A couple of months ago I posted about adapted shopping trolleys and wrote an open letter to the major UK supermarkets. I got a response. Tesco replied to my tweet, asking for the details of my local Tesco so that they could pass on my plea for a shopping trolley that is adapted for disabled children. They did say they couldn't promise anything and, indeed, I have yet to hear from my local store. However, I was impressed that they replied; I heard nothing from the others (Morrisons, Sainsburys and ASDA).
I also got a response from Leckey, the manufacturer who created the amazing walker that Seth uses and the new Firefly range of supportive seating that they have produced in conjunction with Cerebra, that I just can't stop going on about. Leckey told me that they are talking with Tesco about a new trolley solution. Very exciting!
And then earlier this week it was discussed on the BBC Radio 4 programme You and Yours. The interview goes shopping with Stacey Lewis, mum of disabled child May and fellow blogger (I'm not jealous in the least ;) ). Stacey discusses the difficulties she experiences shopping with May and the responses she got when she contacted the major supermarkets. It seems, in the most part, supermarkets respond to individual requests if you make enough fuss. The response is then tailored to your individual need but that seems a pretty shortsighted response by supermarkets. I think our aim should be to make it standard across the UK. According to Scope, 1 in 400 children are affected by cerebral palsy alone. In addition, to this are children with an undiagnosed disorder (SWAN) and the children with a diagnosed genetic disorder. I'm confident that the majority of these parents, if not all, would have found an adaptive shopping trolley useful at some point.
So come on supermarkets, make it happen!
I also got a response from Leckey, the manufacturer who created the amazing walker that Seth uses and the new Firefly range of supportive seating that they have produced in conjunction with Cerebra, that I just can't stop going on about. Leckey told me that they are talking with Tesco about a new trolley solution. Very exciting!
And then earlier this week it was discussed on the BBC Radio 4 programme You and Yours. The interview goes shopping with Stacey Lewis, mum of disabled child May and fellow blogger (I'm not jealous in the least ;) ). Stacey discusses the difficulties she experiences shopping with May and the responses she got when she contacted the major supermarkets. It seems, in the most part, supermarkets respond to individual requests if you make enough fuss. The response is then tailored to your individual need but that seems a pretty shortsighted response by supermarkets. I think our aim should be to make it standard across the UK. According to Scope, 1 in 400 children are affected by cerebral palsy alone. In addition, to this are children with an undiagnosed disorder (SWAN) and the children with a diagnosed genetic disorder. I'm confident that the majority of these parents, if not all, would have found an adaptive shopping trolley useful at some point.
So come on supermarkets, make it happen!
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