We had a great time for the run up to Christmas helping create a grotto for Santa locally to raise money for out local Sailabilty. They are raising money for their new boat house to improve the facilities at Rudyard Lake. My job was to be chief Elf and keep a constant refill of wrapped gifts for the children. It was great fun and magical to see the wide eyed children meeting Santa.
The last week's Santa was a lovely man called Rusty who between his duty's as Santa explained to me that he and his wife have fostered and worked with children with special needs for many years. He has come up with the brilliant idea of running sensory parties for families who's children would love this highly original service at their party.
To contact Rusty and find out more go to http://www.worldofsensory.co.uk/ or contact him directly on dennis.rusty@hotmail.co.uk .
What a lovely surprise at Christmas!
Mrs Rackety's Blog Disabled-Clothing.
Tuesday 28 December 2010
Monday 15 November 2010
Oak Field School
Last week I was invited to visit Oak Field School and Sports College in Nottingham to meet some of the parents at one of their regular coffee mornings.
I have visited a lot of schools over the past seven years and am always struck by the very unique atmosphere of our special schools and colledges.
Oak Field is a beautiful brand new purpose built college, full of space and light with music and laughter ringing around the corridors. I have also visited some of the older schools with children squashed in older totally unsuitable buildings with clumsy adaptations to cope with their needs.
In all the schools you still get that unique vibrant atmosphere but it has been wonderful to witness so much investment in the children and their surroundings.
The subject of main stream verses special schooling will always raise a lively debate and much passion both ways, but whatever you feel it is great to see new purpose build schools and colleges being built all around the country. I was very upset to hear about Marland Special school in Devon, that had just missed out on the opportunity to get their new school due to Government cuts.
It was great to chat with the parents and find out what they thought about the new developments we are working on right now, we depend totally on our families to tell us what to do next at Rackety's, and I consider myself very fortunate to be involved with the community who live with disability.
I have visited a lot of schools over the past seven years and am always struck by the very unique atmosphere of our special schools and colledges.
Oak Field is a beautiful brand new purpose built college, full of space and light with music and laughter ringing around the corridors. I have also visited some of the older schools with children squashed in older totally unsuitable buildings with clumsy adaptations to cope with their needs.
In all the schools you still get that unique vibrant atmosphere but it has been wonderful to witness so much investment in the children and their surroundings.
The subject of main stream verses special schooling will always raise a lively debate and much passion both ways, but whatever you feel it is great to see new purpose build schools and colleges being built all around the country. I was very upset to hear about Marland Special school in Devon, that had just missed out on the opportunity to get their new school due to Government cuts.
It was great to chat with the parents and find out what they thought about the new developments we are working on right now, we depend totally on our families to tell us what to do next at Rackety's, and I consider myself very fortunate to be involved with the community who live with disability.
Wednesday 22 September 2010
pigswillfly
"And what is your e-mail address " I said to a customer the other day when processing a new order." It's pigswill fly.co.ect" said the Mum on the other end of the line.
"That wouldn't by any chance be a reference to your experiences trying to get what you need for your disabled child would it? "
And so began another long complicated, sad, frustrating story about my customers fight to help the foster children she looks after.
Sadly I have to report that it is a story I hear ALL the time.
Why is it so difficult for the families who live with disability to get the things they need, let alone the things they want to help them to cope with the additional requirements they have.
It all seems incredibly complicated , inconsistent, spread out and a lot of hard work for families to get help advise support funding services and so on.
Happily amongst all the aggravation I also hear many heartwarming, inspirational funny and wonderful stories about the many exciting achievements great and small my customers enjoy.
These are a few things I have observed in the six years I have been speaking to my customers.
1. Unless you live with or are directly connected to someone with a disability, there is a lot of serious lack of understanding , or education about what it is all about.
2. The help available is totally inconsistent around the country.
3. Many areas of the health care industry are severely out of date.
4. Things are slowly improving.
5. The Internet is a great medium to harness the power of the needs of families and will be highly influential in improving understanding of those who live with disability and those who don't.
I wonder if you agree with me?
Maybe pigswill fly one day after all.
"That wouldn't by any chance be a reference to your experiences trying to get what you need for your disabled child would it? "
And so began another long complicated, sad, frustrating story about my customers fight to help the foster children she looks after.
