I don't have a disability, and I have had very little exposure to those who do. Over the last year however I've befriended two individuals with a disability, George, who's blind from birth, and Matthew, who has cerebral palsy. I naturally have a lot of questions, and I've asked some, but I worry that my ignorance can be grating, and that they don't necessarily want to have to talk about it.

George, late 30s, seems to be fine with everything I've asked him so far, but I don't know if he has a line that'll make him say "Are you fucking kidding me?" For example, I don't know if he knows how animation works. Is that a stupid question to ask? In general, he's a laughy-joky kind of guy who enjoys self-deprecating humour so I think I can just ask him. He comes out to pub events, lives independently, has a job, etc etc.

Peter on the other hand is a very sensitive boy. He has cerebral palsy, spastic subtype. It affects his lower half and his left side. He also attempts dark humour which falls flat (not with me) because I think he's not used to having friends. He lives with his parents still, he's late 20s, and he gets easily discouraged and depressed by inaccessibility. I have many things that float around my head in regards to him, many of which are not questions but what-ifs, such as "but for the luck of the draw, he could have had the kind of cerebral palsy where people don't understand his speech". I'm his de-facto helper whenever we hang out (and George too if we're somewhere we haven't been and needs to find the toilets), and I think he derives a lot of meaning from that fact. I'm still in the dark about all the ins and outs of managing his cerebral palsy, so I still have questions, but again, tact is the issue. I'm very inquisitive and i don't want them to feel I'm interrogating them.

Thoughts, experiences? Am I wrong, right? Somewhere in the middle?

Hello, I can't seem to work out this problem, and I don't know where else to go with it. I found that most of my symptoms get much better if I have a weird meal replacement concoction in a lot of water. The only problem with it is that all of the containers I have are hard to clean or not big enough so I'm not able to keep up. I have a mini table top dishwasher now but I need to find a container that, is large enough (2-3l), is dishwasher safe, fits in the dishwasher and I can get multiple versions of. The straw are necessary and easier to clean on their own.

What I have:

\- Glass 1l water bottle

\- 1.2l tumbler

\- 3l waterbladder

\- 5l water sack ×4

\- water bladder straw that can screw onto bottles/screw tops

\- I used to use ziplock sacks but they exploded

Does anyone have any solutions or know where I can post this?

🦔 I started by trying to protect a few hedgehogs. I never imagined where it would lead.
I’m from Luton, England, and my fight began because I wanted to protect the hedgehogs and wildlife at Wandon Park, a County Wildlife Site threatened by development.
Little did I know that fighting to protect a few hedgehogs would land me in this amount of shit!
But my experiences have made me think about something much bigger: what happens when ordinary people challenge institutions with power, and who holds those institutions accountable when things go wrong?
💔 Hillsborough: I remember watching it happen.
I will never forget Hillsborough. I was watching the television when the disaster unfolded on 15 April 1989.
I remember seeing the chaos, the police carrying bodies out of the ground and taking them onto the playing field. It was fucking horrific.
Ninety-seven Liverpool supporters ultimately lost their lives.
But the tragedy didn’t end that day. The families were left fighting for decades to establish the truth. Supporters were wrongly blamed, and the families had to challenge accounts given by those in authority before the full extent of the failures could be exposed.
The 2016 inquests concluded that the 96 supporters who died at the time of the disaster had been unlawfully killed. In 2021, a coroner ruled that Andrew Devine, who died from his injuries in 2021, was also unlawfully killed, bringing the total number of victims to 97.
The families’ fight for justice exposed serious failures and raised fundamental questions about truth, honesty and accountability in public institutions.
Imagine losing someone you love and then having to spend decades fighting the very institutions you expected to tell the truth.
That is why Hillsborough matters. It is not just a tragedy from the past. It is a reminder of what can happen when institutions fail and those affected struggle to obtain answers.
⚖️ What is the Hillsborough Law?
For anyone outside the UK who hasn’t heard of it, the Hillsborough Law is the commonly used name for the proposed Public Office (Accountability) Bill.
The campaign seeks to strengthen accountability when public authorities fail, including through proposals for a legal duty of candour and a duty to assist relevant investigations.
In plain English, the aim is to make it harder for public authorities and officials to conceal information or mislead investigations, and to improve the ability of bereaved families to obtain justice.
The Bill is not a magic solution to every institutional failure. But the principles behind it matter: honesty, transparency and accountability.
🌿 How does this connect to my own fight?
My campaign began with Wandon Park and the hedgehogs.
I wanted to protect a local green space and the wildlife that depends on it. I never imagined that trying to do the right thing would lead to such a difficult battle for answers.
I’ve challenged decisions and raised concerns about the council’s handling of the development. I’ve also experienced serious difficulties involving the DWP and the NHS.
On 8 April 2026, I suffered a stroke. Four days later, on 12 April, I faced a deadline relating to a judicial review concerning the DWP. I also experienced problems with the court papers.
I have serious concerns about how these matters were handled and the cumulative impact on me. I want the evidence and decisions examined properly.
I’m not comparing my personal experiences with the Hillsborough disaster. The circumstances and consequences are very different. But the underlying question of accountability resonates with me.
When people in positions of authority make decisions that affect our lives, what recourse do we have when we believe those decisions are wrong?
And what happens when the process of challenging those decisions becomes so exhausting that it affects a person’s health, finances and ability to cope?
✉️ An open letter to the Prime Minister
I’ve published an open letter to the Prime Minister, and I’m still waiting for a response.
We should not have to sacrifice our health, wellbeing or lives simply to obtain answers, exercise our legal rights or receive fair treatment.
Disabled people should not have to fight through inaccessible systems to be heard. People who raise concerns should be able to expect their complaints to be investigated fairly.
Nobody should have to exhaust themselves trying to obtain answers that public bodies should be willing to provide.
🦔 The hedgehogs still matter.
I started this because I cared about the wildlife at Wandon Park. I still do.
But this has become about something bigger: whether ordinary people can challenge those in power and expect honesty, fairness and accountability.
I’m still here, still asking questions and still determined to have my concerns properly examined.
🔗 Links
🦔 My hedgehog videos on TikTok
https://www.tiktok.com/@hidi1577?_r=1&_t=ZG-9AkXs0HxnsG
✉️ My open letter to the Prime Minister
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1bx37aqJNd/
📢 Petition: Pass the Hillsborough Law Without Further Delay
https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/pass-the-hillsborough-law-now
📜 Follow the Bill’s progress through Parliament
https://bills.parliament.uk/
What do you think?
Have you ever tried to challenge a public body and found it difficult to obtain straightforward answers?
How can we make sure that institutions are transparent, that complaints are investigated properly, and that people are not left fighting alone for years?
I’d welcome constructive discussion from people in the UK and elsewhere.
Because, whether we’re talking about Hillsborough, disability rights, environmental protection or public services, one principle should apply everywhere:
Power must come with accountability. And people deserve the truth.

ive been using a rollator for a couple years now, so idk how it is my first. actually, i did just move to another state from california, and i noticed that folks in cali very much stare, but keep to themselves. visibly disabled californian's- im genuinely curious of your experiences and observations!
Anyway, interaction:
person that looks like theyre also in physical pain from existing: *smiles at me*

me, with Blupee the Buggy (aka a sky blue byacre rollater): :-)

them, later: you have to walk with that?

me: yes

them: why? what happened?

me, trying to think of something clever: uhhh, i was born with it. Like Maybelline.

them: well, you're very cute.

[END INTERACTION]

okayyyyyyyyy go off thank you. i feel like this is the best way its gone in the history of ever./j