Accessibility Problems

charm.ie

Hi everyone,

I'm a Masters student, studying Journalism in DCU at present. Currently I'm working on a project regarding the problem of wheelchair accessibility in Ireland.

So far the general opinion that I've been hearing is that despite the government investing €13 million in wheelchair accessibility, it still remains a major problem for countless numbers of people in their day-to-day lives.

Do you agree/disagree? Does accessibility have a major impact on your own life? I would love to hear any input you have on this opinion.

plon

Hi
You picked a good time to raise this topic .. wheelchairs and snow :mad:
House bound for the last two days except for one venture to the local shop where the one and only wheelchair parking spot outside the door was covered with snow .. self propelled wheelchairs are nigh impossible to move in deep snow (or any snow for that matter). In this case the shopkeeper god bless him or her had cleaned all the rest of the area around the front door for the wellbeing of everybody else except the wheelchair user :eek:

Plon

plon

I could go on on this rant for the night tomorrow and forever

I suggest you try out a wheelchair for a while. Go to all the usual spots you would go to over a few days including the local pub, cinema, night club, restaurant and so on. Make sure nobody blows your cover though so you can also check out some peoples prejudices (note: I said "some").

Enjoy the trip

plon

Getting out today at last (before I go mad) theres a thaw on and a friend is calling who will assist me to get through the slush

plon

Got out again today as there was a bit of a thaw on. At the local church I couldn't find a wheelchair parking spot, loads of ordinary spaces but none wide enough.
So I headed for Dunlaoghaire for some fresh air. Guess what ... I got a puncture .
Luckily I have spare wheels at home (a complete spare wheelchair). However, they have solid tyres so I'll see how I get on and see what the difference is between pumped wheels and solid wheels.. (until I get the puncture fixed)

plon

Visited doctor surgery today - he came out to the car with stethoscope no problem and checked out the old chest, beats the waiting room anyday

plon

frozen with cold tonight, cant get warm so going to bed early

plon

Not possible to dress a bed from a wheelchair as I can only get at one side and cant reach the other side without going into it

plon

Went into Brown Thomas car park today to do a bit of xmas shopping in Grafton St .. disaster .. no available wheelchair parking spots or any space at all wide enough to get out a wheelchair.. had to endure many impatient motorists behind me while I sought to get out of the car park having been unable to validate the ticket :mad: I just went home

plon

This evening I got caught in a snow storm on the N11 and it was very stressful. People were abandoning their cars and walking. Every so often I'd glance at the wheelchair on the passenger seat next to me and wondered what kind of an idiot was I to allow myself get caught in this situation. What would I do if I got stuck or somebody caused me to slide off the road? How would I be rescued? Trying to live an independent life as a wheelchair user brings its challenges but tonights experience ranks up there at the top in terms of the challenges facing wheelchair users. I think I've definetely lost some of my nerve after tonights episode.

PS this is obviously not a wheelchair accessibility issue just my own foolishness in getting caught

snorlax

charm.ie wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I'm a Masters student, studying Journalism in DCU at present. Currently I'm working on a project regarding the problem of wheelchair accessibility in Ireland.

So far the general opinion that I've been hearing is that despite the government investing €13 million in wheelchair accessibility, it still remains a major problem for countless numbers of people in their day-to-day lives.

Do you agree/disagree? Does accessibility have a major impact on your own life? I would love to hear any input you have on this opinion.

there's a paper called Building for everyone(2003) published by the NDA if your interested in the subject.