Live your potential

Adieu

We're off to France for our first family holiday since my accident in 2006. Exciting! It will be a time of non-electronica, so unless I manage to find an internet cafe in rural Brittany, I won't be posting for a week or so. We return next Saturday, 30 May. Stay well till then, tout le monde!

Armchair sports

This seems to be the year of not-sport. First there was the not-skiing. In February I was booked to go skiing in the States for the first time since my accident. The flight was cancelled because of the snowstorms in the UK. Then there's the not-water-skiing. Today I was due to have a day of water-skiing at Heron Lake with Backup and the British Disabled Water Ski Association. I've never tried before and was both curious about how it would work and excited at the prospect. But I couldn't go because Annika has had to unexpectedly go to London and I'm on childcare duty. Finally, the not-sailing. I was planning to go offshore sailing with the Calvert Trust in a cruising yacht for a week in August. They've just called to say that the boat isn't suitable.

So instead I will be dinghy sailing in the Lake District with the Backup Trust. At the end of the week-long course I will have gained my Royal Yachting Association Level 1 and 2 qualifications. My sporting life is now mapped out for the next few years. The Calvert Trust have assured me that I will be able to join their offshore cruise in 2010. In 2011 I will be skiing in Winter Park, Colorado. And my local sailing club wants me to enter the Paralympics in 2012. I'd compete in a 2.4m, a scaled down version of the boats that race in the America's Cup. To sail in the Paralympics would be a dream come true though, given my limited ability, very unlikely. It would also be following family footsteps. My grandfather competed in the Helsinki Olympics, as well as racing in the America's Cup. Here's hoping for a miracle.

Deeper impact

I want to build my online presence. I love writing here. I've got a solid cohort of (genuine) Facebook friends. I receive some fascinating tweets. But I want more! My virtual life works well with the physical constraints I face. I'm often awake in the night because of pain, and I can blog in bed with my iPhone. I travel about a fair bit visiting friends, going to the hospital, physio, having massage... and I can twitter on the move.

And yet. I don't have enough people reading the blog or following me on Twitter. Not that I believe what I say is of crucial importance (well...). But I have chosen to adopt the role of campaigner, amongst other things. I'm becoming an advocate for access. I've been fortunate to date in that my targets (South West Trains, Empire Cinemas, Superdrug) have all agreed to my requests. Yet there will be many organisations that are not so affected by my threats of legal action. Imagine how much greater an impact I could achieve if I had a strong and vociferous following? The combination of public relations nightmare with legal challenge is a potent mix.

I need to improve my skills. So I'm keen to go to the Social Media Success Summit, in a virtual capacity. I reckon it could give me the tools I need to take me to the next level. To build a strong following. To have an impactful site that helps me campaign. And if the event organisers like this post, they might let me go for free...

Just call me guvnor

Votes have been cast. Decisions have been reached. Announcements have been made. And, tantarataratara (that's a trumpet fanfare by the way), I won. I'm now the new governor of the Salisbury Hospital NHS Foundation Trust representing the patient/carer constituency. It's very exciting!

If you want to know the background of how and why I arrived at this point, I wrote about it here. And if you're a member of my constituency - a patient from the Trust’s specialist services of plastic surgery, burns, cleft lip and palate or spinal injuries - then please do get in touch with your concerns!

Stupendous Superdrug

I've been engaged in a long running battle with the Devizes branch of Superdrug. Victory has been won, and Superdrug deserve to be lavishly praised for their grace under fire.

Skirmishes commenced last year when I tried to get into the store to buy razor blades. There was a small, short, steep ramp to get in. This would have been manageable if the doors were open. However, when closed, the doors were too heavy for me to open without falling over, as my chair was tipped back on the ramp.

