birding with a disability (1 Viewer)

[Aitch]

Nina, Letting someone know where you are going is nothing to do with having a disability, although having a disability might affect when you let people know where you're going. I used to do a lot of walking in "wild places" and I always phoned someone (usually the wife) to let them know where I was walking from and going to and what time I would expect to be back. At least, then, if something did happen to me, any search team would know the area where to look. It's just a matter of being a bit responsible.
I can understand about you getting fustrated when people can't realise that you have to push the envelope sometimes. I don't need a chair yet ( although the missus did insist on using one to go round Tesco the other day. I'd not been long out of ICU and couldn't walk any distance at all. Quite an experience.) but it'll come one day and I just hope I can deal with it. Won't know till it happens.

H

 

[Nina P]

Don't worry, I am not really griping about the need to say where I am going, but after spending so much time without the need it's somewhat irksome having walked all the local footpaths, and long hikes alone over some pretty tough terrain, I feel I have come down into the childhood realms now and that is what is dissappointing now!
How did you feel after a supermarket trip you must have witnessed a real challenge to the way people treat you compared with before? I often think that those people who park in the disabled bays with their lorries and trucks would benefit from spending a day in our shoes, it would certainly be an enormous wake up call! I tend to say use it or loose it directly to them. Needless to say they dont understand what is meant by that.LOL!
Would you say that you were treated as a freak, or ignored because they don't know how to talk to you? I actually went for a job interview and the interviewer asked how I wished to be spoken to? I just said that children have the right idea, just to accept us as we are, no fears, no qualms, we are just the same as any other person, just the legs are unreliable if walking is necessary! I still never got the job! No reason given. Oh well we still have a mountain to climb to get proper acceptance.
Going off the rails a bit did you follow that programme with a group of people with differing disabilities crossing Nicaragua? That was very enlightening for the able bodied to watch! I was so full of admiration for all of them, taking on the near impossible trek with such vigour!

 

[Aitch]

Nina, It was a bit strande at first then I treated it as I treat most things. Good humouredly and a bit of a joke. If you can laugh at yourself, it's half the battle. Everyone was very nice, actually, but there are some people whom wander around in a little world of there own. Y'know, don't bother to check if they are changing direction, hold a meeting of 4 or 5 people in the middle of the ailse etc. The most annoying was from unthinking staff, (who are usually great in our Tesco.) They'd leave a comp. (the trolley they take around to fill shelves) right on the corner of the ailse. I was in a chair with a shopping trolley attached to the front so my driver (the missus) needed that bit extra room ro manouvre.
I, too, get annoyed at those who park in the disabled bays unnecessarily, but I'm sure I've noticed an improvement recently.
All in all, it wasn't too bad and, as I say, if you joke about it most people respond. I suppose you're giving an indication on how you wish to be treated.
Mind you, that was only one outing. I don't know what I'd be like if it was permanent.
H

 

[florall]

Like Aitch, I've usually found that people are very nice when I'm using a wheelchair - it's been quite refreshing to find that.

However, last time I was at Pulborough Brooks I was using their Tramper (wonderful powered wheelchair). One youngish man passed me and said something along the lines of "Cor, I wish I could have one of those to go round here". I know I should have replied "Cor, I wish I wasn't ill enough that I need to use one of these to get round here", but you never think of these things till later, do you? I was a bit annoyed, but it's not the first time people have thoughtlessly said things like that - I just smiled sweetly and went on.

Then, 10 minutes later, another young man in a group passed me and said "Cor, that's the lazy way to go round Pulborough". I was furious. In fact, I was so shocked that I couldn't respond to him at all. It took me a couple of days to recover from that one. What would you have said to him?

And young man, if by any chance you're reading this (you will know who you are), you've got some grovelling to do.

 

[pstraughan]

Do any of you fine people find that other people don't believe you about your disability? I've never been actually accused of lying about it but have had to actually convince some people about my heart trouble.

Agree with you on this one Tammie. I have a congenital heart problem which has not caused much problem up until now (age 52). But I have slowed up over the last few years and surgery is a probability at some time in the future. I find that I tend to avoid walking with groups of people as I feel pressurised into walking at their pace. Most of the people in my bird watching group are 10+ years older and probably wonder why a "young" woman like me walks so slowly. I am fairly fit otherwise and luckily bird watching can be taken at a slow pace.

