Sexy and sophisticated. What top tips can you give for first date outfits when using a wheelchair? Click to read more…
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One of the questions we are asked the most at Enhance the UK is ‘How do I refer to a disabled person without offending them?’ In today’s society, many of us are terrified of offending or patronising others, and rightly so! But, there’s nothing worse than letting your communication fear get in the way of talking to disabled people so much that you end up not conversing at all! So, here are our top tips for using the correct terminology when communicating with disabled people:
- Ask them first.
It’s unlikely that you will ever need to know about someone’s impairment or condition, unless you are a medical professional, work in a school or are reporting an incident. But if you do need to know the specifics for any reason, don’t guess! Politely and calmly ask the disabled person in question how to best describe their impairment. That way, you’ve put them in control of the situation without assuming or shying away from the issue at hand.
- Idioms are OK
People also get hung up on using everyday sayings around disabled people. Saying ‘see you later’ to a blind person or ‘walk this way’ to a wheelchair user is absolutely fine! In fact, the worst thing you can possibly do is stumble over your words, feel embarrassed and end up not chatting at all!
- It’s all about the intention
We all slip up sometimes and say the wrong thing, and let’s be honest, disabled people are used to non-disabled people feeling a little awkward around them (unfortunately). But, if your motives come from a good place, then that’s half the battle.
For more information, get in touch with us by visiting www.enhancetheuk.org or tweeting us @enhancetheuk
Photo provided by http://mayallbehappy.org
As a disabled person who is not particularly athletic, the phrase ‘disability sport’ often fills me with a little dread. I am never going to be as incredibly sporty and successful as Hannah Cockroft, the gold-winning wheelchair racer, or swimming’s sweetheart Ellie Simmonds. I used to play wheelchair basketball, and absolutely adored the social side of the sport as well as the opportunity to improve my health and fitness, and realise my truly competitive side! But, there came a time where training did not fit into my working schedule, especially with my travelling commitments as a writer for Lonely Planet. So, I gave it up, watched local tournaments and huge events like the Paralympics completely in awe, but from afar, and decided that maybe disability sport just was not for me…
…How wrong that perception of mine turned out to be! There are so many ways those with disabilities can continue to be conscious of their health, work on self-improvement and have fun along the way without quite the same time and effort it takes to be part of a winning, competitive sporting side. Here are just a few of those ways:
Wheelchair Yoga
Like with most exercise, the benefits of wheelchair yoga really are surprising. As you probably expected, your flexibility is likely to improve and you may well become stronger pretty quickly, but also expect benefits of a better sleep, less stress and anxiety in your everyday life, and a clearer mental connection with what is going on around you. Who wouldn’t want any of these things in our fast and busy lives?
Top Three Wheelchair Yoga Poses
These excellent wheelchair yoga poses will hopefully have you feeling connected and strengthened in no time, each one working a different part of your body. Thanks to www.mayallbehappy.org for their wisdom.
Cat Pose
- Grip your chair or place your hands on your thighs
- Exhale as you round your upper body forward, dropping your chin toward your chest, arching your spine like a cat
- Hold in this position for a few deep breathsCow Pose (front of body-opener)
Eagle Pose
- Inhale and lift your arms
- Exhale and cross your arms at the elbows so your hands are back-to-back
- Hold in this position as you continue to breathe for 20-30 seconds
Hip Stretch
- Inhale, lift one leg and cross it over the other
- If you want a deeper stretch and you have good trunk stability, exhale and lean forward from your hips
- Continue to breathe as you hold the stretch for 3-5 breaths
- Gently release your leg and move to stretch the other side
Wheelchair Dancing
For some reason, the thought of dancing in my wheelchair is also something that has made me feel pretty nervous and un-coordinated in the past! But most of us like to get our groove on, right?!
Wheelchair Dancing (especially ballroom dancing) may be right up your street if you have a partner who is either non-disabled or also a wheelchair user. For those of us with disabilities, it can often prove pretty tricky to get active with our partners and find something that we can both do, are good at and will enjoy. Wheelchair dancing can be taken at the couple’s one pace, and there is equal elegance from both sides! It is an opportunity to get physically close, whilst having a giggle and meeting other people in the same, or similar, situations. A good middle ground between an individual and a group sport, and a chilled or exhausting activity, wheelchair dancing might just be the sport for you.
Follow us on Instagram @UndressingDisability and twitter @ETUKUndressing. Or buy our Undressing Disability ebook for £5.99
I’m 22 and find it easy to meet people – what I don’t find easy is my parents attitudes to me dating, they’re so overprotective!
A new financial year is upon us! Time for well-intentioned plans and clever spending when it comes to yearly budgets, but what could your business do over the next twelve months to help disabled customers, clients or employees? Here are just a few suggestions:
Swot up on reasonable adjustments.
