Disability Discrimination-it's still happening

Today I went out for a lovely meal with one of my very best friends, we had a great time and it was very nice over in Gunwarf Quays this evening. There was a brass band playing Christmas hymns lights up everywhere and a generally nice Christmas atmosphere. However all of my Christmas spirit disappeared thanks to a security guard. 

I was in Boots in Gunwarf, when the security guard asked me to leave, repeatedly.   I had done absolutely nothing wrong, I was stood with my friend looking at toothbrushes, and Gus was sitting at my side good as gold.

The security Guard came over and pointed at Gus and said ‘not allowed in here’, his English was by all accounts terrible.   I explained that Gus is a Guide dog and that he is allowed in shops, the security guard, either did not understand or simply ignored me pointed again and said ‘not allowed in here’.

At this point I informed the guard that he was breaking the law and asked to speak to the manager. He said that the manager was not there and walked off.

This is the first time I have ever been asked to leave a shop, and it was because of one member of staff’s complete lack of disability awareness.

It really upset me, big time; I was shaking with a mixture of anger and sorrow at the time. I will be phoning the manager tomorrow morning to inform her of what has happened.

It really hit home also that I know some Guide Dog owners face this kind of discrimination every day, everyday they are stopped from going about there business by peoples complete lack of understanding.

Given all the press coverage that The Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) has got all over Brittan and the steps that companies have to take to make sure there services are accessible I am disgusted.

This example proves that disability discrimination is still a problem in the UK.

Asking me to leave with my guide dog is just the same as asking a wheelchair user to leave their wheelchair outside.

As a major chain Boots should know better, they should be training all their staff in all aspects of The DDA. Furthermore their staff should be able to communicate in and understand English, as I am sure this contributed to the issue I faced today.

Well there we have it a day ruined by the misunderstanding of one person.

I am a very passionate campaigner for disability rights and do all I possibly can to educate people on my own disability so that hopefully they can gain a better understanding of the barriers faced by people who are VI.

I thought we had moved on passed the stage where people are regularly removed from shops due to the presence of an assistance dog, apparently I am mistaken.

Fashion advice!

OK I have done something I promised myself I would never do!

I have brought myself some proper blindy fit over cover all sunglasses.

Now in the picture on the website they did not look too bad there are in plum which is supposedly a purple colour, and they had a kind of fade down kind of effect so there where dark at the top and slightly lighter at the bottom. now in reality they are a VERY VERY dark grey with a hint of puple, not quite the shade I was expecting but that aside I need to know can I get away with wearing them in public or do they look seriously bad on me!

This is a serious question so please be brutally honest this is me asking for YOUR fashion advice!

So here's the picture

shopping

Well I got some interesting news last week, DofE is back, we have at last found an assessor, we are going in approximately 2 weeks. one problem my walking boots have holes in!

Today said walking boots where placed into the bin, and a small ceremony took place, they where my first walking boots, I wore them constantly when I first got them. It took me a long time to find them, my feet are so strange to find a pair of decent comfy walking boots was a challenge, but there they where.

But as time has passed they have grown old, been scuffed and scraped, coated in inch thick layers of mud, paddled in the sea, been on huge hikes and little walks down the bay. they where reliable sturdy and above all comfortable.

That was until recently due to there repetitive hard use, they developed holes on the inside, right by my little toe, this then resulted in me developing(HUGE) blisters when I wore them for short periods of time. Then due to there age as time went on they became less and less water tight despite various attempts to reproof them wet feet still prevailed.

I had tried once before to replace them but that particular shopping trip came to no great ends. I could not find any that worked for me and my feet, so today I left the house to go to find some new ones, which I needed desperately with slight apprehension.

I arrived at the store, had a look tried one pair one, they where too narrow, then tried the next and they fitted like a glove! It was a purely shocking experience I had warned the assistant that this was likely to be a long job, but it wasn't they where perfect.

so I now have a beautiful new pair of Hi-tec Meridian eVENT walking boots in brown, and can I just say I would really recommend them there great!

Rose and Jem's big Adventure

I'm going on an adventure!!!!

Me and a friend are going camping for a few days to the isle of Purbeck, its not til mid august but I'm excited! It's the first time ether of us have gone camping independently on our own, we are both experienced campers though me being a guide leader, Rose previously a guide and we have both done duke of Edinburgh. This however is like the test if we survive we'll do it again on a more regular bases, and we will no we both have the necessary skills to further are adventures.

Its going to be really fun, we have found a lovely campsite called Tom's filed (they have a blog, I've linked to it in my blog list!) its beautiful surrounded by Fields and within hiking distance of the Swanage steam railway, corfe castle , old harry rock and the notorious dancing ledge, all of which we plan to visit!

As an experienced camper I already had loads of the gear we needed, but yesterday I went out and brought the rest! I managed to get a bargain to, 3 gas canisters for the price of 2, and the gas burner itself is tiny it only weighs 195g which is good considering we are doing the trip backpack style, so everything has to fit in our 2 bags!

I also got some very scary matches, there called cyclone...which is I guess a clue they might be slightly scary. They are wind and water proof and come in a florescent orange watertight container, perfect I thought a) we wont lose them and b) they will even light in the rain. well when I got home from the shopping trip I got out the gas and the burner and the matches to check everything worked OK, which it did. When it came to lighting the match it was terrifying, I lit it and ....well I don't no what to compare it to it was like a sparkler the flame went racing down the match sparking, I tried to blow it out and couldn't, there wind proof , it was seriously near my fingers within a second so I threw it, as far away from the gas canisters as I could as I realised it it went out thank god! I guess I'll no for next time, I wasn't expecting it to be quite so ferocious.

Basically we are both really excited even though its 3 weeks away we are looking forward to it a lot!

We are both hoping we don't have to use are first aid skills, but with me going the likely hood is high. I'm hoping I don't have to peel my hand off barbed wire again!