Like many I came to the fight for disability rights not
because I was a wonderful, altruistic person but because my own
experiences showed me no other way - it was fight or be fucked. At
the age of 28 I had to go and live in an Old Peoples' Home; most
would say that was awful, but I was just grateful for a place to be
fed, cleaned and cared for - instead I found a temple of abuse and
power games. If someone my age endured it from the staff you can imagine
what happened to the elderly who were mostly confused and unable to
communicate to their loved ones what was happening. Where I live now
I get great care from Social Services, have a helpful social worker
and kind and willing home carer (home help) but where I lived before
it wasn't always the case. I could only get care intermitently and was
left for years without help; meaning I lived in filthy surroundings,
unwashed, unfed and thristy, unable to perform basic body functions.
Eventually my health deteriorated so much due to my living conditions
I had to be taken into hospital for months. It was beyond hell. Leaving
the hospital I lived in one room. sleeping and living on the sofa with
a commode next to me. That didn't stop the home helps continuing their
abuse. - I was shouted at for using the commode, shouted at for being
'lazy' and being in bed (on my sofa). I have the paperwork which shows
endless details of abuse. If it can happen to me what chance do the
elderly who may be suffering from degrees of dementia have? We
need to sort this. 
If you're lucky you'll live to be old - what will
happen to you? Don't believe your money can cushion you from mistakes
- I have found it doesn't.
Care Charges for the Elderly & Disabled
In the UK this has been the subject of some media attention - particularly
as if you live in Scotland care charges are free; in England you pay
and the charges can cripple you as much as any disease. I live only
a few yards from the Scottish border - I can see Scotland from my bed!
- but the difference in entitlements across those few yards is incredibly
unjust.
1st of May '08 - Nexus Train Services Poop On The Disabled
The Metro train system around Newcastle has been great for wheelchair users. 
Unlike so many of our antiquated transport systems in the UK you can
glide on and off this, the platform being level with the train. This
has been great for 'independent' disabled passengers. It means that,
unlike the normal UK train network you don't have to travel with an
able-bodied person or book assisatnce in advance to lift yourself and/or your wheelchair/mobility
scooter on/off the train - it means INDEPENDENCE!!
There is often a presumption that the sick/disabled or elderly have minions to accompany them and to do their
bidding 24/7. The truth is that often we are isolated, on our own and coping as best as we can. Even if there ARE people at our call why is it presumed that we want to disrupt others' lives and have them running round after us to the detriment of their own needs? Could someone please explain this to NEXUS who are running the Metro system?
There are many prejudices about disability. Since the rise of the media-preferred 'super-cripple ie: the younger disabled who, given facilities, can live full lives, people my age are presumed to be wheeling ourselves around everywhere with our wonderfully strong arms, taking part in marathons, the Disabled Olympics and generally being heroic and inspirational. Reality is for many of us no matter what our age our arms are never going to be strong enough to wheel us anywhere - they're buggered as well so we thank the lord for electric wheelchairs and mobility scooters (3 or 4 wheel power buggies) that are the difference between freedom and isolation meltdown. These scooters themselves have now become something of an object of jesting, along with stairlifts - supposedly driven by white-haired eighty year old women (seemingly the only section of society you can now poke fun at without recrimination - right?). But these are important tools and scooters and the Metro were a match made in heaven. Not any more.
In the past year 2 scooter users have driven onto the Metro trains, and crashed into the doors opposite. This is highly dangerous both to the disabled person and trains coming the opposite direction. Obviously it can't continue but what has been NEXUS's response? To ban scooter users from going on trains by themselves! We must be accompanied by an able-bodied person.
I don't think so.
I doubt whether the edict is legal. Consider that in the nineties wheelchair users were often banned from going into cinemas by themselves because they were a 'fire hazard'. That was proven to be illegal. Some restaurants banned wheelchair users from their premises entirely because they were 'fire hazards' - that was proven to be illegal.
Since when was it right to restrict the many for the sins of the tiny minority? If a cliched gang of 15 year old lads mugs and 'happy slaps' and elderly person on the Metro are all 15 year olds banned? Of course not. Are young males of mid eastern ethnicity banned from western airplanes in case they have a bomb up their arse? 
Of course not.
I'm allowed to drive a car, breed, vote and am legally not a fire hazard anymore, but I can't go on the Metro solo. Absurd! What a bunch of prejudiced pillocks! Besides which I hardly see how an able-bodied person is going to stop an accident - throw themselves in front of the opposite doors in a self-sacrificing moment? No.
NEXUS you are retro poo faces (to use a technical expression) and I hope a big legal case is slapped on your arses for this. 