Thinking of employing somebody with a disability? Adapting your organisation premises to suit their needs does not have to cost the Earth, and you only have to make adjustments that a reasonable (think a ground floor desk space and accessible bathroom for a wheelchair user rather than an incredibly expensive lift to enable them to get to the first floor of the building).
You can find out more about reasonable adjustments by visiting: https://www.gov.uk/reasonable-adjustments-for-disabled-workers
Think of accessibility in meetings, and on your website.
Meeting a potential client for coffee? Have you checked if they need somewhere that’s step-free, has provisions for their guide dog, or a hearing loop installation? Is your website kitted out with British Sign Language videos for the Deaf community, and is it suitable for those who use screen readers? Make sure inclusion is on your mind, just as much as sealing the next business deal is (you’re likely to seal many more business deals if it is!)
Make sure your staff are trained.
Even the most accessible and inclusive venue in the world will not be welcoming to disabled customers if the people who work there aren’t. Make sure your staff know how to communicate with disabled people by removing the ‘fear factor’ with us! Visit www.enhancetheuk.org to find out more about the training packages we offer.
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As well as delivering disability awareness training for Enhance the UK, I also give motivational speeches, mainly in schools, for presentation evenings and assemblies. It is quite possibly my favourite kind of work, as I feel that there, just by being merely present as a 20-something in a wheelchair, I am making a difference. Disability awareness starts in schools, and this is where we need to focus our efforts, collectively. This is why:
- Children listen, and can still develop their own opinions.
Children are by far the most interactive and engaged when it comes to my impairment. They marvel at my pink and purple spokes, and find all the similarities between my chair and their pram, rather than focusing on the differences between us. They are still open to new ideas and forming their own opinions. To me, it is vital that I give them a positive and welcoming view of disability, especially before their parents ‘shoo’ them away!
- They can teach adults too!
Young people are often the ‘ice breaker’ that enables an older person to become flexible with their own thoughts. If a child knows how to help a visually impaired person cross the road from what they learnt at school, for example, there is no reason why they can’t educate those around them, too.
- Preparing for a more inclusive future generation.
The youngest amongst us have the pressure of providing the brightest future they can for all. That future is one that I want to be accessible, inclusive and welcoming. Let’s focus on making our school children so disability aware that, finally, it is normalised and accepted.
I’ve now been volunteering for over ten years, for causes I care deeply about and with friends I’ve made from all over the world. As a wheelchair user, a huge focus has been on disability awareness and its importance, which has ultimately led me to a brilliant role with Enhance the UK, but still I am often asked why I volunteer when I could be spending that time and energy bettering my bank account. Granted, I have a mortgage to cover and a car to run, but nothing quite compares to the ‘buzz’ of helping out at a major sporting event, a gig, or cheering others on from marathon sidelines…
Volunteering became a meaningful part of my life at the age of 16 when I travelled to southern Africa with the Journey of a Lifetime Trust, a charity that takes young disabled or disadvantaged people literally on a ‘Journey of a Lifetime’ to an exotic location. We rode elephants in Lesotho, climbed sand dunes in Namibia, and cage-dived with sharks off the coast of Capetown, but we also taught in schools and visited HIV/AIDS clinics. This made me want to come back home, share a little bit of what I had experienced overseas, and encourage others to look out for opportunities to help others.
I then joined lots of great societies at Queen Mary, University of London, where I studied English Literature. I also went on a year’s exchange to Melbourne, Australia and helped out in a juvenile prison. All of these experiences opened my eyes. I was no longer going through life in search only of my own progression, and ventures that would help me to succeed. When you unleash that desire to think about and help someone else, and realise that this also helps yourself and makes you a better person, then you’ve unleashed a beautiful potential. And it’s a potential that everybody has.
Nothing quite compared, however, to my experience as a Gamesmaker at the London 2012 Paralympic Games. I made some wonderful friends, got to see the performances of so many incredible athletes, and I even got a personal mention from Sebastian Coe in his Closing Ceremony Speech! I had told him that the Paralympic Games had ‘lifted a cloud of limitation’ for anyone who may have previously been seen as limited, be it through a physical impairment, or even a lack of confidence to follow their dreams. I was lucky enough to also help out at the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games (a city I totally fell in love with, and where I now live!) and the 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games in the incredible Rio, an amazingly vibrant city I consider to be my second home.
On a broader scale, this is what volunteering does for me. When asked, I can never ‘put a finger’ on why I do it, but to know that I’ve helped to make something wonderful happen, whether that’s helping a young person with their CV and interview skills, giving an offender hopes and opportunities for when they leave their institution, or being a part of the amazing event that was London 2012: that is one great feeling.
There’s always an opportunity to volunteer with us at Enhance the UK: visit us and see what you think! www.enhancetheuk.org
Asking someone else, especially a stranger for their help can feel like a huge mountain. It is effectively an admission that “I need your help”…