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Ability Borders Newsletter November 2022
Gold Medal Edition
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Ability Borders: the go-to organisation for those living with
physical disabilities and long-term conditions across the
Scottish Borders!
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In this special extra edition of our newsletter we are delighted to be featuring an in-depth interview with Commonwealth Gold Medal Bowls athlete, Pauline Wilson and as the seasons change we take a look at exercise and sporting activities out there for those living with a disability or long-term health condition. Our next newsletter will focus on cost of living support, so watch out for that coming soon!
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Ability Borders, our purpose is to:
- Inform disabled people or those living with a long-term condition about services available throughout the Scottish Borders and to help them have an independent life.
- Co-produce a Borders wide organisation involving disabled people themselves, their families and carers.
- Influence policy and services that will help them with their quality of life and to help improve information and services
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Get in touch with Ability Borders for Free Sims for Calls, Texts and Data
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Calling Volunteers! - Community Connectors
Your Community Connectors Needs You!
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Ability Borders started its Community Connectors Project to help those wishing to use a care alarm service but who had no-one who could act as their first responders.
We are now seeking volunteers, across all areas of the Scottish Borders, who would be happy to offer their help to someone in their local community who needs a point of contact for their care alarm provider.
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You might have seen the recent television campaign advertising "We Are Undefeatable". It is a movement supporting people with a range of long-term health conditions, developed by 15 leading health and social care charities and backed by expertise, insight and significant National Lottery funding from Sport England. Their purpose is to support and encourage finding ways to be active that work with each person’s conditions, not against them.
The campaign has reached people living with conditions such as arthritis, Alzheimer's, COPD, types 1 and 2 diabetes, heart disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's and many more. To get started and explore what sorts of activities might be right for you and your condition, the website provides a host of information and inspiration. https://weareundefeatable.co.uk/getting-started
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Let's Move with Versus Arthritis
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For those living with one of the many forms of arthritis, the right kind of movement can help with mobility and pain. Versus Arthritis have a wealth of free resources available on their website to enable those living with the condition to get as active as they are able and all from the comfort of their own homes. You will find a host of videos on their YouTube channel from specially tailored stretches for the hands, wrists and shoulders, to a series called Let's Move with Leon which gradually builds strength, balance and confidence and now a monthly movement challenge is being added to the videos to further increase mobility. To access this resource, please, head to:
https://www.youtube.com/c/VersusArthritis/videos
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Exclusive Interview with Commonwealth Gold Medalist, Pauline Wilson
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We are thrilled to be able to bring you a real scoop this edition! Clare Bridges interviewed Scottish bowler, Pauline Wilson, fresh from her Gold Medal win at this Summer's Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. In a searingly honest interview, Pauline talks about her life-long love of competitive sport, the health issues that she has lived with and the surgery that led to her becoming disabled. We are deeply grateful to Pauline for sharing this, at times, incredibly painful personal story, giving us a glimpse into the struggle that lies behind her achievements and her adjustment to living with a disability.
(Above photo courtesy of Bowls Scotland.)
'I’ve always been competitive. From a young age I loved playing sports; I was a competitive swimmer at age 9. Sport is very character building: you can’t win at everything all the time, you have to come to terms with defeat and things not going your way, which I found were valuable lessons growing up. I started playing bowls aged 18, in Melrose. I had met my first husband, we had not yet married when I first started playing- since I knew he played bowls, I thought to myself to see him and spend time with him I’d better play too! I stopped playing for a time in my 20s when my husband and I separated, and I had my then two young girls to raise and also had to work full time. It wasn’t until about 2006 that I started to get fully back into it again, when I had moved to Wales. It was at this time that my life turned upside down and changed forever….
In 2006 I went for routine surgery for ulcerative colitis, an inflammatory bowel disease. I had a total colectomy, it’s where they remove the entire colon. As a result of this, I also needed to have an ileostomy pouch. In 2008 I went for reversal surgery, which means an internal pouch is made from part of the small bowel - it does the work the large intestine is supposed to do. Little did I know that something that was meant to be routine would go so drastically wrong.
Part of the procedure meant that my legs had to be elevated. For some reason, my legs were left elevated for far longer than they should have been, for over seven hours and as a result, my legs started to become starved of oxygen. This led to me developing compartment syndrome when an area of the body is damaged because of restricted blood flow leading to damage to the muscles and nearby nerves. Toxins rushed into my lower legs, and they swelled up, they looked like giant watermelons, they were so swollen and hard! In my case, the swelling crushed the nerves in my legs and my muscles started to die. However, the fact I had developed compartment syndrome wasn’t picked up on until three days after the operation. I knew, as soon as I woke up from the operation, that something was very wrong. I was in excruciating pain and felt like I was simply not being listened to. It was both extremely frustrating and incredibly frightening to not be believed. Eventually, on the Sunday, the surgeon was called, and he took one look at me and announced that I was to be rushed into surgery to save my legs. If not diagnosed promptly compartment syndrome can become extremely serious, even resulting in complete organ failure and death. To this day, I feel very lucky to be alive, especially since my concerns weren’t taken seriously initially. I spent the next three months in hospital, such was the seriousness of the situation.'
