On Speeches and Hospitals
I haven’t updated in awhile, because I think I’ve been in a bit mentally exhausted. I seem to have something on every day – whether it be medical, or the voluntary work I do for on disability access – I could do with a break, but the show must go on!
I had an assessment at the Royal Orthopaedic Hospital to see if they will accept me for their three-week inpatient pain management programme. It was a bit of a nightmare with my electric wheelchair wheel dying just as we got to the hospital, only for them to say we’d been sent to the wrong building anyway. I had to wait for a porter to get me – who came half an hour after my appointment time. I have to say my anxiety levels hit the roof and exploded through.
It does involve a shared ward which is quite a worry, as I can’t deal with light or noise and sleep very lightly, so other people snoring is a big worry and not being able to go to bed when I’m shattered as we have to be up at 7am which is going to cause loads of problems for me!
In other news our local council are making plans to make the High Street buses, taxis and motorcycles only. This is causing a lot of concern as this is the road a lot of blue badge holders park along to access the town. It’s also going to cause mayhem in all the rest of the town, as when one part closes it causes deadlock.
I’m on the committee of the local access group – just become acting Chair, in fact. I’m trying my best to get the council to reconsider, or even just to respond to my emails – without much luck. I was feeling a bit alone, until yesterday when there was a flurry of supportive emails from people including councillors. Then yesterday I made a speech at the local cabinet meeting on the issue – which is quite funny, as I’m the person that skipped most of English in year 9 to avoid giving a talk, but it went pretty well.
It seems to have made some difference with the right people getting involved now. So here’s hoping we can make a bit of a difference here.