Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson

But it was a quote by British Paralympian Tanni Grey-Thompson that caught my eye the most, when describing having to be transported by the airport’s one ‘transport’ wheelchair:

“You’re in a chair that’s not your own.

“It’s like being asked to wear someone else’s clothes. That’s what it’s like sitting in another person’s wheelchair.”

I thought it quite aptly encapsulated a feeling I get every time I’m in a similar situation. Interesting.

Anyway, read the full story here if you like.

From November 21-29, I was one of the very fortunate 300 young people to take part in this amazing, once-in-a-lifetime event in a place I have always wanted to travel to – incredible India. First, let me explain what the programme is all about. Back in February, on my eighteenth birthday in fact, I applied to be part of the Oxfam International Youth Partnerships (OIYP) 2010-13 cycle, which is a programme run by Oxfam Australia involving social change and human rights of various kinds. The goal is to bring 300 young people from all over the world together to create a force for positive change over the next three years. While some are involved in gay rights, women’s rights, climate change and so on, I am involved in disability rights. Kaleidoscope, so-called because of the diversity of the people involved, was the bringing together of the 300 “Action Partners” chosen to participate in the programme, which has been going since 2000. This time was the first time it was held outside its Australian origins, and what an incredible experience it was. An experience I decided to do completely independently; no support person or personal assistant. I rolled solo.

When I told people this before I went, they looked at me as if I was insane and said things like “You’re going to India, BY YOURSELF?”

“Yes,” I replied casually, “Why not? It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go. I may as well take the step and do it alone. Not that I’ll be alone… there’ll be hundreds of other young people to keep me company.”

To be fair, I could see why they were shocked. It was a big risk for me to take and I wasn’t sure how I was going to manage. But here I am, home, jetlagged, safe, well and missing India and all the amazing people I met there.

There are far too many things to write about, but it was a truly incredible experience. I had the opportunity to meet so many people from so many places across the globe doing wonderful things in their communities despite the adversity they face. Very few had disabilities. Only four out of the 300 had a visible disability of some kind – all physical. But I think it was good that way. I learned a lot about advocacy and campaigning, about mentoring and coaching, about personal empowerment, about how to create change, and most importantly, about unity and friendship. Everyone was so accepting of one another and I made so many friends from across the world – from places like Papua New Guinea, Australia, Fiji, Vanawatu, the Solomon Islands, Canada, the UK, the USA, Brazil, Nigeria, Kenya, Liberia, Uganda, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Bangladesh, India, Iraq, Algeria, Palestine, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, South Africa, Guyana and Zimbabwe just to name a few. Places I have never been, but now wish to visit in the future. I’ve always wanted to travel the world, and at Kaleidoscope, the world traveled to me.

Of course, deciding to do this trip independently had its challenges. Getting there and back was probably the biggest mission. Though I traveled with two other New Zealanders, both of whom are wonderful people who I became very close friends with, the journey was long – as in 30 hours or so long – and stressful, especially the trip home. I traveled via Dubai, an airport which apparently doesn’t have enough wheelchairs for its disabled passengers, meaning that I was kicked out of the wheelchair I used there and made to sit in a room called the “special handling area” until they could escort me to the boarding gate. I did protest about this, but my complaints fell on deaf ears and to make matters worse, because there aren’t enough wheelchairs, we had to wait for a spare before we could go to the gate. By the time we got there, the flight was on “final call” and we were very close to missing it. Going through Indian immigration was also an interesting, stressful experience as they kept telling me they had to take my wheelchair away, but no one was telling me why. Eventually it turned out that it needed to be x-rayed for security purposes, and I did get it back after about half an hour of waiting. The language barrier sure made things interesting at times, but I think that was all part of the experience. Overall, though, I managed remarkably well and there was always someone to give me a hand if I needed one.

I saw many things I had never seen before in Delhi; sometimes shocking things: people living on the side of the highway, stray dogs roaming the streets, malnourished cows and other animals eating the piles of garbage on the side of the road, children begging and a great amount of poverty. But I also saw and felt things that inspired me. I saw acceptance, hope, love, friendship, and an incredibly strong sense of unity among us all; rich, poor, black, white, gay, straight, disabled and non-disabled alike. While we were there, a gay pride parade took place in the centre of Delhi. Thousands of people joined together, including a number of Action Partners, to protest for gay rights in the streets of Delhi. Many colours, inspiring signs, drums and chants filled the streets, as did a powerful message of hope and equality for all. I also had the pleasure of visiting a disability organisation in Delhi called AADI, much like CCS Disability Action, and afterwards visiting a village which they worked in. It was great to see some of the “real India” and I think one of the highlights of the trip was clapping and chanting with the schoolkids there – a few of which had disabilities. It was a great experience and one I will never forget.

