Next month, I will be spending an afternoon at the magistrates’ court contesting a parking ticket I received a few months ago from Islington Council. I fully expect to win. For me the issue is not really the fact that the ticket was wrongly issued and that I will have righted a wrong, but more [...]
Last week, I went to my local Vue cinema to see True Grit. My jaw dropped to the ground when I was asked by an eager young girl for a Cinema Exhibitors Association card, as proof of entitlement to a seat for my companion (without whose help I could not have got in to watch [...]
Around 11m people are registered disabled in the UK. This is around 1 in 4 of all adults. They have real financial muscle, with a combined spending power of about £8Obn. But: Only 1 in 2 work, compared with around 4 in 5 non-disabled people. About 8 in every 10 without qualifications are out of [...]
Nearly all of my friends share the view that, since the arrival of the Disability Discrimination Act here in the UK, the quality of life of disabled people has improved no end. The less enlightened ones go on to say that because there’s a ramp into this taxi, or a hearing loop in that bank, [...]
Most people agree that the true sign of a modern and civilized society can be seen in the way that it treats those that are “weakest”. Social welfare, even in times of austerity, should ensure that the “weakest” do not slip through the net. For disabled people, the holes in the net have just got [...]
The description heroes has been applied liberally over the last few days to describe the Chilean miners. Every time I’ve heard this I’ve winced a little bit, in a very similar way to the way I feel when I hear disabled people referred to as heroic. The miners have been through an ordeal that they [...]
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 [...]
Last week I went to a friend’s wedding party. It was held in the basement health club that was his own small business. I used the elevator to get down to basement level. He half complained about how he had been obliged by the law to spend a fortune for his small business fitting the [...]
In response to my last blog entry, a comic-collecting friend reminded me that, ever since the 60’s, Marvel Comics has introduced many characters (often super-powered) with imperfections. This contrasts with the other big comic company, DC, creator of smart and traditionally handsome figures like Superman and Batman. Marvel characters have ranged from the science nerd, [...]
Last week, I noticed in the newspaper that a new superhero is coming to US bookstores. The Silver Scorpion, a Muslim boy in a wheelchair, will be arriving there in November. Perhaps this is indicative of a fresh more positive portrayal of disabled people. In fact, a wheelchair manufacturer I know was recently approached about [...]