Independent dreaming

Paul Gambaccini, the person who caused me so much distress yesterday morning, I remembered his name 24hrs on from when I needed it. I remember finding him rather annoyed and a reason for switching the radio off, may be this was some kind of revenge. At least I eventually got there for once. I also luckily remembered late yesterday afternoon to phone and book my hospital transport for Thursday, I have to go an have another endoscopy, this time throat down and the good thing is there is no preparation for this other than to not eat after 9am, which I can manage with ease. I am kind of annoyed at having to go back there again as they could have done this procedure at the same time as the other one. Once again my appointment is in the afternoon and once again they have said they can’t guarantee getting me there on time, because different ambulance crews take lunch at different times and I need a double crew, nor can they tell me what time they will be able to get me home. Organization at it’s best! There isn’t anything that can be done about it, it is just the way it is.

This morning I have peace here in the living room as Adam read what I wrote yesterday and he is settled in the bedroom for a change. He really doesn’t understand the amount of noise he actually makes, it isn’t a gentle background sound, it’s more an attempt to bring down the surrounding walls. I have also actually remembered to put in my prescription requirements with my doctor, that is another system that I wish they would change, the doctors actually do have a website that seems to be just for information, but if I could get my prescription there, I would actually not be in the position of a last minute call. I always seem to remember after they have shut for the day, and mind you I just caught them today as Tuesday is their half day. I personally prefer any option to do anything on line, it isn’t laziness or just the fact I don’t like talking on the phone, it is just in general better as it can be done at any time at all, day or night. I have managed to keep my life reasonably close to that lived by the working world hours, but many who are ill don’t manage that and fall into aback to front way of living. They say that we live in a 24/7 world, but when you really try to live life that way, it doesn’t exist. Over the last year thanks to the Olympics we keep hearing that there is a heightened awareness of the disabled, well awareness is one thing, helping to adjust the world to make it accessible to all of us, appears to be something completely different. At least the doctors are now happy to post the prescription out to me, and then Adam takes it to the chemist, but it is another one of those things that I can take so far, and have to then have someone else to complete. If I didn’t have Adam I have no idea how I would get my meds at all, as all the systems I know of, there is still a requirement at some point for the third person.

It is many years now since I was last out in my wheelchair and although I could to some extent manage the city centers central shopping areas, getting between them was impossible. It just takes one pavement that has not been lowered at the edge and you are stuck, but that seems to be the way of life, they sort out the main area’s and then totally forget about the bits in between. Regardless of your condition or the extent of your disability, when you look closely at all the things someone has to do in a month, in there will be a selection of small things that mean your life isn’t, and can’t be independent. As time has passed my list of thing I need others to do for me has and will increase, but there are so many simple ways, small things that would mean my independence and that of others, could be maintained, the really annoying thing is they are all cheap and easy things to change, but would make the world of a difference to a great number of people, a number that is always increasing. I know that not everyone is disabled, but all of us will at some point be elderly, and the things that would make a disabled life easier, are actually the same things that could and would make life easier for you in the future.

A plee to the web

I know without asking that you along with me and everyone else in this world speak faster than our brains have a chance to catch up with. Words tumble out of our mouths and those round us look at us as though we are stupid, then suddenly we realise just what those words where. The one that gets to me the most these days always come from call centers and I know because I have worked in some, that the operator is on auto pilot, saying the same thing daily with no thought at all. But having said I am housebound they still insist on asking for my mobile number? A milli second in thought would make it clear I have no need for such a devise, being immobile should be a huge clue, but I have lost count the number of times I have been asked for it. That is the way life is, it is the small things that get to us the most. There is no doubt in my mind that the world is set up for the able bodied and more and more it is also set up for those who have every gadget there is, and no way round it when you don’t. For those of us who are housebound or just chronically ill the internet should be the greatest tool there is when it comes to assisting us to live a full life, but here to, there are now barrier that are separating us out from the able bodied, the biggest one, the mobile phone number! I have learned a way round by just entering random numbers and for many sites that works, but recently I found a new one that checks the number as they want you to accept an app, even saying you don’t want the app doesn’t get you past, it as it demands a real number. Who ever it is who builds these site are making stupid mistakes due to lack of thought, they may not be saying the words but their actions show there is no or little thought in their designs.

Getting the outside world to remember that not all of us have ipads and iphones, that don’t have or need ipods, but do want to do business or just brows for information, is becoming as hard as it was to gain access to many buildings when you are in a wheelchair. Living on a limited income will restrict many ill people from buying gadgets that aren’t totally required, I manage happily with my desktop computer and land line, but it feels as though slowly I am being excluded again. Admittedly the number of sites putting up barriers so far is small, but I fear it will be a growing trend, just as there are sites now that demand you give them access to your Facebook or twitter account, something not all have or want. More and more will expect you to have an array of gizmos we simply can’t afford, to be honest even if I could afford them I still wouldn’t personally have them, as I see them as no use to me at all, but that is a different argument.

Until I was in a wheelchair I never realised just how unfriendly the outside world is when you are on wheels. To find now that somewhere you would expect that disability could never be a barrier, is now discriminating against those who can’t afford, or has no need for, those toys the well off able bodied have, is a shock. It may not happen, but I fear that there will be more and more of these badly designed sites and that there thoughtlessness will grow. I may not have fortunes to spend but I do still have money, without access I can’t purchase, so it is that company that is loosing my business, but their insult is still felt.