frequently, often leaving her stuck for several hours until her parents could arrange to pick her up. In March, Priority, working with Newlife funded a new powered wheelchair that will provide Anna with the independence she needs to get on with her life.

The new wheelchair is slimmer and better fitted to Anna. “It’s letting me do what I want to do and now I can chase the children at school!”

This September Anna is due to start her degree course in teacher training at Canterbury University and is very excited about going. However her local authority has still not confirmed that they will fund the carer that she obviously needs to be away from home and live independently. As her Mother says “the fraught experience of trying to establish how Anna can access support at university has served to show huge gaps between what the government promotes and how that is delivered at any local level.” Despite this Anna is confident that things will work out, but seems calmly resigned to the fact that there will always be a struggle when it comes to accessing the correct support that she needs.

This reaction comes from many frustrating experiences. At 4 years old, when applying for a wheelchair from the local authority, her mother was told “but she’s terribly young, does she really need one?”. Later, after an application for a wheelchair had been with the local authority for 18 months, they were told it had been ‘lost’.

More recently, when deciding which university to attend, Anna came away from one feeling that she just wasn’t welcome. They told me the course was “very stressful, obviously trying to put me off”. Canterbury however seems to be different, with good facilities to support Anna’s needs. But this simply highlights the different levels of service provision around the UK.

Anna’s mother expects this to continue: “Children’s services, despite all their own weaknesses, do at least have the impetus of statutory requirements (children have to go to school, must be cared for etc). Once you come under the ‘Transition’ team it seems you become a whole different ‘problem”.

The new wheelchair is allowing Anna to look to the future. Her Mother is delighted:

“Your donation, via Newlife, has made a real difference to us and the wheelchair makes it possible, in the vital, practical sense, for Anna to achieve her ambitions.”

It also meant that Anna could to go to this summer’s Glastonbury festival, where she saw many of her favourite bands, including Stevie Wonder. Fortunately the good weather meant there was little of the infamous Glastonbury mud to get stuck in!

Hannah already has a tricycle which she received in 2003 and which she absolutely loves but she has now outgrown it and it is also extremely worn on several parts such as the knee supports. Following a major operation in 2005 a trike is more important than ever to Hannah because she now has one leg shorter than the other and a trike not only allows her to exercise and keep fit, but also helps to straighten her leg which twists frequently.

Hannah’s Mum explained that a new tricycle was vital so that she could share outdoors activity with her daughter and because of the physiotherapy benefits.  She also mentioned that her daughter sleeps better when she has been on her trike and is less restless.  Perhaps most importantly, a trike provide happiness and fun and this she summed up by saying: ‘it brings a smile as wide as the ocean to her face.’

Priority , working with Whizz-Kidz was able to fund the trike, which Hannah received August 2009 and she absolutely loves it as you can see from the smile on her face.  The pictures below were taken in December 2009 and show Hannah on her beloved red trike.  Speaking of the difference, the equipment had made, Hannah’s Mum said:

“Hannah is very severely disabled and the bike provides one of the only ways for her to get exercise. It is also a great way for her to meet other children – kids who would be put off by her big wheelchair will come up to her when she is on her bike and ask questions or just admire it.”

Since his accident, Max has learned that, to achieve full inclusion of disabled people in society, 2 barriers need to be overcome: firstly, physical, and secondly, the barriers in peoples’ minds. This has led Max to become involved with many disability-related organisations, in an attempt to overcome real obstacles and prejudices.

Max’s fitness regime (using a reclining exercise cycle) led him to the idea of the Everything Is Possible In Life Cycle – a 714 mile-long campaign, riding a recumbent trike, from Aberdeen to London. He has been training since 2002 – most recently near his London home, on a specially adapted 3-wheeler to get used to cycling with traffic.

Max sees this as an opportunity to change how disabled people are perceived, and to begin to shift the attitudinal obstacles that he comes across daily, by communicating his positive can-do message to the public. So, he will be encouraging the public to ride a leg of the journey with him to demonstrate perception-changing in action.

