Access Linky: June 2018

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

Helloooo! Huge apologies to my regular readers and linker uppers…. I’m a whole week late!

I shall blame half term for throwing me out of sync, but it’s really more down to my own disorganisation!

Anyhoo…. welcome to my blog link-up for sharing posts with ideas and experiences (good and bad!) of physical or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces, products and/or activities!

Access Linky social media graphic

Linky Round Up:

There were three main themes to the posts linked up last time:

TRAVEL

Life of an Ambitious Turtle shared her family’s (very positive!) experience of Getting Around Costa Almeria. Finding a wheelchair accessible coach was definitely a surprise!

And also a much less positive account of travelling on UK buses. Fi is a mum of two and a wheelchair user, so the buggy ‘v’ wheelchair debate on buses impacts her family from both angles!

(My own feeling – as usual! – is that better design could definitely help here! If there was more flexible space on regular buses, like there is on airport buses/buses at the NEC etc, more people with different access needs could be accommodated more easily!)

ACTIVITIES

Parties can be tricky for autistic kids, kids with sensory sensitivities and other disabilities, Rainbow’s Are Too Beautiful shares some brilliant ideas for planning an inclusive birthday party for her daughter that her autistic boys were also able to enjoy!

How do you participate in that big day in a Brownies’ calendar, making a promise, if you aren’t able to recite the promise? A Wheelie Great Adventure’s little girl did!

I talk a lot about toilet access in my blog, but needing access to toilets is not really about the toilets, it’s about the activities they enable you to participate in! Have a look at all the great stuff Ordinary Hopes and her son have been up to when there’s been a Mobiloo on location!

AWARENESS

And finally, Bryony – Perfectly Imperfect Mama, linked up her really informative post for Cleft Lip and Palate Awareness week, inspired by her two nephews with the condition.

 

Inclusive Home

The linky will be open for 3 weeks (and as I’m late posting, that will take us to Thursday 28th – almost to the beginning of next month’s linky!)!

  1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image above and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
  2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences (use the hashtag #AccessLinky in your comment)!
  3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessLinky) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
  4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.

….and don’t forget to check in again next month (1st of the month) to read the round up, and link up again!


Access Linky: March 2018

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

Welcome to the March 2018 #AccessLinky!

A blog link-up for sharing posts with ideas and experiences (good and bad!) about physical or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces, products and/or activities!

Access Linky social media graphic

I hope everyone is managing in this cold snap!

Hoping the ‘Beast from the East’ will soon be off back to it’s lair until next winter!

Linky Round Up:

The first in the round up is very appropriate for this week’s snow (and the inevitable springtime showers yet to come!), Rainbow’s Are Too Beautiful linked up these top tips for autistic kids in wet weather!

It was great to hear from some new linker uppers, and still on the theme of getting out and about, Sensational Learning with Penguin wrote about their visit to a National Trust property and gardens at Scotney Castle in Kent.  The NT is a big favourite of our family too, especially those with large grounds to explore and somewhere to buy cake! (The old houses are not usually so wheelchair accessible!).

Another great set of tips for families was Starlight and Stories’ ideas to help autistic kids to navigate the sea of homework.

Perhaps seemingly a bit off-piste for this linky, is an issue that’s been a big focus in the news, is the rising momentum to reduce plastic waste.  Great! I’m all for reducing our environmental impact, but it seems the poor plastic straw is getting the brunt of the blame for this!  Wheelscapades wrote this great piece, The Last Straw, explaining the wider context of the calls to #banthestraw and it’s impact on disabled people, which inspired me also to write don’t vilify all the plastic.

World of Gorgeous Grace joined the linky highlighting the current Blue Badge scheme government consultation, with some examples of her own families experiences, and urges anyone with experience of the need for greater access to parking to take part!

Also on the theme of government services, The Long Chain writes of the Postcode Lottery that seems to exist when it comes to accessing appropriate advice, services and equipment.  Is a more effective centralised code of practice required to make sure all children receive what they need regardless of location within the UK?