Pat

 

[Nina P]

Well H I have been infuriated at one time, as I take two others with disability to the supermarket, One Deaf and One Blind, we call ourselves the "disability train" exceedingly tongue in cheek, mind you, I was having to wait for a wheelchair as I had struggled into the store on the shaky pins after seeing the Dr, I was under strict instructions not to get riled as my BP was in the critical zone at the time! I had waited 15 minutes for any wheelchair to become free so I could do my shopping when another lady came in demanding a wheelchair for her mother! Well she was told that I had already been waiting for some time, but hopefully there would be one soon! Well the woman left the store and shortly after one chair was taken out to the car for the lady in it to get in the car, next thing I see is the woman "who knew I had been waiting for this" come into the store pushing her mother in the chair I was waiting to come in! Boy was I mad!!!! When the next chair became available I had to charge around the store to get my shopping done, so when I saw the person who had taken my turn I gave her a mouthful at the checkout, Thank you for being so rude as to take the wheelchair I had been waiting for and causing me to wait even longer! The remark was Well you walked into the place! Well did she see the massive attemp it took and the fact that I am under strict instructions not to raise my Blood Pressure as it could be fatal was my retort, by this time the mother was looking extremely uncomfortable and all the fellow shoppers were tut tut ing at her for being so selfish! I said it is definately no thanks to her ignorance and greed that I am not dead on the spot! The funny part about it is that now I always take my own chair into the store, and the following week I saw the bitch again! Well after the previous week I thought we will have to be careful not to buy anything bulky so the chair can be put back in the car before the shopping goes in. Sad really as it now restricts our space for the Christmas shopping too!
The best part about going shopping as the Disability Train is the laughs as we try and help eachother out, I ask for something on the top shelf, get the blind ones stick and tap the shelf for him to follow the sound and get the item down, meanwhile the deaf one has to be watched as she disappears around a corner and we have to hunt for herbecause she didn't realise we were still at that point! The laughter as we shop is refreshing to others, but I can't help laughing even louder when people look at me as if I shouldn't find anything funny!
H, I have the same problem in many places where they put temporary stands on corners of aisles, but the worst places to shop are........Garden Centres!!!! They may supply a few wheelchairs but I doubt they think about trying them out themselves to see if the whole place can be negotiated! I am rather sad to find the places like Inexess and Superbuys are totally inacessible for those in my position, but then they are the loosers as I can't spend good money in their stores!!!!
I would like to start a new thread about shops and their wheelchair friendliness, that could be quite interesting I think? Is it worth it?

 

[Jos Stratford]

I would like to start a new thread about shops and their wheelchair friendliness, that could be quite interesting I think? Is it worth it?

Nina, though I am not disabled, I find it totally depressing that stores in this country don't give a monkeys about disabled persons - all the car parks have disabled places clearly marked out (I guess it is a legal requirement), but they are simply used by the general public as the closest parking to the door (usually by young Audi and BMW drivers). There is very rarely a free disabled spot available. After several protests to the store management, there response was 'what can we do?'. At the same time, if anybody parks in the management's parking spots (adjacent to the disabled parking), the company security guards come out within seconds and tell the person to move. Umpteen times I have asked why the security guards can't do the same with the disabled spots, but have just been laughed at. I then took to parking my old battered car in the director's reserved parking ...when the security guards come out, I simply tell them that when the shop starts to respect the legs of the less fortunate I will respect the legs of the director. However, the guards now know me and just ignore me, letting me park in the director's spot. Thus, I now have free parking in a very prime postion, but am no nearer in persuading them to take the issue seriously (despite getting an e-mail saying they would). I took the issue one step further by putting my car right in front of the sliding glass doors of company visitor department, thereby blocking it.
However, I do not feel I am winning this issue ...do you Nina, or anyone else out there, happen to know if there is European Union legislation requiring shops and companies to not only provide disabled access, but ensure it is avialable?

The worst offender is VP Market, the largest retail chain in the Baltic States.

 

[Aitch]

Nina, It seems to be a good idea to have a disabled shoppers group. A bit like The Fat Birder started with the Disabled Birders Association (DBA).
I'm not much good at that sort of thing. I tend to see the others point of view too much and end up agreeing with them. Not much good when you're trying to make a point.
I heard from somewhere that it's going to be illegal to occupy a disabled parking bay without a blue badge. Anybody else heard anything?
It's numbers that persuade supermarkets. If they think it's going to affect sales then they'll take notice but as there are more abled bodied shoppers than disabled there isn't much chance of them doing anything about it.
What I've done in the past is park behind an offender with my blue badge prominently displayed and then gone shopping. Trouble is that they must still have been shopping when I returned cos they weren't about.
H

 

[Nina P]

Nina,
What I've done in the past is park behind an offender with my blue badge prominently displayed and then gone shopping. Trouble is that they must still have been shopping when I returned cos they weren't about.
H

