[Gaina]

Originally Posted by chunkychambers

I do have sympathy, my mum has to use a wheelchair, however there is another side to the coin.
200 acres of countryside was recently opened up down here by The Gaia Trust, it has some terrific walks, but just before opening the disabled lobby put tremendous pressure on the trust to change the access gates and tracks.
This they did, but it left the trust absolutely skint!! They had to abandon plans for hides, scrapes, and various land management schemes.

I walk this land regularly and to date haven't seen one disabled person, so why the pressure, and why did the trust change their plans and waste their budget?

It's a vicious circle - people with wheelchairs assume that an attraction is not accessible (something my American friends just can't get their heads round) so they don't visit, so nobody makes the adjustments because they think the park isn't popular enough with wheelchair users to justify the cost! Even now I find it very difficult to get accessability info for lots of attractions.

There is lots of room for compromise, for example I can't get all the way through the Cheddar Caves, but I can go half way and pay less if I want to, which seems perfectly fair to me

There was no good reason for the Trusts' budget to be adversely affected because this is exactly the kind of thing the DDA covers and they can get grants for the necessary adjustments (the distribution of leaflets explaining the type of assistance available was a total C**k-up which is why lots of business owners and charities don't know what they can claim assitance for).

Sometimes these pressure groups use their influence just for the sake of it, and in this case the alterations they forced are to the detrement of the land!!

I agree with you about how some pressure groups operate and what you're trying to say (it's part of the reason I've never been a 'disability groups' person) but let me put it this way....

I'm a wheelchair user, and although I don't always use the bathroom when I'm out, I still want it to be there! It's about allowing people the choice to do things.

I swear, learning to ride a horse is the best thing a physically challenged person could ever do (and not just for the health benefits) - a horse will boldly go where wheelchairs fear to tread! *LOL*