2017 - a pretty INCREDIBLE year

All in all, 2017 has been a pretty INCREDIBLE year here.

I’m sat writing this retrospective post a few days before NYE in a place that quite frankly I never thought I’d be sitting in a year ago: my office and pretty much second home: the BBC newsroom.

2017’s been an interesting year: I graduated with a solid master’s degree that my heart wasn’t really in.

I can’t tell you how glad I was to be done with the world of education after 17 years of school and university. In the end, my passion for academia went from being a labour of love to something of a chore I wasn’t inspired by. Nonetheless, that chapter of my life is now well and truly closed (at least for the time being). But it feels great to say: I DID IT!

As one door closes, another opens… Or so the saying goes. That has most definitely been very true in my case.

In October, I started my dream job as a journalist on the online international desk at BBC News. I must admit: I have to pinch myself every day as I walk into the newsroom as it still doesn’t feel quite real.

So far, I’ve worked on dozens of stories, written a few features, and covered a fair few live events - from snow in the UK to the Catalan elections the week before Christmas.

I’m not going to pretend that it hasn’t at times been a learning curve, but I’m LOVING every second.

I moved into my own parcel of London at the end of November – sure, it wasn’t easy to find somewhere that was accessible and suitable, but I finally feel that my new flat is becoming a wee home.

I’m loving every second of London life: the opportunities, the food, the coffee (of course), and the wonderful people I’ve met.

It feels like every year that I write this, but: I wouldn’t be able to be the person I am without the support of my wonderful folks, Bo and Rob.

THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for never letting me give up – even when that means forcing me to get on a plane to Barcelona when I wasn’t feeling it - and encouraging me to be the best version of myself every single day.

Well, here’s to 2018 and, if it follows on from how 2017 has ended, it should be set to be a good one.

PEACE OUT!

Like Corbyn, I've struggled with veganism

Thanks to Jeremy Corbyn for talking openly about his struggle to convert from vegetarianism to veganism.

Now, many of you may not know this, but I've been vegetarian for the last eight-and-a -bit years. When I first became vegetarian it was often a struggle to get vegetarian food in restaurants and it took some time for Mrs P to get her head around; thankfully, it's become much easier to eat out as a veggie and my mother is now one of the best cooks I know (of veggie and non-veggie food alike).

Like Jeremy Corbyn, the question of whether or not to become vegan is something I've been debating for the last few months. My problem: I love cheese and yoghurt too much (yes, tbey are also my main barrier to weight-loss).

I've been trying to eat more dairy-free meals without animal products over the last few months (think: burritos minus cheese and sour cream - yup, I'm such a millennial), but it's been tough at times and I need time to test myself without animal products for health reasons (relating to my CP).

Dear vegan friends, at your convincing, I'll probably try and go full vegan when I move down to London, but, for now, I think the best option is that I stick to my present flexi-veganism (CHEESE is my weakness): we all should try and eat less meat, fish, and dairy in our food and drink in order to help the planet, but it will take some adjustment. Food waste is something we really need to be talking about too, as far too much food just gets thrown away.

We are all human; it's okay to slip up and not be perfect sometimes.

A busy few weeks...

First up, I'd like to apologise for not updating this blog as much as one would have liked to have done so over the last few weeks. It's been a really busy April so far with exciting experiences, new opportunities, and rather a lot of travelling.

So, just what have I been up to then? 

Well, I've been back in the UK quite a bit, travelling up and down the country to visit family. Also, I've had quite a few shifts at Sky Sports in London on the logging desk, working on the Premier League, Championship, MLS, and La Liga, all of which I've really enjoyed.

Additionally, I've started to host my own podcast for World Football Index on the English Premier League called WFI EPL Weekly. I'm really enjoying this so far and I've tried to make all my pods so far shorter and more accessible to a general listener. The guys at WFI are great to work with (hat-tip to my producer, Dave) and we've had some great pods so far, including this FA Cup semi-final preview and one with The Esk on the future on Everton (a must listen for any fan of the toffees). If you've got any Premier League-themed podcast ideas, I'd love to hear them so drop me a line.

EA WorldView's social media growth has been occupying a significant amount of my time too, particularly growing the Facebook presence, as we're now well-established on Twitter. We're 100 short of 3k on Twitter and almost at 500 likes on Facebook. Please follow us and if you've got any suggestions for how to grow a news publication on social media, let me know them.

It's weird how when I was planning to move to Barcelona this time last year, I figured that 1) I'd end up in the academic world and 2) I'd be in Barcelona for at least a few years. One has also been applying for work for next year over the last few weeks and neither of the above seems likely now as my priorities have changed: the work I've been applying for is in the media (check out my video application for the BBC) and it's my intention to move back to the UK, probably to London and maybe Manchester, for the medium to long-term now.

