Monthly Archives: May 2017

Don’t Block the Drop or the pavement, ok ?

Don't block the drop or the pavement, ok

Don’t Block the Drop or the pavement, ok !!

Short post but boy is this well done. One of the best images I’ve seen supporting the spread of campaigning against those who insist on using pavements as car parks or blocking Drop kerbs. Here’s the thing, it’s dangerous, it’s selfish, it sucks. You are putting lots of people at risk, not just those using a wheelchair. You are disabling loads of us when there is no good reason to make things even tougher to get around.

Love this very clever representation of just what it means to park on the pavement. Please stop doing it.

Cheers, Mark

Everton end on a low note at Arsenal & somehow Pre qualifying for Europa Cup still leaves me feeling we’ve just wasted an entire season……

A wasted season. Harsh ? Unreasonable ? It was after all a big improvement on 11th (twice) under Martinez and we did finish fifteen points clear of the rest, albeit also fifteen points off fourth place. But I can’t get away from the fact that despite the significantly improved financial resources at the club, Everton had two disappointing transfer windows, with January the real killer. We just wouldn’t gamble, take a measured risk, and splash out on a centre back and forward to add to Morgan’s excellent capture. I’m convinced that had we been prepared to address the serious flaws made obvious by that pre Christmas “run” of one win in ten, then our improved form post mid January could have been worth more than how we have finished.

But we didn’t and the centre back weaknesses have been exposed, the lack of back up to Lukaku emphasised and the arrogance that we thought we had cover at right back highlighted in cruel fashion. I know many don’t seem to agree, thinking that Schneiderlins arrival was all we needed, and then going on to laud the removal of the “dead wood” which was always going to happen in the summer anyway.

For me this has been a season of utter frustration and missed opportunities. I don’t think Koeman had to be given a year to assess the squad. I think the cup exits were both really poor and in particular the Norwich game cost us momentum and totally derailed a decent start to the season. In March there was the outside chance we could have surprised ourselves and kicked on to a fourth place finish. Unlikely I will grant you. Undeserved on most quality assessments maybe, but it was there, tantalisingly within reach but we went to Spurs and didn’t turn up and embarrassed everyone against Liverpool, again.

I get it that we aren’t really ready, well obviously, not ready at all. But a CL qualification would have brought us more than another financial boost. It would have given us a head start on the post Martinez recovery, made us much more likely to attract the kind of quality in the summer our money can buy. I don’t accept it was never on. Chelsea and Spurs apart, everyone else above us has stuttered and failed to impress. City have got it together late on but they have had a poor season by their standards. Liverpool really have been lucky to get fourth, whilst Man Utd and Arsenal have drawn too many and frankly looked jaded for a long time. We just needed to take a measured risk and give it a go.

But here we are, hanging on to some bright spots. Tom Davies has done really well but clearly needs a rest, as his aweful 26 minutes at Arsenal showed. Morgan is hugely impressive. Lukaku outstanding despite the fact that some have bellowed for his sale due mainly, apparently, to his inability to score against the big clubs…Kane and Sanchez have patchy records against them too, and…..his disgusting failure to win games on his own. Sigh. Only at Everton can we chase away one of the best goal scorers in Europe.

Williams has been poor, a shadow of the guy who arrived from the Euros as a strong defender and even stronger leader. He is turned so easily, lacks pace and frankly is terrified when faced by runners.  With Jags labouring and Holgate played, crazily, at right back so many times, the defence may have improved on a terrible record in 2016/17 but when you add that we haven’t got a keeper at the club it’s not encouraging.

Time to put it all behind us and pray for a total overhaul in the summer with (somehow) two high quality centre backs arriving, a top class keeper, right back cover, replacements for Ross and Rom if they depart, and in truth, at least five other genuinely strong additions to a squad that is desperately in need of balancing the “promising” with the “ready now”.

I will feel a lot more positive with a bit of sunshine around and a lot of early signings.

 

 

Swansea 1 Everton 0 : 6th May 2017, a hatrick of “woeful’s”

Ok maybe a hatrick of woefuls is a bit strong. West Ham nil nil, yep, woeful.  The Chelsea home defeat was not quite woeful until the last thirty minutes when it fully qualified as a “woeful”. Still this classic Everton defeat against relegation threatened Swansea really did deserve its “woeful” description and frankly it wasn’t a surprise.

