This morning I got up at 4.20 to get ready for the 5 am taxi to got to Birmingham International Airport to go to Edinburgh for a training  day  at the Edinburgh training centre.
 

                  Edinburgh training centre

Got there in good time before Emma.  Its a nice airport much less hectic that Stansted. We didnt see much of Edinburgh itself - as we expected - but the day was successful and we got some good ideas - mostly about how to run such an event ourselves. Also made some good contacts.

 The trouble was the flight was delayed on the way back. Valentine day? what is that?

Well it's been nearly 5 months now. Its been a mad time. British Telecoms did not allow me broadband till a week ago. I wrote an entry but it did not get posted here yet.

 

Its been hectic getting settled into a new flat and job. I enjoy my new job-its a challenge and many new things to learn. I like my team mates and I get to travel around.

Tonight I actually went to check out the swimming pool and got a bus schedule.

Tomorrow we are having our Christmas dinner - Coventry is an accessible city but finding a good restaurant which is accessible proved not that easy.

My favourite :

Riverside Noodle Bar, Bull Yard,  Coventry  (Tel  024 7655 1388)

However, in the evenings and on sundays, its only seating upstairs - not very good and they were not willing to cater to one hungry customer downstairs. I usually get there on Saturday lunch time (more like brunch before going to the market for my fruit and veg).

There is an overpriced Italian restaurant -Ristorante Etna,55-57 Hertford Street,  Coventry   CV1 1LB   (Tel  024 7622 3183) Its conveniently next near and accessible though.

I found these restaurants unapologetically inaccessible - Pizza Express and Simla Spice (opposite the Rail Station). Tomorrow we are going to try the Wing Wah, I shall report on it.

 

UIGarden.net has been hacked and its been suspended. We had some people hack us with malicious scripts and we have no idea why we have been attacked. Our provider don't seem to be able to keep us secure from hacking nor tell us what how we can protect ourselves. we are moving our site but it will take time and since we are also preparing for the WUD (World Usability Day) in Beijing, Christina and Sean mostly, we have our hands full. Ryana is sick and that makes us very short - I am not in beijng and my chinese is not capable of handling that kind of correspondence. (Actually my Chinese is minimal!)

Why would anybody want to hack a webzine dedicated to  usability ideas and  user centred design? But it is very annoying because we have to eke out valuable time to sort it out. What is even more of a headache for me is that I am to do a demo on it for ICHIM conference next friday and I have no website!

On a different track, a little side track...on sailing. I've always wanted to go sailing - too late I just noticed this - sailing for the disabled in Malaysia.
I had read earlier about the quadriplegic woman who sailed across the channel on board a modified boat she controlled by sucking or blowing into straws.

"Hilary Lister, 33, set sail from Dover, southeast England, at 8:30 am (0730 GMT) and arrived in the French port of Calais six hours and 13 minutes later to the sound of horns and the Queen anthem "We Are the Champions".

The feat set the record for the world's longest solo sailing trip by a quadriplegic."

I think that might be too much for me but I put this on my wish list- disabled sailing in Greece.
I will have to find out whether it is better than going with the tall ship in Jubilee Sailing Trust in UK

Back in Strasbourg with a bang - I was only one day from Malaysia/ Singapore when I got  involved in the freedom drive.

Here are some links to the event- http://www.vie-independante.org/ (French)
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=71786 (EN)

I still think that the publicity to let people know about this rally was not enough - most people were not aware that it was happening.

Here is the Itinerary and a bit of the history:

Between 5-8 of September over 100 people with disabilities from all across Europe converged on the European Parliament in Strasbourg to highlight the Independent Living and Human Rights issues we feel need action. They met with their respective MEPs with the European Parliament Disability Inter-group, the European Commission and the European Court of Human Rights.

The itinerary for Strasbourg 2005:

5 Sept	All participants arrive in Strasbourg & Solidarity Event
6 Sept	Meetings with individual countries MEPs
7 Sept	Meeting with the Disability Intergroup and rally outside Parliament buildings
8 Sept	Visit the Court of Human Rights and close of Freedom Drive
9 Sept	Departures and Heading Home!

(from the Dublin CIL website )

Here is an introduction to ENIL and the freedom drive - in Strasbourg (pdf)

Here are some photos I took-



Freedom drivers on the way to the European Parliament


In Strasbourg on the way with police escort


Ian from the UK- nothing about us without us!


The media outside the parliament building - did I hear it was all for 23 secs of local tv time? The person they were waiting for was an MEP, I think his name is Richard Howitt. He also chaired the Disability Intergroup.


Part of the French contingent - Stéphane Schoonacker ( Secrétaire National Délégué du Collectif des Démocrates Handicapés) and Dominique Moog (translator in Strasbourg)


Inside the Parliament - Dermott and Ian (the Irish and the English)

I have not included the Norvegians, Austrians who turned up in force. And I am especially happy to have met Dorothea Brozek (WAG)- we have corresponded before. And people with disabilities from other countries.
We also had a great talk about disability and human rights from Mrs Anna Austin from the court of Human Rights.
More later....

It has been more than a month since I wrote. I thought I would write a few notes here rather than wait till I have more time. At the beginning of June I went to London. In July, I went to Holland twice in less than two weeks taking the train both times. The first time was to shadow Gian in his work to understand his business - since he wants us to do his website. The second time was to go to the IWIPS conference.


