Wheelchairs & wheelie bins

[KikiShaLeeBopDeBopBop]

Walking the dog this morning, all bins out for collection and it got me thinking...

If you're a wheelchair-user, how do you manage wheelie bins?

They're cumbersome even for people with full mobility but they're also a totally impractical height for wheelchair users!

If you aren't able to put your bin out the Council collect it,empty it and return it to your house
You fill in a form for this service.
My daughter cannot put hers out as she is disabled and they collect and return hers .

Agree, I have an assisted collection.

I'm disabled can't manage my bin dh does it but our council has bin assist.

My dd is a full time wheelchair user, every day we encounter challenges, wheelie bins that are full we go around them if there's space otherwise we walk on the road, if they're empty I push them up against the wall of the house, we have the same issue with people parking on the footpath, sometimes people have their cars half on the footpath, it's enough for a single person to squeeze by but a wheelchair doesn't fit so we walk on the road.

Oh I read your post wrong 😊 thought you meant getting by them when out.

Oh me too !

My grandma can't manage her bins anymore, her address is on a list and the council do it for her.

My grandparents bin men collected theirs from the side of the house. You just register with the council. Very easy to do. They also return the bins to the same place.

I'd be tempted to push them into the road

Had no idea council's provided an assist service, that's brilliant.

But aren't they also awkward to fill when you're unable to stand up?
I suppose people without limited movement in their upper bodies can throw bits of recycling in but what about those who can't, or need to lift rubbish bags in?

Are you dependent on human assistance to fill them too?

Yes, basically. If you can’t fill them then your carer/friend/family has to do it.

A friend uses a wheelchair and has a series of dropped kerbs on their journey to the bus stop.

If there is a wheelie bin in the way (Tuesday is bin day), or a car blocking the blocked kerb or parked up on the pavement, they don't go out that day.

Not really sure why people thought otherwise ?

They say it could be worse. If they were blind they'd get hit in the face with the overhanding foliage that seems popular these days.

Well I'm able to put things in the bin,sometimes can't lift the kitchen bin bag I assume other people who are unable then they will have people in their lives who help them would put the rubbish out.

I am not in a wheelchair but I can't move a wheely bin when full due to my back and also there is no pavement (our boundary opens directly onto the road), only the path to our house which I can't then navigate easily if the bins are blocking it. I registered with them and the council collect them from outside our house which is about 5m inside our boundary. Dh will load the bin but he is not always here during the day to let me in and out along the path. Also there was a phase when they had lots of delays so the bins would be left out on the path for days. If dh was not here I would just have a smaller kitchen bin and empty it more often. It was really straightforward registering with the council, I just explained my situation and the refuse collection always know to collect and return my bin from the house not the roadside.

I think though it must be a nightmare navigating the roads in a wheelchair on bin day. I am not surprised people get annoyed.

My mum has a mobility scooter and bin day is a nightmare for her getting about. She can only get down pavements where there is a dropped kerb; so aside from staying on the road 100% she has to be up and down off kerbs, looking far ahead to see the path is blocked, getting off the kerb, then a car is half parked on the kern, off again... bins, cars... pavements impassable (same for prams)

Not quite the same for prams ... they can be (carefully) rolled down/up/over a kerb which is impossible in a scooter.

90% of wheelchair users can actually stand/walk a bit. It's actually a really unhelpful myth that they can’t. That's what causes people to call us fakers or say we don't really need our chairs.

Sadly my friend is in the 10%. I'll let her know she's letting the side down.

My neighbour can just about manage to put stuff in the wheelie bin but doesn't bother with recycling - it all goes to landfill. Too hard for her.

ah good point!

DD is a wheelchair user. Wheelie bins, parked cars, billboards, cafe tables and chairs, dog mess all make it much more difficult for her to get around. And if the pavement is narrow, yes, it is the pedestrian who has to get off to let her pass because a wheelchair cannot negotiate a normal kerb.

I know, that's why I said those who can't stand up and/or have limited upper body mobility :)

but possibly the cause of other idiots demanding those who can't, 'just stand up', be 'helped to walk' because 'it's only three steps' etc.

Attempts to explain some people are entirely wheelchair dependent, result in accusations of faking it and being un-coperative, unreasonable etc.

It's worth remembering that basically many people are stupid and believe whatever they want to believe.

That's not even close to what I was saying but you go off.

I'm supposed to have supported services, but too often it resulted in others filling my bin, and/or it not being taken. I got sick of it and now take recycling to a communal recycling bin, some of my rubbish to commercial bins, and do a tip run when needed.
I find the less I expect things that aren't working to work, the calmer life is.