Firstly let me apologise for my little outburst last night/this morning but the thread about disabled drivers last night got me a bit hot under the collar. I am sorry if I offended anyone at all, that was not my intention.

 

I would however like to put something straight, a disabled wheelchair user can have a bog standard wheelchair free in most cases from the NHS (really really heavy). However if you require something that is a bit of a specialist wheelchair for the lightness, seating positions, specialst cushions, foldability say for the boot of a Zed etc etc they have to pay for their own. My particular wheelchair cost me (yes I had to pay for it) £3,500, (my Zed didn't cost that). I have to change it every 5 years, so it costs me £3,500 + however much they have hiked the price up (and believe me, mention disability and the price trebles). Therefore my next wheelchair will probably be more like £4,000. So road tax and the odd free parking space doesn't come near to my personal outlay of thousands of pounds.

 

My offer still stands, I have a spare wheelchair here, if any brave person would like to use it for one month, then come back here and state what the experience was like, please get in touch.

 

The first thing you will notice is that 99.9% of your friends houses will not be accessible via a wheelchair, and even if you can manage to get into the house, most properties have the bathroom upstairs, so unless you want to make a mess of that new carpet your mate has just had laid, you have to make your apologies and leave.

 

The second thing you will notice is that at least 50% of pubs/restraunts, cafe's, shopping centres even though the Disability Discrimination Act of 1989 1995 and 1998 (DDA) stated that any business offering their services to an able bodied person must make reasonable adjustment in order to offer the same service to a disabled person.......lol, don't make me laugh, most don't even have accessible toilets.

 

Has anyone ever tried telephoning a caravan site and enquire if they have any disabled accessible caravans to hire for a holiday, the ones that do have them have a maximum of three, but most don't even know what you are on about.

 

Please take the time to look around you for the next month, and see just how many things you see that a disabled person in a wheelchair could not do, or would have extreme difficulty doing. It doesn't really strike able bodied people until they themselves find themselves in the situation of being in a wheelchair, hence the offer of a month's loan of one, £3,500 quid if you break it though (lol, just messing). Anyone going to JAE can use my wheelchair and take themselves off to the accessible toilets, I will guarantee that you would not make it on your own. (This is in no way slagging the JAE venue or organisers off, but a wheelchair user could not make it to the accessible toilets by themselves from where the 300zx stand is).

 

It is such a pitty that wheelchair handball is not yet an olympic sport, that is the sport I play (so I have to have a sport wheelchair that wont tip, watch some of the para-olympic games and you will see the chairs I mean) the cheapest of the cheap sports wheelchair costs £1,000, and they can only be used for sports, they would never go over the bumps and cracks in the pavements as they have very small wheels at the front.These chairs go from the £1,000 to many thousands of pounds, another outlay if a wheelchair user wants to play sports.

 

I could go on all night, but I think this may help some understand that disabled people do not just get everything handed out to them on a plate, and have to fight for a lot of things to change the present mentality of some. I am an ex paramedic as most of you will know, even from going into a wheelchair from that career was eye opening, even as a paramedic you do not realise just how tough it is for wheelchair users.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

Firstly let me apologise for my little outburst last night/this morning but the thread about disabled drivers last night got me a bit hot under the collar. I am sorry if I offended anyone at all, that was not my intention.

 

I would however like to put something straight, a disabled wheelchair user can have a bog standard wheelchair free in most cases from the NHS (really really heavy). However if you require something that is a bit of a specialist wheelchair for the lightness, seating positions, specialst cushions, foldability say for the boot of a Zed etc etc they have to pay for their own. My particular wheelchair cost me (yes I had to pay for it) £3,500, (my Zed didn't cost that). I have to change it every 5 years, so it costs me £3,500 + however much they have hiked the price up (and believe me, mention disability and the price trebles). Therefore my next wheelchair will probably be more like £4,000. So road tax and the odd free parking space doesn't come near to my personal outlay of thousands of pounds.

 

My offer still stands, I have a spare wheelchair here, if any brave person would like to use it for one month, then come back here and state what the experience was like, please get in touch.

 

The first thing you will notice is that 99.9% of your friends houses will not be accessible via a wheelchair, and even if you can manage to get into the house, most properties have the bathroom upstairs, so unless you want to make a mess of that new carpet your mate has just had laid, you have to make your apologies and leave.

