Mental Health Awareness Week 2018

One of the main topics on social media last week was Mental Health Awareness week (14th-20th May 2018). The focus this year was on stress; research has shown that two thirds of the population will experience a mental health problem in their lifetime and stress is a key factor in this. People may be affected by stress and experience symptoms such as anxiety and depression for many reasons. The impact of having any impairment e.g. sight loss, hearing loss, mobility impairment, dyslexia and many more, can result in stress. This can occur at any time, whether the person's condition has worsened suddenly, they've had an updated diagnosis or they are finding it hard to adapt to the challenges that the impairment causes on their daily life.

I am a very positive person and I'm someone who keeps persevering, always keen to progress in my personal and professional life. However, when I've had to adapt to changes in my disability, whether it is the sudden worsening of my eyesight or another deterioration such as when I was finding it harder to breathe at night and switched from CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) to BIPAP (bilevel positive airway pressure), it did dampen my spirits and give extra challenges. Whilst these feelings of worry and anxiety didn't last long, it is important to be aware that people who have an impairment may have invisible emotional challenges going on as well as physical challenges. For some impairments that are invisible such as dyslexia, hearing and sight loss, it can be even harder for unaffected people to realise the daily challenges that are experienced in both a physical and emotional sense.

As research has shown, it important to have overall awareness that stress can affect anyone and to be aware to look out for one another. More information about mental health can be found at the Mental Health Foundation website www.mentalhealth.org.uk

As an update, since my last post a great deal has changed. At the end of March I completed my role as Project Co-ordinator on Wiltshire Sight's Looking Out For Sight (LO4S) project. The end of Year 2 gave us amazing results and it's been a real pleasure to work on LO4S over the last couple of years. I can't thank Leanne Hubbard, Maggie Hemmings and everyone at Wiltshire Sight enough for all their support, both as an employee but also through my sight loss journey. We've had lots of fun and a few challenges (Access To Work and my own stubbornness at being independent and not seeking support!)  I have had many wonderful opportunities such as receiving the Award in Education and Training qualification and delivering training around the country. I am very grateful to Peter Corbett (CEO of Thomas Pocklington Trust (TPT)), everyone at Thomas Pocklington Trust and all the societies and organisations who have given me so much positive feedback and support through delivering the project. I really appreciate it.
I'm now focusing on my role as a Disability Consultant, it has been something I wanted to develop for a long time and I'm eager to work with other organisations and deliver training, accessibility audits and talks that enhance awareness of disability and lead to tangible changes to people's experiences. I have a wealth of experience that I would like to share with others to make a difference to the lives of people who have a disability/impairment. (I'm still working out what the preferred terminology is!) I'm also going write more regular blog posts that I hope are informative and interesting. Do contact me at melissa@sansumandco.co.uk if you would like know more about my consultancy services.

Best wishes,
Melissa

Adventures at Center Parcs and Wheelchairs

We spent the Guy Fawkes weekend at Center Parcs, Matthew and I had visited it years ago but we had never taken the children.

We had a brilliant time and as a wheelchair user I found it mostly accessible. They had extra aids such as a wheelchair for use in the pool area that we used to take me down a ramp right into the swimming pool - this made it so much easier that negotiating the steps in the shallow end. They also had aids for people who are visually impaired such as the large, tactile maps in the main areas. These were created with the RNIB and make it map reading more accessible. All staff were very supportive and were able to offer assistance when requested. We had a wonderful time and would highly recommend it for families and if you have an impairment.

I'm exploring my options for a new manual wheelchair, mine is about twenty years old and whilst it still looks modern, it is rather heavy for people lifting it into their cars. I had an assessment at the wheelchair service in Trowbridge and tried a couple of manual wheelchairs. The Quickie Neon 2 was a lot lighter and it folded up which is one of my requirements. I need to enquire about prices from different wheelchair suppliers and then the wheelchair service will provide a voucher towards the cost of a new one (they could supply me with a basic wheelchair but it was no lighter than my current one.)

I'm also trying to sort out applying for a lightweight, foldable wheelchair for work, one that can be transported easily in the taxi. This will make it less tiring, give me greater independence especially when I'm delivering training. I'll also be able to use my cane which means I'll bump into less things and be more confident when moving around. It's a long process - I'm applying through Access to Work but it will be worth in the long run.