Sadly I have to report that it is a story I hear ALL the time.
Why is it so difficult for the families who live with disability to get the things they need, let alone the things they want to help them to cope with the additional requirements they have.
It all seems incredibly complicated , inconsistent, spread out and a lot of hard work for families to get help advise support funding services and so on.
Happily amongst all the aggravation I also hear many heartwarming, inspirational funny and wonderful stories about the many exciting achievements great and small my customers enjoy.
These are a few things I have observed in the six years I have been speaking to my customers.
1. Unless you live with or are directly connected to someone with a disability, there is a lot of serious lack of understanding , or education about what it is all about.
2. The help available is totally inconsistent around the country.
3. Many areas of the health care industry are severely out of date.
4. Things are slowly improving.
5. The Internet is a great medium to harness the power of the needs of families and will be highly influential in improving understanding of those who live with disability and those who don't.
I wonder if you agree with me?
Maybe pigswill fly one day after all.
Thursday 22 July 2010
Mrs Rackety- what's in a name.
"Mrs Rackety, -over here -have you got any bibs today?"
This was the voice of a Mum sitting under a tree trying to catch my attention at a local school event we attended sometime last year. As she had no idea of my name, I was re-defined and re-christened as Mrs Rackety.
Instead of being Annabel, Mrs McMahon, Mum, wife,daughter, sister, friend,sweetheart,daughter -in-law, Designer, Business woman, at that moment I was Mrs Rackety.
Names define who we are and I am often struggling with how this works when you have to introduce a disability or two or three into a family's life. Suddenly the person has to acquire a new name, or perhaps a several. The names may include , disability, special needs, autism, downs syndrome, undiagnosed- you get the idea.
It is also clear from the information we receive that often there is a long complicated combination of descriptions to define a person or child with a disability. So the list of names for someone who lives with a disability can become twice as long as everyone else, the danger being that the names get confused, so instead of being a daughter, sister, cousin, friend, you become a disabled, autistic, incontinent, daughter, sister, cousin,friend. There are occasions when it is essential and helpful to use the extra names, and others when it isn't.
When I am at home, my boys are only interested in Mum, they couldn't care less about Mrs Rackety, when you live with a disability it is much more difficult for the rest of the world to separate out the person from their disability.
We ask all our customers to tell us about their disability because it helps us to understand their needs, and develop new products to help them. We have to use the extra names, but we understand that they are only one part of the person they are connected to.
We also prefer to use direct everyday language when discussing smearing or dribbling, because we are not tied to the political correctness that quite frankly on occasions has gone mad. A poo is a poo, and when you are worried about having it all around the room and how to stop the daily nightmare from re-occurring, sometimes regular language is both re-assuring and a relief.
When you land in the world of disability, either by fate or choice, you learn that it is very easy to get it wrong, to upset hurt or offend, you can do this by using the wrong language, or by getting the names and labels in the wrong order.
Name's can have so many interpretations, and just as Mum and Mrs Rackety is the same person with a clearly defined difference, somehow for a person with a disability the names are much more difficult to separate.
Let me know your thoughts on the language and labels of disability and how to "get it right" what works for you?
This was the voice of a Mum sitting under a tree trying to catch my attention at a local school event we attended sometime last year. As she had no idea of my name, I was re-defined and re-christened as Mrs Rackety.
Instead of being Annabel, Mrs McMahon, Mum, wife,daughter, sister, friend,sweetheart,daughter -in-law, Designer, Business woman, at that moment I was Mrs Rackety.
Names define who we are and I am often struggling with how this works when you have to introduce a disability or two or three into a family's life. Suddenly the person has to acquire a new name, or perhaps a several. The names may include , disability, special needs, autism, downs syndrome, undiagnosed- you get the idea.
It is also clear from the information we receive that often there is a long complicated combination of descriptions to define a person or child with a disability. So the list of names for someone who lives with a disability can become twice as long as everyone else, the danger being that the names get confused, so instead of being a daughter, sister, cousin, friend, you become a disabled, autistic, incontinent, daughter, sister, cousin,friend. There are occasions when it is essential and helpful to use the extra names, and others when it isn't.
