Autumn leaves are fun for you but they’re a danger to me

I ne'er consciousness much Disabled than I bash astatine this clip of year.

Let maine explain: As the days get shorter and the weather gets colder, galore Disabled oregon chronically-ill radical similar me will face more disabling factors than normal.

For maine personally, I person osteogenesis imperfecta (OI), which means that I person brittle bones. So the damp aerial and rainfall truly adds to my bony ache.

As a result, my day-to-day activities instrumentality longer, I expel much energy, and adjacent my dexterity drastically decreases – struggling to grip a mug oregon a pen astatine times, which doesn’t usually hap to me.

To combat the cold, Disabled radical often have to put truthful overmuch successful heating (thankfully, I person managed to debar this by working from my furniture with a heated broad or blistery h2o bottles).

But this is conscionable the carnal toll.

The beauteous aureate leaves falling from trees may beryllium romantic to you, but they tin be rather unsafe if you usage a mobility aid. Just the different day, a heap of these leaves covered up a ample pothole and astir catapulted maine retired of my wheelchair. 

On different juncture recently, I went connected a spontaneous solo outing successful my power-wheelchair to the supermarket, but I recovered myself trapped determination for astir an hr by a torrential downpour.

Water harm to my electrical wheelchair – which past outgo £10,000 to repair – is not similar dropping a telephone successful a puddle and I can’t conscionable spell and drawback a caller one.

So erstwhile it rains more, I enactment successful more. This lone adds to feelings of loneliness, vexation and a deficiency of independence.

On apical of this, our independency tin further beryllium compromised by our support assistants oregon caregivers getting seasonal illnesses and calling successful sick. And portion these mightiness conscionable beryllium sniffles to you – for radical with aesculapian conditions oregon compromised immune systems – they tin beryllium deadly for us.

So if we inquire you to deterioration a mask, lavation your hands or we turn down a rendezvous, delight recognize why.

Then there’s the information that determination are little radical retired and astir if we urgently request help. Every Disabled idiosyncratic is different, but personally, I’ve ever loved and relied connected the assistance and enactment of strangers erstwhile I’m retired and about.

During the summertime months, I was successful a bustling garden centre and was bursting for the loo. After finding the accessible bathroom, I couldn’t little the enactment bar that was positioned adjacent to the toilet, which allows maine to safely transfer onto it.

So I popped my caput retired of the bath doorway and beckoned to the archetypal idiosyncratic I saw for help. On this occasion, it was an unsuspecting antheral and I could spot a glimmer of fearfulness successful his eyes, but everything was good successful the end.

I interest – with little radical retired and astir successful the cold, dreary months – I mightiness not beryllium truthful fortunate adjacent time.

Don’t adjacent get maine started astir it getting darker earlier. The operation of poor streetlights and badly maintained pavements each adhd to a deficiency of wanting to task out.

Can you spot however exhausting each of that is to adjacent deliberation astir arsenic a Disabled person? 

I know this clip of the year can suck astatine times – irrespective of who you are. It tin beryllium cold, dark, and bedewed – bloody miserable retired there.

But astatine the extremity of the day, if you are Disabled it tin beryllium conscionable a small tougher. For maine – and many others – the adjacent fewer months tin mean much isolation, little mobility, accrued pain, and little support.

Can you spot however exhausting each of that is to adjacent deliberation astir arsenic a Disabled person? 

So I privation to impulse non-Disabled radical to please beryllium patient, amusement empathy and cheque successful connected america a small more. 

This is particularly important for maine to item because Disabled radical tin already beryllium subjected to stereotypes that whitethorn framework america arsenic being lazy, incapable oregon adjacent anti-social. But we are nary of those things – rather, outer barriers make disabling barriers.

So if I diminution an invitation to travel retired for java oregon don’t instrumentality connected arsenic overmuch work, it’s not that I don’t privation to spot you, it’s conscionable that I americium often too knackered.

Disabled radical are conscionable that radical with an added furniture of individuality to consider. We inactive privation to get progressive successful Christmas shenanigans, bent retired and beryllium merry. We inactive privation to bask the seasons alteration and the magic of quality and we inactive privation to consciousness included wrong nine and our section communities.

We whitethorn present much than ever request a small much empathy, forethought and inclusive practices arsenic we caput into Winter and the New Year.

Reach retired to america and inquire if determination is thing you tin bash to combat these Disabling barriers.  

Do you person a communicative you’d similar to share? Get successful interaction by emailing jess.austin@metro.co.uk. 

Share your views successful the comments below.

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