Disabeld Access in the High Street & World Around Us

As a wheelchair user I face a range of obstacles on daily basis no matter where I go. In fact its rare to actually visit somewhere and not face a challenge in one way or another. It's highly frustrating when a large franchise advertise themselves as being completely accessible and yet you arrive and are unable to access a particular part of the building.
I don't want to come across as a complainer but at the same time I don't want to sit back and let these problems continue to arise. I am extremely fortunate to live in a day and age where I can access platforms such as this and my intentions are to make good use of them by using my writing skills to produce pieces on subjects that matter to me. There is no point in sitting around waiting for someone else to do something about it. If I want to see changes I need to use the skills and knowledge that I'm blessed with to contribute to raising awareness for issues I'm passionate about. Hence, one of the very reasons I started this blog.
I am unable to speak on behalf of everyone but I'm pretty sure that there are many people out there who share the same opinions as me and want to see the changes that will make life easier for them. I hope that through my writing I can find those people and inspire them to do the same.
In my local town we are very fortunate to have places of leisure such as a cinema and bowling alley. The downside for me and so many others out there is that due to our health/disabilities we are unable to access these places.
Our local cinema for example, has a small step up into the building.Yes, some people are able to access the cinema using a walking aid however, there are others who aren't as fortunate and need to use their wheelchair at all times.
Inside the building there are two levels; on the ground floor there are handful of small cinema screens and on the upper level there are as far as I know two main screens. Unfortunately, the second level cannot be accessed by those with mobility problems as it requires to climb a large flight of stairs. All of the new releases are shown upstairs which means that we A)wait for an airing of the movie downstairs to happen whenever that might happen or B)travel to the nearest cinema which is about a fifteen to twenty minutes drive away.
For younger people like myself it makes it difficult to be a part of cinema trips with our friends. Teenagers like the freedom of being able to meet up at the cinema; they can catch a bus or even walk there from where they live. No one wants to have to rely on somebody's parent to give everyone a lift to a cinema outwith town. All in all it makes everyone less independent and isn't part of being a teenager about becoming your own person and living more of an independent life?
Then there's the bowling alley which someone like myself who has a disability cannot access. Again, in order to enter the building climbing a large flight of stairs is required. There is no lift, nothing. Had I'd been able to access the bowling alley I know for sure that I would visit it as much as I possibly could. Just like the cinema situation, the nearest bowling alley is in another town around a fifteen to twenty minute drive away.
The local high-street has it's own set of problems for a wheelchair user to overcome. Fortunately, I always have someone with me to push my wheelchair and help me access where I need to go. However, there will be many wheelchair users who don't necessarily have someone accompanying them. Or just like any abled bodied person they want to be independent and go places by themselves.
What would make accessing the high-street independently possible for so many disabled would require just small changes implemented by the popular franchises that create our high-street.
It would seriously surprise you just how many times I've asked to use a variety of different store's wheelchair accessible changing rooms and they have been filled up with cardboard boxes and clothing rails. I must however, add that there has been one major high street store's changing room that I was extremely impressed with. Immediately, I was able to access it without having to ask a member of staff if they'd assist me in removing empty boxes and clothing rails. The changing room was extremely spacious meaning that I was able to manoeuvre my chair without any difficulty. Where as in many other shops I've visited over the years the disabled changing room was a small space that was practically impossible to turn around in. This meant I had to reverse my chair and rely on someone to help me with the door and warn me of any potential hazards that I may crash into behind me. The particular store that I was impressed with had evidently looked at the smaller details and designed the room to suit a wheelchair user's needs. For example; the mirrors had been designed to sit at specific angles to allow the person to see what their potential purchase looks like on themselves without having to twist their bodies in potentially straining positions whilst sitting in their wheelchair. This design really impressed me!
Inside shops I've noticed that it's increasingly becoming more and more difficult to actually manoeuvre myself around in my wheelchair. If you cannot get around a shop without some sort of walking aid; some shops become a big no no. In my local high street I can think of a few stores that are already a prime example to this. Of course I understand that the spaces inside a shop are small and limited to how products can be displayed but due to that very reason shops can also minimise their potential client base and loose out on business.
In comparison there are also stores much larger in size that literally cram displays into every single empty space within the building. Not only does this create challenges for people like myself, it also makes it difficult for those who are abled bodied. It's like going through a maze trying to avoid obstacles at ever corner you come to. When it comes to shops like the one I'm describing we usually avoid them at weekends whilst it is at it's busiest and instead we pop in on weekdays.
There are so many things I could list about the challenges that me alongside so many others face on daily basis as a wheelchair/mobility aid user. I completely understand that a lot of people won't realise that what seems like a little thing to them actually has such a big impact on so many lives. But that is why I'm here writing this today; if I don't who will? What a lot of people forget is that they don't know what tomorrow might bring and just how drastically what tomorrow brings could affect their lives.