Max Burt says “People with disabilities are usually perceived as having the common experience of being ‘less able’. This is perhaps the only reason why such diverse people are lumped together into one group called ’the disabled’. After all, what does a blind person have in common with a wheelchair user?

I hope that my journey, as well as highlighting the positive common experience that disabled people share in overcoming obstacles, will also celebrate the often ingenious abilities that disabled people have, and demonstrate that everything is possible. Now, I want to get this message across to as many people along my route as I can”.

Pablo was clinically diagnosed with infantile epilepsy at an early age and this has led to his severe developmental delay. He is unable to weight bear or walk without specialist equipment or assistance and because he has no speech, he communicates by making noises, eye pointing and touch.  Pablo is also prone to frequent and repeated infections due to a blood disorder.

To enable Pablo and his family to go out more and access parks and countryside, The Priority trust, working with Newlife, funded an all terrain buggy for Pablo in the summer of 2009. The buggy also provides him with the postural support and positioning he requires.

Pablo’s Mother says: “He’s happier and more content. You can see in his face and body language that he’s much more happy and confident outdoors, which he loves.”

His parents are extremely pleased with the buggy and the difference it is making for Pablo and the family. Pablo is now much less isolated. Before, with his wheelchair, he needed to be indoors or on flat surfaces. The buggy is much more manoeuvrable and allows him to interact better with his brothers, enjoy parks and be outside more. As a family, they’ve also been on holiday together and Pablo was able to join family walks in the countryside.

Pablo’s Father adds “Having the all terrain three wheeler has enabled Pablo to enjoy and be able to access places that otherwise would have been impossible…without this buggy he would have been isolated and unable to join in many of the family outings.

This buggy has allowed Pablo to have experiences and enjoyment that he would have totally missed otherwise.  We are so certain that many of these outings have brought him immense happiness

We cannot emphasize enough how much this equipment has made a difference in Pablo’s quality of life”.

Hanna was born with Cerebral Palsy and while she has some use of her hands and arms and can feed herself she cannot mobilise unaided unless she is crawling and this she can do for short distances.

She loves her mainstream school but as she has got older it has become more difficult for her to join in and feel involved with the other non-disabled children in her class.  Hanna even told her mum that she wanted ‘to go back to class R because the children in class 1 can walk.’ To help address this, Hanna’s Mum applied to Whizz-Kidz for a specially adapted tricycle so that her daughter could get around independently and keep up with the children.

Hanna’s needs were assessed to make the required adaptations, such as supportive seating so that she could be safe when riding and foot-sandels to maintain her feet in the appropriate position when pedalling her trike as well as a push pole to guide the trike if needed.

Thanks to The Priority Trust’s generosity, Hanna’s was able to receive her trike in May 2009 and as these pictures show, it has made an enormous difference to her life and she is getting full use out of it at home and at her school.  This gives her the opportunity to exercise her legs which is beneficial for muscle tone and her general health.  Best of all, thanks to The Priority Trust, Hanna is able to enjoy the freedom of independent mobility and play and have fun with her friends.

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.”

Codie is 6-year-old is a little girl, with Cerebral Palsy, who received a buggy in March 2009 through the fantastic support of the Priority Trust.

Codie’s Mum had applied to Whizz-Kidz for a buggy so that the family could do more, go out more and enjoy the outdoors by doing things such as walking on the moors.  Codie’s present manual wheelchair was too heavy and unsuitable for many outings on grass or uneven terrain.  Speaking about what it was like before receiving the buggy, Codie’s Mum said:

“Getting Codie in and out of the car more than once a day is a nightmare!”

Gina, the Whizz-Kidz therapist, met Codie and her Mum and recommended a make of buggy called a ‘Kangoo’.  This is three-wheeled buggy which is lightweight, durable and built to handle many different types of surfaces and uneven ground.  The buggy also supports Codie’s posture properly (very important for Codie who needs total support).  Thanks to the amazing help of the Priority Trust, Whizz-Kidz was able to handover this life changing piece of equipment in mid-March 2009.

Speaking of the difference that the buggy has made Codie’s Mum said:

“It has made a huge difference to our lives as family, and if you could pass our thanks on we would really appreciate it.”

