Gear, Gadgets and Gizmos

Phil Friend (OBE Ph.DFRSA) himself a wheelchair user, is acknowledged as the UK's foremost consultant on disability matters.

Gear, Gadgets and Gizmos

March 30, 2019

Hello everyone just a quick note to let you know that I’m planning to develop a new podcast in which I interview disabled people about the things they use to overcome the barriers they face because of their disability. I’ll keep you posted as to when this will become available.

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Disability at Work - A Different Approach

March 25, 2013

For nearly thirty years I, and many others have provided disability equality training designed for, and targeted at line managers, HR professionals and other interested individuals. Given that most people acquire their impairments during their adult lives an important emphasis has been placed on helping employers and managers become more confident when managing disability in the workplace. Looking back I can see that this approach has provided some positive benefits and the workplace is no longer quite so problematic for disabled employees. Sadly I also think that this strategy has failed to deliver on two really important levels. Firstly, the disabled employee has to rely on being part of an organisation that places real importance on equality policies and practices. Even when this is the case the disabled employee is often separated from the equality process and has to sit and wait while their manager gets trained or the organisation decides to treat disability as a higher priority. ...

Accessible Florence

September 25, 2016

I’ve just returned from a short city break to the beautiful Italian city of Florence. What made this trip so special was the fact that we’d managed to find an accessible apartment, right in the city centre, whose history went back to the 14th century. Most wheelchairs users don’t get much choice when it comes to accessible holiday accommodation, although this is slowly changing. Normally I have to stay in square box modern hotels with as much character as a drawing pin. The accommodation we rented in Florence began life as an open market in the 14th century and was later converted into housing, and then more recently into seven apartments, our accommodation was on the ground floor and wheelchair accessible. Many of the period features have been Bronze of a man riding a turtle in Piazza delia Signora retained, most noticeably the vaulted ceiling and exposed brickwork. To gain access from the street, we had to use the supplied split fold ramp but once up the only step, ...

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December 09, 2012

Have you ever heard of Geocaching? Neither had I until fairly recently. Put simply millions of people across the world hide little containers with inexpensive items inside them. They post the coordinates on a geocaching website and then using a mobile phone or other GPS device we can all look for them. It turns an ordinary country walk into a treasure hunt. Once you find "the treasure" you post a message on the website which the cache owner sees. Sue and I have hidden one and when we go away in our motorhome we often look for caches near where we are staying. Now obviously some of the caches are hidden on mountains or on really difficult terrain so those of us with mobility impairments have a slight problem. But there are many locations which are very accessible and the websites usually give guidance about the terrain and whether the site is wheelchair accessible. I'm impressed and I'm now trying to ensure that when we find a "treasure" we leave a comment...