Oh, and there's going to be a General Election in six weeks... If anyone is running a campaign that I can help out on with comms or other stuff, I'm more than willing to help out when I'm back.

After Trump's strike, more action is needed in Syria

Some of you may know that for the last 9 months, I've been working for my old professor from the University of Birmingham, Scott Lucas, on the social and digital media for his news and analysis website, EA Worldview.

Pretty much every day, I've woken up to and had to inform our followers of horrific pictures and stories from Syria of atrocities mainly caused by the Assad regime and its main backer, Vladimir Putin's Russia.

All too often, the response to these atrocities has been radio silence from the United Nations and, at best, strong words of condemnation from the United States, but little more. Thus, I support the harder line towards Assad's genocide that has been adopted in recent days by the Trump Administration.

Although one never wants to see deaths caused by conflict, I for one, think is about time that the international community took action against the barbarism of the Assad regime. Harsh words have been unable to deescalate this civil war; thus, stronger action is required.

My hope is that continued action from the United States and her NATO allies against those who are committing atrocities in Syria (be they government forces, extremist rebel groups or Islamic State) can bring all parties to the table for meaningful negotiations and a peaceful long-term solution to the conflict in Syria.

5 Catalan TV series you should check out

One of my favourite ways of learning foreign languages is to immerse myself in the media that is produced in that language. When I was learning Catalan, I really enjoyed listening to podcasts, reading newspapers, and watching television in this wonderful language, so I thought I'd compile a list of my five of my favourite Catalan TV shows and tell you a little bit about each one.

Temps de silenci (2001-2005, TV3)

Temps de silenci focuses on the life of a wealthy Barcelona family, the Dalmau family, from shortly before the Spanish Civil War (1936-39) until the end of the last century. The series tells the stories of the Dalmau, Comes, Hernández families and frames them through the social, cultural, and political events of the epoch.

I started watching it as a way of revising for my Catalan finals at Birmingham last year and it taught me so much, not just about the Catalan language, but also about 20th-century Catalan history too.

The story follows the personal journey of the narrator, Isabel Dalmau, a young upper-class Catalan, and her working-class love interest, Ramon Comes. It is something of an impossible love because of the prevalent class differences and this serves as a thematic construction throughout the series, intertwining this narrative with the history of Catalonia from 1935 to the turn of the millennium.

In an easy-to-understand manner, it deals with events such as the Spanish Civil War and its aftermath, daily life and repression in Catalonia during the Franco regime, the restoration of democracy, the 23-F coup, changing attitudes of the role of women in Catalan society, and the 1992 Olympics.

It was the first period series about 20th-century on Spanish television and its considerable success kicked off a trend that led to other period dramas, such as Cuéntame cómo pasó (Tell me how it happened - a series following the Alcántra family in the later years of the Franco dictatorship and the early years of the transition to democracy) and Amar en tiempos revueltos (To love in times of revolt - set in the times of the Spanish civil war and the early Francoism), being commissioned by the Spanish state broadcaster, TVE.

Merlí (2015-present, TV3)

When I was back visiting friends in Barcelona in December 2015, everybody was talking about this fantastic series that was being aired on the Catalan broadcaster, TV3, at the time. It features an A-level philosophy teacher, Merlí Bergeron, who stimulates his students to think freely through unorthodox teaching methods that divide his students, their families and his colleagues.

Merlí is clearly influenced by films like the Dead Poets Society and there is a conscious effort to bring a basic understanding of philosophy to the audience in an accessible way. Each episode features the approaches of some great thinker or school, such as the Peripatetics, Nietzsche or Schopenhauer, and these link with the events of the characters during that episode.

I've really enjoyed the two series of Merlí so far (a third is rumoured to be coming soon) and it has made me somewhat nostalgic for the passion and excitement of my own sixth form days.

Cites (2015-present, TV3)

Cites (Dates) is inspired by the 2013 British series Dates (created by Brian Elsley - which I still haven't seen).

It mixes romantic comedy and drama focussing on a number of first dates of people who have met via a Tinder-like app. Up to 24 actors are featured in the dates, which often leads to sexual or romantic relationships (unlike my own haha).

From the point that the two people meet (often in a bar or a restaurant), the characters aim to carry out their intentions while undergoing awkward and/or romantic moments (much like me on a date).

The dates are all set in Barcelona (there are very few series in Catalan that are focussed in Catalonia's other cities, it seems) and people of different ages, sexual orientations, and marital statuses are involved.

Nit i Dia (2016-present, TV3)

Nit i dia is a thriller that revolves around the daily lives of police, forensic doctors, and judges who must solve crimes and murders and deal with the darker side of reality.

