We all know about the chronic and increasingly desperate shortage of accessible housing. If you are disabled, your options for finding a home that meets your needs, either to rent or buy, are likely to be quite limited.

So it is depressing to discover that in London – where all new residential property must be built to Lifetime Homes standards, and 10 percent of units should be wheelchair accessible – sales agents are largely unaware of these features, and therefore are failing to advise customers properly.

In a mystery shopper exercise carried out by The House Shop, two thirds of sales people in new developments thought "accessible" meant ready to view now... and that is just one example of their pretty much universal ignorance about what they are selling. Read more about it here

A new standard in accessible facilities aims to fill the gap between conventional wheelchair-accessible toilets, and the ‘desirable’, additional, larger and better equipped Changing Places toilet facilities.

Space to Change is the brainchild of leading Changing Places campaigners, and sponsored by assistive toileting specialists, Clos-o-Mat. The concept was developed so that venues and organisations that don't have the space or funds to install Changing Places can still take steps to ensure that the personal hygiene needs of up to three million British children and adults who need changing and lifting facilities for their personal care are met, as far as possible. 

Frequently, the existing wheelchair-accessible toilets are large enough, and the addition of a hoist and adult size changing bench are all that is required. Carry on reading here

 

If you are anything like me, you probably find yourself watching more and more TV on catch-up services, such as BBC iPlayer or ITVplayer. But if your hearing is impaired, three-quarters of the content is inaccessible to you...

The UK national charity Action on Hearing Loss (formerly RNID) launched a campaign last June, asking the government to improve the accessibility of subtitles on video-on-demand content, so that people with hearing loss can enjoy catch-up TV and films like everyone else.

But Ed Vaizey, Minister of State for Culture and the Digital Economy, has announced that the Government feels sufficient progress is being made by broadcasters, content providers and platform operators on a voluntary basis, and there is no need for action to speed things up.

He said that he will be contacting the relevant parties again in Spring 2017 to find out what further progress has been made.

You can carry on reading here

 

A recent press story about a mobility scooter user being ejected from a bus in Cornwall because she didn't have the relevant permit suggests that the rules about scooters and public transport are not widely known/understood.

Briefly, there is a Code which has been developed jointly by the Department for Transport and CPT (the Confederation of Passenger Transport UK) under which bus companies will carry Class 2 (pavement-going) scooter users provided they meet certain criteria on size and weight, and have obtained a travel permit. This Ultralight scooter from Electric Mobility is a Class 2 model.

There is no legal obligation on bus and coach companies to carry scooters – it is at the discretion of the individual operators.

You can read about the rules and participating bus companies here.

 

Three-quarters of older people will need some kind of long-term care, so it's something we all need to think about. Domiciliary care and live-in care can both enable you to stay in your own home – but only live-in care can support independence by helping you carry on with activities you can no longer manage alone.

The words of Angela Potter, pictured here, who works at The Care Agency as a live-in carer:

"The role of a live-in carer is to promote independence, to support clients to continue to live at home, but I see it as much more than that. Promoting independence is just a small part of the job; you are there to comfort and support, and to help make the client feel safe, whilst still enabling them to make their own choices and decisions. I think it’s really important that as a carer you recognise that you are in their home to help, not to change anything – to fit in around the client and to make them feel comfortable that you are there." 

You can read more about live-in care - the third option - here

 

This billboard caught my eye when someone posted it on social media. I wonder what you think of it? With cases of type II diabetes quadrupling since 1980, making it the biggest killer after heart disease, stroke and lung diseases, we urgently need to do something about obesity. Is humour like this an effective approach? Or is it, as some have claimed, a case of "fat shaming"? Let me know what you think, and you can read some other people's opinions as well!

Our product roundup on Beds and Bedrooms will be going out later this week. If you haven't already signed up to receive it, you can do so here.

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Until next time, all good wishes,

Frances