Finally, Life and Other Stories Blog, writes To Know Me is to Understand Me in surprise at some statistics about how many people don’t believe they know someone with a disability! How is disability to be accepted, and access and inclusion become the standard, if people don’t even see it!?

Inclusive Home

The linky will be open for 3 weeks!

  1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image above and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
  2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences (use the hashtag #AccessLinky in your comment)!
  3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessLinky) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
  4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.

….and don’t forget to check in again next month (1st of the month) to read the round up, and link up again!


Access Linky: Feb 2018

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

Welcome to the February 2018 #AccessLinky!

A blog link-up for sharing posts with ideas and experiences (good and bad!) about physical and/or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces, products and/or activities!

Access Linky social media graphic

I’m not sure quite what’s happened to January, it seems that half term is almost upon us and I’m only just getting back into my routine after Christmas!

Linky Round Up:

Last month’s linky was brilliant for the wide variety of posts linked up!

Starting with one after my own heart… making accessible design stylish! Wheel Chic Home shared this review of a great new company with a mission to improve the choice of handrails and customiseable grab rails for people to be able to match their own home style.

Provision of accessible toilets and the lack of awareness of the need for changing places toilets were a focus for this (you wouldn’t think you would have to state the obvious titled) post, My 7 year old disabled child is not a baby, by A Wheelie Great Adventure, and raising awareness in more light hearted way, Ordinary Hopes parodies the toddler book series by Usborne with That’s Not My Toilet!

School provision is a huge challenge generally, but can be more of a battle for children with SEND (Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities), and Rainbows are too Beautiful shared this enlightening (and saddening) post outlining why the Huge rise in SEND appeals is not a surprise.

But on a happier note, Rainbows are too Beautiful also shared this lovely post about Getting our family out for activities, with focus on a fun family cycle ride in the forest!

And finally, Wheelscapades gave a round up of her #WheelOfFact hashtag series! I somehow managed to miss this last year, but sounds like a brilliant series to join in with…..

“Every Friday I would tweet a fact that was based on my blogging subjects. Many of these were disability related facts however I lightened it up a little by interspersing the gritty with facts about tea or cats or the festive period.”

… are you in!?

 

Inclusive Home

The linky will be open for 3 weeks!

  1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image above and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
  2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences (use the hashtag #AccessLinky in your comment)!
  3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessLinky) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
  4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.

….and don’t forget to check in again next month (1st of the month) to read the round up, and link up again!


Access Linky: Jan 2018

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

Happy New Year access friends! Welcome to the first #AccessLinky of 2018!

Access Linky social media graphic

The linky was a little bit quiet last month, what with that little thing called Christmas taking over our lives!  It does mean I get to do a more thorough round up of all the posts linked up though… yay!

Round Up:

If you have starting school age kids, it’s that time of year when you are making the final adjustments on that statement on their application (something we’re doing for our youngest!), however when your child has special educational needs (SEN) it can be an even more stressful and complicated process to find and secure the right setting! Rainbows Are Too Beautiful sets out a really handy summary of the options in her her post Six School Possibilities for SEND kids.

This post (The Long Haul) by The Long Chain strikes so many chords for me, and is the reason I campaign! Please please read it all, but I had to share this quote from the post:

“Any problems we might face over the coming years are not because of Benjamin and his disabilities, but because we live in a world that values profit and popularity over people, that pays lip-service to equality but neglects to make reasonable adjustments towards inclusion, that celebrates diversity but assumes the only purpose of prenatal testing is to facilitate the eradication of ‘diseases’ such as Downs Syndrome”

We need society to embrace the social model of disability and create an inclusive environment, so that children such as Benjamin and his family (and our family!) don’t become excluded as they grow older (and bigger) and can live their lives freely!

Modern Christmas Carol by A Wheelie Great Adventure is a brilliant analogy for the issues around trying to get big business to engage with the changing places toilets campaign!  Let’s hope the Christmas future brings those changes!

