This week the committee stage of the government’s controversial Welfare Reform Bill has begun. As one part of the government’s national spending review, the proposed Welfare Reform bill entails a radical reform of the current benefits system. The Welfare Reform Bill Committee will meet twice a week for the next few months to conduct a public consultation on the contents of the bill. During the committee stage of the bill, the Welfare Reform Bill Committee will gather evidence from the general public on the effects of the proposed reforms.
The bill proposes changes to how benefits are paid, including replacement of Disability Living Allowance (DLA) with a new form of payment. Three million people rely on funding from DLA to help with costs arising from their disability, which is thought to cost the government around £12 billion per year. Amongst other things, DLA can be used to fund a specially-adapted mobility Car. The bill also proposes to remove DLA mobility payments for people in residential care – a change that has provoked opposition from charities, academics and some politicians.
Every Tuesday and Thursday until the 24th May 2011, the Welfare Reform Bill Committee will hold meetings in Westminster that are open to the public. This follows the second reading of the Welfare Reform Bill in the House of Commons earlier this month, when a majority of 288 MPs (308 for vs. 20 against) voted for the proposed changes.
When unveiling the details of the bill in December last year, minister for disability Maria Miller invited the general public to have their voice heard:
“We want the views of disabled people to be fully reflected in any change we make to DLA and we remain fully committed to the principles of DLA as a non-means tested cash benefit to assist with the extra costs incurred by disabled people”
From now until the 10th May 2011, the Welfare Reform Bill Committee is receiving written evidence from any interested parties who wish to have their views on the proposed reforms considered in the committee stage of the bill.

Getting straight to the point, certain mobility aids can enable you to get around quicker and can make a real difference to the amount of things that you can achieve each day but what im going to be looking at in this post is making sure that people are using mobility aids efficiently.

It has to be said that some people use for example mobility scooters recklessly, going way too fast when there are lots of people around, braking harder than necessary, not only is this dangerous but in the long term it will be more wearing on your mobility scooter.

Hitting bumps on the surfaces that you are riding over will be more damaging if you are moving quite fast, sometimes you see mobility scooters going by that are rattling and shaking and the rider is being rattled and shaken too, even sometimes a look of fear on their faces when all that has to be done is simply to slow down a little.

To get the primary benefit from a mobility scooter, ie assistance to get around while still getting the best from it over the long term, it is essential that you treat it like you would a car or even a human, if you purely focus on the pace of which you get around and are determined to complete your journey’s in the fastest time possible then after a while you wont really get the best experience from your mobility scooter.

As you grab hold of a walking stick, or get ready to use your mobility scooter, wheelchair, stairlift or any other mobility aid, think to yourself this is for assistance first, it is to aid me, its like a non human companion, it can speed up getting around, but that increased speed should mean an improvement on what would otherwise be a more difficult and time consuming process during your daily movement.

Getting the most from any mobility aid means using the aid in a way that it wont constantly need to be fixed or replaced, having your mobility aid serve its purpose in the best possible way, giving you the best assistance all of the time, not great assistance for the first few months and then it deteriorating soon after, and that will partly come down to how you use your mobility aids.

Although the snow has been causing problems for some people this year here in the UK i still think that the fact that its going to be a white christmas is quite nice as i cant remember the last time it was a white christmas.

Yet again we are nearing the end of another year so i would like to wish you all a very happy christmas and i hope that you all have a fantastic time during the holiday period.

It’s been great throughout the year to see more people visiting the blog and to read others opinions and advice and i look forward to taking the blog through into 2011 and i hope that you continue to find it a useful resource for mobility related information.

Happy christmas from myself, enjoy yourselves, i hope that you dont experience too many travel related problems and stay safe during this time, look out for each other and take care.

John