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Accessible Everything

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disability, travel, wheelchair

Lucas “LazyLegz” Patuelli

No reservations - epetition response from UK Government

By Craig Grimes

I signed a petition a while back to try to get the UK Government to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Today, they published a response on the 10 Downing Street web site:

We received a petition asking:

“We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to ratify the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in full, without reservation or limitation, by December 2008.”

Details of Petition:

“The Convention is the first international treaty in history to create a specific legal framework to protect the human rights of disabled people across the globe and to recognise that disabled and non-disabled people share a common humanity. 20 countries need to ratify the Convention before it becomes legally binding. To date only 17 have done so. The UK is not among them. The UK signed the Convention in March 2007. Since then 2,000 people have signed a petition on this site calling on the Government to ratify it without delay. In response to pressure from campaigners the UK has pledged to ratify the Convention by the end of 2008. However, the Convention Campaign Coalition (CCC) is increasingly concerned that the Government might try to reserve, or opt out of, certain Convention rights.Reserving against certain Convention articles means that some parts of the Convention would not be legally binding in the UK. Human Rights are inalienable and universal. If the UK is truly committed to disabled people’s human rights it cannot pick and choose which Convention rights it is willing to support.”

Read the Government’s response

Posted in United Kingdom, News, Politics | No Comments

Mother given parking ticket “for reviving her severely disabled son”

By Craig Grimes

A mother who says she stopped her car on a pavement to revive her profoundly disabled son, was given a £100 parking ticket.

By Andrew Alderson, Chief Reporter
Last Updated: 5:50PM GMT 21 Mar 2009

Penny Batkin, 40, says that Richmond Council has refused to back down over the fine despite receiving a letter of explanation from her, supported by her GP.

She says she was taking her son, Freddie, 4, to the Shooting Star children’s hospice in Hampton when he began gasping for breath and turning blue.

More on this article from the Telegraph.

Posted in Discrimination, United Kingdom, News, Media | No Comments

accessible.travel in the Travel Biz Monitor

By Craig Grimes

An article about accessible.travel in the Travel Biz Monitor (India)

accessible.travel, instant hotel booking engine for People with Disabilities likely to launch in India by year-end
By Khushboo Sahrawat | Mumbai

accessible.travel, the world’s first instant hotel booking engine for People with Disabilities (PwDs) was launched last month by Craig Grimes, Director, accessible.travel. Talking about the new initiative, Craig Grimes told TravelBiz Monitor, “The booking engine is different in terms of data provided regarding access and facilities for People with Disabilities at the hotels listed on the site. This has never been done before in a commercial way along with facility of instant booking.”

One man helps the disabled see the world

By Craig Grimes

A profile about the work of Craig Grimes, Director of accessible.travel, in the Christian Science Monitor.

Matagalpa, Nicaragua - The winding turns, potholes, open sewers, and stray dogs make the streets of this northern Nicaraguan town tough to negotiate – let alone in a wheelchair.

“It’s the worst ever, without a doubt,” says Craig Grimes, with a laugh, as he grasps a signpost to pull his wheelchair up onto a street curb. “A lot of people in Matagalpa don’t know how to use their wheelchairs, because no one has ever taught them. I’ve been showing people in wheelchairs how to get around their own city, and they’ve lived here their whole lives.”

My New Site, accessible.travel

By Craig Grimes

Since AccessibleBarcelona started growing I have often received emails from people with disabilities asking if we only operate in Barcelona. People that have stayed in Barcelona through using the services of AccessibleBarcelona also frequently get back in touch for advice regarding other cities and asking if we can help them arrange trips to other destinations.

I’ve often thought about trying to expand my work through replicating the ideals and standards of AccessibleBarcelona in other European cities. I love city breaks, just 3 months after becoming paraplegic I discharged myself from Pinderfields Spinal Injuries Unit and went travelling to the Netherlands with a friend. Whilst there we covered a lot of the country, but I especially loved Rotterdam and Amsterdam, 2 great cities.

Whilst working for the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA) in the UK I had to visit London, Cardiff and Belfast for work, but I also visited various cities in Germany and Prague the Czech Capital just for fun. After saying farewell to the SIA and moving to Barcelona I fell in love with the place, it’s just an amazing Mediterranean city, the hustle and bustle, culture, history, beach and the Pyrenees are very close too for a quick skiing trip in the winter. While living in Barcelona I didn’t travel all that much, but when I did I hit more European cities including Madrid, Edinburgh, Paris, Munich, Nuremberg and of course one of my all time favourites; Berlin.

