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. ...

Rights and Wrongs

October 23, 2009

What's grabbed my attention this week? Well a couple of things. Many of you will have heard the rumours about DLA and whether its to be cut. Well Andy Burnham the Health Secretary has made a statement which I've copied below. We're not out of the woods but perhaps the news is a little less gloomy. I've also included a story about some younger disabled people who are about to expose access and I guess other barriers which prevent them from enjoying themselves in the ways that non-disabled young people do their thing! Pubs clubs and museums will form the basis of their enquiries. Good luck I say! Have a great weekend. Minister promises DLA is safe – but only until you are 65 Health secretary Andy Burnham has promised that the government will not scrap disability living allowance (DLA), but only for disabled people under the age of 65. Speaking at the national children and adult services conference in Harrogate, Burnham said he wanted to “close down” the debate and controv...

Let’s change the future!

December 11, 2016

I thought I’d take a few moments of your time to share some thoughts with you before we head off for the Christmas holidays. The first is the news that my youngest daughter Grace recently presented us with our fifth grandchild a lovely little boy who will be known as Austin James. We now have enough grandchildren to form a basketball team although because they are all under seven, we might have to wait a while before they start winning any medals. The arrival of baby Austin got me thinking about the kind of world that he and our other grandchildren will inherit. Will it be a world where people routinely begin all their sentences with the word “so” which drives me to distraction? Will they still have to cope with individuals who say “Pacific” instead of “specific”? Will radio stations that claim to play non-stop music still spend fifteen minutes in every hour pumping out endless poorly produced adverts that exhort people to buy stuff they don’t need? Will they still be t...