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wheelalong

Listed below are comments made by wheelalong between Thursday, 14th August 2008 and Friday, 27th November 2009.

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Climate change and disability: a burning issue 2:16pm on 27 Nov 2009 Well I'm all for helping a bit, but when Western Governments are blowing the Hell out of countries with high explosives and the Israelis are blasting phosphorous bombs over Palestine as the Eastern Governments go into overdrive on industrialisation; me, staying in so I don't use too much power on me wheels, seems a wee bit futile.

But, then if I'd ever had a jet -setting lifestyle things might seem a tad different. So until my recycling centre has a facility for washing the muck off my tyres so I don't have to rewash the carpet with stain remover every-time I return home - class me as somewhat sceptical.
Disability Bitch hates ice 3:13pm on 23 Nov 2009 A few years ago our roads were gritted daily in the bad weather - unfortunately they forgot about pavements - six weeks before I made to the road so I could get in a cab - but then this Monday morning hearing the wind & the rain beat against my window - my heart gave thanks for being old and no longer forced to wheel out in all weathers - time for another cup of tea and a little cake I think - wonder how all them fit young things waiting for buses and trains are faring this wet blowy evening?
Will 3D make TV and films less accessible? 2:31pm on 23 Nov 2009 Squint - therefore at time total double vision - ended up one red screen. one green screen - two for the price of one - suppose I was lucky I wasn't charged twice!!!!

Still suppose it's not much different to when I bought my now dear departed dad his first stereo headphones so he could at last - without Mum moaning about the noise - listen to all his favourite recordings - only to be told by him that one-side didn't work.

I turned them round only to hear him say 'Blimey, the other side's broken now'!!!
Zanardi's Paralympic dreams 1:55pm on 28 Sep 2009 As a quad who broke my neck way back in 1979, may I say congrats to Alex for having the attitude he has, but in my experience since entering the disability world (not voluntarily may I add)I've had the good luck to meet many like him, who, whether tackling the London Underground on wheels or disabled in some other way, get their lives together and carrying on regardless and in some ways even better and more successfully than before.Words like inspirational are used over and over again but we, in the main, do cope - often not being stopped by injury but bad social planning i.e.lack of accessible buildings for homes/work and simple plain ignorance from service providers even 14 years after the introduction of the Disability discrimination Act.
Disability Bitch in benefits shocker! 10:45am on 30 Jun 2009 When I helped out in the Pensioner movement during the 90's one figure that kept coming up was by just how much total benefits were under claimed year by year from 2bn to 5bn. The unspent amount going back to the treasury and the total budget (spent & unspent) was always the figure flouted by the press as the money benefits cost. Just take a dive into how much has been held back in the national insurance fund over the years and you will never believe the hype that we can't afford decent pensions & benefits again - means-tested benefit is the really expensive one because if you are credited with a pound or a hundred in payments, the administration cost in sending the money out is the same.
Who needs airport assistance? 11:42am on 13 Jun 2009 "Yet overall, I do think it's amazing that disabled people can travel almost anywhere in the world..." Think I would have found the article more authoritative and inclusive if the word 'some' had been used before "...disabled people can travel..." there Tom. It might be outside your direct experience but us in Power-chairs still find affordable transport extremely difficult not to say expensively risky in regard to the handling of our chairs & ourselves whether by bus, coach, rail or air - with many tour companies running cruises absolutely anti individual travel or at times refusing even when accompanied the heavier electric wheelchair user.

The world still remains a very small and inaccessible place for some mate.
Disability: an accident waiting to happen? 12:03pm on 11 May 2009 Yeah, totally agree FWB, but unfortunately it can be problematic if not downright dangerous even trying to reach a designated crossing. There's one two roads up from me that leads across to one of the so-called disabled friendly routes in our town on the south coast - unfortunately - despite pleas and threats, our council can't find the money to drop 'em. So you're left with the option of risking two roads and double the chance of tipping out or one road and gamble on not being run over!!!

Until town planners wake up to the fact that simply having town centres and shopping precincts without kerbing - and there's a lot of controversy about that one too - a lot of us are trapped on little islands and without taking risks that normal common sense would usually negate we'd be stuck there forever.
The Disability Movie Marathon 2:55pm on 08 Dec 2008 What? No Coming Home! Jon Voight & Jane Fonda showing crips have sex - or do you have be as old as me to remember it? The also heroic machinations of Oliver Stone (again with Tom Cruise - but still...) & the out-pouring of the inward grief America went through after the Vietnam fiasco - in Born on the Fourth of July, resonances there perhaps for our soldiers in current war zones - wheelchairs both - for the hat-trick, a young Marlon Brando in 'The Men'. All influential in their time.
An uncertain outlook 1:31pm on 25 Nov 2008 About the spinal incomplete - Yep, have similar only at c4&5 and boy does it vary! You adapt and it blows over to a partial regain, then gone - like going through the early process again & again. But have found a new life thanks to the wonders of the Powerchair and accessible accomodation so best wishes.
Tanni vs Phelps? 12:09pm on 14 Aug 2008 Well spotted - let's hope all the news channels apologise - (if only) for the ommission - not the first time Tanni's been overlooked either - I seem to remember a BBC Sports Personality award ceremony a couple of years back when access to the stage was overlooked then too - still couldn't happen now in this enlightened age - or could it?

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