The Blue Badge system is undergoing a review in both Wales and Scotland. Both countries are consulting on possible changes to the system and are seeking the views of as many badge users as possible.

There are slight differences between the Blue Badge Scheme in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This can cause confusion and the current reviews could offer the opportunity to bring all countries in to line. This could reduce the chances of making mistakes but could also reduce some of the concessions available to Badge users.

Wales

Proposals being put forward in Wales include:

• Extending access to children under 3 years old
• Allowing people with “Temporary Disabilities” to use a Blue Badge for the duration of their disability.
• Find further details on the Welsh Blue Badge Review at:  http://jfi.me/r

Scotland

In Scotland Blue Badge holders can currently park on yellow lines for as long as they need. Proposed changes include:

• Introducing a maximum stay of 3 hours for parking on single and double yellow lines. This would bring Scotland into line with the rest of the UK.
• Banning Parking on Double Yellow Lines. This move is apparently backed by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents but could make it much more difficult for people to park near to their destination.
• The full document can be found at:  http://jfi.me/s

What Are Your Views?

Obviously there is the potential for quite major changes to the systems currently in use. I believe there could be improvements made to the application process and making it more standardised across the UK. Mobilise have found that there are some councils issuing Blue Badges to everyone over a certain age regardless of other qualifying criteria, yet elsewhere people with genuine need are rejected!

Your views can be sent directly to the Consultation Administrators via the links above. Alternatively, Mobilise are preparing a response and you are welcome to post your thoughts as a comment on this post or on our Facebook Page (the ideal place to start a discussion!).

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Here’s a story from the BBC that deserves as much publicity as possible. It features a chap called Qamar Khaliq who asked a guard to help him get onto his train. The response? The Guard didn’t even acknowledge his presence, let alone try to help.

Unfortunately for the guard, Qamar filmed the whole thing!

Click on the link to see the video on the BBC website.

http://jfi.me/n

Suspended

The Manchester Evening News spoke to Qamar after the event. He said that despite the incident leaving him feeling vulnerable and even less likely to use rail travel in the future, the guard should not be sacked. He has been suspended though, pending investigation.

The paper carries a link to a YouTube video of the incident but unfortunately it has been removed for a “Terms of Use Violation”!?! A link to the paper’s story is in the Related Articles section below (some of the comments are interesting!).

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• Don’t sack rail guard who snubbed me (menmedia.co.uk)

This story is quite well known now but there has been a recent call for help that you just might have missed!

The Campaign

A little while ago a bloke called Mark Cooper was forced to leave the pub he was drinking in with his mates.  The reason? He needed the loo!

Most of the pub was accessible to him in his wheelchair but the toilets were not. Something he didn’t realise until he needed to go.

Encouraged by his mates, Mark started a campaign using a Facebook page to spread the word. Big publicity came his way when Capability Scotland added their weight and the campaign soon gained national attention.

The Result

Success came at the end of June in the form of an amendment to the Criminal Justice and Licensing Act. The act now says that premises must give information about how a Disabled Person will access the venue as part of the Licence application.

What’s Next?

Well the hard work is really just beginning. The Scottish Parliament now needs to know what information it needs to get from potential licensees and, guess what? They’re asking us!!

For more information and to add your views, head over to the Facebook page Mark created: http://jfi.me/k

I’ve got a snail mail address too, just ask if you want it!!

Today’s newsletter from Scope brings news of their latest campaign about access to public transport.  Scope started out life as a charity campaigning and raising awareness about Cerebral Palsy.  Recently they have expanded their campaigns to a more general Disability message including their successful Disablism campaign.

Scope’s website makes an interesting read. Find it here: http://jfi.me/Z

I was looking through Google the other day and found a couple of sites that said they gave access information for places to visit.  The thing is, when I got to the sites, there was very little useful information there at all.  Unfortunately, I think some of the sites only exist to try and attact advertising and paid clicks – not all of course, but definately some!

I would like to be part of creating a really useful resource.  The thing is, I don’t get to visit all that many places.  This limits the number of reviews/reports that I can produce!

On the other hand though, on the days that I do get out and about, I want to know that the place I’m going is accessible enough for me to enjoy being there.