Yes, it is fair to say that I miss India. All of it. The sights and smells, the food, the traffic jams and the honking of horns, the smoggy air, and most of all, the people which I had the honour to meet and get to know. I didn’t get to sight-see much at all, but I really don’t think it mattered, because in the end, I returned home with many new friends, many memories, a strong sense of gratitude, and a new-found confidence and belief with in myself, which I believe can never be taken away from me or broken.

I am proud; proud that I accomplished my goal of going to India by myself, proud that I was able to prove to myself and others that I could do it, proud that I could make some sort of difference while there, proud that I came back a changed, better person, and proud that I will continue to change myself and my community.

The only question I’m asking myself now is “Where to next?” and the answer? “Anywhere I want to go.”

I’m having trouble choosing what pictures to insert in this post, so to view them all, click here.

You can see the great signage in the picture above, and let me tell you, these are an absolute treat to use. I fly with Air NZ quite frequently, and even though my visits require a trip to the special assistance counter to speak with airport staff, I always check in using the kiosks first, because it’s just such a wonderful experience. Sure, the user interface is great, and the process is simple, but the fact they care enough to put in a dedicated kiosk for those with limited mobility?

Well that, as they say, is priceless.

I cannot stress this enough: when travelling to Rome in a wheelchair, planning is essential. In order to take the Leonardo Express from Rome’s Fiumicino Airport to the main station, Termini, you have to email the Sala Blu team at trenitalia.it in order for them to arrange the requisite lift service at Termini. Unless you’re comfortable being hauled down steps, don’t forget to do this! Also, don’t expect a readily-available wheelchair-accessible taxi service! We had a few muckups with our flights, and after ringing what seemed like every taxi company in Rome, ended up spending 140euro (which is around $280NZD) on a taxi to the airport. Absolutely criminal.

All right. Let’s assume you’ve managed to get to Termini okay, which is the central transport hub of Rome. If you’re a power wheelchair user, or don’t really deal with stairs particularly well, you can forget about using the metro in Rome. So it leaves you with only one option really: stay in Termini. And I’ll be frank: Termini sucks. It’s a tired-looking, run-down, seedy and bloody expensive area of Rome. We stayed at The ‘Yes’ Hotel [TripAdvisor link] and it was, well, just okay. Small, expensive, and fairly run-of-the-mill. But it was accessible, which was cool. Needless to say we left the hotel fairly quickly, and went in search of some food, which brings me to the next (fairly major) issue I had with Rome: where are all the curb cuts?!

As you can see in the photo above, curb cuts were few and far between, which meant long periods of rolling my wheelchair along the cobblestones. Which was fine, until a car came along. And a scooter. And a pram. Oh, and another scooter. And a bike. And a crowd of tourists. I tell ya, sometimes there weren’t even any footpaths! So it was a on-the-road free-for-all which, to be honest, would’ve been quite exciting if I wasn’t so concerned for my well-being!

And therein lies the beauty of Rome, really, in the sense that it was just so chaotic, and so hot, and so overwhelming, that it was unlike any other city we visited. Every corner you turned, 2000-year-old buildings were crumbling, roads were melting, and statues glistened in the 30 degree heat. We had the best gelato I’ve ever tasted, some beautiful pasta in Piazza Navona, and some equally-expensive but utter rubbish meals in the Termini area. We took the iPhone Lonely Planet Rome Guide with us, I can’t recommend it enough! It really sorts the great from the average.

Despite my caveats: make sure you plan ahead, mind the (lack of) curb cuts, and be prepared to spend more than you’d anticipated, Rome is a marvellous city and not one to be missed. The Colosseum is simply overwhelming, the Trevi fountain is breathtaking, and at the end of the day, my 100-kilo electric wheelchair and I spent 6 beautiful days in the Eternal City.

If you’d like to know more about my trip, or thinking about going to Rome yourself, leave a comment below!

