Disability and access to transport

rivermom

Greetings.
We are a disabled couple living in an isolated rural village. Because of our disabilities, neither of us can drive a car any more. And because of the lack of public transport, our free travel pass is about as much use as tits on a bull.

Can anybody advise us on how we can find some help? We need help to access shopping and billpaying and hospital visits. We also need some access to recreation and social contact, because the isolation is taking a heavy toll on our health.

We have tried asking every single charity for the disabled, and they all say the same thing. "We provide lots of help to disabled people, but we don't provide this particular help."

We are approaching breaking point here, and really hope that someone can come up with an answer.

looksee

Hi Rivermom, Your situation must be very frustrating for you. Presumably you originally moved to where you are because you like a remote and rural environment, and it sounds lovely.

Maybe now is the time to take a fresh look at your situation and move closer to the amenities you need. Its a major lifestyle change, but now you need people and services around you, and a move into a small town that has a bus service and the shops etc that would make life easier for you.

Mainly though you comment on the isolation, and the best solution to that would be to move closer to other people. Even if you got a, say, once a week lift into a town, that would not solve your isolation problems. I would love to be able to offer a solution that would allow you to stay where you are, but I think you really have to consider a move.

RainyDay

Did you check out your local Rural Transport scheme?

foggy_lad

rivermom wrote: »

Greetings.
We are a disabled couple living in an isolated rural village. Because of our disabilities, neither of us can drive a car any more. And because of the lack of public transport, our free travel pass is about as much use as tits on a bull.

Can anybody advise us on how we can find some help? We need help to access shopping and billpaying and hospital visits. We also need some access to recreation and social contact, because the isolation is taking a heavy toll on our health.

We have tried asking every single charity for the disabled, and they all say the same thing. "We provide lots of help to disabled people, but we don't provide this particular help."

We are approaching breaking point here, and really hope that someone can come up with an answer.

check out the rural transport timetables for Sligo.

http://www.ruraltravel.ie/TimeTable.aspx

http://www.ruraltravel.ie/ContactUs.aspx

There may be some journeys that are of use.

mistress_gi

Ok I'm not sure how helpful this will be but would you have access to any shopping delivery service like tesco? You can buy all your things online and have them delivered to you. Tesco even bring the shopping inside for you.
the same goes for paying for bills. If you have a visa debit card you can pay for them online or by phone.