Nit i dia chronicles the daily life of a coroner and the conflict between her desire to lead a normal life and daily contact with the harsh reality. The series begins on the day that a coroner Sara Grau, who is married to a senior executive of a multinational company, starts IVF treatment; that day, in an autopsy, recognises an unidentified corpse of a stranger with whom she had a brief affair and, from that point on, a chain of events occurs that disrupts the life of the protagonist and all those around her.

It also features wonderfully nuanced characters such as an elderly judge caught between two women, a psychiatrist traumatised by their past, two-faced executives or criminals who cannot stop themselves from reoffending.

In many ways, it is similar to the BBC series Silent Witness, however rather than just focussing on the forensic doctors (as Silent Witness does very well), it is also a portrait of contemporary Barcelona, with its lights and its shadows.

Ventdelplà (2005-2010, TV3)

Ventdelplà tells the (fictional) story of how a woman from Barcelona, a former doctor no less, attempts to rebuild her life in a small, rural Catalan village in the province of Girona after fleeing with her two children from physical and emotional abuse from her lawyer husband. 

Despite the dramatic nature of the start of the series, Ventdelplà dramatises the dramas, love stories and issues that exist in the lives of the inhabitants of rural Catalan villages.

I must admit: I'm only 50 episodes into Ventdelplà (there are 330 episodes) and it is the only one of the series in this article that I haven't finished, So far, it's featured a woman liberated from an abusive marriage, conflict between rural and urban lifestyles, a character dying from terminal illness and its effects on her teenage son, and the difficulties that a young protagonist must endure after becoming paralysed in a car crash.

The fact that it is set in a rural Girona town is something that is really refreshing considering that the vast majority of Catalan-language dramas take place with Barcelona and its confines. In fact, most of the scenes in this series were shot in the small town of Breda, in the la Selva region.

#WhereToGoInBarcelona - Black Remedy

Black Remedy are the new kids on the block. Owned by the Ascaso family, who also own the fantastic Compak Grinders), they opened in November last year in the heart of Barcelona's touristic yet trendy Ciutat Vella neighbourhood.

It's a slightly bigger space than many of Barcelona's other specialty coffee locations with workbenches for getting work done, proper tables to eat breakfast, brunch, or lunch at, and lower-level tables that are perfect for sipping a flat white on.

Serving great coffee and delectable food, Black Remedy have become something of a hipster mecca already, serving great beans from a variety of roasters including Tusell Tostadores (house roaster for espresso), Hidden Cafè BCN, Valladolid's Puchero Coffee, and Barcelona's Right Side Coffee.

Ideally situated in the Barri Gòtic, just behind the Plaça Sant Jaume and next to the Ajuntament (town hall), Black Remedy (C/ Ciutat, 5) has amazing food and that was (mainly) why I tend to go there with friends (it's a bit out of my way as I'm based in the north-west of the city and BR is in the south-east).

Usually, I have the delectable roasted vegetable and feta cheese salad (their veggie/vegan seta burger is ace too), whilst for meat-eaters, the pulled pork sandwich is highly-rated. If you're in the mood for a guilty pleasure, I'd check out their New York Cheesecake (yummm).

BR is extremely accessible with a flat entrance and several level tables - surprisingly rare in Barcelona's specialty coffee shops - although there's a slight step up to the toilet. The ambience there is fantastic and the staff are incredibly friendly too.

Keeping fit as a wheelchair user - 5 things I've learnt

You know what? There's still quite a few people who look surprised when I say that, as a wheelchair user, I go to the gym.

Sure, I may not always get it right first time and my exercises might not be picture-perfect, but I've always found a way to adapt my fitness regime so that I can get the ability out of my disability.

Here are five things I've noted about going to the gym as a disabled person.

Yes, I need a bit of help... Don't we all?

At the gym, I usually am accompanied by a glamorous assistant who helps me get on and off the machines, pass me any weights I can't pick up easily, set up any machines that I can't sort you myself, and remind me when I've lifted 50 reps on one set and I think I've only done twenty (seriously, when I get into beast mode, I'm unstoppable haha).

Thinking about it, in many ways, having a gym buddy isn't that different to how many able-bodied people exercise: I'd highly recommend it as having someone to go to the gym with can keep you motivated and you can teach each other techniques.

Seriously though, going to the gym would be difficult for me if it wasn't for the guys who assist and motivate me: thanks to my old man Rob, Jase, and Kev for their assistance (and patience) over the years.

Just ignore the people gawping at you as you get on the off the machines.

Yeah, this is something that happens to me all the time, especially as my balance can be a bit skew-whiff when I try to stand up.

When I get on and off the machines (especially the treadmill and stepper), people often stare at me in some weird amazement that a disabled person can use a given machine and lift that level of weight. I'm fine with that and I sometimes jokingly stare back at them.