 

The second thing you will notice is that at least 50% of pubs/restraunts, cafe's, shopping centres even though the Disability Discrimination Act of 1989 1995 and 1998 (DDA) stated that any business offering their services to an able bodied person must make reasonable adjustment in order to offer the same service to a disabled person.......lol, don't make me laugh, most don't even have accessible toilets.

 

Has anyone ever tried telephoning a caravan site and enquire if they have any disabled accessible caravans to hire for a holiday, the ones that do have them have a maximum of three, but most don't even know what you are on about.

 

Please take the time to look around you for the next month, and see just how many things you see that a disabled person in a wheelchair could not do, or would have extreme difficulty doing. It doesn't really strike able bodied people until they themselves find themselves in the situation of being in a wheelchair, hence the offer of a month's loan of one, £3,500 quid if you break it though (lol, just messing). Anyone going to JAE can use my wheelchair and take themselves off to the accessible toilets, I will guarantee that you would not make it on your own. (This is in no way slagging the JAE venue or organisers off, but a wheelchair user could not make it to the accessible toilets by themselves from where the 300zx stand is).

 

It is such a pitty that wheelchair handball is not yet an olympic sport, that is the sport I play (so I have to have a sport wheelchair that wont tip, watch some of the para-olympic games and you will see the chairs I mean) the cheapest of the cheap sports wheelchair costs £1,000, and they can only be used for sports, they would never go over the bumps and cracks in the pavements as they have very small wheels at the front.These chairs go from the £1,000 to many thousands of pounds, another outlay if a wheelchair user wants to play sports.

 

I could go on all night, but I think this may help some understand that disabled people do not just get everything handed out to them on a plate, and have to fight for a lot of things to change the present mentality of some. I am an ex paramedic as most of you will know, even from going into a wheelchair from that career was eye opening, even as a paramedic you do not realise just how tough it is for wheelchair users.

 

Cheers

 

Ian

 

 

Well put:thumbup1:

i was more disappointed in other peoples reactions than your own Ian, i made my point on that at the time. i used to be friends with a chap when i was a kid who was wheel chair bound due to spinobifida (sp?) anyways it was always surprising how much could be overcome with gut determination, so i have alot of admiration for anyone who has these extra things to contend with.

i think you were right to stand your ground. i think people are obviously and rightly so annoyed and fed up with the scroungers in this country and unfortuntly they applied that frustration without prior or full thought. they simply didnt take into consideration that there are people who genuinely deserve the help. we need to remember that its fantastic that this country is able to provide a benfit or wellfare system for those that really need it, it is however a disgrace this is abused. mostly it seems by non nationals and non contributors. unfortunatly that isnt going to chnage anytime soon. anyways i will finish this off when i have more time.

Well said Ian and nobody can even start to wonder what its like to be disabled till it happens to them. I have a friend who had his legs blew of him he survived and is in a wheel chair but no amount of money or disability aids or reservered parking will get his past active life back.No excuses or but's if you are not disabled think youself very lucky and please do all you can to help them in need.

Well put:thumbup1:

 

Cheers buddy

 

i was more disappointed in other peoples reactions than your own Ian, i made my point on that at the time. i used to be friends with a chap when i was a kid who was wheel chair bound due to spinobifida (sp?) anyways it was always surprising how much could be overcome with gut determination, so i have alot of admiration for anyone who has these extra things to contend with.

i think you were right to stand your ground. i think people are obviously and rightly so annoyed and fed up with the scroungers in this country and unfortuntly they applied that frustration without prior or full thought. they simply didnt take into consideration that there are people who genuinely deserve the help. we need to remember that its fantastic that this country is able to provide a benfit or wellfare system for those that really need it, it is however a disgrace this is abused. mostly it seems by non nationals and non contributors. unfortunatly that isnt going to chnage anytime soon. anyways i will finish this off when i have more time.

