The other day at roller disco, I managed to slip up and fall on my coccyx. Not clever and definitely not that funny - it really hurt! Stupidly, I did know in the back of my head when I went that I was going to be doing a one week contract job starting less than 2 days later and a sore bum was not going to be ideal. Due to it being really short notice (and the fact I had to cancel another job recently because of my left knee playing up) I knew I had to go in.
Now asides from the job itself, one of the worst things about many of my roles, is the travel. I very rarely get offered a job really close to home, so I always land up travelling about an hour to 1 & 1/2 hrs. When your injured at all, this seems like longer.
Anyway, the thing that I noticed the most the other day was the lack of disability access. A few years ago at least, things to do with buildings and public places making changes to access was a big thing, yet in some places, not much has changed.
I have had problems with both my knees on and off for awhile and have also had my back lock in the past. On a bad day, lots of stairs plus crowded places is not a place I want to be and I have a lot less problems than some people.
It was only the other day when I went to work with my sore coccyx, that I noticed how bad the access was. First of all, the train station I went to only had stairs to get to the platform. So slowly I managed to get myself up them. When the train came, it was one where the train sits high above the platform, so I had to pull myself carefully up (way to big a gap really - also, no one mans this station, so no one to help). When I changed trains to the next station, I realised that this station too only had access via steep stairs - not only bad for people with walking problems but also for people with pushchairs/wheelchairs. After getting on and off my 2nd train, I realised at the final station not only do you have to use stairs to get up and down to the platforms, but you have more stairs to contend with at the front entrance.
Now the things I have looked at only regard walking impairments, but you don't tend to see things like Braille in stations for like the Oyster Card barriers or lower train announcement signs for those visually impaired (something which I know if I don't wear my glasses - which are meant for reading - I can't always see). It's awful to see that sometimes money is spent on stupid things in this country (don't even get me started with the giant boulder story the other day: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/a-meteor-storm-antiparking-boulders-which-cost-7000-spark-fury-8212824.html ), when there are so many people having problems living a normal life, be it because of disability access, housing, job hunting etc.
All I can do for myself is to try and keep as healthy as I can, so my problems do not get worse (my coccyx is doing fine now but I still need to work a lot on the knees). However, that doesn't mean I think the standards shouldn't change.
Here's hoping that 2013 brings a bit more luck and good change for us all, as I don't want to get sedated to get through it!
Blog title comes from the awesome Ramones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FxaJKm9sdI
Now asides from the job itself, one of the worst things about many of my roles, is the travel. I very rarely get offered a job really close to home, so I always land up travelling about an hour to 1 & 1/2 hrs. When your injured at all, this seems like longer.
Anyway, the thing that I noticed the most the other day was the lack of disability access. A few years ago at least, things to do with buildings and public places making changes to access was a big thing, yet in some places, not much has changed.
I have had problems with both my knees on and off for awhile and have also had my back lock in the past. On a bad day, lots of stairs plus crowded places is not a place I want to be and I have a lot less problems than some people.
It was only the other day when I went to work with my sore coccyx, that I noticed how bad the access was. First of all, the train station I went to only had stairs to get to the platform. So slowly I managed to get myself up them. When the train came, it was one where the train sits high above the platform, so I had to pull myself carefully up (way to big a gap really - also, no one mans this station, so no one to help). When I changed trains to the next station, I realised that this station too only had access via steep stairs - not only bad for people with walking problems but also for people with pushchairs/wheelchairs. After getting on and off my 2nd train, I realised at the final station not only do you have to use stairs to get up and down to the platforms, but you have more stairs to contend with at the front entrance.
Now the things I have looked at only regard walking impairments, but you don't tend to see things like Braille in stations for like the Oyster Card barriers or lower train announcement signs for those visually impaired (something which I know if I don't wear my glasses - which are meant for reading - I can't always see). It's awful to see that sometimes money is spent on stupid things in this country (don't even get me started with the giant boulder story the other day: http://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/a-meteor-storm-antiparking-boulders-which-cost-7000-spark-fury-8212824.html ), when there are so many people having problems living a normal life, be it because of disability access, housing, job hunting etc.
All I can do for myself is to try and keep as healthy as I can, so my problems do not get worse (my coccyx is doing fine now but I still need to work a lot on the knees). However, that doesn't mean I think the standards shouldn't change.
Here's hoping that 2013 brings a bit more luck and good change for us all, as I don't want to get sedated to get through it!
This helped the pain in my coccyx : )
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