Blogs

Stuck on the Beach “Again”
Got the drive wheels well down into the sand just going for one more shiny pebble on the beach at Llandulas, North Wales today. It’s not the first time I’ve been stuck in my wheelchair on the beach & it won’t be the last !!
Only took 5 hefty lads to get me to hard ground this time….by no means a record.
My record is 8 helpful volunteers in Lanzarote.. They were mixed nationalities of Brits & Germans. The Spanish locals just stood and stared as 4 lads carried me & 4 carried the power-chair.
Not learning much I got stuck the next year in Lanzarote again (nicer beach this time) and helped by Postniners & a group of lovely Spanish Ladies who fed us after from their Traditional Canarian BBQ.
The longest & most enjoyable time I’ve been stuck on a beach was at the Nos Latinos Concert in Los Christianos Tenerife..8pm to 8am..well stuck in the sand in my manual chair..The Postnine lads had gone off in the 300,000 crowd of partygoers looking for ladies and forgot where they had left me…my wallet in Pauls pocket !!
Fortunately I was stuck next to a group of new age travellers from Lanzarote who kept me supplied with Brandy “from the North of the Island”. Many sexy Latino ladies dancing around me and on my knee during the night meant I completely forgot I was stuck “until” 8am when the beach was cleared with bulldozers. I was carried to the promenade by my new friends and went off to find the nearest “Brit”Hotel where the nice Thompson Rep. phoned Paul to pay for my taxi at the other end. Glad to hear from me weren’t you son.
Where do I want to get to get stuck in the sand next,,let me think? Maldives ??

The official figure for disability benefit fraud is just 0.5%. That is 1 in 200... NOT the 93% of the first headline or 75% of the second headline.

To get disability benefits is NOT easy, it is a long process which includes getting a proper diagnosis from a specialist in that specific medical field. The claimant MUST produce a medical certificate to show that their condition is genuine and their doctor believes that they should not be working in that condition. Even then, the government put claimants through their own medical examinations which are intended to stop people claiming despite the diagnosis from a highly trained and qualified specialist and the assessment of the claimant's doctor.

So the idea that such high numbers get through all these steps, fooling every medical professional and the government's own assessment team, is just plain ridiculous. It is just government propaganda, aimed at making people hate disabled people so that the government can take money away from disabled people and leave them to starve.

In this political season when we the people are faced with deciding which road to take for this generation, and those that follow, it is easy for many to take the path of least resistance otherwise known as the apathetic route, and proclaim: “politicians…they’re all the same” consequently abdicating their responsibility at the polls. The earth shaking issues tilting the Richter scale are: the economy, jobs, national security, and immigration. Underneath that layer are other issues no less profound, and impact the future of this land of the free, and home of the brave. Social issues seem to be relegated to the second tier of importance, and are looked upon with a snobbish nose of disdain. I ask you to consider a story posted on disabilityscoops.com, by Shaun Heasley , dated May 15, 2012. The headline reads: States Look To End ‘Wrongful Birth’ Suits. Apparently lawmakers from Arizona to New Jersey are looking to sharply limit the ability of parents to pursue legal action against doctors when their children are born with various disabilities, including the one you may have been born with. As I see it, the issues are: a doctors’ legal obligation to inform parents of the possibility of a birth defect, the unborn child’s right to life, and the parent’s choice. Another question to chew on is once a decision is made for or against life, who is affected most? Is it mom, dad, extended family, or in the end, the individual the choice was presumably made for? All of the above considered, one has to ask, if an in the womb procedure were the choice, would that choice have its place in convenience, cost, preservation, or for the sake of the unborn child? I dare not speak for you, or presume I know your belief system, but I would venture to say, that like me, with tears rolling down your cheeks, you have asked on more than one occasion, why God, why was I born this way? The technology available today was not accessible when I was born. If it were, and my mom knew I would be born with a disability, and she made the convenient choice, then I would’ve never have had the opportunity to experience the gift of family, of learning, of singing, of music, of reading, of dancing, of loving, of saying yes, of competing internationally as a disabled athlete, of traveling around the world, of touching the lives of countless people because of my disability, of knowing a wife, children, and grandchildren. If the politics of the day, and the players are disagreeable, then for our society, and culture, go to the polls, and vote for life’s’ sake. It is the social issue of our time.

I was flying to Knoxville this morning on company business when I saw a woman pre-board my flight with what looked like the biggest service dog I'd ever seen. It was a coal-black New Foundland and if you've ever seen one they are one of the largest breeds of dog imagineable. Well, since she was on one of OUR airplanes (ExpressJet) and it is my very business to train airline employees how to serve passengers with disabilities I introduced myself and gave her my business card. She had Multiple Sclerosis and chose her dog on the basis of strength and stability. It seems she has both balance and stamina issues and her dog (his name is Teddy) serves as a support for her as she travels and apparently she travels a lot. Mind you this is on a smaller regional jet (CRJ200)and holds just 50 passengers so the dog seemed to get a LOT bigger as he settled into the bulkhead seating area. Today, I met a really nice plucky lady and still another task that a service dog can do to help an individual overcome obstacles as they travel. Having these meaningful encounters is the BEST part of my job. Now, if they would just double my pay I would have the perfect job.