I went to London to see Yuyu and attend a one day STC UK conference. In London, we tackled the public transport system because she lives in Slough and we had to take  the train and then  the bus to get to London and back. Some buses were accessible but the ramp did not always work - we took the bus  from Paddington to go to the British Library. The bus driver on the bus we took from Paddington was not very helpful - Yuyu was not familiar with pushing a chair and I have never gone on a London bus. But we got there. It was definitely easier to take a London cab - they are equipped with ramp s although most of the drivers seem happier just to lift me onto the cab rather than get the ramp out. London cabs are very expensive though. I am not sure what the alternative is. After the explosions of 7/7 in London, I am not so sure that about that I want to use  the tube but I wonder how people in wheelchairs get about in London. With difficulty I expect!

The trains at  Paddington Station was another matter.  I know  I am meant to give plenty of notice but I do not always know when I would get there. The guards on the platforms to get the ramps out were never there and at one point, the bus driver got his telephone out to summon them. He refused to go without us and the guard came running and told us he had no time to get the ramp out and just lifted me onto the train. It would be funny except that it would not be funny if it is a regular occurence. The reason the train driver refused to budge without us was because it had happened to him too - his wife is disabled.

Slough seems fairly accessible and life would be manageable there but friends ask me if I would really want to live there-remembering Betjeman's poem on it. Lot's of Indian restaurants and even the pizzerias seemed to be Indian owned! I found out one lunchtime that nobody delivers except for pizzas! And as I am not a pizza lover, I might have to seriously consider other solutions than rely on delivered meals if I stayed any longer in Slough.

We also ventured into Chinatown and had a Malaysian meal in a kopi tiam type restaurant.. There were also steps into the restaurant. Patrick, who was with us, had to negotiate a barrier free route to the ICA building where we were to have a meeting with him and Nico, two of uigarden advisors.

The buses at Heathrow terminals seem fairly accessible, however. I took one to get to the airport so as to catch a train back to Paddington to get my Eurostar connection. I needed someone to find a guard for me to unlock the bariers designed to stop trolleys going to the platform. He turned out to be a very nice German who flew over for a meeting. We started talking about web accessibility. I cannot remember if I could have roll on on my own onto the train.  I think the guard got out a ramp and I was supposed to be met at Paddington.  But I didn't see anybody - maybe they didn't get enough notice. Again, it struck me that disabled travellers arriving at Heathrow might not know how to work the system - even  if they spoke English.


I didn't see much of  Brussels  apart from the Grande Place and  the stations.  The train guards seem fairly friendly to me. Just as in France, you have to go to an information point and ask for assistance.
I broke up my trip to Amsterdam and met Jay for lunch. Jay works as a graphic artist and he is working on a book. He seems to me to be the quintessential French man - except he is Belgian, with his beret. He had been waiting for me at the station for more than an hour - because he wanted to make sure that I got off okay - he gave them that much notice. Obviously he didnt have much faith in the SNCB. He pointed out some of Brussels places of interests and told me that it is a place where you have to know to be really having a good time. For me, it is an administrative capital.   Funnily enough he took me to the same restaurant as did Gian the week before- Chez Vincent. Apparently it is less of a tourist trap than the others. There is one step into the restaurant and it seems fairly cramped but the ambience is nice and the mussels were great. Where we were in Brussels, it seems like a city full of cobblestones. Surprisingly, the Novotel hotel, where I was staying a week before,  near the Grande Place had nice big accesible rooms.

I found this interesting article about barriers in Brussels - looks like I ought to go to Barcelona instead.


First of all, the Dutch train system seems rather complicated to me. I must admit that my first experience was rather negative. We were delayed in Brussels Nord for more than an hour because there was a problem with the Dutch train system. When we got on eventually, without any warning, they said we were stopping at Schipol instead of Amsterdam Central. A guard got me off but he didn't come back to put me back on the train to Amsterdam Central so I was left there. I went up to the airport and raised enough of a stink for them to get me some help - by which time, Gian had told me to stay there and he was coming to Schipol to meet me. He had waited for near three hours.

The second time, I arrived at Amsterdam Central and got off the train fine and met my friend, Gudrun. She came to meet me in a lovely pink suit that stood out. She's also incredibly tall and had to stoop to push and I had to hold her fake Gucci handbag. She was merry about it being a fake and she took me to "in de aap gelogeerd" pub which she says is one of the oldest pubs in Amsterdam. I had a whisky with her and soon it was time to go back to the station and meet Brechtje and go back to Laren with her on the train. Brechtje had kindly invited me to stay with her - we had got in touch because of the UPA Montreal conference but as things went, I wasn't able to go and she invited me to come for the IWIPS conference instead.

To go to Hilversum station, we had to call 3 hours in advance for the ramp to be there. Later we found out that it was because the person with the keys to the ramp actually lives a couple of villages along. He services quite a few stations. It seems slightly incongrous to me that the station staff are not allowed to get ramps out - are they afraid of being sued? The man did say to Brechtje that he would be responsible if we tried getting on the train on our own and some mishap should happen. (he was late so we missed the train into Amsterdam). From Laren, where Brechtje lives, we had to get a train taxi ( a taxi service alligned with the train). It was quite a track.

Brechtje and her husband and their three kids have a lovely house. They brought me down a bed and I was very comfortable but the journey into Amsterdam was to say the least, a bit long. I started wondering how other disabled Dutch people do it. The IWIPS conference was great. The building was accessible and I bring away a couple of memories - being carried into a boat and up a flight of stairs for an Indonesian dinner. I don't think that Amsterdam is an accessible city - none of the trams are accessible but it seems like it can be manoevrable with an electric wheelchair since there are so many bicycles. I suppose if one gets into a routine-the train people might get used to being available for the ramps.

This link might be useful for those going to Amsterdam - Amsterdam - Disabled Traveller