Before we started our 36 mile day from Montrose to Dundee, over a full Scottish breakfast we were excited to see my photo on the front page of the Dundee Courier.
An article on the ride talked at some length about my particular point of view – that invariably people with disabilities are defined by what they can’t do. They are disabled. I much prefer the description differently abled. People with disabilities often can’t do things in “normal” ways, therefore, they do things in different ways – finding ingenious solutions to living through seeing things from another perspective (a little like this ‘double’ image).
This need to do things differently, leads I think to a degree of ingenuity. People with disabilities have to find different, more novel ways of approaching things.
So, for example, I cannot ride a bike from Aberdeen to London. Instead of a bike, I looked for something that wouldn’t need me to balance – hence a trike. I cannot use my partially paralysed left arm for fine movement like changing gear or breaking. Therefore, my trike was especially adapted so that all operations are made on the right side. And because of my lack of depth of field and inability to spot things like potholes, I needed an outrider in front of me. This, together with the fact that my average speed is barely 7 mph means that, in order to embark on this journey, I needed a support vehicle too. Therefore, there are three of us.
After another thigh burning climb out of Montrose we passed through golf courses and fields before reaching the outskirts of Dundee. By complete luck, as Justine and I lost the cycle path and started looking at a local map, a cyclist who had read about the campaign in his local paper put us back on track.
Interest around the ride gathered pace the next morning after we got waved off by the Lord Provost of Dundee. He presented me a bottle of whisky (to be consumed after the ride) and a motor escort to the Tay Bridge.
Crossing the Tay Bridge along the central reservation with cars speeding on either side was a surreal experience.
We approached Kirkcaldy late. Just after this photo was taken, the heavens opened, the road became far too dangerous and we packed up. One of the things we are keen to avoid at all costs is causing an accident. We are making this ride to positively influence perceptions of disability – not to increase the number of disabled people!
Over the last few days I’ve been in contact with Sarah Brown about my campaign. She decided to offer her support by meeting and waving me off from our hotel. The press was also there (see a short video at http://bit.ly/cw7UKm).
Getting Sarah’s support was really helpful in creating momentum. It did mean setting off for Edinburgh late in the day but it was worth it.
The day suddenly became extra long after the chain on my trike broke. It involved finding a cycle shop – a rare thing in Kirkcaldy!
It was 7 o’clock before the Forth Bridge came into view and 8 o’clock before we finally reached out hotel on the other side.