Yeah, there were a lot of people staring at me that day

People at my home gyms of the Village Wirral and the Underground Training Centre on the paradise peninsula (as well as the Esports UB in Barcelona) are used to my weird and wonderful ways, but it can be particularly interesting to watch people get nervous and start staring at me if I'm travelling and decide to go to a new gym.

If it doesn't work the first time, try again!

I've lost count of the amount of times I've been trying out a new exercise and I've had a dreadful first set because my legs have flown out halfway through, my posture has been dodgy, my range of movement not good enough, or I've misjudged the technique required completely.

This has happened far too many times to mention, but I've always gone back to these exercises to try again and many of movements I've struggled with first time have gone on to become favourites of mine after technique coaching or adaptations.

I love doing abdominal crunches now, but when I first started, they were really difficult to get right.

If there's a machine or exercise you struggled with during your recent workout, try it out again and ask someone to observe your technique as you do it, as this may provide the reason as to why you're struggling with it.

Adapt, adapt, adapt the workout to suit your needs

Sure, there are exercises and machines that you seemingly can't do (the cross-trainer and bike are two that I cannot pull off), however, I've found that seemingly impossible exercises can be adapted to suit the wheelchair user.

You've just got to be creative in adapting the gym to one's needs when you get in there and approach every new challenge positively.

A creative gym session at the Underground Training Station, Raby Mere (South Wirral)

To illustrate this, I've recently started training at a new gym, the South Wirral Underground Training Station, with Kev. This is a place that holds weight-lifting competitions and has none of the usual machines that I'd come to associate with my usual gym sessions (it proudly claims that "The place where the only machines in the gym... are the people who train there!!" on its Instagram page).

Action shot: pulling 35kg across the gym

Ergo, it was necessary to adapt my usual, machine-heavy gym session to something entirely different (Kev was incredible at helping me make the transition); the first session was a bit weird, but needless to say, resistance bands, punchbags, and ropes that I can use to pull 35kg across the gym have become my new weapons of choice.

Never ever give up!

Going to the gym isn't for everyone nor can everyone do intensive exercise and that's something society needs to come to accept and embrace. But, for those with a disability who can or want to exercise, society's ignorance and the barriers that ableist structures put in our place should be smashed through.

Sure thing, it can be incredibly annoying to have the eyes of ten people on you as you lift or transfer from an exercise to your chair, but those people will come to accept your weird and wonderful ways of lifting and treat you as normally as they do everyone else. It's great that more and more gyms are becoming accessible and adapting their mindsets for disabled users.

If you're a person with a disability (and your physician has said that it's okay), go and give your local fitness centre a go. Never, ever give up and, take the world by storm, and go and smash society's expectations.

#WhereToGoInBarcelona - SlowMov, Gràcia

SlowMov is an ecological grocery store, coffee shop, and roastery in the idyllic Barcelona neighbourhood of Gràcia, located on the relatively tranquil Carrer de Luis Antúnez (number 18, just after the Placeta de Sant Miquel). 

Carmen Callizo, the founder of SlowMov, was studying as a postgraduate in Paris when she decided that she’d rather spend the days cooking and making artisanal coffee. 

Trained at Coutume Café in Paris by the renowned Antoine Netien, Carmen decided to open SlowMov in her grandfather’s old workshop in the neighbourhood of Gràcia, which she runs with her partner, François. 

They retain a close relationship with Coutume; in fact, their beans are supplied by the high-quality Parisian outfit. SlowMov's roaster, in full view as you enter the shop, roasts beans with a light/light-medium roasting style - a perfect pourover.

Part of SlowMov mission is to promote local ecological businesses; they have adopted the motto of “haste makes waste”. SlowMov mixes roasting and brewing coffee with local goods, including locally-grown eggs, vegetables, and other foodstuffs. There's also craft beer from the Catalan brewery, Dos Kiwis, and locally-made jams and preserves from La Madre de Miren.  

If you're passionate about well-made coffee or locally-produced goods, then these guys are the people to visit: they're incredibly knowlegable individuals and will often take time out to explain the nuances of roasting and making great coffees through your preferred method. 

    

Me brewing up some beans the other week at SlowMov

If you're lucky, you might spot me in there making a v60 or a Kalita, which I always love to share with my fellow coffee lovers.

Have you been to SlowMov? How did you find it? Where should I review next in my #WhereToGoInBarcelona series? Let me know in the comments below.

The Political Elf - my views on Labour, Corbyn, and Brexit

I've been wanting to write a post for a while on British politics and current affairs, so here it is. I'm a member of Labour Party, ergo, this post is going to address my views on the state of the Party, Jeremy Corbyn, and the most pressing issue of our time, Brexit. Hope y'all enjoy it and do let me know what you think.