Introducing "Jukebox Rhapsody"

Hello Everyone!

I hope that you're all doing well! This is just a short post to announce something that I'm very excited about. I've created a secondary blog which I have decided to name "Jukebox Rhapsody". My new blog will feature a range of posts that I've written on my love for music. These posts will include experiences of concerts/musical productions that I attend over the coming months, reviews of albums old and new and of course anything else that pops up along the way. If you have a spare few minutes why not pop on over and check it out on the following link; www.jukeboxrhapsody.blogspot.co.uk .

 

Hopefully, I will have a new post to share with you on both blogs over the next couple of days- so keep an eye out!

Best Wishes,

Robyn xx

What is it Like to Suffer Complex Regional Pain Syndrome?

Almost an exact year to date, after months of enduring countless medical appointments with no answers I was finally diagnosed with a condition named Complex Regional Pain Syndrome. The condition stemmed from pioneering knee surgery that I had in 2011. As Complex Regional Pain Syndrome isn't a widely recognised condition (I had never heard of it until I was diagnosed last year) I thought I'd write about what it's like to live with the condition.

Having Complex Regional Pain Syndrome means that basically I suffer constant pain in the affected areas of my body. From what I've heard CRPS can be caused by a whole host of things, mine has stemmed from the knee surgery I had back in 2011 but we cannot pinpoint the exact reason why I suffer from it. Due to the personal experiences I've had whilst suffering from the condition I have noticed that my pain flares are triggered by things such as emotion, stress and even cold weather.

It's difficult to describe what exactly the pain feels like; I haven't ever experienced pain like it before. The only way I could begin to describe it is that the pain feels like burning but I must emphasize that it's much more intense than "just burning". I mean this is the kind of pain that keeps you awake at night, it makes you feel sick and downright miserable.

I also experience pain in my hand and foot as over a period of time it has spread from my knee to other parts of my body. When the pain flares in my foot my heel turns a bright shade of red and stings whenever it touches or rubs against anything. It reminds me of having a carpet burn but on a much worse scale. On some occasions it swells making it both difficult and uncomfortable to wear a shoe on my right foot.

Apart from experiencing gruelling and debilitating pain I suffer a number of other symptoms that go alongside CRPS. My hand for example is extremely painful whenever I attempt to use it, particularly when it involves fine motor activity. Whenever I use my hand to do something or if I feel stressed, upset or even excited it goes into an uncontrollable tremor which is not much fun at all! I usually wear a splint in order to support my hand, keep it steady and minimise the tremor.

Complex Regional Pain Syndrome also affects my nails. I've experienced that the growth in my nails takes much longer than it used to they have also cracked for no apparent reason. When reading about CRPS it's apparent that nails are often affected leaving sufferers experiencing similar problems to the ones I have. My sleeping patterns are also affected drastically by the pain. It takes me forever to fall asleep at night due, meaning that I spend the following day yawning and feeling pretty tired.

I have quite a large scar spanning from just underneath my knee and doesn't stop till half way up my thigh (it's a similar shape to Harry Potter's lightning bolt scar except bigger) the skin round my scar feels numb but at the same time feels extremely sensitive as does the rest of my leg. I hate when anything rubs against both my knee and foot as it makes me jump due to it's sensitivity.

There has been times (mostly in the winter months) when my pain has gotten so bad that I had to go and lie in my bed for hours on end in complete darkness. I felt very sick at times and didn't feel much like eating which also caused problems because when I don't eat I cannot take pain relief to help ease the pain in the first place. Those winter's days were like nightmares! Whilst everyone is excited for winter hoping that it might snow I spend my time dreading it as I know the cold weather makes me feel so miserable! I know that if I decided to venture out into the snow that I should prepare to spend the following day in bed.

At the current moment there doesn't seem to be an exact cure for CRPS, I rely on coping mechanisms in order to manage my pain. Throughout the past few years I've spent a lot of time going back and forth to countless hospital appointments not just looking for answers but to also attend pain management clinics. At pain management clinics my consultant looked at a range of different treatments to help ease my pain. Some have had better results than others but for various reasons I felt that they weren't the right treatments for me due to side effects that went hand in hand with them. Using coping mechanisms and taking basic pain reliefs is the best way that I can manage my pain at this moment in time.

As much as my health frustrates me I always try to remain positive despite how difficult that can be. Hopefully some of what I write here on this blog will reach someone out there going through similar experiences to me. I think I  mentioned previously that there isn't a lot out there for people like myself. There are articles on the internet written by experts about my condition and others similar but there isn't much material written from the point of view of a person who lives with it everyday. Yes, a piece written by a professional is great; it's informative, looks at the facts, research and statistics that have been compiled together. I however, want to compose writing that is both relatable and appealing to someone of my age group.