Ordinary Hopes

Four years ago we took the decision to remove Adam from school. He had already been out of school for six months, recovering from surgery to correct a dislocated hip. The injury had happened at school and could have been avoided if only we had been listened to. I couldn’t face sending him back. It wasn’t just because of… Continue reading School isn’t always best.

I came across an article online which questioned whether toys which reflect disability are a good thing. Children often use toys to tell their stories. My son does. Meet Tina. Adam named her and told me she needed a powered wheelchair. He wanted her chair to be blue, like his. She is a full time wheelchair… Continue reading Not all toys can walk.

I am not the most comfortable of people when it comes to sharing aspects of my life online. I have had a personal Facebook account for years but I don’t share a lot of personal things. Many friends don’t even know when my birthday is. I am the person who apologises if someone else steps… Continue reading Discomfort.

If when you arrived at the zoo, for example, you discovered that all their toilets were out of action, I am assuming that you would probably choose to go somewhere else. But what if that place had the same problem? And the next? That is our world. That is the world for hundreds of thousands of children and adults all… Continue reading What would you do?

All too often businesses will pull out the argument that they don’t need to improve toilet facilities because they are already “meeting minimum legal standards”. They are, after all, providing a “toilet-with-a-wheelchair-logo-on-the-door”. They don’t see the need to do anything else. Indeed, an Asda store recently won praise for putting another sign on that door to… Continue reading That logo on the door.

I am sure that we all agree that equal access matters. I am sure that we agree that a person should not be treated less favourably due to disability. The Equality Act is clear on this! Yet there is a huge reluctance to move forward and make improvements. We know what is needed. We know… Continue reading The simple way to equality…

When I started writing, it was never intended to be solely about toilets. After all, surely my life is bigger than that? So I started to think about the places we have been to this summer and thought I could share those memories. Turns out we haven’t done much. We did go to Bristol Children’s… Continue reading Not about toilets!