Here’s where you can help.  Join in, give us some ideas, hints, tips or full blown reviews.  If there are a few more folk taking part, we can build something worth having.  Something useful that could brighten up the lives of other Disabled People!

I’m not interested in advertising or paid clicks, I want to be part of a site that does good!

You can comment below, contact me or use the “Wall” on the right.  I’m currently looking at ways to make it easier to take part – BuddyPress is one thought.  If you’ve got any ideas or know anything about BuddyPress, please give me a shout!

Things haven’t really gone to plan since I started this site.  I’ve had a few medical problems that have got in the way a little!  Despite the the articles being a little thin on the ground though, the site gets a surprising amount of traffic.  I have also had a lot more correspondence with readers than I expected.  For some reason people seem to prefer emailing me directly rather than adding comments on the site but nevertheless there is obviously a need that people are hoping this site can fill.

Moving Forward

Now that I’m back on my feet, I’m very open to ideas about how to take this site forward.  One thing that I would be keen on is to increase the level of community involvement but there are a number of ways of doing this.  Of course, this also depends on the willingness of people to join in!

For this reason, I am hoping that some people will join in this discussion.  I would really like to hear more about what people think is currently missing.  There are lots of sites that try to offer the disabled community a voice and a place to talk to each other, but is something missing from these or could they do with being just a little more independent?

Ideas?

Just for starters, there are a number of ideas that could be developed further:

• Using Forum software to create a place for people to discuss……well, anything really!
• A Dig.com style site where members can share links and stories they find interesting on the net.
• Creating a site based around the Facebook model.  Each member has a “Wall” that they can develop and share with others.
• Creating a “Multi-User” Blogging system.  Anyone that’s interested can create their own site which can then be linked together into a network.
• Creating a simple “Links Library” providing links that are useful to the disabled community as a whole.
• ANY COMBINATION of the above plus YOUR ideas.

I have no vested interest here, I simply want to try and create something that the disabled community will find useful.  I think there is a general lack of support for disabled people, so maybe we just need to concentrate more on supporting each other.

Join In

Please let me know what you think would be of use to you.  If this site was ideal, what would it look like and what would it be providing for you.

Contact Me

Please get in touch and let me know your ideas about this.  If you feel comfortable, add a comment to the end of this post.  If you’re on the Home page, click the post title and scroll to the bottom of the post.  If you’d rather, you are more than welcome to use the Contact Form to contact me directly.

Either way, Please get in touch!  Something brought you to this site in the first place.  If you didn’t find what you wanted, tell me what’s missing.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Jamie.

BBC – Boo Hiss

Despite a fantastic fortnight of coverage during the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, the BBC have decided to show almost no coverage at all of the Paralympic Winter Games.

Obviously we think this is an absolutely disgraceful decision but if we spent all our time moaning about it, we’d miss all the fun.  So, where can we see the action?

Where to Watch?

I’ve just been to the International Paralympic Committee website at:

http://www.paralympic.org

They are carrying a huge amount of information, including latest news and views about the Winter Games.  They cover a lot more than just the Winter Games though, so hopefully there is something for everyone there.

On the IPC website, there is an advert for:

http://ParalympicSport.tv

This site (at the time of writing) is currently showing the opening ceremony from the last Winter Games but they have a countdown to the Opening Ceremony in Vancouver tomorrow.  This certainly looks like a site to bookmark.  They are promising a lot of streamed content.

Anywhere Else?

I’ve certainly developed an interest in the games this time around, so I’m going to keep my eyes peeled for sites that are covering these games.

I’m sure there will be a lot that I miss though, so if you know a good place to watch the action, please let us know.  Just add a comment after this post!

What Is It?

From the site:

Healthtalkonline is the award-winning website of the DIPEx charity and replaces the website formerly at dipex.org. Healthtalkonline lets you share in other people’s experiences of health and illness. You can watch or listen to videos of the interviews, read about people’s experiences and find reliable information about conditions, treatment choices and support.

This is a clean and simple looking site that aims to educate and support people with worries about their health by sharing experiences of others.  There is a fair range of both sort and long term medical problems touched on but there is also a lot missed.

I like the approach and I like the content that they have but I would like to see more!  There is a forum that has potential but it’s not that busy at the moment.

Visit:

http://www.healthtalkonline.org

http://www.youthhealthtalk.org