The urban environment

Attracting wheelchair users makes business sense

A couple of years ago, I went to Barcelona.  As a wheelchair user who travels a lot, I am depressingly used to things being pretty hard work.  In many countries access is patchy at best (most wheelchair users therefore end up going back to the same places again and again). But Barcelona was a breath [...]

Paralympics may mask London’s lack of infrastructure

We moved to Australia from the UK partly because it is a lot easier to get around here outside the home.  Buildings are newer, there’s more space, and generally people seem a bit more willing to help. Of course, this is a skewed view, because I come from London – where everything is old, there’s [...]

Why I harp on about parking

Like many disabled people, I may sound like a stuck record, going on and on about parking. The reason I do is because not being able to park near where you're going has a huge direct, and often indirect, impact on your quality of life if you're disabled. Generally speaking, many disabled people will have [...]

“The lucky country” ….or is it?

I haven’t written this blog for a few months, because in July I moved to Australia.  I won’t go into detail here about the enormous logistical task it was for my wife, myself (and our cat) to relocate to the other side of the world, but I will say hats off to Justine for bringing [...]

The cost of bureaucracy

As I said in my last blog entry, I was due to contest a parking ticket that I was disputing, and which I expected to win. My date with the adjudicator was last week. I came out of the hearing only half-smiling.  The lawyer who was adjudicating concluded that he could not deem the issue [...]

Viva Barcelona!

I’ve just returned from a six-day break in Barcelona. Two things struck me in particular about a wheelchair-using disabled person spending time in this wonderful city. Firstly, the ability to get to so many places is like a breath of fresh air for a wheelchair user – particularly one like me, coming from London. Both [...]

The inaccessible built environment

I arrived in London to complete my Everything is Possible in Life Cycle ride nearly 3 weeks ago. Back home, when I first sat in my powered wheelchair again (having spent a month on the road without it), I felt like I was being given some independence back. For 32 days, when I wasn’t cycling, [...]