Ataxia is an umbrella term for a group of rather rare progressive neurological conditions (affecting just 1 in 7,000 people in the UK).
Symptoms include loss of balance, loss of fine-motor muscle coordination, and speech/swallowing difficulties.
Ataxia can also lead to fatal complications (not always though: it is often more life limiting than life ending).
For a visual explanation of the affects of ataxia, please watch the following two videos (the first of which was my very first introduction to this thing called “ataxia” after my diagnosis in 2015). Both videos feature an amazingly brave young girl called Millie-Mae, and are about her first diagnosis (when she was just 10 years old), and a later video which explains how ataxia affects her three years later – and at an age when young people are very conscious of how they appear to others:
And, rather sadly, I also learned that the medical research which aims to find a cure for this condition, and which is currently being done in a variety of medical laboratories across the planet, is reliant on charity for its continued funding.
So, to do my bit, and to raise some of the money needed, I started “walking”.
Between 2015 and 2017, and while I could still walk reasonably well (although I increasingly had to rely on my walking stick, mainly for balance at that stage), I “walked”.
Raising ££££s (and immeasurable amounts of ataxia-awareness at the same time).
The longest of these walks was a 500-mile trek down the Mediterranean coast of Spain in 2016.
All previous walks: https://ataxia.scot/previous-fundraising-walks/
And all the time while wearing my rather fetching kilt (which I did to raise even more attention – and donations: both from the people who I talked to as I walked, and from the media – national and international).
My final “walk” was actually the highlight for me though. I was invited to participate with a group of celebrities (Jonnie Peacock, Adam Hills and a whole host of CBE/MBE-awarded paralympians and Invictus Games heroes) at the nPower-sponsored “Winter Wonderwheels” event in December 2017.
By 2018 my ataxia had progressed to the stage where I had to use a wheelchair to get around though. However, I still wanted to continue with fundraising/awareness-raising activities.
But “stay-at-home fundraising”? Difficult, but not impossible :
FareShare, MNDScotland and Whiteleys Retreat (where children diagnosed with cancer can enjoy some quality respite with their families).
Lockdown made things even harder, but “where there’s a will…..” (for FareShare again this time – I created a series of videos of Scottish landmarks, and then requested donations – a non-physical way to take part still):
Next then?
For everyone!
Although all DIY Walking Tours are step-free, they are aimed at everyone (as the things that make a route easier for myself, are the exact same things that make a route easier for you too). Plus, the most-popular visitor attractions in a city are visited in a specific order (to avoid backtracking), which saves your precious holiday time too.
Current cities include (this list is constantly expanding, so please check back):
Amsterdam (two DIY Walking Tours); Barcelona (three DIY Walking Tours); Bath; Bordeaux (two DIY Walking Tours); Brighton; Brussels; Dublin (two DIY Walking Tours); Edinburgh; Glasgow; Lille; London (four DIY Walking Tours); Madrid; Nîmes; Oxford and Paris (two DIY Walking Tours).
Allowing you to see more – with less effort. Leaving you more time and energy to actually enjoy your visit.
After all, travel should be fun!
And….
The Street Library lets everyone use their own books (new or already-read) to raise funds for their very own favourite charity.
Simply by sticking special labels to their books, then leaving them in public places.
The labels ask lucky finders to say “Thanks” for their free book – by donating few Pounds to the charity specified on the label on the book (the name of this charity being chosen by the original book donor).
A kind of “pay it forward” fundraising scheme then.
Additionally, these labels also ask the book-finders to again leave the book in a public place (after reading the book/making their donation of course), when the whole donation cycle begins again.
So each book ultimately becomes a source of repeat donations for the charity chosen by the original book donor.
Alternatively, people can just send their books to myself (at The Street Library, PO Box 8271, Girvan, KA26 6AF), and they will be freely labeled here, before being freely given away in monthly social media competitions.
The Street Library is actually based on a similar fundraising scheme I ran before. However, in that case, it was just myself raising funds for FareShare (the scheme also resulted in authors & publishers sending me LOTS of new books, which were then distributed to FareShare’s warehouse volunteers (as a way of thanking them for their vital work during the Covid epidemic).
As it was so successful for myself before, The Street Library now lets others do something similar – but for their favourite charities instead.