11 minute read
Holidays
from Autumn Q4 2021
by AbilityNeeds
Long Weekend in North Yorkshire
by John Killick
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STAYCATION!That’s when you have a holiday at home isn’t it? Well, for all those that have to make up a new word for everything – I went on a four day VACATION to Yorkshire – and most enjoyable it was too! Having got one of my favourite annoyances of my chest, let’s get on.
We stayed at Sparrow Hall Farm cottages, yes, the same one I wrote about two years ago. This time, since we had a partially disabled friend along, we stayed in the specially modified one for disabled people. It would have done just fine for my wheelchair-dependent first wife, but before booking ring Helen and check that it has your minimum requirements. It is about 5 miles from Helmsley off the Pickering road. Nothing posh, just clean and comfortable and is dogfriendly. It is on a working farm so expect to be woken to the mooing of cattle and to have to put up with good country smells and the odd fly. It has a fully fitted kitchen but if like me you don’t like to cook on holiday – then The Plough at Wombleton is about three miles distant, I can strongly recommend.
Some places nearby to visit
Nunnington Hall: This is a National Trust property dating back to Jacobean times! You guessed correctly; I am not recommending this house! It is about the most disabled unfriendly place I have ever visited and there is nothing the National Trust can do about it. However, the gardens are another matter. These are both beautiful and accessible as is the garden café. The wildlife is great, and we even spotted a couple of wild otters playing in the river you must cross to get from the car park to the house.
The Church of St. James in Nunnington Village is a 12th century country church that holds services at 11 o’clock on Sunday mornings and is open for visitors every day. We found it interesting but beware of four steep steps down from the porch to the nave. I saw no
A cheerful bar maid in the Plough in Wombleton
Our rather damp spaniel guards his private swimming pool!
other means of access but both the lady vicar and the members of her congregation who we spoke to seemed very friendly, so ask. Access, as with all places of worship is free, but they are trying to raise the funds to get one of their church bells repaired so please give generously.
Helmsley and its Castle: Helmsley is one of the most beautiful small market towns in the UK. Unfortunately, a lot of people know that! Parking is impossible at weekends; I recommend you leave it off your itinerary until Monday when you may find it a bit better. There is a beautiful long stay car park set out in large woods with lawns and seating, but it leaves a bit of a walk to the town centre. The castle, its shop and castle entrance (English Heritage) is immediately adjacent to this car park. The castle, a ruin, and shop are disabled-friendly and there is a disabled loo in the shop. Behind the castle is a walled garden, which is closed on Mondays and Tuesdays so I can’t comment on its accessibility. Ryedale Folk Museum: This is a fairly small folk museum, similar to Beamish but
with much older exhibits. It can be found on the right-hand side of the village street in Hutton-leHole. Continue up the A170 towards Pickering. Just through Kirbymoorside you will see signs for the Ryedale Folk Museum on your left. Please drive with care! This is a twisting climbing country road, and partly unfenced –hitting a sheep is one way to ruin your day! The museum is about halfway through this small village on your right. Just past it a road goes up on your right and you will find a good car park on the right just up the hill. In the car park is a toilet block which includes a disabled loo (not checked out). It is about a two hundred yard walk back to the museum. You enter via a souvenir shop. Tickets are not over expensive and allow a year’s access plus a discount at the two cafe’s almost next door. We found this small museum fascinating and I can strongly recommend. Wherever you go have a great Vacation.
Inside Church of St. James, Contact Sparrow Hall Farm through the Nunnington booking agent www.Vrbo.com.
The North Gate at Helmsley Castle
Inside the Chemists shop in the Ryedale Folk Museum
John Killick was the secretary of the Disabled Motorists Federation for over 20 years and was also the editor of 'The Way Ahead' magazine. He continues to be a freelance writer. He was born in Norfolk and brought up in Suffolk, married a Manx girl, and now lives in north east England.
IN JANUARY 2016, our lives changed forever. One Saturday afternoon whilst out with my son Emile, he suffered a spinal cord stroke, just like that, with no warning! The spinal stroke left him paralysed from the chest down. I was amazed at how well Emile coped with this traumatic event; his resilience was astounding. Emile has no bladder or bowel function, and we must self-catheterise to empty his bladder. It soon became clear once we got into our daily routine that clothes do not fit properly whilst sat in the wheelchair. More importantly, the comfortable joggers that Emile likes to wear do not provide easy access to catheterise.
The Idea!
After undertaking research with a range of people including wheelchair users, carers, physiotherapists, and Occupational Therapists to find out the issues they faced when getting dressed or supporting someone getting dressed, I went ahead to make a prototype of my idea with 2 Students Rebecca and Melissa Everett from the fashion institute.
The product; Adaptive joggers/trousers
The joggers have a unique opening to enable comfortable dressing and catheterising. They are higher at the back to avoid sagging whilst sitting and transferring to ensure everything is covered! I have been working with a small focus group of people, who range from having a spinal cord injury in adulthood to people who were born with cerebral palsy. We identified that there is a difference in muscle mass in the legs for people who cannot weight bear or have been spinal injured for a long time and lost muscle mass over the years. Therefore, we have redesigned the pattern to have a more slim fit leg (which is fashionable presently) and we will also have a regular fit for people with more muscle mass on their legs, to ensure a better fit for different disabilities and all shapes and sizes. A small run of the joggers will be made and launched in September 2021.