We need to talk about Labour

Yes, I'm a (proud, yet not always satisfied) member of the Labour Party. I joined in 2009 (aged just 15), back in the twilight period of Gordon Brown's premiership and Labour's 13 years in power, took a break from the party in 2012 whilst at university, and rejoined the morning after Labour's 2015 election defeat in a desire to register my discontent with the fact we had a Tory majority government that would hurt the poorest and most vulnerable in our society the hardest.

In my view, Labour must be a party of government, for it is only in government, that we can fight on behalf of the many, not the few and deliver policies that benefit and protect working class and vulnerable communities up and down the country.

I completely believe that Labour needs to be talking about the Tory cuts to our fantastic National Health Service (I wouldn't be alive without it), social care (this is and will be a growing problem in the coming years, as a result of our ageing population), and education systems.

The education system is something I'm extremely passionate about. I was educated at a special school nursery, a Catholic primary school, a comprehensive secondary school on a Merseyside former council estate, and a grammar school sixth form. Thus, I completely understand the need for a diverse education system, as the path to success is most definitely not the same for everybody. Labour's policies on education must focus on ensuring a mix of high-quality schools in every community and devolving local education decisions to communities, as they are the ones that are impacted by them the most.

We need to also be trying to craft a hopeful vision of our future. Such a policy narrative must be engaging, positive, and progressive: for the many, not the few. It should aim to address the concerns of our complex society, particularly for those in post-industrial communities that feel left behind by technological change and globalisation, that don't feel that Labour, in recent years, has been speaking to them and their communities.

It's not about full-throttle socialism, but about offering policies that focus on what works and creating a secure, sustainable future for all.  

On Corbyn, leadership elections, and communication 

In terms of leadership elections, I have a bit of a weird history: I voted Dianne Abbot in 2010, Andy Burnham in 2015, and Owen Smith in 2016. Politically confusing, right?

In 2010, I backed Diane because I wanted Labour to take a break from the New Labour years and decisively create radical policies in opposition to the Tory-Lib Dem coalition government (yes, I was also 16 and rather politically naive).

In 2015, I thought long and hard about my decision; I considering backing both Jeremy Corbyn and Andy Burnham, but, in the end, I plumped for Burnham as I felt that he represented our best chance of winning back communities that felt abandoned by the political establishment.

A mugshot from my 2016 photoshoot for an article on the Labour leadership election. Credit: Christopher Thomond for The Guardian.

In 2016, despite the fact that I had got behind Corbyn's leadership of the Labour Party in its opening months, I felt that there was something of a disconnect in communication between what Corbyn and his team wanted to express to the country and how they were perceived (Corbyn's national anthem episode springs to mind); the disconnect was such that I felt that we were at risk of losing patriotic, working class voters to reactionary groups like UKIP. 

The problem, for me, wasn't (and still isn't) Corbyn himself or even his policies, but the way that his communications team has allowed him to be portrayed: there's a market for older, grizzled political leaders (José Mujica of Uruguay is someone whose plain oratory and man-of-the-people image I've always thought Corbyn should seek to emulate). 

Immediately after the EU referendum, neither the country nor a lot of the party was feeling much love for Corbyn (his missteps, including speeches where he sounded more sceptical than in favour of remaining in the EU and an infamous appearance on a comedy show where he said he was only 7/10 in favour of remaining in the EU, loomed large), a leadership challenge was called: given my dissatisfaction with Corbyn's leadership, I backed Owen Smith (or Jones, or whoever he was), albeit with the expectation that he would not prevail.

Despite the fact that neither Andy nor Owen won, I wished (and still wish) Jeremy Corbyn well after both of his leadership elections and hope that he can find the golden bullet to get Labour into government. I'm looking forward to doing my bit to help Steve Rotherham and Andy Burnham win their respective Metro Mayor races in Liverpool and Manchester over the coming months. If we can't deliver policies in Westminster, we'll hopefully be able to do it through the new city-regions. 

To those who speak of finding Corbyn's successors, I urge them to unite behind Jeremy and ensure that we can fight against the Tory cuts up and down the country. Although some say Labour can never win with Corbyn as Leader, many said neither Brexit nor Trump as President could ever happen: stranger things than Jeremy Corbyn becoming Prime Minister have happened in recent years.

Brexit - reluctantly, it's time to leave

Credit: Christopher Thomond for The Guardian.

I'm one of the biggest fans of the European Union I know, but it's now time to accept the result of the referendum and push for the least painful exit possible. 

The investment that the European Union brought to Liverpool as a result of it being the 2008 European Capital of Culture transformed my home city-region in ways that are often easy to forget. I was at an event the other week when a former Liverpool player reminded us of how far Liverpool has come in the last ten years: the player was talking about how when he moved to Liverpool, there wasn't even a cinema in the city centre: now, we got new shopping centres, cinemas, hotels, bars, and, of course, jobs as a result of European Union investment and the profile this gave the city region.   