The biggest problem with staying in a city a person with a disability seems to finding decent accessible accommodation, I’ve just been to London in Oct 2008 and trying to find a hotel was a real hassle. When I went to Paris I also had problems as well as when I was in Berlin. Just trying to find reliable information about accommodation facilities for people with disabilities is hard, although a hotel reservation engine may state that a hotel is “wheelchair friendly” or has “facilities for disabled” they don’t give us any details of what that actually means. Frequently, the people that have said that somewhere is suitable for people with disabilities don’t actually have a clue about what we need. Neither do they give us enough information or photos about the facilities so that we can make a decision for ourselves, they just assume that they know best and they are usually wrong.

accessible.travel is an attempt to even the playing field a little and give other people with disabilities information regarding accessible city breaks. The site will post hotel information and your comments about hotels and accommodation. This isn’t going to happen overnight, but with time, accessible.travel aims to be a useful resource to people with disabilities that, like me, love travelling to different cities around the world.

From the accessible.travel Blog

Posted in "booking engine", accessible.travel, News, Accommodation, Travel | No Comments

Wheelchair Athlete’s Back Flip Lands Him in Record Book

By Craig Grimes

With the top of his head mere inches above the lip of a jump, Aaron Fotheringham soars into the Guinness World Book of Records by performing a back flip in his wheelchair at Doc Romeo skate park on Saturday.

By Sean Ammerman

Aaron Fotheringham went into the record books as a pioneer in wheelchair sports Saturday.

Guinness World Records recorded the Northwest Las Vegas resident, in front of a crowd of more than 300 at Doc Romeo Park, as the first to complete a back flip in a wheelchair.

“It feels awesome to get this,” said Fotheringham, 16, who performed the flip before the Vegas AmJam skatepark competition.

Source: Las Vegas Sun

Posted in Profiles, Spina Bifida, USA, Adapted Sport, News, Media | No Comments

Changes to Accessible Everything

By Craig Grimes

I’ve been a bit of a geek this weekend and made some changes to Accessible Everything so that it’s easier for you to keep up with new blog posts and get in touch with me if you want to.

Firstly, I’ve added a new RSS feed with FeedBurner (the top RSS “Subscribe in a Reader“), so that you can easily subscribe to Accessible Everything with various different readers and get updates easily. Just click the link and choose which reader you require. The old RSS feed is also still there for those of you that prefer just to register through your browser etc.

Secondly, I’ve added Bookmarkify which appears at the end of every post. This is very similar to the FeedBurner RSS and allows you to choose your RSS reader to keep up with the headlines on the blog. If you don’t see the reader that you us, just click “more” and other options will appear.

Thirdly, I’ve also posted a link in the left hand column for “Subscribe by Email“. All you have to do is click this and fill in your email address and every time I write a new entry you will receive notification directly. This service is also through clicking “more” at the bottom of every blog entry with Bookmarkify.

The last thing that I have done on the blog is add Google Talk in the top right corner of the header. If the green light is on and it says “Available” click on the link to talk to me directly in real time.

You can also keep up with Accessible Everything through Facebook by using the link in the right column in the blue box “Blog Network“.

Also on AccessibleBarcelona and AccessibleNicaragua I’ve put Accessible Everything Headline Animators so that people can see the last 5 article headlines that have been posted on the blog, then they can click straight through to read their contents. If you would like to post the Accessible Everything Headline Animator on your blog or web page please drop me a line and I’ll send you the HTML.

If anyone would like any further details about the things I’ve added for their own blogs they can also email me. I hope that this helps the readers of Accessible Everything keep up with my news.

Posted in Technology, News | No Comments

An accessible & inclusive travel blog for people with disabilities

No reservations - epetition response from UK Government

Read the Government’s response

Mother given parking ticket “for reviving her severely disabled son”

A mother who says she stopped her car on a pavement to revive her profoundly disabled son, was given a £100 parking ticket.

accessible.travel in the Travel Biz Monitor

One man helps the disabled see the world

My New Site, accessible.travel

accessible.travel in Time Online

Nicability - International Day of Persons with Disabilities

Wheelchair Athlete’s Back Flip Lands Him in Record Book

Blogger Jobs?

Changes to Accessible Everything