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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To travel or not to travel that is the question.

May 12, 2018

How many of you reading this think about the cutlery you might use when you go out for a meal? The chances are you’ll be much more interested in the menu, the prices, the people you’re eating with and the restaurant’s ambience. A similar situation arises when considering going to the seaside on a gloriously hot summer’s afternoon. If you’re fastidious, you’ll check your car tyres, the oil , you’ll fill up the windscreen washer bottle, and you’ll make a list of things to take that will make the trip more enjoyable. I doubt that you’ll think to check on the availability of toilet facilities at motorway services on route or at your destination! For many disabled people, particularly those with severe or complex mobility impairments, the exact opposite applies. The availability of appropriate toilet facilities will be uppermost in their minds, and the lack of certainty about whether the necessary facilities are available may be enough to preven...

Bedroom tax five lose appeal, Evidence of Atos bias, Benefits sanctioned, Video history planned for Cornwall, Whistles, ripples and a giant inflatable rat. Duty still not understood, More needed to tackle hate crime

February 24, 2014

Not content with living in a damp house after our recent flooding Sue and I decided to spend a few days last week on a residential course at Dillington House near Ilminster, not far from the Somerset Levels, which as many of you know is under several feet of water. Formerly the home of Prime Minister Lord North, Dillington dates back to the 16th century although there has been a house on the site since before Domesday the present building was remodelled in the early 19thcentury in the so-called Jacobethan style. Now run by Somerset County Council Dillington has been substantially refurbished to provide very high-quality accommodation. What makes this place unique, in my experience, is that aside from the usual creature comforts that you’d expect in an old country house this one has 16 well-appointed bedrooms, which are fully wheelchair accessible. I can’t think of many modern buildings that can boast such accessible resources. (Even the induction loop system in our training room was sw...

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...