And finally, imagine if people were pleasant and courteous (and not impatient!) all the time!?  A little glimpse from Wheelscapades into how an everyday experience can make for A Jolly Good Day if people make a little effort to treat each other kindly and with respect!

Please do check in again next month and catch up with the linked blog posts and the round up!

Linky Info:

The linky will be open for 3 weeks! Share your posts about ideas and experiences (good and bad!) around physical and/or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces, products and/or activities below…. and don’t forget to check in again next month to read the round up and link up again!

Inclusive Home


Guidelines:

  1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image above and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
  2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences (use the hashtag #AccessLinky in your comment)!
  3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessLinky) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
  4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.


Access Linky Dec 2017

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

Hello and welcome to the last Access Linky of 2017!

Access Linky social media graphic

Thank you so much to everyone who’s joined me over the last year! It’s been great to share posts from familiar blogs and brilliant to be introduced to new bloggers too!

Round Up:

It was World Toilet Day on 19th November and a number of great posts raising awareness of changing places toilets were linked up! Ordinary Hopes expresses dismay about the imbalance of media interest between able and disabled people being forced into degrading situations in One bad day for you is Groundhog Day for us, Rainbows Are Too Beautiful links with Makaton Charity’s sign of the day, Toilet, and A Wheelie Great Adventure points out the shocking fact that Even our Hospital doesn’t have a toilet we can safely use (this goes for the majority of hospitals & clinics!)!

Sparked by some comments by Chris Packam in his fantastic documentary “Aspergers and Me”, A Blog About Raising My Autistic Son asks Are Schools Autism Friendly? in terms of the building and interior design? This is an aspect of design that the building industry is just beginning to address so has a long way to go!

Also on the note of inclusive design, this time products, Millie’s Movement asks why toy companies don’t Design with Disability in Mind, particularly ride on toys in larger sizes for disabled children?  As soon as your child is just a little larger than the average toddler, products become ‘specialist’ and come with a massive price hike!

Life and other Stories’ daughter Cerys writes a lovely review of her visit to Brockhampton National Trust over the half term, which involved some Broomstick making!

Wheelscapades post, Just a Little Respect, gave us a little insight into hiring a PA, the hidden, time consuming and often frustrating administrative side of maintaining independence.

And finally Rainbows Are Too Beautiful linked up a really useful set of Fireworks Dos and Don’ts for Our Autistic Kids – useful tips to help deal with the sensory overload of Christmas and fireworks at New Year!

Please do check in again next month for the first linky of 2018 and catch up with the linked blog posts in the round up!

Linky Info:

The linky will be open for 3 weeks! Share your posts about ideas and experiences (good and bad!) around physical and/or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces, products and/or activities below…. and don’t forget to check in again next month to read the round up and link up again!

Inclusive Home


Guidelines:

  1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image above and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
  2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences (use the hashtag #AccessLinky in your comment)!
  3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessLinky) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
  4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.


Access Linky Nov 2017

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

Hello and welcome to the November Access Linky!

Only 1 day late this time!…. Sorry everyone… excuses, excuses but it’s been a hectic couple of weeks between half term, several important birthdays, anniversaries (including the blog!) and halloween!

Access Linky social media graphic

Thank you so much to all the joiner uppers last time, there was a fab variety of posts and from a great range of bloggers too!

Too many to highlight individually in the round up this time (which is amazing!), but you can see all the posts that have been  linked up previously here on my #AccessLinky Pinterest Board – Do hop over and take a look!

Round Up:

To start the round up is a fantastic post by A Blog About Raising My Autistic Son about accessibility in general terms, and how good strategies can impact much more than just the intended user group, as she looks back at the phenomenon of the curb cut effect in Accessibility – It’s Good For Everyone

The fab Wheelchair Chic Home linked a couple of posts, and I’ve picked out this one about How to make your home more accessible for your guests (since being about home design it’s right up my street!)! Some great tips here if you have any elderly or disabled friends or family coming to visit, especially over the festive period (it is November now, it is ok to mention Christmas, isn’t it!?)!

