Travelling and accessing public transport for the first time as an amputee can be a daunting experience. To hopefully put your mind at ease before you take that first trip, we’ve put together a list of organisations who may be able to help as well as some helpful tips to consider before taking that all important first journey.
See below for a list of organisations who can help you find an accessible holiday as well as information relating to travel, transport and general help when you’re out and about.
Over a 1/4 million people need Changing Places toilets to enable them to get out and about and enjoy the day-to-day activities many of us take for granted.
For more information on a toilet near you or if you’d like to find out about installing a changing places toilet please click here.
“We understand both the difficulties that a disabled holiday maker can face and the worry that this causes. Our job is to take away that worry by providing you with all the support you need at every step including choosing, booking, preparing to go, travelling, holidaying and coming home.
We count it a privilege to be trusted with arranging your holiday so please do give us the chance to impress you by calling us on 0161 804 9898”
Check out their website here.
Enable Holidays offer Mobility Scheme customers a 10% discount whenever they book an overseas accessible holiday with them.
The award-winning team at Enable Holidays is dedicated to the needs of disabled holiday-makers. As experts in their field, they know exactly what kind of detail is required to get it right for you. Enable Holidays’ overseas packages are tailor-made and prices include:
- Guaranteed adapted room upon confirmation of booking
- Return flights with airport assistance
- Adapted taxi transfers between resort and airport
- In-resort rep service in most areas
- Financial protection for your peace of mind ABTA (W7335) and ATOL (6261)
Find Out More – call the accessible travel specialists at Enable Holidays on 0871 222 4939 or visit enableholidays.com, where you can also view the online borchure. Use the code ‘Motability’ when booking to receive the discounted offer for Motability Scheme customers.
For many individuals travel, whether for business or pleasure can be difficult because of age or having a disability. Having care support when at home, does not necessarily transfer to travelling either in the UK or internationally.
Able Community Care was established in 1980 and now provides 24/7, care support throughout the UK and the offshore islands.
In 2016 they launched their Holiday Care Companion service and since that time have been able to support clients of all ages to take a holiday, to travel for business/other personal reasons, to attend conferences or sporting events.
Find our more here.
Are you looking for wheelchair accessible places when you’re out and about? Google maps has a great feature you can use to do just that. Find out more here.
People who need to use accessible toilets will know that many of them in the UK are fitted with a Nicholls & Clarke (N&C) Phlexicare RADAR National Key Scheme lock, which can only be opened with a Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation (RADAR) key. In this article, Independent mobility consultant Helen Dolphin MBE explains what RADAR keys are.
You can pick up a Radar Key with a FYF keyring at the link below.
https://www.findingyourfeetstore.net/collections/sale/products/fyf-radar-key-with-keyring
Disability Snowsport UK (DSUK) is the UK’s leading snowsport charity. We have been teaching disabled people to ski and snowboard for over forty years. We believe that taking part in adaptive snowsports has the power to transform a person’s relationship with not just their disability, but all aspects of their life.
Experience the power of powder on an Adaptive Snowsport Holiday with DSUK!
For more information please check out their website here.
The National Entitlement Card (NEC) gives free or discounted access to most types of public transport. Scottish residents aged 60 and over can travel for free on most local and national bus services in Scotland. You may also be entitled to free rail travel.
The National Entitlement Card doesn’t just offer national transport concessions but some Scottish councils are now using the card for other services such as library/leisure memberships, cashless catering in schools and taxi travel for disabled people.
More info here.
The South East of Scotland Transport Partnership has developed the Thistle Assistance Card and App to make using public transport easier for older people and those with disabilities or illness.
The card and App, is supported by a wide variety of voluntary organisations across Scotland and by most bus, train, tram, ferry and airport operators. It is credit-card sized and comes with a supply of peel-off stickers, which advise the driver or conductor of your disability and the help you need in an easy-to-read format.
The Thistle Assistance Card and App were developed with the help of transport providers and users to provide a useful means of displaying the right information for the passenger, with symbols indicating the type of disability and a short message indicating the help required that could be read at a glance by bus drivers, train and tram conductors and other staff. The card comes with an information leaflet showing customers how to use the card and highlighting that it has no monetary significance – it is purely an information card.
The card is available to all people who require it through bus companies, libraries, health centres and on request, with no eligibility criteria required. For more information please e-mail thistlecard@sestran.gov.uk or call 0131 524 5153.
To download the App please use the following links for both Apple and Android enabled devices: Apple App Store and Play Store
Website – https://www.sestran.gov.uk/projects/the-sestran-thistle-assistance-card/
Blue badges, mobility scooters and wheelchairs, accessible public transport, taxi and private hire cars. Find useful links on their website here.
The Homelands Trust-Fife is an independent Fife based charity working to improve the quality of life of individuals affected by disability, people with life limiting conditions and their carers, through the provision of luxury holiday accommodation.
Homelands Trust – Fife
14a Links Road, Lundin Links, Fife, Scotland, KY8 6AT
Telephone: 01333 329039
Email: info@homelands-fife.co.uk