 

Thanks mate, and I fully agree with your thoughts on non nationals and non contributors. I could have gone on to say that I had to pay for the extension to our house to allow me to have a bedroom and bathroom, but I had to go on a waiting list for that, so spent 5 years living in the back of our garage with no windows, only one way of escape in case of fire, and no toilet facilities, single brick garage, I had to use a commode, and getting washed was a nightmare. There is also the cost of the disabled equipment that I have had to purchase myself, including near £2,000 on an adjustable bed, these are just some of the things that all add up, so road tax and some free parking spaces does not begin to cover any of what I have had to pay for. However there are some people (my brother in law was one of them) think that disabled people got everything for nothing, his eyes were certainly opened when I had my accident, he thought that once I was registered as disabled my mortgage gas electricity and just about everything else would be free.........how wrong can people be?

Well said Ian and nobody can even start to wonder what its like to be disabled till it happens to them. I have a friend who had his legs blew of him he survived and is in a wheel chair but no amount of money or disability aids or reservered parking will get his past active life back.No excuses or but's if you are not disabled think youself very lucky and please do all you can to help them in need.

 

Thanks very much Gary, that is the hardest thing of all, the fact that no amount of anything will get my previous life back, and please believe this, I lived for my job, it was the best job in the world, and I miss helping people every single day. As stated I would happily trade places with any able bodied person as long as I can go back to being a paramedic.

No need to apologise at all Ian - you said what you said fair and square, just as you are entitled to matey!!

 

As Gary says above, no-one can even begin to wonder what it's really like to be disabled until it happens to you. What made me comment about the free tax and parking came purely from the person I know - he does have a blue badge and benefits from free road tax etc; but he could easily afford to pay for it. Yes, he is a pensioner - but he has no mortgage, good life savings and his ex-work pension is in the region of a decent starting salary for someone beginning work today; not to mention the standard old age pension plus increased tax allowances due to his age.

 

I was in now way suggesting such benefits should be taken from those who genuinely deserve it!!

 

Richard:flowers:

No need to apologise at all Ian - you said what you said fair and square, just as you are entitled to matey!!

 

As Gary says above, no-one can even begin to wonder what it's really like to be disabled until it happens to you. What made me comment about the free tax and parking came purely from the person I know - he does have a blue badge and benefits from free road tax etc; but he could easily afford to pay for it. Yes, he is a pensioner - but he has no mortgage, good life savings and his ex-work pension is in the region of a decent starting salary for someone beginning work today; not to mention the standard old age pension plus increased tax allowances due to his age.

 

I was in now way suggesting such benefits should be taken from those who genuinely deserve it!!

 

Richard:flowers:

 

I know you weren't buddy, I think I owe you the biggest apology of all to be honest bud. This is in no way an excuse, but I had been out to our local (who do have disabled facilities) with my buddy Mike who I started in the ambulance service with (that is 29 years ago this month) time flys. Anyway, I had had a few sherberts, and was a little merry, and drink does not usually have the effect it had on me last night, if it was the drink......lol, but I just had the red mist decend last night for some reason. So my sincere apologies bud.

I know you weren't buddy, I think I owe you the biggest apology of all to be honest bud. This is in no way an excuse, but I had been out to our local (who do have disabled facilities) with my buddy Mike who I started in the ambulance service with (that is 29 years ago this month) time flys. Anyway, I had had a few sherberts, and was a little merry, and drink does not usually have the effect it had on me last night, if it was the drink......lol, but I just had the red mist decend last night for some reason. So my sincere apologies bud.

 

Don't be daft mate - you don't owe me an apology at all!!!

 

If anything matey I should apologise to you as it seems like my own comment - which perhaps with hindsight I should have explained better (or just not said at all:yinyang:) - started the whole sorry issue in the first place!! I have no excuse at all - and if my post led thing way off topic then my sincere apologies too you my friend!

 

On a lighter note, are you going to JAE next week as it would be great to catch up once again mate!

 

Richard:thumbup1:

Don't be daft mate - you don't owe me an apology at all!!!

 

If anything matey I should apologise to you as it seems like my own comment - which perhaps with hindsight I should have explained better (or just not said at all:yinyang:) - started the whole sorry issue in the first place!! I have no excuse at all - and if my post led thing way off topic then my sincere apologies too you my friend!

 

On a lighter note, are you going to JAE next week as it would be great to catch up once again mate!

 

Richard:thumbup1:

 

Yes bud, JAE can't wait. See you there, and thanks buddy.