Also on the theme of home, I found this post by The Sun Will Come Up really moving. Home is Where the Heart Is and moving home can be stressful and emotional at any time, particularly from a family home, but even more so with the added restriction that your new home needs to be more accessible.  Finding an accessible home is not easy anyway, and family sized ones are the hardest to come by! We need more choice in inclusive housing! Have I mentioned this before? 😉

Ordinary Hopes discusses a topic that I’ve been wondering a lot about myself recently, about the narrow perception of what a wheelchair user can and can’t do.  In the context of legislation for example, I really wonder how much consideration is given to the fact that Some Wheelchair Users Do and Some Don’t self transfer!?

And to finish my summary, a super heartwarming post by The Long Chain about What a Difference a Drug Makes.  Not on the face of it a blog about accessibility perhaps, but actually embodying very fundamentals of access! Access to the right treatment and medication is access to living life you your fullest! Loving that gorgeous photo of Benjamin smiley and wide awake!

Please do check in again next month to catch up with the blog posts in the round up, and bloggers I hope to see lots of you again this month and *meet* some new people too!

Linky Info:

The linky will be open for 3 weeks! Share your posts about ideas and experiences (good and bad!) around physical and/or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces, products and/or activities below…. and don’t forget to check in again next month to read the round up and link up again!

Inclusive Home


Guidelines:

  1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image above and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
  2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences (use the hashtag #AccessLinky in your comment)!
  3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessLinky) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
  4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.


Access Linky Oct 2017

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

Huge apologies for the lack of linky last month!

Those pesky school holidays messed up my schedule so I decided I would wait and have a relaunch today on the 1st anniversary of the linky and to change the linky date to the (much easier to remember!) 1st of the month!

Share your accessibility stories on Access Linky. Open from 1st of the month for 3 weeks

Thank you so much to everyone for joining in last time, there was a fab variety of posts!

Round Up:

A number of the posts linked last time addressed the wider aspects of inclusion, and what that means for their families. The Long Chain picked out the Five Things I’d Change to enable greater inclusion for her family and Ordinary Hopes gives a heartfelt picture of how the environment & society impacts her son’s life in  Children Should Not be Scared to go Out.

Things are changing and businesses are beginning to show greater awareness of access issues but this can sometimes feel like tokenism as Mum on a Mission points out in her post Are Physically Disabled Children Invisible?

Little Mama Murphy shared a lovely post about How to Talk to A Disabled Child! Yes! This is all it takes!

As part of her #SEND30DayChallenge (which I am attempting to complete too… albeit VERY slowly!), Mum on a Mission highlighted 10 Things You Don’t Know about Changing Places Toilets – although many readers of this series will know some of these as Changing Places Toilets is one of my regular topics!

It was brilliant to see a number of reviews focussing on the accessibility of places and venues! Wheelescapades reviewed on of our own family favourite places Wimpole Estate – Down on the Farm. Really interesting to read someone else’s perspective on somewhere we know so well!

A Wheelie Great Adventure reviews their experiences of a family trip to the coast in Tales of Birds, A Beach and A Bomber and Life and Other Stories’ shared a fab post written by her daughter, My Day Out by Cerys Giles.  Great to hear from the next generation of access advocates!

Finally Rainbows are Too Beautiful gives some really helpful tips for those who find it a challenge to eat out with younger children and/or people with neurodivergent conditions in  Tips to Take our Autistic Kids to Dinner

Please do check in again next month to catch up with the blog posts in the round up, and bloggers I hope to see lots of you again this month and *meet* some new people too!

Linky Info:

The linky will be open for 3 weeks! Share your posts about ideas and experiences (good and bad!) around physical and/or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces, products and/or activities below…. and don’t forget to check in again next month to read the round up and link up again!

