Edith Dunse
I acquired my disability in 1986 when a chair moved as I went to sit on it and I ended up with compression fractures of the lower spine which has led to many other problems. I use sticks and a wheelchair when I need to go out. I have been married to Keith for 40 years and have two “grown-up” children. I have been a volunteer and Trustee at MK CIL for over 20 years and I am enjoying all the daily challenges that the role involves.
No two days are the same. I originally came to Milton Keynes from Harrow, Middlesex in 1976 with a 14-day-old baby and lived in Stantonbury.
The volunteering work that I do at MK CIL is to assist people with their DLA, PIP and AA forms, I really enjoy my meetings with our
service users by helping, talking and listening about their disabilities. I am basically a nosy person so enjoy asking questions and then researching the answer for them.
I don’t know what I would be like today if I hadn’t had my accident but I feel that it’s the best thing that could have happened. I have a job that
I enjoy good friends and colleagues. I am doing things that I never thought possible or have the courage to do.
Ernie Boddington
I entered the world of disability back in the 1990s before I actually became disabled myself when I was involved in a major London Engineering project in which we included the Disability Discrimination Act (DDA) as part of the design even though then still in draft. I saw the need for the requirements of the DDA then as much as I do now. Disabled people should be able to access anywhere without any more involvement than anybody else.
I then became mobility impaired in 2007 just after retiring from work and after improving enough to be able to get out of bed and then out of the house, thanks mainly to my now late wife, I began looking for some way of remaining involved in life. Continuing coaching football and running were no longer options and I eventually found CIL who I joined in 2012.
I joined with the intent of continuing my involvement in accessibility but for reasons I won’t go into here nothing really happened. However, I remained within CIL because of the help and involvement it gave to the disabled community.
Then in 2018 after a series of events, the role of the chair became available and the next I knew I was doing it. (I know who to blame for that and I will get my own back one day)
So now the aim is to take it forward and to develop the fields that it has been traditionally strong in and to encompass new areas that will ease and expand the world of the disabled, a challenge I look forward to.
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