Food Connection

Carl Ford

Carl is a consultant on disability issues. He is also co-secretary for the Shropshire Organisation for Disabled People and a member of Shropshire Disability Consortium. People living on direct payments in their own homes can buy their own shopping and be in control of what is cooked. If disabled people go into residential institutions, once there, there is is little choice of what and when to eat and whom they are eating with. Eating is a personal experience. Carl lived in an institution for two years after being admitted on the asumption that he was staying for three months. Carl's father was a satellite engineer and the family moved widely in the UK and the US. He went to school in America and recalls the catering for a multi-cultural population. He was an apprentice engineer at Bristol Polytechnic then got a job at Rolls Royce. He left this a trained as a tyre-specialist at Michelin. He worked in Oman on large-scale road-building projects looking after road vehicles. He was passionate about hang-gliding and on his twenty-first birthday he competed in a national competition. He walked a lot and after work in Oman and would go up the valleys to fly his hang-glider. He looked at the possibility of towing hang-gliders along the beach and during one of the tows he had an accident which fractured his back and left him a full-time wheelchair user and needing assistance with every-day tasks. Carl employes a number of personal assistants, some local, but mainly from Scandinavia. In 1990 he married Valerie and they moved from Market Drayton to Weston-under-Redcastle. After his accident, Carl worked for Michelin in Health & Safety for four years.

Carl has invented a light-weight portable transfer system for people with disabilty to enable them to move from one thing to another. He was given a development grant from the Department of Trade and Industry which enabled him to employ specialist engineers to design a prototype. One of the engineers became a partner in the company and they now have an agreement whereby the transfer system is made under license and marketed as their own product. This is called the Huntleigh 'Highlight'. Carl is now working on other products to develop disability aids.

Childhood Memories:
Carl remembers a particular bonfire night when there was no restrictions on fireworks. The whole neighbourhood came to this bonfire after the families had spent weeks collecting wood. There were chestnuts, home-made cakes, hamburgers and baked potatoes. He remembers the smoke and heat from the fire, the laughter and the diversity across all age groups. Everyone waited for the special rocked of the night and it went as high as 50ft, levelled out and straight through the window of a pregnant woman resting on the bed. There was a court case afterwards.

Childhood Food and Drink:
Carl's grandmother reguarly cooked tripe and onions with mashed potatoes and peas. She used the best quality tripe that was tangy and creamy. As kids they were all encouraged to try all sort of food including black and red pudding. Tripe and onions were always his favourite and when he visited her before she died she had made it especially for him.

Looking For:

Offering To:

Carl hopes to gain social contact and combine his personal business interest. Social networking is important for wheelchair users because they can't get out into peoples houses. Many people still feel uncomfortable relating to someone who has an impairment and uses a wheelchair.

Carl offers the network a perspective of life that they wouldn't otherwise have. There is a risk that wheelchair users can get seriously overwieght. Carl has had to give up potatoes and bread and so the healthy eating aspect is important to him. He has worked for Disability Wales, a European funded project, as a specialist business advisor helping people who had been long-term sick to start their own businesses based on his own experiences. Some people can't go back to full-time employment because sometimes it is too diffcult to accomodate all their needs. Self-employment allows Carl and people like himself, to run a business around his personal needs.

List of other members with a special interests in:

Contact Details:

Lift About Ltd

Contact Address:
Oakview
Weston-under-Redcastle
Shrewsbury
Shropshire
SY4 5LY

Fax Number: 01939 292021

Email Address: carl@liftabout.com

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