We really didn’t turn up until the second half. Barry, Jags and the often hapless Stek combined to concede a poor goal. Holgate again looked decent in defence but just lost going forward. This meant that for the third game in a row we had little width down the right and it impacted the whole performance going forward. I thought Mirallas did ok and certainly seemed bothered, as did Tom Davies throughout. But the service to the front men was generally terrible, and on a day when Rom looked like he was mentally adjusting to throwing his shirt into the crowd and saying his goodbyes at Goodison for our sizzling last home game of the season against Watford.

What was Koeman doing playing Holgate at right back and leaving Kenny on the bench when surely the time was right to maybe play a right back, at right  back (innovative I know) and try Holgate at CB in place of Jags ?

Williams wasn’t great was he. Boy was I was wrong on this guy. I liked him a lot. He seemed a fearless leader. A ball winner. He had experienced a better than decent Euro’s. But almost from the start he’s struggled. He gets turned way too easily. He’s been beaten in the air way too often. He lacks pace. He just isn’t the CB I expected and because of that we now need to buy two central defenders at absurd cost.

What worries me is that these last three games won’t have done much to endear us to potential high quality recruits. Who amongst the best will fancy us ? It’s going to be a short hard summer methinks. But you never know Walsh may have it all sorted and there are some bargains on the way as well as at least four top quality additions. More if Rom and Barkley depart. One thing is for sure it’s not going to be easy as it now seems we are essentially having to rebuild, again, when previously we thought a couple of top imports would do the trick. Not great really. Still, roll on the pre pre qualifying round of the Europa in the third week of a July.

Cheers, Mark

Mental Health will never be about how much you earn. Get well soon Aaron Lennon

Aaron Lennon

It’s hard to say what you feel about the Daily Mail’s treatment of Aaron Lennon as it tweeted about his mental health. Hard because you want to scream, rant, swear, a lot, and just shout to the world “how can someone’s mental health concerns be in any way linked to his or her salary? What has money got to do with anything here ? Nothing of course but the Daily Mail has no time for what is right or wrong, tasteful or horribly distasteful. It is a cringeworthy publication, hated by many almost as much as the S*n and respected only by those whose politics it’s promotes. All blues can do is wish Aaron well, offer him our total support in regaining his health and coping with something that is so hard we often find it tough to talk about. But mental health needs to be on everyone’s agenda. Mental Health care desperately needs better funding and more accessible provision. Mental Health issues are very neutral, people from all walks of life get affected, rich and poor, famous or, well, just like pretty much everyone you know.

There is tho something very positive to come out of that disgusting Daily Mail tweet about Aaron. It is the amazingly universal condemnation of the Mail, by thousands of people of all backgrounds who almost instantly, and as one, recognized the abysmal attempt to score points off someone facing serious mental health concerns simply because they are in the public eye. Maybe, just maybe, the Mail’s horrible actions will have given publicity not to them but to the fact that anyone can face mental health issues, anyone can need your support to beat this still quite shadowy disease. Let’s talk about it more, try to understand how best to help and support those whose mental health is a constant, every day challenge. Most of all get better soon Aaron, every blue is behind you.

Cottages and cabins can be accessible !! Here’s how !!

Accessible cottages and cabins

Cottages and cabins CAN be accessible !!

Finding quality accessible holiday accommodation is not easy but here’s 10 of the best cabins and cottages.

Love this piece from Srin at Disability Horizons writing for the Guardian in which he reports on 10 of the very best Cabin and cottage style places to stay. You just cannot beat first hand access experience and Srin knows his stuff as one of the founders of the new accomable.com website. More of that in future blogs but for now why not pick a cosy cottage or cute cabin for a holiday or weekend break?

http://ow.ly/ZFurK

Cheers, Mark

Is it time Charities came out of the shadows and reclaimed their political campaigning voice?

Charities

Charities, time to speak up and tackle the fear ?

Charities take note. The UK is in the grip of a snap election. Well a mild grip. There is a lot at stake and for disabled people, or people with impairments, whatever language you want to use, there is a lot at stake for us and our families. You might think that charities would, could, play a big part in campaigning to argue their case and influence political parties at this crucial time. But charities are under attack, cowed by two years of negative publicity about their approach to fundraising – well the largest charities anyway – there is fear out there and as this excellent piece from the Guardian suggests, it’s perhaps time to ease up a little on the issues around “how” campaigning is done and take a minute to remember “why” it should be and can be, a crucial part of why charities exist.

