to be annoyed that a service that is supposed to be very inclusive makes things more difficult if you have an impairment

[CMOTdibbler]

I've lost use of my left hand and wrist (and partly my elbow) following an accident.

DS(4) would like to go cycling, but obviously this is a bit of an issue for me as I can't grip or transfer force through my wrist at all. But I saw that there was a cycle hire place that said they had bike hire for all abilities, could get anyone out.

Great I thought, and emailed them to check before arranging a day out (it's some distance away, but somewhere we like to go). If you are able bodied, you can just rock up, pay your money, and take a bike out. If you aren't you have to have an assessment in advance with their physio (available half days, Mon-Fri), then pay an annual membership as well as paying for bike hire, so it's much more if you aren't going frequently.

I think I may be unreasonably irritated by this.

I think the assessment is fair, but then you should be on their records as physically able to hire, and given something to say so, so that any time you turn up you can hire. You shouldnt have to pay an annual membership, that is wrong and unfair.

Very frustrating.

But presumably the physio check is so that they make an adjustment that suits you but is also safe for you? And if they adapt bikes specially maybe they need to know that you will come regularly, as it is probably quite an expensive service?

It would be better if they were able to get finding to cover the costs rather than getting you to pay.

I can see why you can't just arrive unnanounced and take a bike out for their speciality is making accessible adjustments.

The annual membership is crap. I find all of life more expensive with a disabled child and everything takes ages to organise. Mega hoop-jumping all round. This company are not helping at all - what are they thinking of?

Maybe for some people, they do need an assessent, but I would have thought your needs are fairly straightforward. I have no idea why a physio needs to see you in order to find you a bike suitable for someone with no use of their left hand. You could tell them that over the phone, surely?

Does the annual membership make the bike hire cheaper? Can you ring them and get them to explain why they are charging a person with an impairment/disability more?

By the way, we used to have a bike hire place nearby - sadly closed - that hired out adapted bikes. We could rock up and just hand over the money - no physio assessment or annual fee.

I guess they have to keep their prices competitive so they can't spread the cost of adapting bikes etc. across all their customers and have to come up with the money somehow. Otherwise it'd be cheaper for them just not to bother. But I can see that it sucks for you having to pay more. The assessment seems fair enough tho, for the reasons above, and maybe it's an insurance thing too.

Yes, if they had super special seating or whatever, I can see that a physio assessment would be needed. But theres not a lot of individual settings, and I can sort myself out with the right tool.

The annual membership isn't a huge amount, and it is cheaper to hire if you are a member, but I'd need to go 5-6 times to recoup the cost.

I just want to have a spontaneous day out with a phone call first to book a bike. I can call Hertz with 24 hours notice and get a fully accessible car for no extra cost fgs

pinkdelight, although your point seems fair enough on the surface, I think a main point of the disability legislation we have in place is that things shouldn't be more expensive for disabled people - so yes accessibility costs should be shared out amongst all customers. E.g. imagine a hotel charging every wheelchair user a toll every time they used a ramp because it cost them to install and maintain it and they had very few customers needing the ramp.

It is charity funded, so the extra costs are covered by that afaik.

Apparently the annual membership is because the adapted bikes are in high demand by their members, so they don't hire them to the general public. This confuses me muchly.

I'd adapt my own bike, but its extraordinarily hard to find out what one needs to do to the thing

They probably have to pay extra insurance costs, having you as a registered member will help keep the cost down, and the physio assesment will cover them for insurance at the same time as ensuring that you have the best equipment for your need.

I understand that it's a PITA, and may seem unreasonable, but I understand where they are coming form. I work with a charity that does something vaguely simelar with disabled people, and problems like this do come up. Unfortunately the fact that it's a charity doesn't always help, as there are so many basic things to fund before you can start subsidizing the intended beneficiaries. It takes a lot of volunterr fundraising to cover all the costs, and small charities can find it hard to raise enough.

I would assume that as a member you would get priority booking next time over someone who is not a member.