We were pleasantly surprised when driving down the Renfrew Road towards the Southern General Hospital, and saw this:
Well done Michael Kerr, another fine example of being an SIS Ambassador and Paralympian
Please let us know if you have seen other billboards with Michael on them.
I have been posting information on the Blog about wheelchair tag rugby league and it being a relatively new sport to the UK and totally new to Scotland I decided to go to one of the taster sessions.
I had played, well turned up at wheelchair basketball a number of years ago and did so regularly for a number of years but I am not the fittest person by a long way.
I wasn’t able to be there at the start of the taster session but when I arrived there was a fairly large group of people taking part in different training drills. I have seen similar drills at basketball training but the main difference was that everyone had to be aware of passing the ball backwards and it was an actual rugby ball. This seemed somewhat alien to what I had seen before at basketball as the ball can be passed forward and it is obviously a basketball. Dropping the ball makes an interesting experience as you have no idea which direction it will bounce so careful passing is one skill required for this game.
I was offered a couple of times to swap into a sports chair and join in but I was happy to observe from the end of the court.
After watching for thirty minutes or so I was coaxed to try a sports chair and try some of the skills. Transferring from an everyday chair to a sports chair with a guard round the front is not an easy transfer so this was done with some difficulty, not a graceful transfer at all. Having not been in a sport chair for a number of years, pushing, turning and stopping was interesting but I soon got into the swing of it.
Scoring a try and kicking a conversion, yes a conversion was a new concept. There are goals just the same as on a rugby pitch, only smaller and you use what is called a tee to hold the ball which can be adjusted to the height to suit you. The aim is to hit the ball over the crossbar with a clenched fist or by your wrist. We all took numerous shots with some people more successful than others.
We then progressed to having a game. Oh what a difference this made because as soon as I seen someone with the ball I went shooting off up the court as quick as possible to quickly realise that I had to be behind the person with the ball. I then had to dash back to position to receive a pass. Now what do I do was the first thought and within a second of getting the ball I had been tackled.
Playing this game you wear a bib with two long strips (tags) attached via Velcro to the shoulders. If you have the ball, an opposing player will try to remove a tag, hold it in the air for the referee to see and this is classed as a tackle. Once tackled, the team gets back into position and play commences.
Overall I had a great time, I felt very welcome and it was good to get back in a sports chair and take part in some physical exercise.
I plan on attending the next taster session in Scotland, the dates and venue of which will be posed on this Blog.
More information about Wheelchair Rugby League can be found HERE
If you are interested in attending these taster sessions or want to know more about the sport you can contact Adrian Kennedy on: 07577 709 600 or by email: adrian.n.kennedy@hotmail.co.uk
On the 5th of November SIS supporter Christopher Thomson will throw himself out of a plane, all in the name of raising funds for our charity. Chris has a personal reason for choosing SIS as the beneficiary of this event. We would like to wish him well and thank Chris and all of the people who have donated so far for their fantastic support.
To find out more and contribute please see Chris’ Just Giving page!
http://www.justgiving.com/Christopher-Thomson
Glasgow welcomed some of the Great Britain wheelchair rugby team to the Kelvinhall yesterday. The aim was to launch a new Scottish WCR team and promote the excellent youth wheelchair rugby pilot scheme at Ashcraig School. Also in attendance were a number of the Glasgow Warriors Rugby team and coaching staff (Gregor Townsend in particular!), along with journalists and reporters. SIS volunteer Michael Kerr was again the focus of much of the attention, and was interviewed by the BBC and The Scotsman http://www.scotsman.com/sport/rugby/club-rugby/inspiring_tales_as_wheelchair_rugby_clatters_into_scotland_1_1931868
For anyone looking for more information on disability sport there are a wide range of friendly and welcoming organisations out there. As always contact the SIS office if you would like any assistance with finding out more.
Saturday 29th October is the date of the new training sessions and the time is between 11am – 3pm.
