Channel 4 9pm

Dunroamin

nannytone wrote: »

just because someone can be taught to use public transport, doesnt mean that they would be able to cope when putting it into practice.

also, guide dogs cant read ( as far as i am aware) and buses frequently use the wrong stops in the interchange at busy times'
i am not saying it is impossible, but you do like to over simplify other peoples issues.

i live in a rural area and all our buses are wheelchair accessible.
even with a cane/dog, trying to make sense of a crowded, noisy place can be, at best, daunting and at worst, incredibly frightening

How do you know?

Many other blind people seem to manage perfectly well, presumably because they want to be independent.

M00minMama

Don't know if I want to add to this one but I'll give my view and duck back behind my parapet!

I am self employed but unable to work consistently at the moment as I'm both physically disabled and sick. Public transport doesn't exist for me! I live 2 miles from my nearest bus stop, along a national speed limit road with no pavement - and if I got there there're no wheelchair compatible services. Re the train, again 4 miles to my nearest station but more frustratingly the train cannot accommodate my wheelchair so that form of public transport is out too. I have difficulty with wheelchair taxis because of the shape and size of my powerchair so I have put my mobility allowance ( and a sizeable chunk of my own money) into a wheelchair accessible vehicle.

My downside is I cannot drive this myself and am beholden on someone being available to be my chauffeur. If I had to go out to work I would have to get help with a driver for the vehicle but I could do it.

Unfortunately I'm spending nearly as much time in a hospital bed as I do at home and the bit of work I can manage can be done from home or my hospital bed - depending on wifi availability and my level of sickness.

I am not alone in my area to experience these problems. I also employ disabled workers in an accessible office. The irony is I've spent so much money to make the offices accessible inside and outside but I can't reach them on a regular basis to take advantage of them myself.

Personally, I would rather spend £500 a week to help someone who is able to work achieve that. But I would also willingly spend the money on helping someone who actually cannot work have a dignified life.

Ducking down now;)

liam8282

M00minMama wrote: »

Ducking down now;)

I don't think a single person that has commented on here has a problem with the genuinely disabled, their needs, their benefits or anything else.

It is those that are classed as sick or disabled and choose not to work when they quite clearly could, if they had to, or even wanted to.

Take the "Karens" of this world. Quite clearly could work, quite clearly won't work. She shouldn't even be given a choice. She should have to work.

Too many people have taken it upon themselves to launch into a personal crusade to protect the disabled on this thread, when nobody is actually attacking or arguing about that subject, except themselves.

margaretclare

schrodie wrote: »

The unemployment rate in 1949 was 1.6%, also you could often walk into a job within walking distance of your home this after leaving another job the previous week!! Compare that to the unemployment rate of 7.4% today!

Yes. There was a huge shortage of all types of workers. Not in 1949, I was still at school then, but certainly in the 50s and 60s I've walked out of and into jobs without any difficulty. Many more jobs required 'people' rather than being automated - think of the car industry, the bike industry (we still had home-grown ones then, and it was a question of human beings pulling levers etc). All the offices I ever worked in had a blind person on the switchboard. There's no longer a need for someone to work the switchboard! Even 10 years ago when I was doing agency office work there was someone in a wheelchair working at a desk. Many jobs can be done from a wheelchair, especially office jobs. But it does require someone to be willing to do it, like the lady with one arm using a sewing-machine. I'm reminded of my aunt, a polio survivor from the epidemic in 1926. She was never able to go outside the home to work, but you'd be amazed at many of the things she did while sitting on the floor - cooking, baking, sewing, knitting, mending, important and vital things to keep the family fed, clothed and clean. The last thing she was ever doing the day she died - this was after a stroke which had left her with the use of one arm only - was knitting vests for starving kids to keep them warm. She did it by clamping one knitting-needle under her useless arm and knitting with the other.

KxMx

Dunroamin wrote: »

How do you know?

Many other blind people seem to manage perfectly well, presumably because they want to be independent.

So because some blind people manage, all blind people can manage?

YAWN.

Dunroamin

KxMx wrote: »

So because some blind people manage, all blind people can manage?

YAWN.

There has to be a reason not to be able to manage, not just a disinclination to try.

nannytone_2

Dunroamin wrote: »

How do you know?

Many other blind people seem to manage perfectly well, presumably because they want to be independent.

i am fairly independant because i dont put myself into positions where i KNOW that i will be inable to cope.
i cannot cope in crowded, noisy places and so i avoid them. i would expect that i know more blind/visually impaired people than you do and most are the same as i am.
the ones that arent, are the ines that have been blind/sight impaired since birth and know no different.

i am not embarrassed to admit that i cant cope in situations where i cant see or hear anything clearly and find it amazing that someone with no personal experience thinks it shouldnt be an issue

schrodie

KxMx wrote: »

So because some blind people manage, all blind people can manage?

YAWN.

That's the same vacuous argument the ignorant disabled bashers use with respect to disability viz.

"If Stephen Hawking can work why can't you!!"

Dunroamin

nannytone wrote: »

i am fairly independant because i dont put myself into positions where i KNOW that i will be inable to cope.
i cannot cope in crowded, noisy places and so i avoid them. i would expect that i know more blind/visually impaired people than you do and most are the same as i am.
the ones that arent, are the ines that have been blind/sight impaired since birth and know no different.

i am not embarrassed to admit that i cant cope in situations where i cant see or hear anything clearly and find it amazing that someone with no personal experience thinks it shouldnt be an issue

I was referring to your comments about people who have a dog or a stick. As you choose not to use either I don't think it fair to say that these wouldn'tbe a help.

nannytone_2

Dunroamin wrote: »

I was referring to your comments about people who have a dog or a stick. As you choose not to use either I don't think it fair to say that these wouldn'tbe a help.

i dont 'chose' not to use either.
i am currently applying for a guide dog, but havt to wait to see if ii am accepted.
if i am i will have to wait a minimum of 2 years.
i have spoken about a can with my specialist, and for reasons that i dont feel the ned to explain here, we jointly decided that a cane was inappropriate

i know 7 people who either have dogs or use a cane and none would use the interchannge at peak time unless in an emergency
so i feel rather more qualified to speak aboutthe difficulties that blind people face than you