That old Adage

Lately it has been a case of waiting for one bus to arrive and then several arriving at once!  Where do I start...well a good place would be the baclofen pump.  Wondering what the heck was going on with my referal, I rang up the neurosurgeon's secretary to see where I was in the waiting list.  To cut a long story (and several phone calls) short, my referal got mysteriously lost in the post and the secretary had no idea who I was.

...riiiight.

More phone calls and a day later she rings me to say that I am now on the waiting list but it is unlikely I will get seen by September.

I HAVE BEEN WAITING SINCE FEBRUARY.

So today I rang my baclofen assessment unit and explained the situation to them and they thought it was pretty ridiculous.  While I was on the phone one of the baclofen therapy nurses told the person on the other end that they had something to discuss with me and could I come over as soon as a space was available?

Turns out that space is tomorrow, so here I am at my parents the night before wondering what it could possibly be about.

In addition to this I have had visits from Occupational Health, Social Services (which confirmed what I knew, my bathroom is deeply un-cripple friendly), and physiotherapy appointments, plus my wheelchair quotation finally arriving AND that I can get funding to go to the Calvert Trust...phew!

Insert Title Here

Last week I went out with friends to a pub, which turned out to be so disability unfriendly it was funny. You know when you encounter situations is so bad you end up laughing at it? This was one of those.

Having noted that the toilets were up a set of stairs, and that the platform lift was the home of high chairs, we asked the staff if they could move them off the lift so I could use it. This was the point when I found out that the reason the high chairs had overtaken it - the lift hadn't worked in years - brilliant! Apparently the head office were aware of this but hadn't done anything about it despite being told a number of times.

To the stairs! With the help of Ben and a drunk (but lovely!) customer I got up the stairs, clutching the banister and Ben lugging the chair up the stairs, and made my way to the loo.

Ah, the loo. On first glance seemingly harmless but on actual use an accident waiting to happen. As I was leaning on the drop down bar, the following happened:

Yes, that is the drop down bar on the floor, which I believe is the incorrect place for it. Luckily I was holding onto another bar as well, which DIDN'T fall out of the wall, otherwise it could have been a painful face-plant to the floor.

The almighty crash was followed by Ben's voice floating through the door:

"Sanchia? Are you all right?!"
"I'm fiiiine...I may have broken something..."

Fleeing the scene of chaos, I returned to my table whilst he went to explain that their accessible toilet may be a bit, erm, broken.

The staff themselves were lovely though and gave us the head office's number.


I didn't get a free pudding though, grrr.

Ouch! Messageboard Update

The BBC has decided to grace us with an update about the closure of the Ouch! board, and try and allay our fears:

More absolute tosh

...We did consider the impact on users before making the final decision, though these types of editorial decisions are not subject to the public sector equality duty.

Safety and privacy have proven to be big talking topics over the last couple of years in social media circles and many empowering improvements have been made as a result. If you've been scared away in the past, it might be worth taking a new look.

I highly doubt they did "consider" how it would affect us, as no one was asked as far as I'm aware! Also, the way the blog talks down to us about social networking sites not being the big bad wolf users fear is, to be blunt, a load of crap.

What they obviously have not taken into account is mental health issues - what the BBC see as not a big issue - just find a new place! - could be for some people, very destabilising. To put it figuratively, imagine the Ouch! board is a big security blanket, one that makes us feel secure and safe in the knowledge that we can post bluntly and openly about what is up with us. Using Facebook for this exposes your personal identity to anybody else using the group, or anyone who cares to find out. Additionally, you can not make accounts under a false name - at risk of being banned.

The BBC are essentially taking that security blanket, ripping it to shreds, and throwing us a manky, threadbare rag.

BBC closing Ouch! Messageboard

So, the BBC has come to the decision to close the Ouch! messageboard. For those of you who know what this is, you are probably really pissed off right now, and for those who don't know - it is the only section of the BBC where peopleof all disabilities can come together and talk about life, the universe and everything. For others it is the only communication they get with the outside world, and a place where people can talk anonymously without being judged.

