My Child is Just a Child!

One day, back in 1983, I was collecting Ruth from nursery. The headteacher had been glad to have Ruth in her powerchair in this mainstream school from the age of 3. She stopped me as I came through the door and asked for a word. Not about Ruth, I discovered, but to ask my advice…

Some thoughts on … Nutrition for people with Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA)

In general, intentionally putting on weight when you have SMA is only a good idea if the weight is useful muscle (although there is an important exception to this idea below). Increasing the amount of fat on a person's body is adding 'dead-weight', the body will only use it as nutrition in lean times and,…

Non-profit: New beginnings and fresh perspectives.

I am currently the newest member of the Dragonmobility team. I have had a number of jobs in my professional career. I interned for a graphic design company, I managed a department in a grocery store, I worked in high street retail and as a sales rep for a big international company. What do all…

Some things to remember when: Fundraising.

Fundraising is a lot of things, some of which are obvious, some of which aren't.. some even seem like they're obvious but are actually very easy to lose sight of. Not only are projects carried out for a wide range of purposes, but they're also, of course, carried out by a wide range of people. Often, the…

Parents who Pioneer

In this post, I want to tell you about a little boy born with a disability to pioneering parents. His parents had started their family fairly late - his mother was an artist who had studied at various impressive art schools, and his father had been an overseas journalist before returning to the UK to…

What does your colour choice say about you?

For many of us, trying to choose a colour for a product can be a rather agonising process. This is especially true for a Dragon, as we offer a practically unlimited colour choice. Then again, for some people it’s exceptionally straightforward. We all know that one person who refuses to buy anything that's not the same…

Premature thoughts on Fatherhood…

A few weeks ago me and a few friends (all of us 24 year old men without kids) were talking about children. Specifically about whether and when we might want them. This was all going pretty much as expected: the broad points of view, from the broody to the depressingly distant, were all represented. That…

Daddy’s Home

Some years ago, just after I had presented an academic paper on early mobility at an international symposium, a well-respected researcher accosted me, wide-eyed and excited: "Where did you get all that data about disabled children's development?". I had to tactfully admit that, as disabled children are also human children, the key source for a…

The Start of It All

It's mid April in 1981. We have two children, a daughter who is seventeen months old and a son of four months. Lou and I are really happy, the children are our pride and joy and my work as a consulting design engineer is going well. Our only worry, that the girl was pushing herself…

Life in a family business… with the wrong second name.

  18 months ago I joined a Family Business. For those who aren't familiar with Dragonmobility, I joined one of the most 'family' family businesses there is. It's warm, friendly, intimate... and most importantly, more than a little idiosyncratic. While I could go on for pages and pages about Dragon – it's dynamics and characters…