Video blog #3: Travel!! from Red Nicholson on Vimeo.

We went here earlier in the year and although prices were steep, an adult being $26.00 we did the family pass of 2 adults and children for $52.00 and were told that we could enter and exit the village when we wanted and until the village was closed (but no, we didn’t stay the whole day!)

Firstly, there was a lot of space to park; it was so empty that we didn’t even need to use mobility parking. We were then introduced to the main entrance, a wooden and stable bridge over a river. It was nice and a tad of a thrill as it was a little rough to go over.

The service was friendly and we were briefly told about the actual village, but overall it was only okay. Interestingly, we were told that there was a wheelchair on site for use.

The pathways were very spacious and were levelled so it was easy to manoeuvre around. Indoor was also accessible – the indoor displays being especially spacious as well as the gift store.

The village was very scenic – which I was not expecting. There was a little waterfall that flowed into a river that contained rainbow trout. But as it was rather hard work to get to, I didn’t get to see it and stopped half way. However, as the paths were peppered with plaques containing information of the buried village, which were easy to read due to the height, I was able to entertain myself.

The overall atmosphere of the village was nice and somewhat powerful as it offered a lot of insight on Maori living and showed how the thoughts and views on how the destruction of the eruption of Mt. Tarawera affected them.

Unfortunately, I didn’t need to go to the bathroom (didn’t actually see them apart from the public ones in front of the village) so didn’t check how accessible they were but was told when paying admission that there was wheelchair access.

THE LOWDOWN:

• Service was okay and villagers offered smiles and offered support when needed.
• Both indoor and outdoor access as was full of easy paths that were very accessible as well as the indoor displays were and spacious.
• Visit was full of information to read and full of insight of Maori culture and scenic views but for me, personally, it was a bit too much reading and a bit boring.
• And finally – you must check out the gift store!
• Overall accessibility rating: 3.6/5

Check their website out at buriedvillage.co.nz for virtual tours, admission prices, directions/locations etc…

Tourism NSW have set up sydneyforall.com, a site quite similar to this one really, featuring ‘accessible reviews’ on some of Sydney’s biggest tourist attractions. The site acts as an access portal, and contains information on the accessibility of places like the Opera House and Sydney’s Botanical Gardens. It also has a section on accessible transport, which contains downloadable ‘access maps’, information on accessible public transport, and even a national accessible toilet map! Awesome stuff.

So go on, check out the site, and don’t you think it’s about time Auckland City fronted up with something similar?!

So here I am now working as a travel consultant on a work trial with an Auckland travel agency, learning on the job. My goal is to have my own business as a travel agent serving the disabled community in NZ and others too for whom travelling needs to be made easier.

People with special needs deserve to be able to enjoy their holidays like anyone else through having the stress and uncertainty and complications taken out of it for them. That is my aim and I really look forward to being fully fledged soon and developing my business. In the meantime I am able to organise travel for people through my training company, United Travel, so please give me a call if you are interested!

You can get in touch with Felicity via her website, or giving her a call on 027 359 8053. You can also check out her flyer by clicking the image in the top left corner of this post!

“There are already limited, or in some places no disability parking places, so when people with no disabilities park in them, it means that often I cannot find parking and have to cancel or change my plans.”

“Couriers and countless people … have no regard for people in my position.”

“Mobility carparks are there for a reason. As you can imagine, it is extremely frustrating to have to drive around countless times waiting for carparks to empty.”

Oh but, say the North Shore City Council, “we’ve issued 260 mobility parking tickets in the past 7 months, look at how committed we are”. Um, right.

Good luck to you, Narissa – we’re right behind you! (waiting to use your space when you leave )

The trip was fantastic. We sat on the back deck for the whole 3½ hours and watched the Marlborough Sounds disappear into Cook Straight at dusk. It got a bit chilly but is by far the best way to experience the journey in fine weather.

You can grab a bite in the cafe (which surprised us by having nice food!), read the paper (beware of seasickness if you’re not watching the horizon) or chill out at one of the bars. They have made a huge effort to make the ship wheelchair accessible.

The lifts are roomy, doorways are wide and they have built ramps over most of the steps so it is super easy to get around the ship.

There is one wheelchair friendly toilet in the middle of the ship. Info about the other ships can be found on their FAQ web page located here.