I like to try to resolve issue quickly and locally. I ask to speak to the store manager about the doors. "Oh, we've raised the question with Head Office but nothing's happened so far". I therefore send my (personalised) standard email:

Dear Superdrug

I am emailing to complain about the discrimination I experience every time I shop at the Superdrug shop in Devizes. I raised this issue in the shop itself and was told to "contact Head Office". This I am now doing. I am a independent permanent wheelchair user with no use of my legs whatsoever. I have poor balance and my wheelchair tips backwards easily.

The Superdrug in Devizes has a small but steep ramp to the door. The doors are heavy and hard to open. I cannot open them by myself without the risk of falling. I must therefore wait for a passer by to help me or try to attract the attention of a member of staff. I encounter the same problems when I leave the shop through the separate exit. This is unacceptable in the outlet of a major retailer. I should not have to ask or wait for assistance. I would expect the doors to be automatic, as they are in every other large shop in the town.

Under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act, you have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people can use your services. Under the DDA, it is unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability. Most people do not have to ask for help to enter Superdrug in Devizes. I do. Your failure to provide automatic doors is clear evidence that Superdrug is treating me, and other wheelchair users, less favourably than other people.

Unless you replace the existing doors with automatic ones at your shop in Devizes, I will begin a claim against you under the Disability Discrimination Act. I will seek compensation for your treatment, and a court order to demand adjustments.

I look forward to hearing from you within ten working days. If I have heard nothing by 12 January 2009, I will begin proceedings against you.

Yours

Andrew Farrow

I get a speedy response:

Dear Mr Farrow,

Thank you for your e-mail.

I apologise for the inconvenience caused. I will be passing a copy of your e-mail on to our Property Department to investigate. Could you please forward us your postal address so we can write to you formally once investigation is complete?

Kind Regards
Superdrug Customer Relations

It seems things are going to move swiftly along. I'm therefore surprised to hear nothing for several weeks. I chase and then receive the following letter:

Dear Mr Farrow

Thank you for your email to our Customer Relations Department prior to Christmas, raising the issue of access into the Superdrug store in Devizes. I am sorry to hear of the difficulties you have experienced trying to enter the shop.

THe store has been provided with a bell and signage at the entrance, for all members of the public to press should they require assistance entering the premises, in the event that the front entrance doors are closed. I have been advised by the Store Manager that many members of the public are making use of this facility and are finding it much easier to enter the premises.

Thank you for bringing this matter to our attention and if you have any further concerns or problems, please do not hesitate to contact me

Yours
SC
Health, Safety and Insurance Administrator.

I'm amazed. Do they really think it's OK for a major retailer to offer a doorbell as a solution? It As I wrote in my original email, "under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act, you have a duty to make reasonable adjustments to ensure disabled people can use your services." Is providing a doorbell a "reasonable adjustment"? I'd promised to myself in my New Year's resolutions that I would follow complaints through to their logical conclusion. I'm willing to take Superdrug to court to find the answer to this question.

I therefore email again:

Dear Ms C
 
Thank you for your letter of 10th February. I am surprised that it has taken over a month to answer my initial complaint. And I was disappointed by your response.
 
You appear to suggest that having a bell and signage at the store entrance is sufficient for anyone requiring assistance. I have to ring the bell and then wait for help, whatever the weather. As I noted in my original email, under the DDA, it is unlawful for service providers to treat disabled people less favourably than other people for a reason related to their disability. By forcing me to wait for assistance, you are treating me, and any others who need help, less favourably than other people.
 
For a major retailer, this is unacceptable. I note that in 2007 Superdrug spent £46 million on a "beauty investment programme" for 440 stores. I think it reasonable to expect that Superdrug spends some money on installing automatic doors in the Devizes store. I think these could be considered "reasonable adjustments" under the terms of the Disability Discrimination Act.
 
I therefore return to my original course of action: unless you replace the existing doors with automatic ones at your store in Devizes, I will begin a claim against you under the Disability Discrimination Act. I will seek compensation for your treatment, and a court order to demand adjustments.
 
