Welcome to the latest Independent Living newsletter. If you prefer, you can read this on our website by clicking the link below:
http://newsletter.independentliving.co.uk/Contents:
1. Children's Mobility Needs Not Met
2. NHS "Care" for Elderly Patients
3. Built-In Obsolescence or Future-Proofing
4. Urgent Operational Requirements, Huh?
5. Fighting Loneliness in Old Age
6. Last Minute Bits and Bobs
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1. Children's Mobility Needs Not Met
Many of our loyal Independent Living site subscribers are businesses dedicated to meeting the needs of children with disabilities, providing extremely specialised and often quite costly equipment to enable families with a disabled child to live life with more ease and comfort than would otherwise be the case, and crucially, ensuring that the child with special needs is not left out of activities because of their limited mobility.
I was dismayed to learn recently that children with very severe mobility problems are being denied the opportunity of using the latest generation power chairs because of a legal technicality which is frankly absurd. Some of these chairs are rather heavy, weighing more than 150 kg, and for this reason, they are classified as cars, rather than "invalid carriages"(a term which could also benefit from updating). As cars, they are forbidden to young people under the age of 17, who are too young to drive.
For families with a youngster who has a degenerative condition, such as muscular dystrophy, the idea that they are prevented from using a wonderful mobility aid that could help them participate more fully in life at school and at home, because of a ridiculously pointless rule, must be painful in the extreme. For many, it will be too late by the time they are 17.
Suppliers of highly functional sit to stand powerchairs, such as Etac UK, and Newlife and other charities who help to fund them for children in need, are lobbying Maria Miller, Minister for Disabled People, to get the law changed as quickly as possible. Sadly, there does not currently seem to be a great deal of movement from the minister's side.
This is our area with products to help children:
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2. NHS "Care" for Elderly Patients
The rational, grown-up part of me is well aware that no matter how much anger or despair I express here, I am not going to achieve a scintilla of change. Nonetheless, there is still the other part that clings to the idea that outrage might be contagious, and that if a lot of people feel the same way, then perhaps we will be able to alter something as important as the way our National Health Service treats many of the older patients entrusted to its care.
Following the first published results of the CQC (Care Quality Commission) inspections of hospital wards up and down the country, I was angry enough to write my weekly blog in less than measured terms, as this latest in a long line of negative reports revealed patients suffering miserable – and illegal – neglect of their basic needs.
Old age isn't something that just happens to other people: we are all likely to reach a stage in our lives when we really need good care from an institution we have paid to support throughout our working lives. Ideas on how we can protect the interests of every older patient would be much appreciated:
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3. Built-In Obsolescence or Future-Proofing
A number of enquiries that have come our way recently involve expensive adaptations that no longer meet the needs of the user.
For example, a wheelchair accessible vehicle that doesn't accommodate current seating needs. An adapted bathroom that was absolutely fine until the user's mobility became more reduced, so a hoist became necessary, and there isn't enough room. A kitchen which is perfect except for the fact that the eye-level oven is overhead and out of reach, now that the cook is permanently in a wheelchair.
All these are reminders that any big-ticket purchase should be accompanied by a lot of careful thought. Modular design has done a great deal to ensure that products can change with the user, and thoughtful manufacturers try to future-proof their offerings, by building in flexibility and adjustability, as far as possible. The ability to adapt to a person's changing needs, or indeed to the needs of a different user, is becoming increasingly important, as tight budgets dictate that social services make the most of the mobility equipment they invest in; refurbishing and reissuing making better financial sense than discarding and replacing.
You can't plan for every possible future contingency, but some forethought will help ensure that you aren't caught out by changes that are predictable. If you'd like to share any examples, of either quick obsolescence or great future-proofing, please tell me about them!
You can email us, post a comment on our Facebook wall:
http://www.facebook.com/IndependentLiving or send us a Tweet, @IndLiving.
Whatever works best for you, we'd love to hear your stories.
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4. Urgent Operational Requirements, Huh?
