Joanne’s Experience as a Blind Student I am registered blind and require additional support to carry out my studies. When I began at university, I was contacted by a disability advisor and received a needs assessment. This was to discuss all the additional support I would require during my studies. For example, I require a...
For many of us, learning to drive is one of life’s rites of passage. It represents a stepping-stone into adulthood, and a passport to independence we all too quickly take for granted. How it might feel to have that autonomy taken away from us is something to which we barely give a thought; yet for...
From Optometrist to patient, Sandra highlights her experience of accessing the eye care pathway 2 years on and some 30 Eye Clinic visits later I am starting to feel it is time to accept and hopefully adapt to my wavy world and get on with life. I don’t like to think about the hours my...
Over seven million people of working age in the UK have a disability, and employment opportunities for this huge cohort are still woefully inadequate. For many people with disabilities however, finding employment that matches their skills and experience is often not the end of discriminatory employment practice, but the beginning. Disability discrimination Many people with disabilities report feeling marginalised within the workplace not only by managerial...
Look Straight Ahead By BJ Edwards www.bjedwards.co.uk “Open as wide as you can for me…” the doctor says from the other side of the white light. “Look straight ahead… that’s it, nice and wide and straight ahead.” With warm and capable fingers, he raises my eyelid higher, and I grip the handles of the frame...
As an employee, having a disability may feel intimidating or lower your confidence, creating a barrier to independence whilst at work. As an employer, it can also present tension and discomfort if you do not know how to communicate with someone with a disability. Yet effective communication is the cornerstone to success in any working...
Apart from joining local sporting clubs, the 2012 Paralympics also motivated hundreds of disabled people, of all abilities, to head off to their local Health Club and get fit. How can disabled people join a UK Health Club? Then came a problem. The barriers went up as soon as people with disabilities arrived at the...
Dear Santa, My name is Daniel Williams, Founder of Visualise Training and Consultancy, my Christmas wish is to make the UK railway inclusive for all. We are here 2017, in the era of electrification and train design, but have we come very far as regards to rail travel for passengers with disabilities? If you are...
Daniel Williams of Visualise Training and Consultancy talks about guide dog refusal that he has experienced over the last week. Four weeks being a guide dog owner and I thought I would finally be independent and more confident. I am to a certain degree however, society is already putting barriers in my way to...
We are pleased to have Lucy Wyndham as a guest blogger. Lucy was a former Architect and is living with a a mobility impairment so is very experienced around property and commercial design. Able bodied citizens can sometimes take for granted how easy it can be to access local amenities. This means that staff who...