The trip up to Brighton with our WAV car and Chris in the back in his wheelchair went relatively OK. I am getting more confident driving outside of Cornwall so that is all good. Anyone who knows of the A35 will probably know the little GingerBread house cafe stop with toilets just outside of Dorchester. We usually stop there, though before Chris was able to use the normal toilets. I thought it would be OK because I knew they had a disabled toilet. Unfortunately we didn't know that you have to have some kind of radar key, whatever that is, so Chris had to struggle using the normal loo. We got his wheelchair as close as possible and I waited outside and I also asked a bloke who went in to check on him. It wasn't ideal as I was scared he would fall. I did bring along some travel urinals, but Chris was reluctant to use one. We might hunt down a Little Chef or something on the way back.
We must have got some strange looks in a lay-by on the A27 as I had to get in the back of the car and flush Chris's PEG as his feed had stopped... That was fun, one of the rare times I was glad that I am short, I can almost stand upright in the back of the Kangoo!
We always park in the Regency Square car park in Brighton. It is expensive, but it is secure and always has space. It has plenty of disabled spaces and ramps to get out of the car park, but once out Chris was stuck. There was no ramp on the footpath from the car park and the kerb was too high for Chris to drive off. It was also blowing a gale so hard that I could hardly stand up plus I had two bags and one very heavy suitcase to contend with. I went back into the cark park and buzzed the help button. I told them that we were stuck and they said they were sorry, there wasn't any other way out, but they were looking into it. Fat lot of help that was. I think that is down to Brighton City Council to sort out though. I went back out side and while waiting for Chloe to come and help I saw that you could get into Regency Gardens on top ( the car park is under ground )' this in turn had a ramp out on to the main path. We both went into the garden and Chris was then faced with a short, steep ramp in the garden, totally the wrong gradient. Chris made a dash for it, but it was so windy and with the steepness of the ramp, it almost made his wheelchair tip back. That was a bit scary.
Ok, we arrived at the hotel, it wasn't far away, but the strong wind was blowing right against us so it was pretty exhausting. We chose The Mecure in Brighton this time as it was only a short distance from where Chloe lives. We arrived, tired and teasy, to steps and a revolving door. There was no obvious signage for disabled access at all. Chloe went in to ask and came back and said it was at the rear of the hotel. We now had to walk along a narrow road which acted like a wind tunnel. Once at the rear though the disabled access was good. We also discovered they had a small rear car park which was on a first come, first served basis so I managed to move the car this morning. At least it is next to the rear disabled access and I won't have to lug the suitcase back to the other car park.
It didn't surprise me that the disabled room was right at the back of the hotel, I understand the demand is probably minimal compared to the demands of fully abled visitors, but we are learning that when you have a disability you have to take what is on offer. Chloe said something along the lines of 'Oh you are like a second class citizen if you are disabled', and that is what it feels like sometimes.
The hotel room though was brilliant and the bathroom has the best disabled facilities we have come across so far in a hotel, so we are grateful for that at least and it makes up for looking out at the backs of other buildings. The staff are really helpful and the service brilliant, so no complaints on that score.
Now we are off to tackle Brighton and see how access is for an EPIOC wheelchair.
Edit: Our local paper, The West Briton, has done an article on Chloe's song and my blog and it is out today. Hopefully it will raise MND awareness as well as more more funds.