May not be entirely unconnected with item 2 in this newsletter, but I am beginning to receive a steady trickle of personal stories of redundancy within the care industry; an inevitable consequence of the governmental budget cuts that are being imposed.
I started ruminating about this in the blog last week, and the way in which money can apparently always be found for running wars, no matter how straitened the times. The Ministry of Defence has a neat phrase: "urgent operational requirements". What it means is that equipment which hasn't been bought as part of the ministry's normal budget, either because of incompetence or lack of resources, can be acquired at the last moment as an emergency purchase (you can imagine what that does to the price).
Wouldn't it be great if social care resources could be subject to the same regime of urgent requirements? As always, you can add your own thoughts to the blog, whether you agree or disagree!
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5. Fighting Loneliness in Old Age
June is a month when many organisations are focusing on the challenges of getting older, and I have had communications about various projects, a couple of which really caught my eye.
Abbeyfield Week includes a Skills Swap, which is intended to try and bridge the gap between generations, following research showing that neither teenagers nor the over-65s have much respect for each other. From lack of morals and loss of family values to laziness and poor writing skills, a majority of the over-65s were less than impressed with what they saw as typical traits of young people. The latter responded with a belief that older people were stuck in the past, prejudiced against them (looks like they may have a point there!), and clueless about technology.
A lot of the mutual suspicion surely comes from the fact that as a society, we seem to have lost the knack for mixing age groups. Activities are very often age-based, either overtly or in a subliminal way, making it difficult to find friends who aren't your contemporaries. So, an opportunity to share skills and experience seems like a great way to start breaking down those barriers. Some of the events that have already been planned during the week 10 to 19 June include internet training from Loughborough University students; schoolchildren introducing their smart phones, iPods etc to home residents in New Malden; and Pendyrus Male Choir giving a masterclass to school choirs in Taunton. You can find out more on the Abbeyfield Week website:
http://www.abbeyfieldweek.co.uk/From 20 to 26 June, Friends of the Elderly have come up with a poignant way to highlight the loneliness experienced by more than 1 million older individuals in Britain. Isolation Week is a social experiment that will see 10 volunteers experiencing life as it is for older people who feel trapped in their own homes. They will spend the week alone in their home with only a television for company, and with vision-impairing glasses and special gloves to simulate some of the effects of ageing. Their daily video diaries and one way Twitter feeds can be followed on the Isolation Week website:
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6. Last Minute Bits and Bobs
If you are fond of taking family photos, you have just got time to get involved with Stannah Stairlifts' competition. You upload your favourite images to their Flickr group pool, to be in with a chance of having your lifelong dream come true. The photographs will be made into a photo book and displayed in a public gallery space, so this sounds like a great project to get involved with, even without the possibility of winning that great prize! This is the link to follow for the competition on Flickr - closing date is Friday, 10th June:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/thegreatbritishfamilyphotopool/I wrote last time about Max Reid's more positive redesign of the international access symbol. Quite a few people asked for a high res version they could use in print or around their premises. If you would like a copy, it isn't too late, just drop me an e-mail and I'll be happy to send you one. You can see what it looks like, and compare it with the traditional version here:
http://www.independentlivingblog.co.uk/2011/05/international-symbol-of-access-time-to.htmlI hope you've enjoyed reading our latest newsletter. Don't forget you can now access all the news as soon as it is uploaded in our News Centre:
http://www.independentliving.co.uk/news/And if you like your information in short, sharp chunks (140 characters or less) we tweet regularly about what's happening on Twitter:
http://twitter.com/IndLivingTo let us know what's on your mind, you have the online version of this newsletter and my blog, on both of which you are very welcome to leave comments. Our Facebook page would love to have a visit from you, whether or not you want to say anything - it's another place to find out what's new:
http://www.Facebook.com/IndependentLiving Frances Leckie
Editor
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editor@independentliving.co.uk t: +44 (0) 208 133 0628
Skype: francesleckie
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http://www.independentliving.co.uk 
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