I hope you find it useful!

Im really wanting to travel to the U.K and Europe.Your stories and comments have really inspired me. So far my only travelling has been to Australia and round NZ so it will be a big leap when it does happen.

If there is anyone who is dependant on an electric chair for mobility has any experiences or advice I would be thrilled. My condition is Muscular Dystrophy.

I would be happy to shae my experiences with others as well.

Sincerely,

Ashley

I found it really hard to stay in backpackers. They were usually inaccessible and I hate snorers. We never booked in advance because even though they say they are accessible its not always the case. Its no fun tho have to sit on the floor to shower nor leave the door open to take a dump. I think you'll need time to organise your accommodation to ensure it cheap enough and accessible.

Don't be afraid to travel to places like Turkey or other Asian countries. I found the people in these places are overwhelmingly helpful. Someone is always on hand to get you out of a pickle.

Rome is my favourite place in Europe but if you want to talk to an expert you should get in touch with Craig Grimes http://craiggrimes.com/ he has numerous wheelchair accessible sites and even has a booking facility on one of them.

Craig has inspired me to tackle destinations usually off the disability travel radar such as Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Argentina etc. But most of all I'd love to go to Barcelona http://www.accessiblebarcelona.com/

Check out http://www.btcmovie.com/btcultimate/phase1/ Beyond The Chair for added inspiration.

As for getting someone to pay for your trip…good luck on that one…tough times bro.

All the best my man

Curt

at least we're in a society where we know this ain't ideal.

on the economy leg, i was stuck back at row 44, i think the airline didn't know the diff between an aisle chair and an aisle seat, they offered everyone else menus and newspapers even when it was obvious that others just were fine about sharing too. I wasn't offered the choice. They were graci0us on the few times i asked. We were cloistered away by airport groundstaff into a

'special' transit room at Dubai, with no clock or departure boards on the wall, boarding passes were taken from us, we were yelled at when we wanted to go and peruse the duty free – it was archaic. full credit to the staff that tried, but just had no idea how to help. Dad and i ended up pissing ourselves laughing at it all, but it was sad to think how for some, i guess that kind of treatment is the norm. In Paris, I eavesdropped on a few Anericans at the next breakfast table, and was poignantly reminded by them saying that disabled pe0ple have been rare on their travels and some across the world havent even gone to school, nor taught to read. i know it sounds twisted, but at times that's why i cant stand to hear crips whinging away over the smallest of issues here in nz. but i kinda do understand what's made some of us so militant from time to time, i fear it just creates an adverse reaction in itself though, that i hate seeing in those i care about very much.

the people were great in paris though. the very apparently frail seemed to feel so free to walk though even the busiest of intersections, and the plenty who offered help seemed to walk on cheerfully without looking back when graciously declined. in auckland, i get so anxious when dogooders dont leave me alone, that i end up crumbling as they expect. i think they are ready to insist i should be in care, or something and i hate it… i hate what it can make me become, if i let it. but i think understanding the dynamic gets me on top of it.

thanks for allowing me to get this down in order to get on with the brilliant impetus towards my own ways that this trip has given me.

k

The Louvre was a feat to wheel around, but I'm glad we all persevered. Technically, it's entirely accessible. The way I would describe it's access is that there are multitudes of split-level galleries, and so even to get to places on the same floor, you're commonly having to go up or down to another floor, across other galleries, in to another lift again, and then somehow returning to either the same floor if desired, or the next level of that same gallery (at last)! i know it sounds grand to have collections in a palace, but it doesn't do either justice. The Oceanic collection was waaaaaaay faaaaar out in distance, you have to ask several sets of guards to get there (it's the area Dad specialises in – so i had no choice but t0 see it). The Assyrian and Persian stuff just blew me away and were easy to get to. We just whisked past the paintings, beautiful and wheelchair accessible, but in no way what our two day limit at The Louvre could allow. I didn't manage to see the Greek stuff there, the Greek stuff I alluded to above was seen later at the British Museum. Others could complain here-and-there about lighting and label placement from a disability perspective, but I've heard the way people grumble about these without knowing the curatorial and artefact conservation constraints, and so a lot of such grumbling leaves me cold.

There's a massive archetechturally [sp?] designed ramp into the galleries of the Quai Bramly (ethnic) art museum. By all reports, everyone misses the lift for crips to dodge this, and many I know have had to grovel to use this saying they will be very obviously disabled by the time they reach the top, damnit! The gallery also has sloping floors, designed to be rough/bumpy – so don't shoot me as messenger! But, god, the collections are fantastic, incl about 8 very exquisite Maori pieces & a lot from where France had colonies.

BUT… oh god, I'll write about the rest on my own webpg later and post the link… coz i'm probably boring everyone silly with irrevalent stuff… um. you don't want to get me talking on how seeing a very old fashioned teaching paleontological and comparative anatomy museum really did mean the world to me. The British don't seem to realise how much the French made much of modern biology possible. I'm kind of giddy right now with all i've seen and learnt, informing my continual studies in ecology and evolution.

flying a Middle Eastern airline was an adventure as to how i was treated, and i know for this kind of website, it'd be handy to explain what i mean, but i'm just not thinking that way in comparision to all else i've experienced throughout the trip. maybe later.

later,

recovering from a happy overdose on Greek and Roman material once i couldn't inflict the nat hist stuff on my parents any longer,

k