When I am at home, my boys are only interested in Mum, they couldn't care less about Mrs Rackety, when you live with a disability it is much more difficult for the rest of the world to separate out the person from their disability.
We ask all our customers to tell us about their disability because it helps us to understand their needs, and develop new products to help them. We have to use the extra names, but we understand that they are only one part of the person they are connected to.
We also prefer to use direct everyday language when discussing smearing or dribbling, because we are not tied to the political correctness that quite frankly on occasions has gone mad. A poo is a poo, and when you are worried about having it all around the room and how to stop the daily nightmare from re-occurring, sometimes regular language is both re-assuring and a relief.
When you land in the world of disability, either by fate or choice, you learn that it is very easy to get it wrong, to upset hurt or offend, you can do this by using the wrong language, or by getting the names and labels in the wrong order.
Name's can have so many interpretations, and just as Mum and Mrs Rackety is the same person with a clearly defined difference, somehow for a person with a disability the names are much more difficult to separate.
Let me know your thoughts on the language and labels of disability and how to "get it right" what works for you?
Saturday 26 June 2010
Dragon Boat Delight!
Yesterday was the local Sailability Club Dragon Boat Race on our local lake in Rudyard. It was the most brilliant fun and we had a wonderful day racing in the sunshine.
The lake was mainly visited by locals and a little bit run down and unused up until the last five years. The events down at the lake over the past few years contain a modern morality tale so unbelievable that you would think it has been made up.
There has always been a Sailing club on the lake, a while ago they applied for lottery funding to make the club fully accessible. Having acquired the money and spent it on improving the club they promptly forgot to set the club up to include any members with a disability.
Meanwhile at the other end of the lake in a quiet unused corner with a dirty old run down shed, Dennis Priebe, set up Sailabilty, a centre of excellence for anyone to be able to enjoy sailing on the lake.
You would imagine that this vibrant and positive enterprise would be a source of immense pride to the locals and everyone would support the venture wholeheartedly. Hundreds of children each year enjoy the experience and freedom of getting out onto the water, and the joy and confidence it brings is wonderful.
On applying to develop the old boat store into a more suitable purpose built location the club was met with a barrage of objection. After the second planning application refusal they had to fight through another two refusals, an enforcement notice and finally a five day enquiry before they were granted the permission they require to build their new store.
The mood seemed to be-we all think the Sailabilty is a wonderful thing but we don't actually want it here thank you. How can such fear and discrimination of disability be so common in this day and age?
Thankfully due to the tireless efforts of some brilliant locals the club now is able to look forward to a great future and continue their magnificent work.
The Dragon Boat Race is their main fundraising event of the year and much splashing and fun was had by everyone. Rackety's entered a team this year, and after an appalling start where we zig zaged uncontrollably down the lake and came in last in the first heat,which was all my fault ( I thought it was the easy option to steer!) We changed the team around and stormed down the lake to win a place the Plate final. After a nerve racking enquiry because two other boats crashed into each other, Team Rackety's were upgraded from second to First place and are now the proud owners of the Rudyard Lake Dragon Boat Race Plate 2010!
The lake has become a mecca for Disabled families, schools, and individual to enjoy a wonderful experience, I understand that many people just don't have any experience or knowledge of disability but I do find it astonishing to find such vehement objection as we have experienced locally.
If you would like more information on Sailability the address is www.rudyardsailability.org.uk.
Sunday 6 June 2010
Rackety's adventures in cyber space.
Over the past few months we have jumped into the world of social networking and are now enjoying rampaging around in cyber space with all the others who are brave enough to try.
One thing that quickly became clear to us here at Rackety's HQ, is that many families and individuals who live with a disability are very keen internet users.
Finding out more about other families who share a similar disability, how they cope, where they find the help and support they need or the products that help them to enjoy an improved lifestyle, is very important in reducing the isolation often felt by families and individuals who live with disability.
The internet is a powerful and wonderful way of joining up communities of people all over the world with similar interests and challenges.
Rackety's have customers in over 22 different countries, thanks to the internet,the needs of our customers remain the same what ever country they live in.
This is an e-mail we received from a customer in America.