The new venue for this training session is:
TOLLCROSS LIESURE CENTRE
350 WELLSHOT ROAD
GLASGOW
G32 7QR
If you own your own sports chair, please bring it along to assist for the moment.
Please bring plenty to drink and also bring something for your lunch.
If you require any more information, please contact Adrian by email on: adrian.n.kennedy@hotmail.co.uk or by phone on: 07577 709 600
In our recent magazine we held a caption competition.
We are placing a closing date of the 28th October 2011 so hurry and get your entries in. ( info@sisonline.org )
Caption photo can be found here
This afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting a young lady in the Spinal Unit, Danielle who has just turned 17. Danielle sustained a spinal cord injury at T10 in a road traffic accident when she was 15. Danielle lives in Drumnadrochit, in a remote house at the top of a hill, and, on leaving hospital felt isolated and reliant on family and friends to take her out. Danielle discovered that she was able to start driving at the age 0f 16, so four days after her 16th birthday in September 2010 she had her first driving lesson. Due to the severe weather last winter she had to stop her lessons and was unable to continue until March. Danielle progressed extremely well with her driving and on 9 May 2011 she passed her test at the first attempt. This gave Danielle the independence that she wanted and she loves driving. She drives for miles just for the pleasure of it and regularly travels to Glasgow to meet cousins and go shopping, and also visits friends in Oban and Perth.
Unfortunately Danielle has had to go back to the Spinal Unit for a further operation on her back and is confined to bed. She has been there for 6 weeks now and is counting the days (18 at present) until her x-ray and is hoping that she will shortly thereafter be heading home and back to driving her car.
We hope to have a fuller article from Danielle in the spring edition of Newsline. In the meantime, here’s hoping she gets good news after her x-ray and can get home and back to driving to her family and friends.
Rosemarie Boyle, Office Team
At the AGM on 3 October 2011, a presentation of ten TV/DVDs was made by SIS to the Spinal Unit for patients’ use.
Brian Grassie, Office Manager, and staff from the Spinal Unit are pictured with the TVs.
The Welfare Reform Bill is being talked about in Parliament just
now. If passed it could mean that disabled people in the UK will
have their benefits cut over the next few years. We must speak
out against these cuts.
On Saturday, 22 October, The Hardest Hit protests are taking
place across the UK. In Edinburgh a group of organisations are
having an event led by disabled people.
11 am Gather at the Ross Bandstand, Edinburgh.
12 pm People with personal experience of what the cuts
will mean to them as well as speakers from political
parties will be on the stage.
1pm The rally finishes.
Make your voice heard. Join the rally or find out more:
e-mail: scotland@hardesthit.org.uk
call: Caitlin on 0131 652 3140 or textphone 0141 341 5347
facebook/thehardesthit #hardesthit
Visit our website and tell us your story
http://the hardesthit.wordpress.com/protest-online
Free Traveller is a research project from Loughborough Design School PhD Student Christopher J. Parker.
The aim is simple, to understand how different forms of information effect the usability of a mashup (that’s the thing with the information balloons on a map). Does different information effect how users see the mashup, and if so how can we use these judgements to make better mashups, websites and products in the future? This is done by creating three custom maps to explore under what conditions information influences user information perceptions. Participants are then asked to view these maps, interact with them and then share their thoughts on how confident they would feel using that information when traveling in the future.
This is done by presenting a few custom information maps about London Public Transport to visitors to our website (www.freetraveller.co.uk) and then asking them to answer a few short questions on their experience. As a thank you for their time all participants are entered into a prize draw to win £150 ($250). This can be done in the comfort of your own home in around 30 minutes.
We are looking specifically for wheelchair users between the ages of 18 – 65 since this is the user group who stand to benefit the most from our research. Although good access information is a universal ideal in inclusive design, we are not currently looking into other disability groups (e.g. blind, deaf, etc.) at the moment in order to limit the variances in our statistics.
CLICK HERE to visit the website and take part in this research project
Further contact for the research can be found below:
To contact Christopher Parker you can email: C.Parker@lboro.ac.uk or call: 07920 119 432