Testimonials
Having been a paraplegic for over 35 years, I am familiar with the search for comfortable clothing that looks and feels great but is practical for the kind of user that sits down all day. The Bealies Joggers are the holy grail of leisure wear for wheelchair users, particularly if you self-catheterise.
With the offset zip it is possible to catheterise yourself easily, without fuss. With that is the quality of materials and construction of these pants. The material used is soft and durable, the zip is large and easy to grip, the seat is manufactured with a higher back to keep you covered. There is a phone on the front/side to keep your mobile phone where you need it.
The Bealies Joggers have been well thought out, well designed and well manufactured and you should buy yourself some today. Phil, Cheshire
I wore them on Tuesday for teaching PE. They were good as they did not fall like other pants. Plus, the zip bit at the side helped when catheterising. The leg part fitted well- especially when transferring. Plus, I was able to pull them up while in the chair. Overall, I loved them. If I were to buy a pair, I would get the next size down.
Andrew, Lancs Me!
I am a 55-year-old mother of three children, Theo, 26, Emile, 19, and Esther,17. We live in Stockport, Cheshire. I have taken early retirement from my career as a mental health social worker to focus on the business and felt ready for a new challenge. I believe in the product and feel that there is a gap in the market for casual wear for wheelchair users which is fashionable as well as functionable. The business is named after Emile’s nickname, Bealie, which only his sister calls him! I am passionate about supporting manufacturing in the UK and they will be manufactured in the Midlands
I have crowdfunded to raise money to fund the first run of the joggers and marketing. The Crowd-funder
campaign is still live and open to pledges. https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/bealies-joggers
The future for Bealiesadaptivewear
I will continue to add to the collection using the template of the fly front opening to use differ-ent materials, colours, and design adaptive shorts for the spring/summer season 2022. I will also add unisex pieces to the collection to be more inclusive for all disabled people. The range will model mainstream fashion and will be updated seasonally.
Recent photo shoot with 2 of the brand ambassadors (Shaun White , 1st from the left and James Freeman 2nd from left, James who represented team GB in the Paralympics in Tokyo this year.
Parallel launches Purple Sock Day to support overlooked D/deaf and disabled entrepreneurs in the UK
TO MARK the annual International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPD) on 03 December 2021, social enterprise Parallel Lifestyle has teamed up with the pioneering sustainable activewear brand, BAM, and the UK's leading enterprise support charity, Hatch Enterprise. The aim is to encourage businesses and the public to buy and wear a pair of Parallel’s Purple Socks to shine a much-needed light on the challenges faced by D/deaf and disabled entrepreneurs in the UK and to help them thrive.
IDPD was created by the UN to promote the rights and well-being of disabled people across society and raise awareness of disability in every aspect of political, social, economic, and cultural life. Making the world of work more inclusive and accessible are constant barriers to employment opportunities for D/deaf and disabled people in the UK; recently highlighted by the government’s new National Disability Strategy. People living with disabilities often turn to self-employment and entrepreneurship to create their own opportunities, with the UK employment rate being around 30% lower amongst disabled individuals versus nondisabled.
Support for D/deaf and disabled entrepreneurs is
also under-served, holding back the vast potential of this rich seam of talent and the benefits it can bring to society and the UK economy. Half (50%) of disabled business owners cited lack of finance or capital as a barrier to innovating. To release this potential of budding D/deaf and disabled entrepreneurs, action is now needed to ensure opportunity for (From left to right) Josh Wintersgill, Founder, ableMove UK; Andrew Douglass, Founder, Parallel Lifestyle; all, and no one is left behind. Using this year’s IDPD as a Shani Dhanda, Founder, Diversability platform, the inaugural Purple Sock Card Day will engage businesses and the public to take part in a simple and effortless act of wearing Parallel designed purple socks by BAM, which will retail at just £5. The aim is to raise greater awareness of disability inclusion and D/deaf and disabled founders, with half of the Purple Sock Day profits going towards a new fund that will be used to provide grants to founders, professional advice, mentoring, networking opportunities and tailored business support across a range of disabilities. Hatch Enterprise will oversee the fund; implementing the framework, governance, and expertise to support budding D/deaf and disabled entrepreneurs. The other half of Purple Sock Day profits will be reinvested into growing it into an annual campaign and other Parallel social enterprise projects.
Andrew Douglass, Founder of Parallel said: ‘Part of our social mission at Parallel is to combine innovative thinking with action to achieve greater disability inclusion across society. Purple Sock Day will help deliver a sustainable and long-term solution to better support the potential of our D/deaf and disabled business talent; whilst also creating something fun which everyone of all abilities can take part in together. I hope everyone will wear a pair and show they care.’ David Gordon, Founder at BAM said: ‘At BAM, we celebrate being the best you can be regardless of age and ability. We’re delighted to support Parallel in raising awareness of disability inclusion by making these unbelievably soft performance socks for Purple Sock Day. BAM was founded on innovation, both with our materials and ensuring we tread as lightly as possible on the planet, so we understand the importance of nurturing the next generation of entrepreneurs. We hope that as much money as possible can be raised for this important new fund.’ Dirk Bischof, Chief Executive of Hatch Enterprise, said: ‘We know underrepresented founders in the UK face so many additional barriers, and it’s becoming increasingly clear to us that so much more can be done to support D/deaf and disabled entrepreneurs in the UK to start and grow their businesses and bring new inventions to market. We are excited about the first Purple Sock Day and our role in making sure the funds raised become the platform of support that D/deaf and disabled entrepreneurs need.’