Additionally, as a languages graduate, the European Union has allowed me to study abroad: my time in Barcelona has been supported by the EU both directly, as an Erasmus student at the Universitat de Barcelona, and indirectly, as a postgrad at the Pompeu Fabra through the freedom of movement granted to me as an EU citizen. Some of the best periods of my life have come as a result of the freedoms granted by the EU and I'm deeply saddened by the fact that future generations may not have the same freedoms and opportunities as I have had.

That being said, it's now time to accept the result of the referendum and push for the least painful exit possible. The vast majority of British people have accepted that we will, in all likelihood, be leaving the European Union and it is necessary that our political leaders do so too. 

Whilst some might say that Labour has failed to oppose the government over the triggering Article 50, I would posit that it is an electorally clever strategy: not following through on the result of a legitimate referendum would have devasted Labour support in working-class "Leave" areas and allowed the Tories and the far-right UKIP to label us as 'undemocratic'. 

Maybe the tide will turn against our exit and there'll be a referendum on the terms of our exit negotiations... After all, two years is a long time in politics.

Travelling as a wheelchair user - my experiences

As anyone who knows me will know, I’m a frequent traveller around Europe and the UK and so it feels apt that I should write a post about what it is like to travel frequently on planes, trains, metro systems, and buses as a wheelchair user (I don’t drive a car… yet!).

Come fly away with me – my take on plane travel as a disabled person

Over the last few years, I’ve been a frequent traveller between Liverpool and Barcelona for my university studies. Personally, I enjoy travelling by plane, although it took a bit of getting used to at the start. Usually one is required to book assistance to get on and off the plane and around the airport a couple of weeks in advance – or at the very latest a few days before.

So that the airline can ensure adequate space in the hold of the plane for my chair, I have to provide them with weight/measurements of the wheelchair and book the necessary assistance around the airport and an ambi-lift to get me onto the plane as I can’t walk up the steps. Providing the airline with this information has become much easier to do over the last few years as most airlines now provide online chat to book the assistance (yay, no more half an hour waits on expensive phonelines) and I have the information about my chair stored away, so all I have to do is copy and paste it into the chat.

Generally speaking, one has to arrive at least an hour and a half before and the assistance will help me through the airport: my chair has to be tagged, I need help getting stuff out of my bag at security control, and, as I weirdly like to sit at the back of the plane (it’s easier to get me on/off the flight and I’m closer to the toilet in flight), I often need to use an aisle chair to get me on to the plane – this way, my wild arms don’t knock anyone’s head off as I stumble awkwardly down the plane.   

Personally, my favourite airline is Ryanair - although they are often criticised -, as, as long as one is organised with assistance and gets there at least an hour before the flight, they are relatively hassle-free and do not require mountains of paperwork to be filled in on the day as it can be done online beforehand. I’ve travelled tens of times across Europe with Ryanair and never had a problem, whilst every time I’ve travelled with EasyJet, there has also been difficulties on the day and a mountain of paperwork on the day (I can’t write on paper, so this is always fun and rather unnecessarily time-consuming).

Trains are great – but only if there’s a ramp there

I love train travel and it’s my favourite way of getting across the country. Last year, I spent around 16-18 hours a week on trains crisscrossing the U.K. between Liverpool (where I was living), Birmingham (where I was studying), Manchester (for football matches), and London (for weekend work). So, you could say I’m something of a frequent train traveller then.

As a wheelchair user, I need a ramp to get on the train… That sounds simple, right? In reality, it can sometimes be anything but. Officially, one is supposed to book 24 hours in advance to get assistance at the station - although I've found that one can book as late as 1900 the night before (the time that the sheets are sent to the stations) and get assistance the next day. This means that I oftentimes can't spontaneously decide to take off on the train to visit a random city for the day as an able-bodied person can.

Train assistance varies significantly between stations - my local station, Liverpool Lime Street, are fantastic (as are Birmingham New Street), whilst other stations, such as London Euston can require a longer wait (my longest wait for a ramp was 30 minutes and I’d booked assistance beforehand too). 

Whilst there is normally a ramp to get me on the train (provided that I book ahead and get there 20/30 minutes before the train departs – not always easy when you’re relying on public transport to get you there), there have been many occasions whereby I’ve been left stranded at the station I needed to get off at when a ramp hasn’t arrived or arrived 5, 10, or 15 minutes late. This is where train franchises become key. They vary as to how they treat disabled passengers requiring assistance: on some franchises (Virgin and TransPennine spring to mind as great examples), the train manager can unfasten the ramp and get you off, whilst, on others, you can be stuck waiting on an empty train (sometimes one that is boarding for its next trip) for 15/20 minutes until a ramp turns up.

