Everyone has a favourite saying and mine is a Disability is ability to do something, so I always say my Disability gives me the ability and power to campaign for human rights, that is what I am going to talk about in this article.
Firstly, let me introduce myself. My name is Jill Clark and I am 32. I live in the west end of Glasgow. My interests are music, shopping and I am the biggest Mr. Blobby fan!
I live with a Disability. My Disability is called Cerebral Palsy which it affects my muscles, my movement and my speech therefore I use a wheelchair all of the time and I communicate through a communication device. I use a tracker dot to access my programme on my device. The dot is on my head, it is just like infrared.
For many years now I have been campaigning for more changing places toilets in Glasgow. As I am in a wheelchair, I require a hoist to get to the toilet and sadly not all disabled toilets have a hoist. So, I started my campaign for changing places toilets. Standard accessible toilets do not meet the needs of all people with a disability. Over ¼ million people in the UK with a disability need extra equipment and space to allow them to use the toilets safely and comfortably. These needs are met by Changing Places Toilets. So, a changing places toilet have the all-Right equipment in it such as a hoist, a changing bed and it is very big to move around for a wheelchair user and 2 carers.
The reason that I started my campaign was that I was very limited where I could go because of the lack of changing places toilets. When I started my campaign there was only two public places in Glasgow where had a changing place and nowadays there are about 26, these includes Clydebank shopping centre, central station, Queen Street station, Braehead, Burrell collection, River Side Museum, Science Centre and many more.
With my campaign I write to places to see if they can install a changing places. I have had a few articles in the Glasgow times and I have appeared on the programme called “Inside Central Station”.
My greatest success with my campaign was getting a changing place installed in my local shopping centre.
There is an organisation which has helped me a lot with my campaign, they are called TAG.
TAG stands for The Advisory Group; the Advisory Group has been going since 1996. It was originally set up by KEY Community Supports to enable people with disabilities to have a stronger voice in the services they use and in their local communities. In 2012 The Advisory Group became a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation.
TAG has over 500 members. There are 14 regional TAG groups across Scotland. TAG supports people to respond to issues and concerns raised by individuals both locally and nationally. But perhaps the most important work we do in making Scotland a more inclusive place for everyone to live.
TAG helps disabled people like myself to make life more inclusive through campaigns or through setting up activities in the communities like football or dance clubs.
Sadly, we live in a world where a lot of disabled people face challenges. Talking from experiences and talking to other people these challenges are:
- Disabled access – disabled toilets, access in to places with too small or no ramps at all.
- Communication – disabled people being ignored because they communicate differently.
- Public transport – rude bus and taxi drivers who don’t help!
- Social care – lot of disabled people needs to fight for the right care service
- Guide dogs – some places don’t let guide dogs in .
It is terrible that a lot of disabled people face these challenges, but this is where organisations like TAG or people like myself who campaigns comes in to make sure that everyone is included in the world!
By Jill Clark – ADJ CFJ Student