Yes bud, JAE can't wait. See you there, and thanks buddy.

 

Cool, see you in a week's time then Ian!!!

 

Richard:flowers:

I know a lot of people think you get a lot of disability benefits but if you are genuinely disabled they don't come close to coverign the costs of a 'normal' life. When my dad had a stroke and was left in a permenant vegetative state and my mum had to finish work to be his carer she got £53 a week carers allowance and £80 disability living allowance a week OR a car. £133 a week or £53 and a car. If they didnt own their house though they would have had all bills etc paid.

 

To anger a few people about the benefits culture in this country and how unfair it can be. I have ulcerative colitis which is an incurable bowel disorder and basically means you have to go to the toilet 7-10 times a day. It is horrible and very uncomfortable and is quite life changing BUT I wouldn't class it as a disability. I have to go hospital monthly for check ups and to see my consultant and he said I was working too hard (70 hours a week) and my body can't take it. I said I had no choice got bills to pay etc and left it at that. A week later I got an information pack telling me I can claim up to £2000(!) a month, have a car, free childcare, half my mortgage paid, 30% council tax reduction, half price gas and electric and can have any outstanding debts consolidated and pay a much lower rate of interest! As long as me and anyone in my house do not work! Thats so unfair and disgusting that I can be offered that for something which is bad but not terrible. You can see why people do it though.

 

Don't worry I havent! I'm 29 can't retire yet! haha

I think some people will take up your offer ian about the chair would be good to get them on video about it

Id do it, though not sure i could quite pass off as disabled to start with, not sure i know many disabled people in a chair that live on a 1st floor flat, but as long as i can get the chair in a zed, i sure as hell would.

 

My friends dad lost his leg to gangrene, and never used his chair ever since he went to the pub and fell off a curb on the way back, getting his front wheel stuck in a drain, have to admit though we were all in hysterics including him, as he was still kind of upright but leaning over in it while shouting obscenities, while laughing and pissed late at night.

 

after that me and my friend used to use it, and i have to say people are completely ignorant, they didn't know if we were genuinely in a chair, and getting around shops once you were in them was quite a nightmare, as people just dont give a shit about you in it. even trying to get up a curb that wasn't lowered for a drive for instance, people would stare at you struggling but not offer to help.

 

I cant say about the financial side involved, but i know he had to have his house heavily modified for him, a walk in shower / bathroom, stair chair, ramp to the front door fitted with hand rail and he paid for that out of his own money.

How do you find doing the sport mate? I am an official for wheelchair basketball and the rules etc are so complicated. It amazes me how truly skilled some of the guys are. Ive had a go at playing too as I play and officiate the able bodied game as well.

Obviously I was just using other people's chairs so they weren't that suited to me buy I had a great time. Would be silly me playing it as a sport though as firstly I'd get a kicking, and secondly with the basketball (and I assume other team sports) it works on points systems - an able bodied participant is worth too Many points and you can only have a max of X number of points on the court at once.

 

As much as I love the odd time the guys had let me in the chairs, I could never really understand how hard it would be to not have the freedom and accessibility that I am fortunate enough to have as an able bodied person. I personally think you and others do great and appreciate what you have, a lot more than me and most others who take their general lives for granted. It's amazing how quickly a life could be over or drastically changed in a heart beat.

Id do it, though not sure i could quite pass off as disabled to start with, not sure i know many disabled people in a chair that live on a 1st floor flat, but as long as i can get the chair in a zed, i sure as hell would.

 

My friends dad lost his leg to gangrene, and never used his chair ever since he went to the pub and fell off a curb on the way back, getting his front wheel stuck in a drain, have to admit though we were all in hysterics including him, as he was still kind of upright but leaning over in it while shouting obscenities, while laughing and pissed late at night.

 

after that me and my friend used to use it, and i have to say people are completely ignorant, they didn't know if we were genuinely in a chair, and getting around shops once you were in them was quite a nightmare, as people just dont give a shit about you in it. even trying to get up a curb that wasn't lowered for a drive for instance, people would stare at you struggling but not offer to help.

 

I cant say about the financial side involved, but i know he had to have his house heavily modified for him, a walk in shower / bathroom, stair chair, ramp to the front door fitted with hand rail and he paid for that out of his own money.