Another thing that’s a bugbear of mine is the limited facilities and seating that train companies give to disabled passengers. Legally, disabled passengers are not supposed to be allowed to get on a train where there is a broken or inaccessible toilet and should be seated in one where this basic facility is made available to them. Again, there are significant differences in my experiences of train companies in this area: Virgin are fantastic and will often move disabled passengers and their companions to carriages with a working toilet if this situation occurs, whilst, on around 60% of the services I’ve been on with a Midlands-based franchise, the one and only accessible toilet has been out-of-order and you’re often just expected to suffer on through (or told you can get off the train at Crewe to use the toilet and pick up the next service).

Train design is something that can be an issue too: most services have fantastic wheelchair seats with tables and adequate space, however on others, one is left sitting next to or staring into a toilet or cannot sit next to the people they are travelling with.

How accessible are the metro systems in London and Barcelona?

Over the last few years, I’ve had plenty of experience with the metro system of Barcelona and London. Both systems have adopted the policy of having sections of their platform raised in accessible stations, so that wheelchair users (and, indeed, others) can get on and off the carriages without the need for assistance. This is great and makes it so much easier to travel at accessible stations.

The downside is that not all stations are accessible for disabled passengers. In London, only 24% of Tube stations are accessible, making it rather difficult to get from A to B on the metro there (although the buses are great – more on that below). One of my most frequent routes in London involves me going from Hammersmith to Kings Cross and then having to cross platforms to get back to Euston Square, as only one side of that station is accessible via the lift. 

In Barcelona, 86% of their stations are accessible and more work is being done to improve this over the next few years; that being said, to get to my campus, I have to make three changes as the (fairly new) station nearest my campus isn’t accessible at all. In both cities, my fellow commuters will nearly always move out of the way of the allotted space so I can park my chair.

One of the big differences I’ve noticed between the systems – aside from how many of the stations are accessible – is that the fact that in Barcelona, there’s always a clear sign on the platform telling the wheelchair user where to get on, whereas in London, such signage is only present at stations that have a National Rail connection. Not having a sign on the platform makes it incredibly difficult to know where the space to park my chair will be, meaning that I sometimes have to drive across crowds of commuters to find an accessible carriage.

The wheelchairs on the bus go round and round…

Bus access, over the last ten years, has increased significantly: nowadays, almost every bus has a ramp and is wheelchair-accessible.

In theory, this is great, as one should be able to get on any bus one wants, however, in practice, this is often more difficult than it first seems. Badly-designed buses mean that there is often only one space available for wheelchair users on each bus and it is frequently the case that there is not a separate space for buggies/old people with their shopping carts; thus, these spaces can often be taken up by prams or others, meaning that there isn’t always adequate space to turn and park my chair.

Until recently, what was supposed to be the wheelchair space was not legally designated as such: thus, if there was a pram on the bus, the driver was not required to ask them to fold it up or make space for the wheelchair user. This often meant that I could not board the bus and would have to wait for the next one to come along (sometimes this could mean standing for 20/30 minutes in the rain/cold with little protection from the elements).

Fortunately, a recent ruling from the UK Supreme Court means that bus drivers now have to ask non-wheelchair users to move out of the space if a wheelchair user needs to get on. Hopefully, this will make it much easier to travel by bus as wheelchair user, without having to endure long waits because the bus that you want to get on has something other than a wheelchair in the wheelchair-designated space. Indeed, in recent weeks, I’ve been on several buses that have displayed freshly-minted “priority space for wheelchair users” stickers, so hopefully bus companies and their drivers will understand the needs of wheelchair users better in the times that lie ahead.

I find the buses in London and Barcelona to be fantastic for wheelchair users, as they have automatic ramps – meaning that the driver doesn’t have to get out of his cabin and that a wheelchair user boarding does not necessarily slow the bus down – and bigger spaces for wheelchair users: in Barcelona, there are two spaces on each bus for wheelchair users making it so much easier to travel.

Potential future steps to be taken

Let me be clear, I love travelling by public transport, yet, at present, travelling as a wheelchair user requires a heck of a lot of planning and forethought. Maybe one day in the future, trains will have level-access points so that wheelchair users can just roll on and roll off without the need for 24 hours’ notice just for a simple ramp.

In a dream world, somebody would find a way to make the Victorian era Tube stations of London have lifts so that all can use them, not just able-bodied people, but, sadly, finding the political will for such a capital-intensive investment is highly unlikely.

Maybe more thought will be put into designing buses and trains that are intelligently thought-out: putting in fold-up seats so that prams can park easily on buses rather than have to fold-up for wheelchair users (this could also double as a second wheelchair space, if needed) and planning spaces so that wheelchair users are not sat next to/looking into smelly toilets for several hours.