Don’t get me wrong, I very much understand why there has been criticism of some of the largest charities in this country. Fundraising has become a hugely professional, slick, modern, marketing led business. Note the word “business”. Billions are being raised and the methods used have wandered more and more into telephone call centers, repeat “asks”, dubious use of donor data to categorise those who might be angle to give more…..and more…..

Fundraising has in my view slipped way too far from face to face contact, respectful and dignified personalised donor care and building long term relationships. Things are changing thankfully and the response of some of the very largest charities, tho I suspect not all, has been encouraging. Strategies have been revisited and revamped. The approach is to better value volunteering and understand the impact that excessive “asks” can have on individuals. But whilst all this is going on the fear of a further political backlash grows. Now we have a snap election and if we are not careful, charities large and small may well feel reluctant to speak up, to campaign for what is right, because frankly they have taken a lot of stick recently and may want to shrink into the shadows of this election rather than make waves. It can’t happen. We need charities to speak up now and take off the shackles of the fear they may feel.

Local and often small charities are I think rightly cheesed off at the results of what they see as somewhat sharp fundraising practice which is just too slick, too remote from the donor etc and smaller charities are paying a price for errors and misjudgements they have not made. New legislation around data collection feels reasonable enough but when you don’t raise hundreds of millions and don’t have IT or HR departments, implementing the changes is not easy and actually your supporters don’t get what the fuss is about. They were never taken for granted or pushed too hard. They were respected and had face to face human contact all the time. But now it’s all about new processes, opt in not out and restricted use of email and new sign up forms. So local charities are also in danger of being cowed by the impact of the last couple of years.

The bottom line for many city or town based or regional charities has always been the need to carefully evaluate whether speaking up will upset their donors, their key influencers, their corporate or political support. Being “neutral” isn’t just easier for Trustees or managers, it’s possibly seen as mandatory when it really shouldn’t be so. If politicians give their support only if you toe the line and don’t speak out against their parties policies that’s not great support, it’s support with strings attached. Charities have to be prepared to campaign and remind the voters “why” they need to speak up and worry a bit less about the how, or be overly concerned that being neutral is the default position.

Again, there is so much at stake in this election and we have to hope that charities find their campaigning voices quickly and loudly remind the electorate of why they exist and let’s be honest, many exist because there is huge injustice out there.

Our health care system is in crisis but Brexit squabbles are the only headlines. Disabled people have been made to pay a massive price for the greed and unlawful activity of our financial sector. Community social care is collapsing for lack of funding and our older family members are seeing first hand what the real impact is of “living longer” unless you have a few hundred thousand behind you…..meanwhile those affected by cancer and many other life threatening diseases, are waiting longer for urgent care, paying through the nose just to park a car at a hospital, and whatever you do, do not need to visit an A&E.

Dramatic ? OTT ? Well you will judge. But there is good reason to urge charities everywhere to shout why they exist from every rooftop they can find over the next few weeks. Most of all charities large and small should think carefully before not taking sides. Maybe, just maybe, the time has come to face the fear and do just that, take sides, say what you really think about the policies and actions of those standing before you asking for your vote ?

Heres what the Guardian had to say about campaigning charities. It’s worth a read.

http://ow.ly/6MiA30bq2Hu

 

Don’t Block the Drop is a message that deserves to be heard!

Don't Block the Drop

Blocking the Drop just keeps on happening

Don’t block the Drop !!!

Now here’s a campaign that is dear to the hearts of every wheelchair user and / or any mobility impaired person, let alone those parents with mega sized double baby buggies !  The well designed “drop kerb” is without doubt one of THE most important access enablers of the last fifty years…or more !

The drop kerb may look simple enough. Building them isn’t rocket science but predictably expensive and full of debates around planning, health and safety, design discussions etc etc etc. Mention the need for a drop kerb and a shed load of folk in yellow bibs will surround you with clipboards and well meaning support. Try getting a drop kerb in your area and see what I mean. But truth is things are improving. My local authority here in Warrington recently embarked upon a big project to resurface some local roads outside the town centre. As part of this they delivered significant improvements to the number, and quality, of drop kerbs in parts of the town. I was made up.

I admit things got a little less ace when I discovered that in two miles of new drop kerbs there were ‘gaps’ were no drop kerb was installed because…I suspect….the pavement ran across the entrance to a ‘private’ industrial estate, thus forcing you into a busy road to continue your journey. Which is a pain. Still….WBC deserve real credit for improving and enabling our environment but there remain areas of the town, mostly the older un-developed parts, where drop kerbs are a rare sight and it’s incredibly hard, and unsafe, to get from a to b in your own community.