SNAP! I have done the same on several occasions, but I was told not to do that the last time as I was obstructing the lane of the car park! I am not able to get out of the car and away quick enough!! Oh Rats!
I have been so tempted to key the cars committing this offence too, but I have had my car trolleyed three times in the first month at the supermarket disabled bay, so now my car looks like a wreck! I am so glad I haven't got it with the mobility lease system! I know several leasers who have had to pay for a complete respray of their brand new mobility car because of this very thing, at a cost of over a £1,000 and no sooner have they got it back, parked up again, and the same thing has happened! I presume the people that do this assume that the disbled people don't have to pay for this?
I decided to buy an ex mobility car for the very reason that disabled drivers are limited to their mileage,8,000 miles a year, and the car is never their own, and the cost is more than Disability Living Allowance pays out for the very purpose! It worked out cheaper to buy a second hand car and save up the benefits for replacement at my choosing, and I am not limited to having the car off the road for at least four months of the year. Even the insurance is cheaper my way!
The new complex built in Castle Point was supposed to be policed and the parkers in disabled bays would be clamped, but somehow this hasn't actually happened, I had my blue badge fall of the dashboard once, it fell onto the floor of the passenger well, then I got a sticker placed over the drivers side window saying I had parked illegally, well I thought that was fair enough, but if the person had looked in properly they would have seen it had fallen, but I hoped it would continue, but it hasn't.
I once noticed a woman park in the disabled bay and I advised her to display her badge as they would clamp her if it wasn't on show, the next thing I got was a tirade of abuse saying I give disabled people a bad name, I was so stunned and she then said her child was disabled, so mind my own business! The best bit was that she must have felt extremely guilty as she stayed beside the car and waited for her partner to come out and they drove away as fast as possible! DO you think it was a guilty concience?
The actions of some people are inexcusable, but ***** their concience and see what happens!

 

[Aitch]

Nina, I have a mo0biltiy car. My main reason was that I wanted reliabily. On my brother's advice (RAC Patrolman) I went for a Nissan Almero and in 4 years I've had no problems. I have the Tino at the moment.
You're allowed to do 45,000 over 3years. Insurance is free, so are servicing and repairs. Another car supplied if you're off the road.
Loss or damage to the car, I pay the first £75. Free RAC membership.
I haven't compared the costs between owning and hiring because, as I said, my main priority was reliability. Once I finish work then my priorities might change. May finish when I'm 70, in a years time. It may be earlier as I've just had a bit of a relapse of the chest infection that landed me in ICU. We'll see how the anti-biotics work. I've still got a couple of years to go on the hire agreement.
H

 

[Nina P]

Well H, that is very interesting, I wonder if this is another post code issue, I was informed last October that yes the insurance is paid, the RAC membership is not, that you take out yourself. The car mileage is only 8.000 miles in our area 24,000 over three years. the insurance was the first £100 you pay, and any damage to the paintwork is your responsibility and has to be done at each service.
This was the information I got last year in October, so is it a case of rule change or postcode lottery? I would be very interested, but I do know several drivers who have all been caught in this lot of paperwork, so I find your information fascinating, I wonder if others have had your information or mine!

 

[Aitch]

Nina, Have a look at www.motability.co.uk . I don't think it's anything to do with post code. I think you've been given some duff gen. Anyway, have a look. there's a couple of phone numbers on there that you can ring. (It's nice to be a poser in an 05 Tina instead of the M Reg. Vauxhall Astra)
H

 

[christineredgate]

Anyone who has mobility probs,that is they are unable to walk any distance and carry scope and cam etc,really did ought to consider a power assisted trike.I can go anywhere in our village and local town.It covers rough bumpy ground(not sand or mud),and it can be pretty fast.One can stop and remain seated whilst using bins or holding the camera.Hubby has fixed a large Loweprow bag on the front for me,so I have quick access to cam and long lens.You can cruise at a very slow speed,very quietly.Without it,I would be virtually housebound,except for a very slow short walk with the dog,and I am unable to carry scope and cam etc when I am with him.One hand for stick and the other for dog on lead.Batteries charge very quickly and have quite a good range .

 

[Henry B]

Christine,is that the PDQ attachment front wheelie thing ,Ill be looking for something to get me around soon and this might do the trick...hb

 

[demojohn]

Good advice.

I always let someone know ware I’m going and carrie a drink with me thanks for your advice.
D.J.

 

[christineredgate]

Christine,is that the PDQ attachment front wheelie thing ,Ill be looking for something to get me around soon and this might do the trick...hb

Henry,yes,the power is in the front wheel.I think Powa bike are the makers.But it really is great.I load all my stuff into the large rear basket,and have a bag on the front.It takes me everywhere,except as I have mentioned,on sand,and very muddy grass.You do need to pedal with the power to get up a hill,but it is possible to walk up the hill with the power turned on,and no effort is needed.I bought this trike online and it was delivered in 24hrs.The local kids think it is really cool!!!

 

[Chris Monk]

By all reasonable means: Inclusive access to the countryside for disabled people

Have any of you seen this consultation document on access to the countryside for people with a disability?

By all reasonable means: Inclusive access to the countryside for disabled people

http://www.countryside.gov.uk/images/inclusive_tcm2-27716.pdf

 

[Henry B]

A blank page, just about sums it up.

 

[matt green]

A blank page, just about sums it up.

The pdf does take a short momment to load,it is there!

Matt

 

[Andrew Whitehouse]

A blank page, just about sums it up.

It opens as pdf file Henry, although if you don't have Acrobat Reader it might not open for you.