These fantastic pictures show Codie in her Kangoo buggy attending an outdoor’s football party. As Codie’s Mum said:

“This family outing would have been really difficult to attend in her normal chair.”

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!

So I headed towards the M11 with radio and heater on. 10 minutes later I realised I was cold and my hands were going into that weak claw they do in winter. With the new car, the accelerator is a little tougher but also I can’t reach the heat. So I started to struggle to get above 20 mph going onto the motorway. People were flashing and beeping and I started to crap it.

1 hr left and nothing looked optimistic. So I pulled in on the hard shoulder to calm and think. I tried to set off and now 10mph is hard. Back to the hard shoulder I call mum. We decided I can’t risk it and called 999. The traffic officers arrived while mum, Dave, Robbie and Jamie head to meet me.

The officers were great – we fired the heater, I moved to the next junction and pulled into McDonald’s car park where they bought me a tea. I spoke with Alessandria who put a good positive spin on things. Then the cavalry arrived. Jamie said if I wanted a family reunion there are easier ways.  So with mum I managed to drive back for sky plus Gavin and Stacey.

Then this morning I headed for the dreaded hospital review. I had blood tests, x-rays, stethoscopes, nutritionists and physio. As mentioned I hadn’t had physio in a while and am scared of the physio terrorists. However this time she was very attractive and funny and alleviated the pain somewhat. So I have been discharged, told to rest for another week with new medicine, go back for more physio and monitor it. I would rather have had “u r fine now” but this is probably the best news. At least it’s not terrible news but I do need to kick this 100% before getting back to normality.

Thanks for the get well messages guys. The Xmas period better watch out providing I’m back…

I met with Andy of Andy’s Kars at his garage in Bar Hill on Saturday. He has been working on my vans adaptations in the positive sense through the past weeks of trauma. Not only has he sorted my car after the ongoing problems he is an amazing guy generally. While he runs a garage he also does a lot more. In working with disadvantaged kids he helps them to take responsibility for overcoming their ‘challenges’ as he calls them. While it was amazing to meet Andy and see the great work he does in training these kids to become mechanics, and improve so much more themselves, he said one broader thing around the inspirational talks he gives that has resonated so much I want to blog on this subject. I also met with a director of a disability charity called HAFAD last night who made very similar comments around this. More to come on Kamran and his work soon.

In chatting around my aspirations during a general catch up they both struck on somewhat of a contradiction I and many other disabled people have. Personally I see myself as an outgoing, confident person. I love socialising with good people and have aspirations to one day manage a team of like minded people towards a common goal that will leave a small legacy when I’m gone. Sounds a bit cliché but I want to harness business with disability for a better outcome for all involved. Details are hazy at present but I am thinking all the while what this may actually play out as.

The contradiction is I am not always confident in my ability to achieve something significant and doubt not only myself but how others see me. I have discussed the journey I take people on from meeting and them losing stereotypes, but I think professionally or aspirationally it’s another matter. Having gone to uni, travelled and living independently I sometimes feel that my ambition is too much, or not necessary, and I should stick to being content where I am. It clearly is a balance to strike, but overall it is a contradiction. Would a non-disabled person at 26 with a Masters degree reduce their hopes and dreams so starkly? No, because they can progress with less barriers, but it’s also expected and the norm to move on.

I’ve realised now that while the social model is so important – society needs to make the physical environment accessible and have more open attitudes – there is a lot of need for disabled people to be strong in themselves. “Social conditioning” is when you behave the way that people expect you to. It’s all too easy to fall into this trap. Every disabled person needs to know themselves, their limits and challenges but also to aim high. Everyone can achieve what they set out to; it just takes some planning, patience and time.

For me having felt like such a small fish in a big pond in London, feeling vulnerable with contentious care decisions and other worries I have decided to wipe a clean slate. I’m not going to move at the speed of light but I am going to think on with my dreams in a manageable/attainable way. I am going to be that confident, sociable ambitious person I know I am and enjoy the ride, not question myself as much as I readily have of late.