So, it’s good that there are signs of real improvements in drop kerb provision, perhaps a reflection of more people with influence understanding why this is such an important element of an accessible community…but what’s the point if you get new well designed drop kerbs and motorists / lorry drivers park right across the drop and block your access ? It happens, a lot, and a bit like that old defense you hear from drivers when parking in a blue badge space. “It was empty”…some motorists just don’t get it.

#Don’t Block the Drop is a hashtag for a campaign I can really identify with. This is serious stuff for millions of people but particularly the just under two million who use a wheelchair / powerchair. There is truly little as frustrating, or disabling, than spending half an hour making your way into a location, using pavements, safely, only then to get to a crossroads and find that the Drop Kerb has been blocked by a car or truck and the high six inch kerbs nearby prevent you ‘bouncing’ off and across the road, leading to you backtracking for ages to find an unblocked drop kerb. OTT ? Nope, this has happened to me a number of times. It’s a fact and it can seriously wreck your day.

Find out more about the campaign that asks #Dont Block the Drop

http://ow.ly/WvbN30bm4Fp

Cheers, Mark

 

Hail Doug Paulley’s cultural change but is the recent Supreme Court judgement really a win ?

Doug Paulley access to buses

Doug Paulley may have helped change the culture but the Supreme Court’s ruling on access to public buses doesn’t seem to have changed much……

Hail Doug Paulley’s cultural change but is the recent Supreme Court judgement really a win ?

In January this year I put together this blog piece for one of sites I occasionally write for and after having recently just been left sitting at a bus stop again because to be frank the hassle of taking on a parent with an intractable attitude and a fixed frame buggy and a driver who honestly looked like he wanted to be beamed up out of there quicker than Scotty ever was on the Star Ship Enterprise – well – I just wondered if anyone thinks the last five months have produced anything new for those who need to use the wheelchair space on our buses ?

Heres how I saw it earlier in the year, just after the Supreme Court ruling.

So, almost five years since he missed his lunch date with his Mum and Dad after being unable to board a bus thanks to the refusal of a buggy owner to move from the wheelchair space, Doug Paulley has his Supreme Court ruling. It was, we were told, a “win” and Doug deserves real credit for perseverance, commitment and guts to take on a multi national in defence of disabled people’s right to reasonable access on public transport.

But sadly I can’t see what’s really changed with this ruling ? Bus drivers may now need to try harder to “persuade” a parent to shift their buggy from the wheelchair space. Bus companies will, apparently, have to train them to be more persuasive. Yet the reality is that if your one of what in fairness I see as a small number of angry, intransigent buggy owners who refuse to disassemble their sometimes all-terrain armoured buggy, you ain’t going to be moved by this ruling.

So what happens next then ? Does this ruling honestly mean that bus drivers will, having failed to cleverly and genuinely persuade a buggy person to move, simply down tools and refuse to shift the bus until the stubborn, or uncaring, or just plain selfish parent sees sense and vacates the wheelchair space ? I suspect not a lot will happen differently to now.

This ruling may mean a longer pause at the stop whilst the harassed driver, now fully trained in the art of gentle persuasion, “requires by law” the parent to leave the wheelchair space. The ruling may increase awareness of the crucial importance to wheelchair users of their one and only means to travel on a bus. So drivers might, and let’s emphasise that might, feel emboldened and push harder for the buggy user to shift. Fewer of the stubborn minority might be, well, stubborn and actually leave the wheelchair space.

But here’s the thing, the ruling is clear, the driver cannot absolutely compel the buggy owner to move and cannot force them off the bus. Such action would to me be uncomfortable and embarrassing, albeit I’d get to travel. Put simply, though you wouldn’t want to see the law actioned in such a manner, without that final legal standing there’s just no teeth to this Supreme Court ruling.

All of which takes no account of the wheelchair users’ frequently desperate and even embarrassed attempt to avoid being the centre of bus user discontent or make life hard for bus drivers who, incidentally, are mostly only too willing to jump out of their cab and drop the ramp, despite what you might read in some places.

What we actually needed was a legal ruling ten years ago to compel all bus companies to provide two multi use spaces on buses, one primarily for wheelchair users and one normally for buggy folk. This way the chances of driver led conflict resolution being remotely necessary become vastly reduced, and the multi use design, albeit with disabled priority remaining, ensures a huge reduction in the times disabled people are left at bus stops. I know, once is too many, and I’m personally impacted by this, but my sense is that without this design requirement there honestly is NO way we will ever see a reasonable resolution here.

