Shopping trolley wars

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!

You mean shopping with a disabled child doesn't have to be a nightmare?!

I've just read a post from one of my favourite blogs 'Love That Max' written by Max's mum, Ellen.

The post shares the story of a mum in Winsconsin who wrote to her local stores telling them how difficult it was to shop with her one and a half year old son who has cerebal palsy and asked if they could purchase a Carolines Cart which is an adapted shopping trolley developed by another ingenious mum of a child with additional needs. The cart costs just $850 (about £515) . Within a week one store had simply bought one. Talk about ensuring customer loyalty! You can read the whole post here.

Well I think we should take a lesson from Sandy and so here's my open letter to Tesco, Sainsburys, Morrisons and ASDA (feel free to copy):

"Dear Sir/Madam

My son (Seth) is 6 years old and is physically disabled. He has needed to use supportive seating from birth and so was never able to use the child seats you fit onto your shopping trollies. Shopping became extremely difficult as I have to push him in his wheelchair with one hand and pull the trolley with the other. I tried using the wheelchair adapted trolleys but they are designed for adults in wheelchairs and don't fit.

Yes, I could get my shopping delivered but my son actually loves shopping; the bright lights, the food smells and especially the checkout beeps. Plus, as a parent of a child with additional needs I can sometimes feel isolated enough without another reason to keep me indoors. I have also tried asking for assistance with my shopping but I'm uncomfortable having a stranger trailing around after me.

The reason for this letter is to ask if you could provide adaptive seating in your shopping trolleys. One has been developed called the GoTo Seat. It fits into your existing shopping trolley child seat offering that vital extra support for disabled children. This only goes up to 2yrs old, however, so maybe you could provide some R&D support to produce your own adapted trolleys like Carolines Cart?


Yours faithfully

Jo Cousins (Ms)"