2014 - the year supermarkets clamp down on disabled parking abuse?

A few months ago a 64 year old man, Brian Holmes, was killed following a row over a disabled parking space at an Asda store in Bedfordshire.  Alan Watts, 65, was found guilty of manslaughter and has recently been jailed for 5 years.

The abuse of Disabled parking spaces is something that used to really get on my nerves but to a large extent now I have moved out of London it has become less of an issue for me in terms of the abuse I witness on a day to day level. 

Then one very wet Sunday morning in the run up to Christmas I went to a large Tesco near me...  Even though I arrived early most of the disabled spaces are taken and few have blue badges.  When I point this out to the lady on Customer Services she comes up with the excellent excuse 'there is nothing we can do'.

Well it's good to know that Tesco values its disabled customers, er not.  Of course this is the same supermarket chain that didn't seem to give a stuff that they were installing inaccessible self 'pay at pump' machines...  I voted with my feet after experiencing that and have never bought petrol from them since. 

So until Tesco have more of a 'can do' rather than a 'can't be bothered' attitude towards making its stores accessible I'll be making sure I go elsewhere. 

But it will be interesting to see whether the Bedfordshire case opens up the supermarket chains eyes to the depth of emotion that people feel around abuse of disabled parking and how much the issue riles people. 

Will 2014 be the year they finally start fining people for parking in disabled spaces? 

Is all publicity good publicity for disabled people?

Article about a man with MS who can usually only walk 10m, who walked 60km in a week to raise money for the MS Society:

http://enablemagazine.co.uk/index.php/2013/10/ms-man-who-can-only-walk-10-metres-with-stick-walks-60k-in-a-week/

I couldn't help wondering if he got the Mobility Component of the Disability Living Allowance [now called PIP] whether doing, and publicising, something like this could cause him to lose it?

ITV's 'My Dwarf Family' [their programme title not my ideal wording...]

I can't stand the word Dwarf.  Whilst some short people have reclaimed it using the word just doesn't work for me because it still has too many negative and derogative connotations.

So it was with trepidation that I watched ITV's 'My Dwarf Family' [was on Thursday 15th August, 2013] - a programme which followed 3 families each of which had one or more members who had achondroplasia, the most common form of short stature.

Although the condition is somewhat different to Kniest Syndrome the issue of short stature does throw up similiar issues whatever the label you give it and it is always interesting to see how other people fare.

I really felt for the young couple [the woman had achondroplasia and the man didn't] grappling with the issue of when to have children [she wanted them now, he didn't].  They both seemed to feel, as we did, that they would want a child whether or not it would be short statured.

Having been there and done that, and having ended up with one child who is short statured and one who isn't, I think I can honestly say that the such a seemingly simple decision can turn out to be hugely more complicated when it becomes a reality...

I also really felt for the parents of the young children who were short statured - the whole 'letting go' of your child, getting them to 'act' their age, letting them be independent just seems so much harder when they are so much smaller than their peers.

Indeed the programme opens with a boy, the height of a 4 year old, cycling by a very busy main road - it looked hideously like a bad idea, but this boy was 11.  Most likely his peers would be allowed to do this so why not him?

Whether the decision was easy or hard for his parents I don't know but there is no doubt that if you are a short statured parent [or wannabe parent] you'll face some very tough decisions along the way, it isn't a process for the fainthearted and perhaps that's why we're such a feisty, resilient lot!

If you want to see the programme it's up for a couple of weeks:

https://www.itv.com/itvplayer/my-dwarf-family/series-1/episode-1-my-dwarf-family

Government consultation on the PIP assessment 'moving around' activity - URGENT action needed

The Government is running a consultation on the PIP 'moving around' criteria - it is vital that as many organisations, professionals and disabled people themselves respond to halt their proposed change:

 

In a nutshell to be eligible for the enhanced rate of PIP [Personal Independence Payment] you mustn't be able to walk more than 20 m, yes a mere 20m.  Previously the proposed distance was a more realistic and better justified 50 m. 

 

The deadline for responding to this consultation is 5 August 2013 so please do hurry and respond, use the We Are Spartacus webpage here to help formulate your response:

 

http://wearespartacus.org.uk/pip-mobility-consultation-making-most-of-opportunity/

 

My response was as followed:

 

Dear Sir/Madam

I feel very strongly that the 50 m PIP moving around criteria should not be reduced to 20 m.

It represents a totally unjustified moving of the disability goal posts so that people who, like myself, have had their mobility difficulties recognised and acknowledged through receipt of Higher Rate of DLA may all of a sudden no longer be eligible for the enhanced rate of PIP. There has been no miracle cure here just a cynical shifting of goal posts.

To limit receipt of the enhanced rate of PIP to those who can effectively only move about between rooms in their house and no further is simply ridiculous and the Government has failed to provide any research justification for the 20m criteria.

Reducing the formerly well established 50 m limit even goes against your own second draft of PIP assessment criteria, Nov 2011 where you state '50 metres is considered to be the distance that an individual is required to be able to walk in order to achieve a basic level of independence'. Where is the justification that now only people who are unable to walk more than 20m should be eligible for enhanced rate mobility component?

Indeed for years the 50 m benchmark has guided access to the built environment and widely used in relation to disability benefits.

Using a 20 m benchmark is unrealistic - it simply does not provide any practical level of mobility. There will be many disabled people with considerable mobility difficulties who may be able to walk 20 m but not over 50, who will lose access to the Motability Scheme which will potentially have a huge impact on their independence , for some it will jeopardise or even mean termination of their employment options/status, with repercussions on other parts of the benefit system.

It's hard to believe that reducing the limit from 50 to 20 m isn't an infringment of the Human Rights Act.

Maintaining the 50 m limit acknowledges that those with mobility difficulties have a right to a certain quality of life, free from isolation, with the option of persisting with practical opportunities eg doing the school run, GP/hospital appointments, shopping, as well as social and employment opportunities secured through having a relatively small amount of help through the enhanced rate of PIP.

Please do not take away the independence of hundreds of thousands of disabled people who have considerable mobility difficulties, the help they need is relatively small but the impact of not having this help would be hugely negative, let alone unjustified.

Yours faithfully

Emma Bowler

Don't Call Me Crazy, BBC Three - part of It's A Mad World

I'm not interested in TV programmes about celebrities, so they are getting married, having babies, spending money, flaunting themselves, so what.

What I like programmes about REAL people and you couldn't get more real and more raw than the young women on 'Don't Call Me Crazy' on BBC Three last night which launched the channel's 'It's A Mad World' series of programmes looking at mental health issues affecting young people in Britain today.

The programme told the story of a few of the young women in Manchester's McGuinness Unit, where clearly dedicated staff worked hard to try and support them on the path of getting back into the world again.

But their job is not easy because in spite of the fact that the women featured were articulate, insightful and beautiful, and sometimes comic and fun loving too, they are plagued by demons of depression, self harm, suicidal thoughts/attempts and eating disorders.

I couldn't help wondering what has to happen to make a child grow into a young person with such huge issues to contend with but young people today do have so much pressure and so much to contend with, in an increasingly difficult world to live in because of financial, housing and employment worries.

The honesty and courage those young women had to share their experiences with viewers was astonding and I hope that at the very least they've gained something positive, for themselves, from being part of the programme.