I look forward to hearing from you within ten working days with the action you intend to take and a timescale for doing so. If I have heard nothing by 6th March 2009, I will begin proceedings against you.
 
I look forward to hearing from you.

A while later, it seems as if the stakes have gone up:

Good morning Mr Farrow

Thank you for your email - I have passed your mobile number onto the Store's Area Manager PB.  He will be in contact with you shortly to arrange a mutually convenient time to meet up at the store, to meet the Store Manager, discuss the store's future open door policy and any other ways in which we may assist you whilst shopping in Superdrug.

I head into town for my meeting with the Area Manager. He's responsible for a number of Superdrug stores in the South West. When I get there, I'm delighted to see that engineers are working in the shop doorway.

It turns out that the store's "open door" policy is literally that: to have the doors open all the time. It is too expensive to install automatic doors. However, Superdrug have come up with an alternative: to install super-heaters above the entrance and exit doors. The heat generated by these creates, in effect, an invisible warm door. The temperature inside the store remains constant through air-conditioning. It's an impressive solution and, as PB, the Area Manager, points out, one that they'd been planning to implement for a while. However, they were stirred into speedy action by my complaint. The other surprising effect of my complaint is that PB has himself visited all the stores in his region with a fresh eye, specifically looking at access. Changes are afoot. Various friends are delighted, commenting that now they can easily get in to the store with their pushchairs and shopping. I'll be able to get in without assistance. As I used to say when I was helping lottery applicants meet the criterion of accessibility, you're not just benefitting people with mobility impairments when you make your building accessible.

I'm impressed that Superdrug have decided to not just resolve the immediate issue but to go beyond it and consider all their stores in the region. And I'm relieved that I don't have to take them to court. I might well win, but I imagine the up front costs will be high. I'm sure I'll find out another day. In the meantime, let's give a round of applause for stupendous Superdrug.

Vote for me me me (again)

I'm standing to be a governor of Salisbury NHS Foundation Trust as a "patient/carer" representative. I wrote about the whys and wherefores here.

Because I live in Devizes and thus within the catchment of the hospital, I'm eligible to vote for the Kennet constituency. However, this means I wouldn't normally be able to vote for the patient/carer category. As the membership manager of the Trust explained to me: "all members receive their voting packs according to their address. The Patient/Carer constituency are all the members who have attended one of our six specialities and live outside our catchment area, so they are the ones that will be voting in the Patient/Carer constituency".

I was told to destroy my Kennet voting pack and wait for the patient/carer one instead. On its arrival, I see there are two other candidates standing against me: Anita Dawn Pheby and Vivien Mills.

Anita's statement reads: "In eighteen months since election, I have worked hard to make patients' voices heard. It has been exciting, and a privilege, to serve as governor. I have participated in numerous working groups including:

• Preparing an independent report for the Healthcare Commission on patient involvement and safety, including infection control.
• Reviewing patients' and carers' experience; eliciting rapid feedback.
• Preparing newsletters; communicating with members.
• Seeking radical change in orthopaedic outpatients.
• Thrombosis prevention, achieving national exemplar status for the hospital.

"It has been hard work, but worthwhile. Many changes have been made; others are needed. I hope to continue this work."

Vivien's reads: "I am a retired Police Superintendent. I was injured on duty in 1997 and spent seven months in hospital, five in the Spinal Injury Unit at Salisbury. As a regular user of NHS facilities I have gained a valuable insight into the problems faced by staff and patients alike. I am determined to help resolve these issues and I'm not afraid to take people on to do so - especially politicians. I have previous experience as a school governor. I am a volunteer with the Prince's Trust and my hobbies include wheelchair fencing".

I wrote:"I am 43, married, have two children and live in Devizes. In 2006 I had an accident that has left me in a wheelchair. I spent 14 months in the Spinal Unit at Salisbury Hospital. I used to run my own business but am now retraining to become a primary school teacher. I know what it’s like to be a patient. As a governor, I would ensure that patients’ needs and concerns are heard. I would bring my management and fundraising skills. I would ensure that staff, particularly nurses, get wider recognition. Finally, I would improve communications to members."