Pauline goes on to talk with brutal honesty about the devastating consequences of the surgery and how she got back to competitive sport once more. Read the full article here: https://1drv.ms/b/s!AsdNXKMYA4KIiVDMgjrtZjHkKyz6?e=WdXVyD
If you would like to give bowls a go and find a club local to you (there are plenty throughout the Borders) check out Bowls Scotland's Club Finder:
https://www.bowlsscotland.com/club-finder?fbclid=IwAR11xb999UQwo8rAO0opFn21QL2DdCOW0aHqULxc_s7ula5261V-x1T6k6o
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If you would prefer to get involved with some low level activity that gets you outdoors and meeting others, then how about joining one of the local Walk It groups that run right across the Borders? They have added Walk It Easy walks that are low level, on even surfaces and can be joined by those using a wheelchair, walking aids or mobility scooters too. Walk It Easy sessions can be found at Duns and Galashiels and there is a dementia friendly walk in Hawick. Full details of walking groups going on in your area can be found on the Scottish Borders Council site, then search by geographical area. https://www.scotborders.gov.uk/directory/28/walks_and_trails/category/694
And Walk It have some free training available coming soon for those who would like to deliver Strength and Balance sessions. Please see below.
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The Accessercise Fitness App
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Accessercise is a fitness app like no other. It was founded by the UK's world champion Para-Powerlifter, Ali Jawad, world champion sailor Sam Brearey and FT top ranked European lawyer, Yulia Kyrpa. Their aim was to break down barriers, changing the way that the disability community can live an active lifestyle. The app includes a directory of gyms and fitness facilities ranked by users for accessibility, there is a social hub to help users of the app connect with each other, it helps you build a personalised programme taking into account your own specific needs, conditions and disabilities and there is also an extensive exercise and workout library. More features are being added all the time. They have a very active Facebook page as well featuring exercises, updates and interesting content.
Learn more about the app by checking out: https://join.accessercise.com
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Boccia is still running at local level in the Borders with opportunities to play at clubs throughout the Borders region. You will find groups at the following locations:
Eyemouth Community Centre
Queen's Leisure Centre, Galashiels
Burnfoot Community Centre, Hawick
Abbey Row Centre, Kelso
To find out more, drop an email to Greg Shortreed at GShortreed@liveborders.org.uk
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Scottish Borders Disability Sports Group is a charitable voluntary organisation whose purpose is to encourage and promote the development of sport and physical recreation for those living with physical, sensory, learning or complex disabilities. Scottish Borders Disability Sports Group aspires to encourage people with a disability to access sporting and physical activity opportunities and are committed to raising the profile of disability sport, advising what is on offer and giving people the opportunity to actively taking part whilst developing opportunities at the same time. They also offer a Sport Referral Programme and a Grant Aid Scheme, both aimed at encouraging new participants and develop existing athletes & sports clubs. If you would like to make contact with them, please, head to their website: http://www.bordersdisabilitysport.co.uk/index.html or drop an email to Alan Oliver on aoliver@liveborders.org.uk
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Seeing AI App from Microsoft
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Microsoft have been developing and upgrading their Seeing AI App. Free to install and use, the app narrates the world around you and had been designed especially for those living with visual impairment. The app can read short text, documents and barcodes, it can scan surroundings to describe how many people are around you, how close they are and even their facial expressions. It has a currency recognition feature and can even describe the scene in front of you including colours. It is now available in a variety of different languages too.
You can read more about the impact that the app has had on the lives of users since its original development in 2017:
https://news.microsoft.com/features/bonjour-bienvenidos-seeing-ai-expands-to-5-new-languages/
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Around the House in 80 Days
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Two years ago Age Scotland ran a little campaign to help people stay more active in their homes during lockdowns. The series was called Around The House in 80 Days and a good chunk of it can still be found on their YouTube channel. The videos feature gentle, exercises which can be done around the home with no need for specialist equipment and is ideal for older people or those living with long-term health conditions; the mini workouts can be fitted in at any time of the day that suits and the exercises can be done at your own pace. If you search under AgeScotland on YouTube then click on 'Playlists' you will find the Around The House in 80 Days full playlist of 56 videos to help keep you gently active in the comfort of your own home this Winter. https://www.youtube.com/user/AgeScotland
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Vitamin D reminder: it's that time of year!
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Seasonal reminder! It is time to start supplementing with vitamin D. We want to be taking D3, not D2, so check labels before buying. In general, a liquid form of the vitamin is more easily utilised in the body, but the tablet form which can be bought over the counter is inexpensive and readily available. The NHS recommends 40iu (10 micrograms) per day over the Winter months but it is worth having your levels checked to see if a higher dose would be needed.
Nutrients don't work in isolation within our bodies, one of the minerals we need for vitamin D to be effectively used is magnesium. Involved in many hundreds of our bodily biochemical processes, magnesium can be found in dark chocolate, cocoa powder, spinach, pumpkin seeds, kale varieties, cashews, almonds and soy milk.
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