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We went to Manchester for the day but, rather than drive, we decided to use public transport. We got a bus to the railway station and a train to Manchester.
It’s not possible to reserve wheelchair spaces on buses but it is something that you can do on a train. We have reserved wheelchair spaces on the train before and this involved having to make a phone call to purchase tickets and reserve the space. When we have done this in the past we’ve had mixed results. Sometimes it’s gone really well, and worked exactly as it should, and other times it’s gone badly. Two memorable occasions for me were when we were travelling home from London one time, and someone else (not a wheelchair user) had taken our reserved wheelchair space, refused to move and staff didn’t help either. The other time was travelling to Liverpool and no staff arrived with a ramp for the wheelchair. Fortunately George is able to walk short distances, so was able to get off the train, and I got his chair off, although it was difficult on my own. It would have been disastrous if George was unable to walk.
On this occasion we booked our train tickets online and didn’t call to reserve a wheelchair space. Sometimes you have to travel on the spur of the moment, so would be unable to book a space. We decided to do this, just to see how it went.
The video below tells you how we went on.
We are a family of three. George has ASD, EDS and dyspraxia. John is totally blind and partially deaf. Sue is our driver and trip organiser. These are the tales of our adventures. All opinions are our own.
Friday, 22 February 2019
Friday, 15 February 2019
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and George
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It’s a bit of a longer video today, where I’m talking about George and his diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). It is quite difficult to get a diagnosis of EDS as not many doctors know much about it at all, and some even deny its existence. I’d never heard of it until about a year before George was diagnosed with it and there’s still so much to do to raise awareness of it. I’m not an expert, and I don’t pretend to be, but I try and explain what EDS is. I’ll also explain why George’s chair is such a godsend to all of us.
It was quite the journey to get the diagnosis as I had 10 years of being fobbed off with, “He’ll grow out of it.” In the video I mostly talk about how EDS affects his legs but it doesn’t just affect his legs. It affects his ability to write properly ,as he is unable to hold a pen properly and writing causes him pain. He does some handwriting at school, but mostly he uses a laptop to produce his work, which is then printed out. It also affects him in a number of other ways and I’ll mention some, but not all, of those below as I don’t want this blog to become a great long essay.
As seems to be typical with a lot of people with EDS, George has soft, velvety skin that bruises easily, and he has stretch marks down his back and on his legs. He also has digestive problems, which are exacerbated by the cold.
A common co-morbid condition that goes with EDS is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which is something George was also diagnosed with when he was diagnosed with EDS. Fortunately, so far, it hasn’t caused any major problems for George, although it has caused some alarm on occasions at school.
George has a “shopping list” of issues but the ones that cause the most problems for him, given in the order of diagnosis, are dyspraxia, autism and EDS. However, his disabilities and diagnoses do not define him. He is a wonderful kind, caring and loving boy, and is a joy to be around.
It’s a bit of a longer video today, where I’m talking about George and his diagnosis of Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS). It is quite difficult to get a diagnosis of EDS as not many doctors know much about it at all, and some even deny its existence. I’d never heard of it until about a year before George was diagnosed with it and there’s still so much to do to raise awareness of it. I’m not an expert, and I don’t pretend to be, but I try and explain what EDS is. I’ll also explain why George’s chair is such a godsend to all of us.
It was quite the journey to get the diagnosis as I had 10 years of being fobbed off with, “He’ll grow out of it.” In the video I mostly talk about how EDS affects his legs but it doesn’t just affect his legs. It affects his ability to write properly ,as he is unable to hold a pen properly and writing causes him pain. He does some handwriting at school, but mostly he uses a laptop to produce his work, which is then printed out. It also affects him in a number of other ways and I’ll mention some, but not all, of those below as I don’t want this blog to become a great long essay.
As seems to be typical with a lot of people with EDS, George has soft, velvety skin that bruises easily, and he has stretch marks down his back and on his legs. He also has digestive problems, which are exacerbated by the cold.
A common co-morbid condition that goes with EDS is Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS), which is something George was also diagnosed with when he was diagnosed with EDS. Fortunately, so far, it hasn’t caused any major problems for George, although it has caused some alarm on occasions at school.
George has a “shopping list” of issues but the ones that cause the most problems for him, given in the order of diagnosis, are dyspraxia, autism and EDS. However, his disabilities and diagnoses do not define him. He is a wonderful kind, caring and loving boy, and is a joy to be around.
Friday, 8 February 2019
West Midland Safari Park
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We had a fabulous day at West Midland Safari Park.
