[Houdini]

I was musing to myself, just now in fact, that all those left to dance with are a) animals and b) disabled people.

Salient facts, indeed!


Then I stumled across this




I find disabled people incredibly cool, in the best way  & would like to work with them later in life.


Odd question, granted, but has anyone danced with someone in a wheelchair?  Must say, they're thin on the ground in German clubs and bars.

I find what they do in chairs too, to be pretty funky.

How cool was Douglas Bader?  Guy had no legs, but his little black book was not so little, I'd wager.


(Yes, there are different forms of disability.)

[Fiend]

I wonder if Scouse's fingers count as a disability?

[Houdini]

Not unless it's still inside his brain!

[Bubba]

I find disabled people incredibly cool, in the best way

Not sure what you mean - aren't they just like everyone else? ...ie some very cool, some complete cunts, etc, etc?

[Houdini]

Confusing isn't it?  Disabled.  Wow, they have their own Minister.  That's a word with a hell of a lot of space between the letters, and somewhat unspecific.

(Why are they "cool"?  I've met many young men and women with Down's Syndrome and always found their company particularly refreshing, they are extremely childlike and have playful minds and don't remeind me of adults and our world  at all.  I can't think of one thing to be gained by taking the piss.  It's clear to you that I'm not taking the piss, isn't it?  I imagine working with people with DS would be particularly rewarding, for me at least.  I've worked with the old and infirm before and find this aggreeable also.)



It struck me as odd, to be looking at stuff here on UKB (essentially about people jumping and throwing themselves over rocks and perhaps taking it for granted, I do) that there are people who never could.  I see people with DS and people using wheelchairs every day in the streets and on buses, in parks, on trains.  Yeah, just being normal people.  But I'm not friends with any and I've certainly never shared a pill with any.  And I'm assumimg that they do bad-shit too 

I was also thinking about climbing - especially mountaineering - from a disabled perspective.  Eg.  People climbing mountains with prothetic limbs.  Is that not amazing to you?  Cofe's skate thread not long back blew my mind.  I can't even olly...

Anyway, to put it in a way that could be answered, does anyone work with the (bodily) disabled on UKB?  If so, do they know you climb?  And what do they think of that? 

[webbo]

i with bubba on this they are indivduals like the rest of us some good some bad.i've met some right twats who used their disablity as a axe to grind against the rest of the world.
with regard to downs syndrom.i visited a patient yesterday who appears to have this in a mild form as well mental health problems.this cheery chappy proceeded to pretend to shake my hand then kick me up the arse before going on to try and thump the fuck out of me and his 80 year old mother.
its all bassets. 

[Houdini]

Indeed they are all individuals, but they are also individuals who - through their disability, have lost or gained something.  We know what that is, superficially.  Touch wood, none of us will ever feel the phantom-limb sensation.  It's an incredibly hard place to put yourself in, the mind of a disabled person, being normal yourself.

[webbo]

i've never been convinced with the argument that you don't know what something is like unless you've experienced it yourself.the one thing we humans have got over the rest of the animal world is imagination.

[Houdini]

Thinking though, somehow feels taboo. 


Would it be heresy to suggest that some of the chaps that do wheelchair marathons might make interesting boulderers?  Their legs are so much lighter and not all are without movement.  They are ludicrously powerful sportsmen.

[fatneck]

I worked with a disabled guy (wheelchair user) for three years while I was at uni and it was cool.
Young lad similar to myself and up for doing anything. We went clubbing, went to the pub to watch footy and to the gym, a lot.

A valuable learning experience. I feel I'm a better person for having done the job and I still meet up with him regularly for drinks and gossip.

Dancing is an odd one. My guy used an electric chair and used to mainly do circles, very fast around whoever he was dancing with (he was usually very shy, it's amazing what a few drinks will do...) and I'd often return home with very bruised feet (he's a big lad).

For anyone thinking of entering this line of work, it is very rewarding and I highly reccomend it. Sure some people are harder work than others and every carer I know has stories of being assaulted etc, but there's a huge variety of disability and most people are really nice and will appreciate you greatly. Also, you will never look at a set of stairs in the same way again.....

Anyone can use a ramp, but only able-bodied people can use the stairs...