Good for moles, not so much for human beings. In winter, we Brits see an average of less than 10 hours of daylight in a week.

Between commuting in the dark, and not taking enough time over lunch to get outside for some fresh air in the middle of the day, many of us are falling well short on our quota of sunlight.

What are the consequences?

 

Last weekend saw World Toilet Day taking its place in the roster of awareness events.

A great opportunity to think about why not every business in Britain is rising to the challenge of catering for all their customers... and which ones are!

Read more here

 

Around the world, millions of people have lower-limb paralysis. The most common causes are strokes, spinal cord injury and multiple sclerosis.

Personalised mobility technology can make a huge difference, but the market is fragmented, and complicated to navigate, particularly for small, innovative businesses.

The Mobility Unlimited Challenge aims to bring brilliant new ideas to fruition.

Find out how

 

Can you help raise awareness and funding for the new Care Act advice charity, CASCAIDr, by sharing positive images of disability in action?

Make sure you have consent or a best interests decision, if the image is of another person!

I will be interviewing the founder, Belinda Schwehr, shortly, so look out for more information here in a couple of weeks. And meanwhile, email me your images.

  

As an oldie, I find that I need to plan excursions more carefully than I used to. A pet bugbear is the chronic shortage of places to sit down when out and about.

So I was interested to hear about a campaign to encourage retailers to provide seats in their stores...

Find out more here

  

If you provide high quality products and services, and you would like to reach our site visitors and newsletter readers, please email derek@independentliving.co.uk

 

Airbnb has transformed the way we approach finding short stay accommodation. But it hasn't been an option for travellers with access requirements – until now. The company has recently acquired Accomable, the listings site for accessible accommodation, and at the same time is working to refresh its own disability-friendly features.

More details here

 

Don't forget that you can apply to join the Independent Living Facebook group, if you would like to spend more time discussing these themes with other interested people. 

There are various ways you can get in touch with us: email me; visit our Facebook page and leave a message there; or if it's short and sweet, Tweet!

Previous newsletters are archived here.

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Until next time, all good wishes,

Frances