On balance, in the last few generations, great progress has been made towards accommodating wheelchair users on public transport, but that doesn’t mean that things can’t improve.   

All you wanted to know about my disability, but were too afraid to ask

So, Ellis: what sort of disability have you got then?

I have a condition called quadriplegic dyskinetic cerebral palsy. Don't worry, it's not as terrifying as it sounds.

Basically, the cerebral palsy – I’ll henceforth refer to it as CP - bit translates into “brain problem” and this was caused by a brain haemorrhage triggered by a lung collapse shortly after my birth. The dyskinetic bit refers to the fact that it affects my movements and causes shaky over-movements, whilst ‘quadriplegic’ means that none of my four limbs escape unscathed as the dyskinetic movements affect both my hands and my legs (my left-hand side is often said stronger than my right-hand side though).

I was also 15 weeks premature (born in July ’94 – during the World Cup -, rather than October) and a twin: my brother, Jonathan, died in November 1994 after a valiant fight against the odds (proud of you, wee bro).

Simply put, I wouldn’t be here today without the great care and attention I received from the NHS nurses and doctors and I’m forever grateful for our free-at-the-point-of-use National Service… Long may it continue.  

When was I diagnosed with the cerebral palsy?

I was 13 months when I was diagnosed with CP. My mother, the wonderful Brónach, was working as a hairdresser in Derby at the time, despite living on the Wirral. 

Grandma Rosie and I at my graduation party last year... Love this woman so much!

In fact, my earliest memories are of being pushed down St. Chad’s Road in Derby by my grandmother, Rosaleen, delivering the local church newsletter.

When I was three, Mrs. P stopped working so that I could get all the care and support from the local NHS that I needed to help me thrive. At this time, I was forever visiting physios – to help with my movement – and speech-therapists – who helped me learn to speak properly (although this didn’t happen until I was three and a half, I’ve pretty much never shut up since). 

The work of the NHS physios and speech therapists at that time transformed my life and I’m convinced that without the support I received back then, I wouldn’t be able to do many of the things I can now.

As a kid, what was life with a physical disability like?

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend my local Catholic mainstream school, St. Joseph’s in Upton Village and I had a pretty conventional education and upbringing: my disability wasn’t a barrier and I came to terms with what I could and couldn’t do quite early on.

My most prevalent primary school memories are of playing football with friends on my walking frame: obviously, I wasn’t Lionel Messi or anything, but I was just another one of the lads. As a young person with a physical disability, integration rather than differentiation was the most important thing. My parents strove to (and did) make my life as normal as possible for me growing up and I’m incredibly grateful to them for that.

The one hindrance I had during for most of my primary school years was that I was either pushed around or walked on my walker (for shorter distances). I received my first electric wheelchair aged 9 – in fact, I still fondly remember driving around the house in it for the first time, It was great to be able to move longer distances under my own steam and having a powered chair made me significantly more independent.

Around the same time that I got an electric chair, I also started attending Stick ‘n’ Step, where regular conductive education sessions taught me the simple things and motor skills that I needed to live independently. These were often things that “normal” able-bodied people take for granted, like putting my socks on, getting dressed, and doing up shirt buttons. There was a time (I was 13/14) when every visitor to the Palmer household had to endure the ritual of watching me take my shoes off and put them back on again – God love me, I was so proud of the steps I was taking back then.

Why I strongly dislike being called “inspirational”

Random people who hardly know me and know even less about my life oftentimes come up to me and label me “inspirational” just for the pure feat of existing as a disabled person.

Sure, there’s great things I do, but they are often not related to my disability and if people want to call me “inspirational” (other adjectives like ‘bizarre’, ‘random’, and ‘slightly strange’ are available), they’d be better using it for things like living, working, and studying in three different cities for my final year of my degree, speaking three languages fluently, writing unique academic papers, making great coffee, and working on several projects obsessively at once.

Okay, for many people, seeing and engaging with a (relatively) well-integrated disabled person might provide them some bizarre form of inspiration, but to me, it’s just everyday life: it’s far from perfect, it’s far from inspirational.

New challenges lie ahead

Credit: @TheNomadBrodie

As ever with my cerebral palsy, there’s always new barriers to be overcome and I’ll always struggle valiantly to push them.

I can get dressed now, go to the gym, make my own coffee, and perform an increasing number of everyday physical tasks. Most of these tasks were unthinkable just a few years ago. It's never a revolution: it's about being able to do the small, incremental tasks on an every day basis.

There are, however, new things that must be overcome: chief of these is that I want to learn to cook basic recipes for myself. I’d also like to drive at some point too (although time and money may limit this).

What other questions have you got about my disability? Feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll answer it ASAP.

© All photos and words are copyright of Ellis Palmer (unless stated). Please kindly ask my permission before reproducing.