Preparing for the big upgrade!

Hello and welcome to this fourth edition of Disability Horizons! We’re keeping our opening article a little shorter than usual as we have been busy preparing for next month’s big site upgrade. The aim being that from next month onwards, we will have the capacity to publish a greater number of articles on a wider variety of topics on a more frequent basis.

The title of this article, has a bit of a double meaning as it also aptly describes one of the special features of this edition. Last month, we were kindly offered the chance by Transport for London to take a tour around Kings Cross Station, a major London rail station that has undergone a massive refurbishment and upgrade, to check out the accessibility features that have been incorporated into the re-design. We share our views on the upgrade, and discuss in general the future of railway accessibility in London, a difficult issue given the age of London’s transport infrastructure.

Wherever in the world you are, transport accessibility and inclusivity is of paramount importance and undoubtedly opens a gateway to a plethora of opportunities ranging from the economic to the social and beyond. It would be great to hear of what efforts are being made around the world to improve transport accessibility, and we would love to support you in promoting best practice!

As ever, we have tried to share on Disability Horizons an interesting mix of articles from our guest contributors and we have the following line up in this edition:

• As mentioned, Srin and Martyn write about their experiences of touring London’s Kings Cross Station and what the future holds for accessible travel

• Sarah Ismail writes a book review on a recent publication called One Little Finger, written by disabled author Malini Chib

• Global news channel, CNN, share an article on Richard St.Denis, a recently proclaimed CNN Hero in recognition of his work to provide wheelchairs to individuals with disabilities in Mexico

• Martyn Sibley recently left his full time job at Scope to start his own social enterprise, Sunnier Days. He talks about his experiences of starting his own business and the advantages of self employment

• Pratyush Nalam from Mumbai, India shares a fascinating insight into a life as a disabled person growing up in India

• Journalist, Elizabeth Ransome shares an article exploring the difficult issue of defining “disability”

• Blogger, Adelina Chalmers re-publishes an article from her blog Promoting Good Practice on the work of Andy Kent, who trains young disabled people to become mechanics

• Adventurer, Martin Symons talks about his journey across England in a specially adapted off road wheelchair.

As always, please do get in touch if you would like to contribute to Disability Horizons in any way you think could help by emailing us at editor@disabilityhorizons.com.

Thanks again for reading our magazine and we hope you enjoy this edition!

Srin and Martyn