Inclusive Home

Guidelines:

  1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image above and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
  2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences (use the hashtag #AccessLinky in your comment)!
  3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessLinky) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
  4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.

Accessibility Stories 06.17

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

Thank you to all those who joined the linky last month! I hope you all enjoy reading this little round up!

Round Up:

There were two fantastic posts on communication linked up last time.

I absolutely love this one by Little Mama Murphy about the training session she attended by Jo Grace about Communicating Without Words.  I had happy tears running down my face reading it. I LOVE the concept of ‘sensory being’ and ‘literary being’! It feels just right to describe the differences between my EJ & EW in that way!

Rainbows are Too Beautiful gave a shout out to the upcoming Singing Hands DVD  which also sounds fab! I did some baby and toddler singing and signing classes with both of mine when they were young.  I’ve been a bit lax with my makaton recently without the structure of the class to keep me motivated, so it would be fantastic to have a fun DVD aimed at an older audience!  Music is definitely key where it comes to engaging EJ!

Picture of a rusty key saying: Share your accessibility stories #AccessLinky

When it comes to getting around on wheels, I think there’s sometimes a misconception that ‘everywhere’s accessible these days’, but that really isn’t true, even some of the really fundamental stuff in newly refurbished buildings, as Ordinary Hopes highlights in her post Just Because Daleks Can Do Stairs

Mum on a Mission sets it out in black and white how society is forcing people to wear nappies if they want to get out and about, due to a lack of understanding and action on changing places accessible toilets (from legislators, designers, developers through to service providers) in My 8yr Old Isn’t Potty Trained and It’s Your Fault

It really seems ridiculous that some people’s outings revolve in detail around where they can go to the toilet, so Ordinary Hopes wants to say Thank You Exeter Services for acknowledging the need and acting upon it! As Ordinary Hopes says, it’s not only enabled her and her son to go out, but also to become customers and spend their money with them!

Speaking of customers, Brody Me and GDD linked up her post on Products SEND Parents REALLY want! Retailers are missing a market in other ways than just getting their customers into their shops or onto their websites, in that there’s a whole market out there for useful, comfortable, (affordable!) and well designed products for disabled children and adults! What can you add to her list?

I hope you’ll check in again next month to catch up with the blog posts in the round up, and bloggers I hope to see lots of you again this month and *meet* some new people too!

Info on how to join in below:

Linky Info:

This linky will be open for 2 weeks, please do share your posts about ideas and experiences (good and bad!) around physical and/or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces, products and/or activities below….

And do check in again next month to read the round up!

Guidelines:

    1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image below and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
    2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences (use the hashtag #AccessLinky in your comment)!
    3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessLinky) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
    4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.
Our Inclusive Home



Accessibility Stories 05.17

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

Thank you to all the linker uppers from last month!

Round Up:

Starting the round up with a couple of neurodiversity posts (access isn’t only about ramps and lifts!)…

Rainbows are too Beautiful wrote about an experience a friend had had at an entertainment venue which prompted her to say, yes! Yes He is Perfect… AND he has a Disability!

The World of Gorgeous Grace speaks about the need for better advice and access to services around learning disability, as she reflects on GG’s Learning Disability Journey.

Picture of a rusty key saying: Share your accessibility stories #AccessLinky

Wheelchair Chic Home joined the linky with a fantastic Top 10 House Buying Tips When You Have Mobility Issues! This is definitely one to share with anyone looking to rent or buy an accessible or adaptable home!  If only the agents & developers understood the value in these features and marketed accessible homes properly so people could find them (and people might build more of them!)!

Another 10 was shared by the Firefly Community: Accessible Toilet Campaigners: 10 famous faces! So lovely to learn more about the people behind the campaigns, bringing a huge variety of experience and expertise to the table (or the bench?)! Really honoured to be included in the list myself!

And a fellow Firefly famous face, Rachel George of Ordinary Hopes linked a couple of her fab posts last month too.  The first, questioning how horrified people might be if non-disabled children (or adults!) were forced to wear nappies/pads! in her post: Some Things Are Just Wrong.