Once you have changed the bed from a larger child who got in her pants & has finger painted poo all over, you thank the Lord (& Rackety's) every time you snap the onesie (vests) in place. I thank Rackety's daily for making quality clothing that really makes our lives easier on a daily basis. I thought it would be a big deal to order internationally, but it was amazingly easy!
My daughter's bathroom is her bed, so the snap bottom PJ's make it a ton easier to change a nearly 70 lb child!
My girl has to wear a tucked in white colored top to school. Keeping it tucked in took divine intervention until we ordered the polo shirt vests! I'm amazed at how clothing blesses my life every single day. Thank you for doing what I couldn't do myself. I tried to make these or have them made, but they always came apart or didn't hold up. The quality adds to their benefits!
Sincerely,
Allison Moore (mother of Abby age 9 chromosome 18q-mosaic)
I have met some wonderful families locally through Rackety's, and now we are "meeting" families all over the globe thanks to the social network we are building up.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
One thing that quickly became clear to us here at Rackety's HQ, is that many families and individuals who live with a disability are very keen internet users.
Finding out more about other families who share a similar disability, how they cope, where they find the help and support they need or the products that help them to enjoy an improved lifestyle, is very important in reducing the isolation often felt by families and individuals who live with disability.
The internet is a powerful and wonderful way of joining up communities of people all over the world with similar interests and challenges.
Rackety's have customers in over 22 different countries, thanks to the internet,the needs of our customers remain the same what ever country they live in.
This is an e-mail we received from a customer in America.
Once you have changed the bed from a larger child who got in her pants & has finger painted poo all over, you thank the Lord (& Rackety's) every time you snap the onesie (vests) in place. I thank Rackety's daily for making quality clothing that really makes our lives easier on a daily basis. I thought it would be a big deal to order internationally, but it was amazingly easy!
My daughter's bathroom is her bed, so the snap bottom PJ's make it a ton easier to change a nearly 70 lb child!
My girl has to wear a tucked in white colored top to school. Keeping it tucked in took divine intervention until we ordered the polo shirt vests! I'm amazed at how clothing blesses my life every single day. Thank you for doing what I couldn't do myself. I tried to make these or have them made, but they always came apart or didn't hold up. The quality adds to their benefits!
Sincerely,
Allison Moore (mother of Abby age 9 chromosome 18q-mosaic)
I have met some wonderful families locally through Rackety's, and now we are "meeting" families all over the globe thanks to the social network we are building up.
Looking forward to hearing from you soon.
Wednesday 21 April 2010
The very best bit of the job!
It is often a bit quieter here at Rackety's HQ when it is the school holidays. A lot of our customers are parents who have their hands full when the kids are at home.We use the time to catch up on new projects and all the background jobs that need to be done. Although we do not have an official shop, we work out of a warehouse with an office, our doors are always open to any customers who would like to call in and visit. We do advise you ring first to check we are in, as we wouldn't want you to turn up and find there is no body about, which is rare, but sometimes happens.
Last week we had the privilege of meeting a wonderful family who all called in to see us.The Mum having had four children of her own, now fosters a few more and has extended her delightful family with a beautiful daughter who is disabled, and they currently are giving a home to a beautiful baby girl awaiting adoption. You do not have to be Angelina Jolie to have a rainbow family these days! Apparently the elder daughter was upset because the baby was getting loads of new clothes and the little girl who uses a wheelchair wasn't getting as many. It was a joy to be able to offer a few items of clothing to suit the little girls multiple needs and satisfy the discerning eye of the older sister who was as fashion conscious as any young teenager and wonderfully protective and involved with her extended multi cultural family.
It is unquestionably the best part of the job when we meet the families and take time out to have a chat.I had to comment on what a delightful family the Mum had, and she laughed and said they have their moments! What an inspiration it is to learn all the time about the lives of families that live with disability, in this case it is a choice, the family have chosen to adopt the little girl, mostly of course it is not.
The mum was learning all about the complications of life when dealing with a disability, the everyday fight for often very simple things, and options the rest of the world take for granted.
At Rackety's we feel privileged to be able to play a small but sometimes significant role in offering a product that can help families who encounter daily struggles.
