Traffic and training

It was a big day today because I worked with Wiltshire Sight to present Looking Out for Sight training to staff at a local care home. It was the first time I had done this and it is an exciting new part of my disability consultancy.

The journey to the care home was interesting, I caught my usual bus, however I got off at a different, slightly later stop. This was rather scary because of the unfamiliar surroundings and possible mobility access problems. Once I was on the bus, the driver said that there were steps at the stop that I wanted to use which was a bit concerning! The bus driver was helpful and parked just after the bus stop so that it was feasible for me to get off the bus. The only problem was that to cross the road to the care home, I needed a drop kerb for my wheelchair and this forced me to come off the end of the pavement, onto the road. It was very busy, the bus had caused the traffic to become congested and there was a large lorry too which was causing similar problems. There was so much traffic and it rather unnerving and worrying, I wasn't sure how to get across safely in case a car appeared from an unexpected place. However, one positive result from the congestion was that the cars weren't really moving and one car driver gestured that I could cross so I was able do this safely and arrived at the care home feeling rather relieved.

We delivered two training sessions, both were varied slightly because the participants asked different questions. It was really enjoyable and also very rewarding to know I am helping other visually people through informing their carers about the difficulties their sight loss can cause and how they may be able to assist them.

The journey back home was easier, I had to go from the care home to the high street where I would catch a bus back home. For some unknown reason there was not a bus back home from the bus stop by the care home.It did mean I was again travelling down an unknown road, but it was less eventful than earlier and it was easy to find my way to the high street.

Today's training gave me a confidence boost, I was in completely unfamiliar surroundings with uncertainty about visual and mobility access but I got there independently and I was able to carry out my role effectively. It felt so rewarding and I look forward to future training.