Talking about gadgets, the best invention in my home has to be the vertical toilet riser.

Now you see, for all us none mobile sorts the biggest cause of incontinence is inaccessible toilets. This is a complete bug bear because the amount of thought that goes into designing accessible toilets is equivalent to the intelectual capacity of a goldfish.

Then if you can get into the room - there is the question - can I get on and off. Anyway, at home we have specifically designed our bathroom around easy access, visual appearance and use of gagetry to make life easier.

This was our layout to start with. Then we have transformed and rebuilt it to a 'wet room' which will have a second door on suite to the bedroom if we later install a ceiling hoist...


The toilet rise started life as this: (A bit similar to the starship Enterprise you will note!)
And then we hacked it about and embedded it into the floor.

It is now discreet, practical and looks kind of - normal! Of course it will look even better when the bathroom is complete - in fact transformed from these pictures. At the touch of a button I can rise up and down to the desired height and no difficult lifts - at home anyway.

We stumbled on it by accident at an open day / conference for people with MD and I wish I had had one ten years ago and you if your thinking - I've gotta have one of them - take a peak at our website for more info, piccies and the full spec - oh and let me know if this was useful!!

Go into your local DIY store and for £20 or less you can buy a remote control infra red plug so you can switch of things with the remote control. In the disability field this is called 'environmental control' and you can pay triple that for so said device from a company.

The basic idea is that a product that anybody can use - but is sold in a mobility/equipment shop because it might appeal particulary to disabled people - and the cost will be doubled.


Now - here is a real life example. My task - to find an umbrella or sun parasol that will clamp to my wheelchair. The choice appears to be two 'special' ones. This most common pictured here. Now, how much to you think this would cost to buy (Its just your average umberella with an added flexible clamp and bendy bit).

Any offers of £5, £10, £20, £30, £40.....

Well the cheapest is on e-bay for a starter bid of £13.95 (new) or you can go to a mobility supplier called Scootmart for £32.89 including VAT. Plus you seem to get blue, blue, or blue as the colour.

Just buying a tube clamp and 'normal' umbrella would cost £10-£15.
Or you can get a designer 'Storm' umbrella plus clamp for about £25! How mad is that.

Bean Bag lap tray / tv tray with floral pattern tray = 'normal shop' £1-7 on Ebay or a posh Marks and Spencer one for £12
Mobility / Equipment shop '£13.95 + for a basic one with no interesting picture.

The above items, if I bought new on Ebay would cost be around £25 incuding P&P. In a mobility shop this could have cost me 47+P&P. Even taking VAT of disability items it is still a lot of money - for a community the least likely to be able to afford it.

What a rip off.

This week is Naidex week. For all you none-disabled sorts - that's the NEC Birmingham Show for all things related to disability equipment.... or at least that was my memory of it.

It use to be the 'try it and see' for health and social care staff and of course 'we' the great public. - Everything from accesible kitchens and bathroom equipment to the latest in colostomy bags and leisure things (my favourite being the wheelchair accessible roundabout and swing for children - I wish they had them for big kids as well!!).

Some things you thought - never in a million years will disabled people want one of them in their homes becuase it looks horrible, uncomfortable and only comes in 'medical green' as a colour option .... only to overheard an OT place an order for 500. Do they ever learn... no I think NOT.

I happened to be browsing the list of exhibitors last nights and the latest inventions that are up for 'an award'. Oh how things have changed over the years.

Fantastic NEW products include....... The Great John. Of course this can only be one thing - a reinforced toilet for obese people which boasts a 200% larger seat and - you guessed it is an American invention. A new commode and large wheechair ... for Bariatric patients (obese people)... and so on. Can you see a theme here.

The UK is now benefitting from more disabled people (to balance the demise of our people due to genetic testing LOL) and of course their needs to be appropriate adjustment in the equipment field.

Also in the past years there is a rise in the number of stands devoted to discrimination (yes the DRC are there) and organisation of disabled people - now we are getting somewhere - life isn't always about trying to 'fix us' in some way with a bit of equipment.

What does make me angry - the cost of these 'liberating' gizmos.... see tomorrow's post.

For this trip we pootled off to Brighton and checked into the Holiday Inn on the sea front. Disabled parking is right on the front and is charged at the same amount as the underground hotel carpark.

Although we didn't pay the extra for a sea view, the accessible room did have a good view through a window the entire length of the room. We also a had a balcony but access is through a narrow door without a low or level threshold.

I gave the room 1/10. The 1 point was for being able to get into the room and for one of the largest rooms we have stayed in - big enough for two Kingsized beds.

Where did the other 9 points go.... well.

For starters 8 of them went on the naff design of the bathroom. For example the door opened inwards so if you need help to transfer - once you have done so the other person can't get out (or back in). If someone fell off the loo nobody could get in to help because chances are you would be in front of the door and splatted on the floor. Talking about the floor - lovely white shiny tiles which are great for slipping and sliding. Oh and did I mention a grab rail stuck in the most stupidest of places - if you need a wide base to raise from seated to standing - forget it as the rail comes up from the floor and pins you to the loo... need I go on.

I will say one other thing - special people who book special rooms can not be trusted with hot water - so the tap water is regulated to 'luke warm' making a wash at the sink a cold and unpleasant experience - we used boiled water from the kettle to make it usable. I ended up using the bathroom in the lobby which was very accessible.

The good thing (and reason for booking it) was that we were a very short walk from the theatre where we had tickets to see Chris Rea. We had been before to this venue and you get to sit with all the other special people on the 'balcony' opposite the stage.

The other 1 point was lost for the tables in the room - none of them accessible to me because they were too low to eat off when we had room service for dinner and breakfast. Even Kevin, sitting on chairs provided in the room could not get under the main 'desk' - poor design.

On our way home it was freezing cold and raining - but we still had a short run around part of a country park (Borde Hill) before we were so cold we had a meal and came home!

Tonight is snowed - a lovely white covering and parts of the country have snow drifts.... Brrrrr