Even now a new law around the two space provision on newly built buses would be the real victory, this practical measure which, when coupled with the Supreme Courts ruling, would deliver a true leap in anti discrimination on public transport and at a stroke hugely increase the ability to travel on our public bus services for tens of thousands of disabled people.

Bus companies may not want this design imperative as it means thinking again about the existing design of many buses where single wheelchair space is the norm, as on some large double decker buses and frequently, their cousins, the small commuter style bus. The excuses around cost surely won’t stand up once the evidence of usage shows that the loss of seats is no hardship apart from a tiny percentage of journeys at peak times, even in places like central London currently consulting on reducing bus numbers on some routes.

Doug Paulley’s longest wait ever for a bus may bring some small but welcome measure of relief to the problem of getting left in the rain at the bus stop. We should hail his determination and accept his analysis around the cultural change that the ruling can deliver.

But my gut feeling is that little has happened here to change the reality, which is that drivers can struggle to get buggy users to do the decent thing and shift from the space, but let’s be clear, most parents and their buggies will continue to try to move or even fold things up to allow a wheelchair user the priority space they genuinely need. However, without a fit for purpose design on buses that delivers two not one space, on every vehicle, some buggy users will continue to look the other way and bus drivers will still be faced with an impossible situation where ultimately the buggy is the only winner.

Read the Guardian online’ take on this Supreme Court ruling from January 2017, honestly, has much changed ?

http://ow.ly/CJaR30891HJ

Mark Wilson

London Underground, a more accessible adventure !

Accessible

London Underground is getting more accessible

The London Underground really is getting to be more accessible. it’s an enabling adventure. The tube is old. Very old, well a lot of it, but surprisingly the 72 odd step free and or ramp accessible stations now give the wheelchair user and indeed many with an impairment of any kind, a few options. My focus tho has been on a step free accessible Tube following my shift from being ambulant disabled to using a powerchair.

I recently became a keen user of the London Tube when regularly visiting the city for business and leisure. and yes it can be a wee bit hairy at times. I had always thought using the Underground whilst on business or social outing to the capital a bit of a non-starter. However, the arrival of two new new lines, The Jubilee and the DLR (Docklands Light Railway) when used alongside the increasing number of step free stations across the network, actually gives you scope to get a long way on the tube, fast!  If your travel allows you the manouevre room, making use of some key step free hubs across the capital is really helpful. Of course it may mean you still end connecting to a bus route or walking / wheeling, but the tube may have at least taken some of the strain.

Traveling from the North I was made up to find that this ‘hub’ approach gives you decent step feee access to large parts of the network. St Pancras is just a few minutes away, the Victoria Line will link you Green Parks step free interchange to the Jubilee Line or stay onboard and the Victoria line will get you to hubs like Waterloo and recently accessible Vauxhall with its overground and bus interchanges. You can get North West from St Pancras, with a change at Green Park, to Wembley or the other direction all the way to the exciting development of Stratford City. Then in 2018 the amazing new Elizabeth Line / Crossrail will open up parts of central London and beyond to total step feee access where none previously existed. Still limited I know, and it often requires the same amount of planning as if you were invading a small country. But things are very slowly, too slowly, improving.

TfL’s step free station Underground map is your starting point. I’m geeky and there are a few maps that can greatly help the mobility impaired traveller. I actually enjoyed pouring over the main access maps which not only show you the totally step-free stations, but then add in those where you can get into the station via a lift, and then use a technically “on-demand” ramp with the help of station staff. There is even a guide to how large the gap is between platform and tube train….this is important as I know some wheelchair users are a bit hesitant about taking on the stations where that “gap” is at the largest because there are wheelchairs where small front castors can be an issue on the largest train to platform gap.

I have actually made time to ‘experiment’ which I know sounds sad. I have tried out several lines and stations, familiarized myself with the often long and winding step-free routes via a myriad of lifts and interchange subways.  if your a wheelchair user travelling the Underground at peak times it has to be a bit iffy, even when you know that list of step free stations in your sleep. The sheer volume of people at peak times means boarding a train can be tricky and in a powerchair you simply have to make a judgement which can entail waiting for the next, or even third, train when it doesn’t feel safe. Barging your way in isn’t great but I’m thinking my patience is that borne of a relatively infrequent commuter……those who use the tube every day, twice a day, may feel it’s harder to wait for a chance to power your way onboard.