 

 

lol, cheers Ian, you know what buddy, I have many similar stories, I could go on for ever telling them, but a few of my favourites are here.

 

One of our local chinese restaruants is ok has accessible toilet once inside, however there is a large step to negotiate to get into the place. Well we went for a meal there one night, and it was quite dark when we were leaving, now one of the perks about being in a wheelchair is you can let someone else (in this case my Mrs) settle the bill......lol. So while she was doing that and Ian Jr and Yvonne were with her, I decided to try and be a smart arse (not much practice needed there).....lol, and get out the door on my own. Unfortunately there is a rain channel under the step which I hadn't noticed, my chair front wheels got caught in it, and hey presto, I am there spread eagled on the pavement!!!! Luckily the were two big burly blokes just come out of the pub over the road, and in their drunken state proceeded to help me back up and into my chair, you have never seen an act quite like it......lol, brilliant, they did manage in the end though, so thanks to them blokes incase they ever read this.

 

Second one and third one, I was chairperson of Liverpool wheelchair handball club, and the training session this one night was going really well, I wasn't actually playing, but was on the sideline with my back to the court, and I am only in my ordinary wheelchair. Well, one of the lads lost control of his wheelchair, believe me you can pick up quite a speed in a sports wheelchair, he smashed into the rear of my chair, he was ok, but my chair with the force of the impact actually ended up tipping backwards, again me spread eagled out on the handball court.

 

And last one as I think I have bored yuo long enough, but this one was purely my fault for being the aforemeantioned smart arse, again on the handball court, I wasn't playing again this particular night ( sounds like I am crap at it and no-one wants me in the team.....lol) but it was because I was welcoming some new people, and sorting funding applications out. Well there was only around 10 mins of a match to play (again only a training match), one team was a player down, so I said I would go in goal for the remaining ten minutes for the team a player down, now Mary (our coach, and is a real stunner looking, so there's definately something about Mary).....lol, said to get into my sports wheelchair, but by the time had transfered the game would have been virtually over, so I just said I'll be alright in my normal chair, after all it was only for ten minutes. So soft arse here goes into the goal, match is going greay when Mary (who is able bodied) knew the bast way to beat me when in goal is a lob shot, she took the shot and I reached backwards to try and stop it completey forgetting I'm in my normal char, and yep, it tipped backwards, and I hit the deck with some force from that one. Needless to say I never played in my normal chair again.....lol.

 

How do you find doing the sport mate? I am an official for wheelchair basketball and the rules etc are so complicated. It amazes me how truly skilled some of the guys are. Ive had a go at playing too as I play and officiate the able bodied game as well.

Obviously I was just using other people's chairs so they weren't that suited to me buy I had a great time. Would be silly me playing it as a sport though as firstly I'd get a kicking, and secondly with the basketball (and I assume other team sports) it works on points systems - an able bodied participant is worth too Many points and you can only have a max of X number of points on the court at once.

 

As much as I love the odd time the guys had let me in the chairs, I could never really understand how hard it would be to not have the freedom and accessibility that I am fortunate enough to have as an able bodied person. I personally think you and others do great and appreciate what you have, a lot more than me and most others who take their general lives for granted. It's amazing how quickly a life could be over or drastically changed in a heart beat.

 

Hey bird, cheers for your reply and kind words.

 

I am going to be a little big headed here, hope no-one minds....lol. Wheelchair handball is still in it's infancy, so there are no official rules printed for the game, so different countries play with different rules (this is why it is not yet and olympic sport in the para olympics).

 

However, another first for the UK and Liverpool is that we have the oldest running team in the world, and I don't just mean our ages.....lol, it's been longer established here than anywhere else, so when the European Handball Federation wanted to sit around a table and write the first official rules for the wheelchair game of handball who do you think got invited over the Vienna to help write them, Mary as our coach, and myself as chairperson of the club.

 

There were only about 20 delegates attended from various different countries France Sweden Norway and Japan, and they relied on us to tell the rules the way we play the game, so we did, and they are now ready to publish the first ever copy of the official wheelchair handball rules. It will then be introduced as a demonstration sport hopefully for Brazil 2016. So when you see it being played at the para olympics you can say I know a guy who helped write the official rules for this game.....lol. So with them not being published as yet we don't know what they will take from the way we play it and what from the other delegates that attended they will use, so I can't really say for sure as to what they are going to decide, but yes there will be a pointing system in place.

