Your Letters - May 2010

Bader legend recalled

I met Douglas Bader once when I was in the police. A sports car had broken down on the busy A6. All that was visible of the driver was a pair of legs sticking out from under the car. My companion and I tried telling him the danger he was in, but he only said: “I don’t care. I can’t be hurt anymore.”

We insisted he come out from under the car, and asked who he was. He threw us his driving licence and asked us to help him get to Morris Grange, a Red Cross hospital for the disabled 14 miles away (and outside our county), where he was due to be guest of honour at a fundraising event.

We said we were in a police car, not a taxi, but we took him anyway and asked him to say nothing. As no good deed goes unpunished, he wrote to thank our Chief Constable, who gave us a bollocking for leaving our patrol area.

Douglas Bader was a hell of a character who didn’t care about his own problems and preferred to help others whom he said were “more unfortunate”.
Name not supplied

Wot, no Ian Stanton on your top legends list? For shame! Who could ever forget the lyrics to “I remember Douglas Bader” and Bader made the list!
Maggie Cameron, by email

Distressing assisted suicide story should be put to sleep . . .

As a disabled person I have to say how fed up I am at seeing stories on assisted suicide in pretty much every newspaper, magazine and on disability websites.

I have multiple sclerosis, there’s no cure and my condition will deteriorate, but I try to take a positive view on living my life to the full while I can.

Why, then, must I keep reading about alternative ways of killing myself (or of someone killing me) if I choose to take this path in the future?! I think it quite right that someone should have the right to take their own life (disabled or not) should they so choose, but does everyone have to debate it incessantly?

It doesn’t help disabled people live positive fulfilling lives and is quite frankly depressing to them and their families.
Kelly John, by email

...or kept awake

I feel people do have a right to decide to die, when competent to do so. I have a blood-borne terminal virus and I’m not suicidal, but I have signed a DNR statement to say that I would not wish to be resuscitated if I wouldn’t have a good quality of life.

I wouldn’t want to end up like my mum did, trapped in a useless body with an active brain.
Name supplied, by phone

Readers’ experiences of tourism: request for research help

I’m a Masters student at the University of Exeter studying marketing and I’m currently undertaking my dissertation project on disability and tourism.

I’m specifically looking at the use of disabled people in tourism marketing campaigns and travel brochures, and also the information that disabled tourists would like to find in travel brochures and campaigns.

If readers have travelled within the last five years, either domestically or internationally, I’d greatly appreciate it if they’d be willing to help me with my research by completing a short questionnaire on their views and experiences.

To receive a copy of the questionnaire, please email me at my university email address which is slw225@ex.ac.uk.

Thank you for reading this letter and thank you in advance if you wish to help.
Sarah White, University of Exeter (MSc in Marketing)

Four wheels good

I’m sick and tired of people like Helen Smith slagging off mobility scooter users. Typical! Have a pop at disabled people because they can’t answer back.

She was wrong to say that a woman on a scooter failed to brake and ran into her and her mother. Scooters don’t have brakes: you just release the controls, so all that happened was that the woman didn’t release the controls in time. One questions what she and her mother were doing.

Why doesn’t she pick on women with prams, with phones and cigarettes, using buggies as rams? Or old people on pension day in M&S smacking me in the face with their handbags?

If people respected that scooter users are disabled these accidents wouldn’t happen.
Mrs Findlay-Judge, by phone

Good morning. How can we not assist you?

“Take it or leave it” seems to be the customer-service attitude of companies supplying assistive products to their disabled customers.

We have to accept third-rate service for the delivery of third-rate products and we’re not allowed to get angry.

Are we always supposed to be docile and nice while putting up with this insult?

Case in point: does anybody know how I can buy replacement ferrules for Progress crutches? I’d really like to not have to use their only British supplier.
Ben Thomas, by phone

Changes at Jobcentre Plus go undetected

Have you or your readers heard about the changes being made to the way Jobcentre Plus handles benefit payments?

The days we are paid are being changed, and payments are now going to be made fortnightly and not weekly. This is all due to happen in May, but I’ve not seen it commented on.
P R West, Angus, Scotland