It is essentially in three sections - there is the safari trail, that takes about an hour to drive yourself around; there is a section where you can view other animals, such as penguins, reptiles, birds, bats etc and the animatronic Ice Age and dinosaur parts, where you walk around and view them; and finally a theme park section, which was closed for the season when we visited. When the theme park section is open, there is an additional charge to go on the rides.
You pay to get in at booths, which look a bit like toll booths. If you have a blue disabled parking badge, a carer can get in for free. It’s here that you can also buy guide books and animal food, if you wish to feed some of the animals while driving around on the safari trail. It is clearly stated which animals you are allowed to feed as you drive around.
After you have paid you have a choice of either driving around the safari trail or parking up and walking to see the other animals, or going to the theme park section.
We chose to park up and go and view the other animals first. It’s here, in the car park, that there’s a toilet block that contains a Changing Places toilet, which was fantastic to see and really makes the safari park accessible to everyone.
We looked at penguins, reptiles, bats, birds, and the animatronic sections. In the dinosaur section we encountered a “Georgasaurous” dinosaur with a loud roar, which was following us around! 🙂 The animatronics are really good and give a good idea of what the animals were like during the times of the dinosaurs and the Ice Age.
We also saw the sea lion show, which was informative as well as entertaining, with an ecological message in there too.
After our lunch we went for a drive around the safari trail. We’d purchased some food for the animals, which they couldn’t seem to get enough of! The car was a bit dirty and the animals seemed to like that too, as they were licking the car! When we left we had cattle, deer, camel and zebra slobber down the side of the car!
If you do feed the animals while on the safari trail, I would recommend that you have some wipes/antibacterial gel in the car to clean your hands, until you can wash them properly.
All in all, it was a really enjoyable day and we’d definitely visit again.
We had a fabulous day at West Midland Safari Park.
It is essentially in three sections - there is the safari trail, that takes about an hour to drive yourself around; there is a section where you can view other animals, such as penguins, reptiles, birds, bats etc and the animatronic Ice Age and dinosaur parts, where you walk around and view them; and finally a theme park section, which was closed for the season when we visited. When the theme park section is open, there is an additional charge to go on the rides.
You pay to get in at booths, which look a bit like toll booths. If you have a blue disabled parking badge, a carer can get in for free. It’s here that you can also buy guide books and animal food, if you wish to feed some of the animals while driving around on the safari trail. It is clearly stated which animals you are allowed to feed as you drive around.
After you have paid you have a choice of either driving around the safari trail or parking up and walking to see the other animals, or going to the theme park section.
We chose to park up and go and view the other animals first. It’s here, in the car park, that there’s a toilet block that contains a Changing Places toilet, which was fantastic to see and really makes the safari park accessible to everyone.
We looked at penguins, reptiles, bats, birds, and the animatronic sections. In the dinosaur section we encountered a “Georgasaurous” dinosaur with a loud roar, which was following us around! 🙂 The animatronics are really good and give a good idea of what the animals were like during the times of the dinosaurs and the Ice Age.
We also saw the sea lion show, which was informative as well as entertaining, with an ecological message in there too.
After our lunch we went for a drive around the safari trail. We’d purchased some food for the animals, which they couldn’t seem to get enough of! The car was a bit dirty and the animals seemed to like that too, as they were licking the car! When we left we had cattle, deer, camel and zebra slobber down the side of the car!
If you do feed the animals while on the safari trail, I would recommend that you have some wipes/antibacterial gel in the car to clean your hands, until you can wash them properly.
All in all, it was a really enjoyable day and we’d definitely visit again.
Friday, 1 February 2019
Assistive Technology for Visually Impaired People
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We’ve been looking at some of the assistive technology available for visually impaired people, that John uses on a fairly regular basis. In the last week, there’s been a picture circulating on social media that shows a woman with a white cane using a mobile phone. It’s been circulated as people have been questioning whether or not the woman is actually blind. We found this quite sad to see and believe that people need educating about the technology that is available to aid visually impaired people in their every day lives. A lot of this technology is available as apps on mobile phones.
In the video below we have a brief chat about e-readers, using a computer and some of the apps that John uses on his phone. We hope that you find it useful and informative.
We’ve been looking at some of the assistive technology available for visually impaired people, that John uses on a fairly regular basis. In the last week, there’s been a picture circulating on social media that shows a woman with a white cane using a mobile phone. It’s been circulated as people have been questioning whether or not the woman is actually blind. We found this quite sad to see and believe that people need educating about the technology that is available to aid visually impaired people in their every day lives. A lot of this technology is available as apps on mobile phones.
In the video below we have a brief chat about e-readers, using a computer and some of the apps that John uses on his phone. We hope that you find it useful and informative.
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