 

I have a beautiful cut crystal medallion that I and the other members received to commerate the event that took place in Vienna. If anyone going to JAE would like to see it, I can bring it with me. Think I may be able to dig out a DVD if anyone is interested in seeing it.....lol.

How do you find doing the sport mate? I am an official for wheelchair basketball and the rules etc are so complicated. It amazes me how truly skilled some of the guys are. Ive had a go at playing too as I play and officiate the able bodied game as well.

Obviously I was just using other people's chairs so they weren't that suited to me buy I had a great time. Would be silly me playing it as a sport though as firstly I'd get a kicking, and secondly with the basketball (and I assume other team sports) it works on points systems - an able bodied participant is worth too Many points and you can only have a max of X number of points on the court at once.

 

As much as I love the odd time the guys had let me in the chairs, I could never really understand how hard it would be to not have the freedom and accessibility that I am fortunate enough to have as an able bodied person. I personally think you and others do great and appreciate what you have, a lot more than me and most others who take their general lives for granted. It's amazing how quickly a life could be over or drastically changed in a heart beat.

 

Hi Bird you doing the paralympics as i am a big fan if so you on twitter follow @weirdavid1 and i will tweet to you

Hi mate I'm not doing them. I haven't really ref'd a game for a while as a play national league basketball too so times a bit of a restraint.

I am on twitter. My name is just Leenorton on there :)

is https://twitter.com/leenorton you mate as i am now following you

I still dont see why you shouldnt have to pay for road tax and parking. If you use the roads, you should pay road tax. Thats all im against, not disabled people as a whole.

I still dont see why you shouldnt have to pay for road tax and parking. If you use the roads, you should pay road tax. Thats all im against, not disabled people as a whole.

when has there ever been any sence in what they do taxi's pay the same road tax as my dad and he's only done 26k miles in his car in 10 years

road tax should be abolished and the duty put on petrol the more you use the more you pay

when has there ever been any sense in what they do taxi's pay the same road tax as my dad and he's only done 26k miles in his car in 10 years

road tax should be abolished and the duty put on petrol the more you use the more you pay

 

with out trying to go off topic too much here, road tax doesnt make sense anyway, i always thought that road tax was supposed to go towards sorting the damn roads out, but then i guess when you can pass 10miles of road cones at 50mph with not a sole in site for 9miles of them, i know where the cash is going.

 

Also, no offence zulley, but why the big deal? you pay your road tax, around 3% do not. id be more p'eved at the government for getting free road tax, free fuel, free licenced bar in the houses of commons, 5 houses (yes thats right, David Cameron our PM, has 5 houses) gets to go on holiday paid for by us, goes around the world at our expense, has more benefits than you can shake a stick at all while raking in a tidy 160k a year at a reduced tax rate because he is running the country, yet you are more concerned with those who cant walk to a shop properly, who are genuinely ill getting free car tax?

i agree vods, i know they would never do it but i think the goverment should be a public service and paid as one. they can keep the free tax/car and house one of each. and just take home the average income. if they dont fancy it we can always hang the *******s.

i agree vods, i know they would never do it but i think the goverment should be a public service and paid as one. they can keep the free tax/car and house one of each. and just take home the average income. if they dont fancy it we can always hang the *******s.

 

i think they should be on close too or just above national minimum wage, see how soon things get changed then.

I wasnt making a big deal over it, i only mentioned it in the first thread, other people have seemed to make a thing of it. If we were talking about what the pm does and gets for free then id have a moan about all the stuff you have mentioned.

I wasnt making a big deal over it, i only mentioned it in the first thread, other people have seemed to make a thing of it. If we were talking about what the pm does and gets for free then id have a moan about all the stuff you have mentioned.

 

Tell you what buddy, I will pay my road tax, and swap places with you as long as I can go back to my career, and as long as every 5 years you shell out the money for a new wheelchair. You have to pay road tax, I have to buy wheelchairs, do you know which one I would rather have to purchase, or is that a bit out of your thinking spectrum?