Yet the BBC feel that the concept of such a messageboard is antiquated and not worth their resources:

What a load of pish

The web and BBC Online have changed a lot over the last decade and we believe it's now time to close the Ouch! messageboard. You regularly tell us that our current service doesn't always deliver the kind of interaction and relationships you want and, indeed, the BBC realises there are now many more effective ways to involve its audience. Social networking is immensely enabling and has outclassed what we can provide in terms of specialisms, privacy and personal connections for this community. Plus it brings great control: you are able to block unwanted users and manage your personal interactions more immediately and effectively.

Ian Hunter, Managing editor of BBC Online, recently wrote a blog entry about the BBC's approach to messageboards and social media explaining how we intend to move forward. Ouch! will continue to be a place where you can feedback on disability matters alongside the content on our blog, via Facebook and Twitter.

Hmmm, funny, I don't remember anyone being consulted about this. Messageboards and social networking sites are completely different things with totally different ways of communicating, lacking the anonymity that people get from a board. Plus many Ouch! users find Facebook an intimidating place and are uncomfortable with the idea of posting on such a site.

But, fear not, fellow Ouch! user, we can we have a month to adjust to this change and "pop along" to this thing called Facebook and acquaint ourselves with it, as told in possibly the most patronising part of the blog post:

The messageboard will close on Wednesday 6 July. That gives us almost a month to help you find each other again. In the final week, we will see how this process has gone and help out if need be.

We have our own Ouch! Facebook page and we encourage you to pop along there now and 'like' us; a quick and easy way of staying in touch with your online friends. When the board has closed, you can continue to comment on our blog with your messageboard login.

I don't know if this is just me, but it almost feels like we are children they are chiding along gently, like a parent persuading their kid "don't worry about moving, I'm sure you'll stay in touch!"

Pfft. This move will only break up a well established community and alienate long time users.

So, if you care about the Ouch! board, or simply want to help us stop the closure of it, please go to the petition here and sign your support.

Thank you.

A shout-out to

This post is to say thank you to Catherine from comeone-letsroll who gave me this award:



She also listed me as one of her favourite blogs at the moment, which is really sweet as I am still relatively new to this whole blogging shenanigans. You should check out her blog too, as not only is it pretty looking, but very funny too. She also seems to like cooking and all things nom nommy, so thumbs up to that too!

Shopping - one for the guys

After the last post and its unpleasantries, onto less loo-orientated matters.

This post if mostly for the guys, or specifically for those who live in a small town like mine and so therefore stores may not have upgraded to be fully accessible.

Today I went shopping for my Dad's birthday present, and I think I can safely say it was even more stressful than shopping for myself. Quite a few of the stores had the menswear on the first floor, the problem being that all the smaller stores of major retailers did not have lifts up to these floors. The shop assistants were helpful, in that they went up for me and bought down items for me to see, but that is not the point.

What the hell do you guys do?? Yes they can bring the clothes down for you, but what about trying them on? Hell, I wasn't even trying them on, and after a while if I went into a store where the menswear was upstairs I just went straight back out. Having to wait and rely on people to bring me the clothes, and not being able to browse in my own time really bugged me, so Gawd knows what it must be like for you guys who have to do it all the time!

Disabled Loos

Ah, Disabled loos, it really is like a lucky dip with them - I always enter them with some trepidation. What really bugs me is that there isn't separate female and male disabled toilets - in my perfect world there would be female, male and Unisex. I don't see why abled people should get a choice and not me!

Not to tarnish all guys with the same brush, but men can, shall we say...miss, on occasion (not that women aren't gross, I have seen some horrific sights in female toilets, but I'm deliberately being pernickety here). I would just like some choice in the matter is all!

Anyways, today was one of those days when I wished there was more than one user-friendly facilities available. On approaching the toilet, horrific bodily sounds were heard emanating from inside (Another thing that bugs me about them - we just get one door, that's it. Other people get a door, then another door. You really feel quite exposed inside those things!), and I knew only bad things could come from this.

I had to wait quite a while, and in that time I heard the loo being flushed a few times. Oh dear. Now I'm sure we've all been in an awkward situation public toilet wise, but I would hope people would leave it in a state that they would wish to find it!

After a further wait, the facilities finally became free. Edging veeeeeeeery slowly in, I then promptly backed out speedily! Oh God, the smell. The smell. I peeked in again, approaching the dreaded toilet. Even from a distance I could see that it was blocked.

Nooooooooooooooooooooo.