The deadline for submission of votes is tomorrow. Electoral Reform Services will provide results to the Trust on 15th May. Who would you vote for?

Note to self: please don't take off your shoes

I fell this morning. I was trying to pick a plastic bag off the floor. I wasn't wearing shoes, just socks ("no time to put shoes on this morning", I'd said to myself as I hurried to take children to school). As I reached down to grab the bag, my feet slipped backwards off my wheechair footplate and I tumbled forward gracelessly to the floor. Given that it's a long crawl from the kitchen to the sitting room (the only place I can get back up when I'm downstairs), and given that it was entirely avoidable, I think I need to reassess the not-wearing-shoes approach. It's especially ironic since only last night Annika wouldn't let me load the dishwasher ("I can't bear watching you lean so far over. You might fall"). Signs missed. Shoes next time.

Blogging for profit

I just read a fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal that suggests 1.7 million bloggers profit from their work. (What am I doing wrong?!) It raises some interesting issues:

"For now, bloggers say they are overwhelmingly happy in their work, reporting high job satisfaction. But what happens if they, too, lose work; are they covered by unemployment insurance if tastes change and their sites go under? Are they considered journalists under shield laws? Are they subject to libel suits? Are there any limits to the opinions they churn out, or any standards to rein them in? Is there someone to complain to about false blogs or hidden conflicts? At the recent Consumer Electronics Show, Panasonic outfitted bloggers with free Panasonic equipment; did that affect their opinions about the companies they wrote about? There are more questions than answers about America's Newest Profession."

Read the full article here.

Another day, another science centre

Yesterday I was in Birmingham at Millennium Point, one of the Millennium Commission's £50 million landmark projects. I'd been at the launch eight years earlier, when I'd got together about thirty Millennium Award winners to celebrate the opening event. I've had many jobs. By far the most exciting and the work of which I am most proud was running the Millennium Awards Fellowship at the Commission. It was good to be back.

I was actually meeting a friend at Thinktank, "Birmingham's science museum". He's a science teacher. It was instructive going about with him and seeing what enthused him most (the visitors' answers to a set of standard questions). We went to past and future, where I learnt that the BSA in BSA motorbikes stood for Birmingham Small Arms; that the factories which made confectionery tins used their tools to make tail fins for bombs in the war; that if you enter a black hole you get spaghettified; what an event horizon is. It was fabulous. 

And it was fabulously accessible too. Everything was at a perfect height, perfectly level. I could get my legs under the tables in the cafe. I got inside the driving carriage of the City of Birmingham, a massive steam train too tall to run on modern railway tracks. Parking was right outside the entrance. My friend Michael could go as my carer so it was amazingly cheap (a total of £12 for entrance to Thinktank and two separate planetarium shows as well as free parking). The only downside was the signage: it was hard to find the actual entrance to the building, and once inside Millennium Point it's difficult to find Thinktank itself at first. Nor did we realise we could get free parking with our blue badge. But once we'd got our navigation sorted, we had a ball. We're going to continue our tour of the Millennium Commission's landmark projects, focussing on science centres: next stop, at-Bristol.

Pain and pee

Yes, spinal cord injury sucks. I'm off to Birmingham tomorrow to see an old friend. It's a long drive and it'll be a long day. I need to have a good night's rest. Instead, I can't sleep because of pain. My arm feels as if it's on fire. And in one of those mysteries of the body, the pain extends half way down my back even though I usually have zero sensation below my arms. To complete the delightful picture, I've just turned over to find the sheet is soaking. I've leaked. At moments like this, I'm glad Annika has a separate mattress. Get out torch towel catheters. A long night stretches ahead. It never rains but it pours. And other words beginning with p.