As a disabled person in today’s society, I want to live the life that anyone else my age does, regardless of my disability. Before now I have had to structure my day according to where I was, who I was with and how long I could hold on to the toilet before having to go. It became very tedious and very painful. The revolution of ‘Changing Places facilities have changed my life as well as other lives in the disabled community. Located by an app, disabilities with the proper equipment such as a ceiling hoist and a changing bed are in different parts of each city and can be used by members of the disabled community who cannot use the regular standard size facilities.
Having ‘Changing Places’ facilities has completely changed my life. If I am out and about I am able to easily locate via the app and find the nearest one to where I am spending the day and plan my day without that in mind. It gives me confidence and increases my independence and my opportunities to spend the day with my friends and family!
There have been times where I have been out and found the ‘Changing Places’ facilities to be occupied by those without disabilities, those who do not use the equipment inside or for the facility to be out of order. It has been a real annoyance to me. Individuals like me depend on these facilities to use. Some people don’t understand the value and importance of such a facility. They may direct us to a standard size toilet. If we could use those available, there wouldn’t be a problem as there are quite a number to use. However, many of the disabled community have certain and complex needs. This means they have to use these particular facilities due to needing to change the bed and or ceiling hoist inside. We depend on the availability of these and for these facilities to be properly maintained to live our lives the best we can.
Raising awareness of such facilities are crucial to society and expanding the number of facilities around the UK allows everyone to not be restricted by their needs. Come on. The world is changing so much, the least we can do is make sure everyone is able to be a part of it.
The Life of Sophie 