Moving house when you have a chronic illness or disability

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Moving house can be a hectic, stressful and exhausting experience. It can be difficult for anyone at the best of times, but for those moving house who suffer from a chronic illness or disability it can be even more challenging. 

Suffering from a chronic illness or disability means that even everyday, mundane tasks can be extremely challenging or even impossible. Add moving house to the mix of battling daily life with a chronic illness or disability and the fatigue, pain and other symptoms of the chronic illness or disability can be exacerbated. 

If you suffer from a chronic illness or disability and are moving house, here are a few little suggestions that can help make moving house a little more manageable.

Image courtesy of Muscle Movers LLC Las Vegas

Accessible days out in Pembrokeshire plus family day out voucher giveaway

Like most families we love family days out. They are fun, allow us to make memories together and enjoy quality time together as a family. Days out with the kids are even more special when our extended family join us especially since we live quite a few miles from them. Because of the distance between us family days out with extended family are even more precious and important to us. As days out with our extended family are few and far between due to the miles between us, it is vital that the places we visit are appealing and suitable for the whole family so that the day is an enjoyable success.

With many members of our extended family suffering from varying mobility issues - my mum has fibromyalgia, cervical neck damage, spinal disc degeneration and arthritis, my Dadcu (grandad) suffers from various mobility issues due to old age and hip issues, and my father-in-law is in a wheelchair - we are very aware of how whether a place is accessible and mobility friendly can make or break a family day out.

7 Things to think about when planning your accessible wedding

Your wedding is one of the biggest, most special days of your life and planning the celebrations can be incredibly exciting. When considering accessibility however, there are few things to bear in mind when you’re planning your wedding.

Whether it’s yourself, your bride or groom to be, or other members of the wedding party who require mobility aids or additional accessibility, what considerations are needed when planning your wedding day?

Accessibility is being discussed much more now than it once was and so making the biggest day of your life accessible is an important consideration. As such, mobility aid experts and suppliers, Ability Superstore, give their run down of what to think about when planning the perfect accessible wedding.

Caring for elderly and disabled loved ones - how we made the home safer

Whilst we may not want to admit it time creeps up on all of us. Not only do the years pass us by and we grow old but those around us do too. Many of us fondly think of ourselves as our younger self - it only seems like yesterday that I was 21 and carefree - and not notice how many years have actually passed since that magic number. As well as forgetting how much we have actually aged it is often

Over the years I have witnessed and helped care for a number of my loved ones as they suffered from all types of illnesses and disabilities.

I sadly watched my great-great-great aunt Nansi disappear thanks to Alzheimer’s. Heartbreakingly I watched my beloved Mamgu (grandmother) bravely fight a battle with cancer that she sadly could not win.

I have seen my mum struggle with afflictions galore including spinal injury, arthritis, and fibromyalgia to name but a few, that have made her life a daily struggle.

I have also witnessed my Dadcu (granddad) suffer from aches and pains leftover from a hard life working on the farm which has seen him have two hip replacements and a shoulder replacement.

Living independently when older

Next month my Dadcu (grandad) turns 80. It only feels like yesterday that we were celebrating him turning 70 with a big birthday bash with all his friends and family. As it seems unreal that 10 years has passed and that his will soon be 80 – I still think of and see him as the young, fun Dadcu from my childhood – I find it hard to accept that he is getting older.

My Dadcu is passionate about being independent. He lives an active, independent life with a better social life than I have.

As his independence means so much to him he hates having to rely on others for help with daily life and would be devastated if he needed help from carers or if he had to leave him own home to live in a care home.

SpecialEffect Charity GameBlast Marathon.

Disability charity launches UK-wide 24-hour video game marathon weekend.

SpecialEffect, a charity who help people with disabilities to benefit from the fun and inclusion of video games, is running a GameBlast marathon weekend on 21-23 February 2014.  People of all ages across the UK are invited to play video game marathons with friends or family to raise money for the charity.

The sponsorship raised from the GameBlast marathons will provide funds to modify and provide technology and gaming equipment that will enable more people with disabilities to enjoy video games with their friends.

The charity is calling for teams to set themselves a fundraising target, register onthe website, and undertake their own sponsored marathons, which can last anything up to 24 hours during the weekend.  Every team that registers will automatically be entered into a prize draw to win gaming goodies.

Mark Saville, SpecialEffect Communications Officer said, “Many children across the UK can only watch their friends and family play video games because their disabilities prevent them from using a controller.  We want to change this and the money raised will enable the Special Effect team to create bespoke gaming equipment to bring joy to many families across the UK.” 

SpecialEffect will be running its own marathon from the Gameblast HQ, and will keep the world up to date with their progress through Facebook and Twitter.

For more information visit: www.specialeffect.org.uk/gameblast

 *  I have not been given any form of compensation for sharing this and have done so to support the fabulous work that the charity SpecialEffect does *