Being a Wheelchair User in Modern Britain

When I first found myself in a position that I had to use a wheelchair, I was barely a teenager, and found myself in an entirely different world.

All of a sudden I had people opening doors, for my carer, speaking to my carer as if I didn’t exist. At school, homework was explained to my carer, and finding myself totally ignored I started to lose interest. Aside from the inevitable bullying that comes with being different, I got used to it all.

After a couple of years I slowly regained the use of legs and got back on my feet. I had never felt so liberated in my life. Unfortunately this was reasonably short lived. Again a few weeks ago, I lost the use of my legs, whilst not on the same scale as when I was a child, it was still very debilitating, and even more so when it came to attempting to arrange the help and support of Devon & Cornwall NHS, as well as Plymouth Council, the help and support beyond making a very few small and minor adjustments, essentially making my home slightly more accessible. I had five cancelled appointments over a period of 2 weeks, and the limited amount of help provided by Plymouth Council, has tailed off nearly as quickly as it began.

Again more appointments were made with Devon & Cornwall NHS and whilst they are yet to happen, I do not hold out my hope for them happening. It seems to me in this so called “Modern Britain” that the services which people rely on the most are the services that are the shortest in terms of staffing, and qualified individuals to run the appropriate services.

I would urge that you as UK citizens rise up and help everyone that relies on those ever so important services by protesting to your local MP.