But if you can plan your travel to avoid the very peak periods then step free really does mean what it says and my rear wheel drive Salsa coped admirably, albeit that getting off the train does entail a slight “bounce” as you hit the platform but most will handle that with no issues. The TfL staff were great, nothing was too much trouble and I have asked some dorky questions about lines and stations. Very dorky.

This all sounds a bit dull ! But for me it’s exciting because I suspect many will simply take being able to get from A to B using ALL forms of available transport for granted. Why wouldn’t they, few see the disabling aspects of the environment we live in unless it’s you being disabled by it. I felt the same way the first time I used a fully accessible London red bus, then other routes in cities across the UK.

The map shown will be hard to read as its a screenshot but there are free to download maps here:

http://ow.ly/eOeL3006MYV

and the specific step free Underground map is here : http://ow.ly/KAwf3006MHl

Maybe tube travel isn’t for everyone and I had to steel myself a couple of times as my infamous claustrophobia was challenged in a couple of packed trains but I managed it and yes, loved doing what most take for granted in having ready access to the Underground.

Cheers, Mark

Changing times, Changing Places, accessible toilets really matter

Accessible Changing times changing places

Changing times changing places, civilised loo breaks

Accessible toilets, Changing Places or Space to Change, it’s a serious thing for millions. When I finally gave up the wearing-tin-legs-thing and became a permanent wheelchair user, I suddenly found myself coming face to face with something I’d not really taken too much notice of before, a disabled or “accessible” toilet with a Radar lock. It used to drive me potty (see what I did there !) as I didn’t have a Radar Key and hated, absolutely hated, asking for one. I was scarred by an early bad experience in a lovely Waterstones book store in Liverpool when after I asked for a key the shop assistant bellowed, and I mean bellowed, “hey there’s a guy here needs to use our disabled toilet but can’t get in cos he’s not got the key thing, anyone know which draw it’s in as I don’t want to keep him waiting too long…”

I kid you not! I was mortified. The whole shop seemed to turn and checkout the guy desperate for a wee but with no key. It was hugely embarrassing and made me even more anti radar key. But I quickly mellowed ! I got hold of three keys and secured them in strategic places about my person, wheelchair bag or back up with my wife in her handbag! Accessible loos with radar key access are almost always more clean, not used by lazy selfish folk with no genuine need of the facility and somehow feel more private tho I’m not sure why!

But as many know, accessible loos are about more than a radar key. The Changing Places and Space to Change standards are slowly creating toilet facilities that recognise the needs of those who may need more space in a loo, a platform or actual bed to help change on and even a hoist. It’s a basic need this loo thing and frankly finding or not finding a good accessible loo can make or break a family trip out, a business meeting, or holiday travel or just a frantic days retail therapy.

Until you really understand just how few disabled / accessible loos there are in our public and yes, private, spaces you won’t ever really get it, but trust me, millions do get it and making the right provision available is one of the cornerstones of a truly enabled environment.

Have a read of this excellent article from Disability Horizons which gives the best take on Changing Places I have seen for ages.

http://ow.ly/KQij303gTHF

Cheers, Mark

Accessible Barcelona really is gorgeous !!

Gorgeous Barcelona

Gorgeous Barcelona, actually quite accessible !!

Gorgeous Barcelona. I have always wanted to visit the city, it’s certainly within reach but somehow I have never quite got round to it. But I loved Martyn Sibleys take on this fabulous city and I really loved the information he shared on one of the most accessible, integrated, “mainstream” hotels I’ve ever read about.
Mics Sant Jordi is the hotel and it looks a fabulous place to stay and heres the thing, thanks to Martyn’s video tour you get a relevant, clear, picture of accommodation that will suit most disabled travellers. But even better heres a hotel thats well located and is, well, just like a hotel ! This isnt a hospital dressed up as a hotel. This isnt some sterile dormitory set up. Heres a classy hotel in one of the most exciting cities in the world and its accessible to everyone!

Ok im doing the equivalent of a wheelchair blog dance here and it probably shows but this is exciting. We badly need more of these video style reviews that nail the key questions on access, costs, location etc. The only disappointing thing is that there are not more of these brilliant but essentially simple and straightforward presentations for every city!
Well done Martyn Sibley, well done Disability Horizons and well done Mic Saint Jordi, cannot wait to see more reviews like this one!

http://ow.ly/10o4Wb

Cheers, Mark