Camden health: Scooter scheme | mobility | Diana McCleary | PMV | Shopmobility | Firomyaligia

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Camden New Journal - HEALTH by TOM FOOT
Published: 21 May 2009

Diana McCleary uses a scooter from Shopmobility to overcome the musculoskeletal condition she suffers from

‘Scooter scheme gave me my freedom’

Woman with painful condition that restricts her mobility urges fellow sufferers to get moving!?

FOR someone suffering excruciating pain on a daily basis, you wouldn’t expect to find Diana McCleary with a spring in her step.
Born with an incurable musculoskeletal condition, she has found a new lease of life thanks to a pioneering scheme that is helping people with disabilities get out and about.
Shopmobility provides daily free personal mobility vehicles (PMV) for the elderly and disabled from its base in Pratt Street, Camden Town.
Diana, 56, said: “I’d really recommend it for anyone who is disabled or is older aged. It gives you a great freedom. You have to ask, do you want to be stuck in the closet all your life or do you want to get out?”
Born in Jamaica, Diana moved to the Maiden Lane estate in Camden Town in 1968. She has coped with fibromyalgia since birth after inheriting it from her father’s side of the family.
“It used to be rare and it took a while for them to diagnose it with me as it is rare in black people,” she said.
“It causes me terrible pain, from head to toe – it is difficult for me to walk and sometimes even to get up. There is no cure, but I find that acupuncture helps.
“But I am not ready to give up. If I’m too tired to get up the stairs I just crawl up.”
Diana was one of the first to take part in Shopmobility and now feels confident driving alone: “I just tell people to mind their backs and they get out of the way!”
She strongly encourages anyone who is housebound to get in touch with Camden Council about the free scooter scheme.
She said: “Taking the outside world away from someone is like taking sweets from a child.”
Swimmer Diana regularly uses her scooter to get to Swiss Cottage Leisure Centre and has also recently had her poems published in a City Lit magazine after attending a creative writing course at the Holborn college.
She said: “I like Swiss Cottage because the water is warm.
“The doctor said cold water is the worst thing for fibromyalgia. Once I jumped in at Kentish Town baths and I nearly drowned – my body just froze up because the water was cold. My carer dived in with the lifeguard. After that I only swim in warm water.”
Diana added: “Disabled access in buildings is still pretty bad and there are still people that just think we should be locked up in a cage. Access has improved, but it is still pretty bad in some places. City Lit is very good indeed. They really care about the disabled.”

• For more information about Shopmobility call 020 7974 2039.

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