I won…

Some good news for once my dear readers. All my moaning about the ridiculous speed humps down my local park has not been futile as the whole issue has hopefully (if they don’t go back on their plans) been resolved. CELEBRATE GOOD TIMES, COME ON!

I’ll just do a quick re-cap like on a television programme. Basically, my brother had initial reservations about the ‘Waves’ last summer, before they were even built. However, his protestations were ignored and the planned work went ahead. The council assured us that the local disability group had been consulted but this later turned out to be a tick-box exercise. Back in April, I was making my way back from town in my manual wheelchair and upon reaching the first bump on the hill, tipped right back so I was laying on the ground. Luckily, I escaped without injury but it shook me up so I’ve been vigorously complaining ever since.

Various members of the council have met with me and none of them have gave satisfactory answers. That is why, only last week I am an in the Herts Ad threatening a campaign (see here: http://www.hertsad.co.uk/news/st_albans_wheelchair_boy_launches_speed_humps_fight_1_2247014). I was going to get the ball rolling this week until Tuesday evening. Four councillors wanted to meet with me to discuss plans and suggest a way to move forward. I really doubted their solution would be suitable but went along with an open mind. I thought that any adaptations would be made with the sole intentions of keeping Sustrans happy and plastering over my complaints.

Being young, I don’t really admit when I’m wrong but thankfully, this time I was. They unveiled the plans to remove the humps on the pedestrian side and inside, I sort of had a hallelujah moment where I thought common sense has finally prevailed. I did question why they didn’t do that in the first place but a lot of politics doesn’t make sense if you look back on it so I just accepted they had mucked up.

I am very proud of this result because if I had stayed quiet, nothing would have been done to fix the problem. The outcome has vindicated my arguing and the number of newspaper articles. ‘Wheelchair Boy’ did get what he set out for and it does give me the confidence to challenge other issues that arise in my life. Just because I am disabled, my voice will get heard one way or another and this is evidence.

Bye for now!