In contrast, Ordinary Hopes, also shared a most fabulous accessibility story, One Perfect Day, made possible by Cornwall Accessible Activities Programme in conjunction with Mobiloo (a charity providing mobile Changing Places Toilet facilities) – real inclusion! Just how it should be!

I hope you’ll check in again next month to catch up with the blog posts in the round up, and bloggers I hope to see lots of you again this month and *meet* some new people too!
Info on how to join in below:

Linky Info:

This linky will be open for 2 weeks, please do share your posts about ideas and experiences (good and bad!) around physical and/or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces and products below…. And do check in again next month to read the round up!

Guidelines:

    1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image below and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
    2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences (use the hashtag #AccessLinky in your comment)!
    3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessLinky) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
    4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.
Our Inclusive Home



Accessibility Stories 04.17

a rusty key with #accesslinky written below

What a fantastic range of blog posts linked up last month!

Picture of a rusty key saying: Share your accessibility stories #AccessLinky

 Round Up from last Month

There were a number of posts on one of my regular (and favourite!) themes, changing places toilets. Ordinary Hopes linked this very powerful post “When this is the best option you have“, i.e. the toilet floor or don’t go out at all.  Clos-o-Mat and Ordinary Hopes also commented on the lack of understanding of the need for assisted toilet provision until it’s something you need yourself, in “I’d never even thought about it” a key reason many are campaigning that it’s “Time for change” for the building standards, to be made clearer and more comprehensive!

I’m very excited to *meet* a new blogger friend, Wheelchair Chic Home, joining in this month with her fab “5 tips for styling your house to accommodate a disability” and with some more specific ideas on “Storage Ideas to hold crutches or walking sticks” in a stylish way!  I love this blog, it’s totally up my street and I’ll definitely be following for more inclusive design ideas!

My daughter EJ has sensory processing issues which affect her in all different ways (touch, vision, hearing that we know about).  Sensory processing seems to be being more and more widely acknowledged as a challenge in accessing our world for set up for the ‘average person’ and of course can vary greatly from individual to individual and vary in intensity. Rainbows are too Beautiful linked this post about how something as seemingly simple as a particular welly boot (considered a staple in every child’s wardrobe!) can enable inclusion in outdoor family activities in “We’ve got to get our kids outside!

Access isn’t all about ramps and grab rails, and I had two posts this month, telling of the frustrations faced trying to access childcare and education for their children with very different needs. Rainbows are too Beautiful’s “30 hours free childcare” and The Long Chain’s “Benjamin doesn’t tick boxes” illustrating the catch 22 of local authority juggling of services and funding between education, social care and health care.

I hope you’ll check in again next month to catch up with the blog posts in the round up, and bloggers I hope to see lots of you again this month and *meet* some new people too!  
Info on how to join in below:

Linky Info

This linky will be open for 2 weeks, please do share your posts about ideas and experiences (good and bad!) around physical and/or sensory accessibility of buildings, places, spaces and products below…. And do check in again next month to read the round up!

Guidelines:

    1. Link up to 2 posts each month (old or new)! It would be lovely if you could add my badge (cut and paste the code in the box under the badge image below and add it into your blog post while in ‘text’ mode of your blog editor) or add a text link back to my site so that people can find the linky and read the other blog entries;
    2. Please comment on this post to introduce yourself if you’re new to the linky, and comment on some of the other linked posts to help share ideas and experiences!
    3. It would also be amazing if you could share your post (using the hashtag #AccessibilityStories and/or the shorter #AccessStories) on social media to help spread awareness of the issues around accessibility!  I’ll also try to retweet as many posts as I can!
    4. I welcome input from anyone that is affected by accessible design – users, carers, friends and family as well as designers, developers, managers and legislators (so pretty much everyone then!). I welome blogs from professionals and suppliers as well as individual bloggers as long as they keep within the spirit of idea exchange and are not sales posts for products or services.
Our Inclusive Home