Category: Let's talk
Hi all. Now the subject line of this topic is bland and dry for a very good reason. I want to talk about the problems disabled, and in particular blind people have when trying to do what they want to do. The world is so full of insurance and litigation these days that access to ordenary things such as sports and other things in the community is sadly kertailed due to rocketing insurance costs and litigation. My experience of this is as follows. I have ridden and worked with horses on and off for the last twenty years. After leaving my hobby for a while while I did a degree, I now want to get back into it. I'm blind, as blind as they come, but I have done a lot of horse work, grooming, riding horses to a reasonable standard, and lots of other things that people do when riding horses, such as jumping, hacking etc. I now want to get back into my hobby, but a lot of the organisations for disabled people are restirctive because they have to cater for the most seveirly disabled among us. While this is admerable, it restricts blind and other physically disabled people. I cannot, for example, go at a canter in a riding for the disabled school, as they would most likely shit themselves, although I know waht I am doing. So I choose to go the normal route and approach a commershal riding stable. I was informed that I could not groom a horse because I was blind. that's crap! I am safe around horses, and calmer than most people I think. It all comes down to insurance, and there's no legal waver I can sign to get around this. So in short, I'm stopped from doing waht I like by a system that legeslates too much. The disability discrimination legislation here in england doesn't help, because if the stable can cite health and safety rules, the DDA doesn't count. so we're busted as blind people when it comes to doing anything remotely challenging or dangerous. please discuss this topic..
I don't have a problem, my problem is though are people such as relatives and friends who don't give you the freedom to do what you want. That really pisses me off!
Troy
It's because of liability and they're responsible for their students. So I think they're covering their ass to be honest. My exboyfriend wanted to do this kind of work and I'm not sure if he fell through. But if something were to happen to the student, you and or the place who teaches the students could get sued and the insurance! And as much as I was supportive to my ex on him making the American Dream, I knew it wasn't gonna happen. When he became too serious and obsessive about it, I wanted to get away from it. Because it would've ment me changing my dreams, moving away from family etc. Try to find a job in the degree you recieved, then if you feel this is something you really want... Go back to school, get retrained in horse stuff, and certified. If the employer sees proof that you are a responsible, and certified person then there should be nothing to worry about. Am I making somewhat sense? Cause like I said my ex went through the same crap. He tried to apply for a job in training people to ride.....and they flat out told him "NO" because A. even though he owns horses and rides them, he had no proof of certification, or letters of accomodation. B. He was blind and they felt he was a risk.
while i agree with you re the certification, it's hard to get certified here in england as the only ppl who do are the bhs british horse society. their exams are not vi friendly at all, if you do sometihing that isn't by the book because you physically can't do as the book says, , even if it is safe and gets the job done, you will be failed. example. If you are grooming a horse, your grooming box needs to be in a corner of the barn/box you are in. you have a time limit to groom your horse, and if you lose your oriantation due to moving round the horse etc, you will spend precious time finding your box to remove/put back implements you have used. So, to get around this, I wear my grooming kit on a belt, that enables me to reach everything with ease. it also allows me to strap my cane to ,my belt so I can lead the horse back to its stable afterwards. The belt rig is a good idea, but it would not be acceptable in bhs circles, so i would be failed for that infringement of the rules, even though my disabiolity necessitated those adaptations. btw, my degree failed due to a lack of support from my local college, who refused to A, put anything in accessible formats. b, lectureres refused to let me record their lectures. C, lecturers told me oh we don't use the internet. so that's gone down the toilet, and as for getting paid work in england when you are blind and have no previous work experiance? go whistle for that too!
wow dobbin, looks like you're really in a bad situation. sounds like such a frustrating mess to have to deal with misconceptions, but it's even tougher when dealing with people who don't want to be educated. so what are you planning on doing from this point?
hi, all the blind people in my country are facing a lot of problems & defficulty in living, education, as well as job emploment. i have a friend wich studied in languagetic have grad for 2 years but coulden't find any job untill reasonly get a job wich is doing asmin work. don't you all think this is some thing wich is.......?
What if you place a small device in or next to the grooming box that makes a sound like a beep or a humm so that you ca use the sound to find the box without 'breaking' the rules for the certification. Also, I am sure that if you approach someone who is working at these schools and talk to them privately and show that you are interested and know what you are doing I am sure they will be interested into advising and maybe working with you (practicing etc) before the exams. Also you can approach the media. Have a TV station, newspaper or magazine do a story on you and your love/knowledge of horses. Once you have attracted public attention to the issue maybe people who can help you will then approach you with suggestions. I understand that there are limitations but no matter if you are blind or not there are limitations everywhere the point is to learn to work around them and come up with creative solutions. Good luck!
Creative solutions are great, but I've tried talking to ppl about this issue, and they either throw the insurance book at you, or they don't listen to you, oh yes yes yes they say and then fuck all is done.