Over the years ,at exhibitions, on visits to schools and events, at the unit and over he phone we have met hundreds of wonderful families, and it is definitely the best part of the job!
So please feel free to call by, ring, e-mail or contact us, we have a lot of experience across a wide variety of needs and we love to find out more.
Wednesday 24 March 2010
All the new stock arrived last week and I am happy to say it is flying out of the door. Just when I am thinking that we are a bit manic because there is a fair amount of paper work to get through, I get a cheery phone call from one of my Mums who has very kindly been taking some pictures of her beautiful daughter modeling some of our new items. How are you, I ask casually- "not bad but my leg is in plaster I've just had to do the shopping in a wheelchair it was terrible I couldn't reach anything" How do you cope when you have a young family, a child with disabilities and Mum has a broken leg?
Grabbing a quick bit of shopping on the way home, I met Ralph, another of our lovely models Dads, "hows the family Ralph - is everything OK after Tillys last treatment? ( Tilly has SMA and needs special drugs to help strengthen her bones ) " Tilly is doing fine thanks but Mum has tripped and her leg is in plaster, I think she wanted a bit of attention for Mothers Day!"
Two mums with legs in plaster and more than most to cope with on a daily basis, still smiling and looking after their families.
Its a sharp reminder of why we enjoy life so much at Rackety's a bit of extra paperwork and some extra effort to get the orders out is nothing compared to what some of our customers deal with every day.
They say things run in threes but I am hoping not to hear about any more Mum's with broken bones this week!
Grabbing a quick bit of shopping on the way home, I met Ralph, another of our lovely models Dads, "hows the family Ralph - is everything OK after Tillys last treatment? ( Tilly has SMA and needs special drugs to help strengthen her bones ) " Tilly is doing fine thanks but Mum has tripped and her leg is in plaster, I think she wanted a bit of attention for Mothers Day!"
Two mums with legs in plaster and more than most to cope with on a daily basis, still smiling and looking after their families.
Its a sharp reminder of why we enjoy life so much at Rackety's a bit of extra paperwork and some extra effort to get the orders out is nothing compared to what some of our customers deal with every day.
They say things run in threes but I am hoping not to hear about any more Mum's with broken bones this week!
Thursday 18 February 2010
Rackety's want to hear from you!
We hear such great stories here at Rackety's HQ and we thought it would be interesting to be able to hear lots more and to share them with you too.
Thanks to the wonders of cyberspace we can now enjoy passing on some of the inspiring, maddening, tragic, funny and wonderful things that happen to our customers and to us as we go about our business.
This week we had a visit from Bonnie, her cousin Chloe and their friend David. Each of them have a problem keeping warm and getting jackets and coats on. We had a great time trying on the Rackety's jackets and coats and they all had some great ideas as to how we can improve them in the future. David very kindly allowed us to take some photos and a video of him as he tried on the jackets, you can see the result on our You tube link- he's a natural in front of the camera.
It is freezing cold at the office in the winter and I have taken to bringing a hot water bottle to work to keep me warm as I sit still in front of the computer all day.
It reminds me how miserable it is when you are feeling cold, my brain goes numb as well as my fingers- sometimes it is the small things in life that make the biggest difference- staying warm and dry is something we give a lot of thought to.
Why don't you contact us and explain about the little things that make a big difference to you?
Thanks to the wonders of cyberspace we can now enjoy passing on some of the inspiring, maddening, tragic, funny and wonderful things that happen to our customers and to us as we go about our business.
This week we had a visit from Bonnie, her cousin Chloe and their friend David. Each of them have a problem keeping warm and getting jackets and coats on. We had a great time trying on the Rackety's jackets and coats and they all had some great ideas as to how we can improve them in the future. David very kindly allowed us to take some photos and a video of him as he tried on the jackets, you can see the result on our You tube link- he's a natural in front of the camera.
It is freezing cold at the office in the winter and I have taken to bringing a hot water bottle to work to keep me warm as I sit still in front of the computer all day.
It reminds me how miserable it is when you are feeling cold, my brain goes numb as well as my fingers- sometimes it is the small things in life that make the biggest difference- staying warm and dry is something we give a lot of thought to.
Why don't you contact us and explain about the little things that make a big difference to you?
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