I have posted this message on The Sun website because I feel that I was misquoted regarding the article that they wrote which included some of my comments and information from my website. Unfortunately I didn't realise that there is obviously a limit on how many words you can put on The Sun's comment section on their website. So this is the full article.

I feel that I must put a couple of points straight regarding the article that was published in the Sun today. The reporter obviously found me via my website because I had previously written a blog post about the tetraplegic character in Emmerdale. At the time I had no idea where this plot was going, nor how much controversy it was going to cause. I want to put straight that I did not state that Emmerdale was "losing the plot". It's quite the opposite actually, I think they carried it off really well and I doubt whether any of the other big soaps could have done quite such a good job and made the plot look credible. I saw nothing horrific about the scenes where we saw him ingest a lethal concoction of drugs contained in a drink. I could understand if he threw himself under a train, or got somebody to slit his wrists, but I just don't see what all the fuss about the scenes we saw the other evening.

A lot of people are up in arms and would rather see a positive storyline regarding disability, rather than all doom and gloom. The script writers have been extremely brave in going down the road of assisted suicide, maybe there wouldn't have been such an outcry if it was somebody suffering from Motor Neurone Disease, I think the fact it was a young 20-year-old who could have possibly lived for another 40 years. That said, this is not fiction, this has happened in recent years so I see no harm in addressing this very sensitive subject. The soaps have covered just about every other subject, rape, child molestation, murder, domestic violence, why not assisted suicide? Somebody on here quoted that this is just a television drama, I totally agree, this is a drama at the end of the day, the script writers have got a duty to write scripts that will keep people interested and not flip the switch and go and watch something else. There is only so much you can write about somebody in a wheelchair who cannot move anything apart from his bed. We saw Jackson carry out a parachute jump, that was great, but do we want to see him do it over and over again? I suppose they could have turned him into some kind of super crip where we saw him scuba-diving, skiing, mountain climbing, but that isn't going to keep the public's interest. My hats go off to the Emmerdale script writers for approaching the subject of assisted suicide and carrying it out with such sensitivity and credibility. 

I think that Marc Silcock portrayed somebody with a spinal cord injury extremely well and to the untrained eye, could probably pass himself off as a genuine disabled person. I'm afraid the same thing can't be said about other storylines which saw people suffering brain injuries after being shot. These people have now made a miraculous recovery after both being unable to walk or talk properly, less than a year later they're trotting around as if nothing has ever happened. These are the type of storylines that we should be slating as they could give false hope to people in the same situation. It was obvious that Jackson Walsh was never going to recover and saw no other way out of the situation than ending his life prematurely. Way to go Emmerdale

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Those of you who watch Emmerdale will have been following a dramatic storyline last night which saw tetraplegic Jackson Walsh commit suicide with the assistance of his mother and boyfriend, Aaron . Now I know there has been a lot of controversy regarding the storyline, a lot of people believe that the storyline should have been more along the lines of showing the positive side of being confined to a wheelchair, rather than showing the negative side. I can certainly understand where these people are coming from, but you have to look at it from the other side as well, not every person who ends up being confined to a wheelchair is able to cope with life, is happy sitting in a wheelchair 24/7, some people cannot cope with life being disabled. From my experience of being in hospital and seeing newly injured people, everyone takes the terrible news that they may never walk again in completely different ways. Take me for instance, I was told that I would probably never walk again and it really didn't affect me at the time, and it hasn't had any detrimental effect on my life since being injured, and that was back in 1986. However, I can remember another young chap who broke his neck who literally cried for days after being told he would never walk again. Thankfully, the same chap seems to be very much like myself and has made a life for himself and make the best of what he is able to do.

I believe the Emmerdale storyline writers have been extremely brave in approaching this storyline of the young tetraplegic in a completely different way to what has been seen before in any other soap. From the handful of disability storylines I can recall, all of them have portrayed disabled people just getting on with life without showing any of the problems that may accompany life in a wheelchair. I can remember Chris Tate who was also an Emmerdale character, he suffered a spinal cord injury to the back during the plane crash, he met his demise by drinking poison, but only after being diagnosed with an incurable brain tumour, and then his suicide was only intended to try and frame his ex-lover. The Jackson Walsh storyline has showed a completely different side to being confined to a wheelchair for life. It has been clear that he is terribly depressed and cannot contemplate living his life being completely paralysed. We have to remember that his level of injury is very high, probably at best a C3. This means that he cannot move his arms or shoulders, he can only move his head. From my point of view I can't imagine what it must be like not being able to move at all, at least I have got fairly good use of my arms so I'm able to drive a vehicle, use a computer completely independently, operate my amateur radio equipment, go fishing and use my rod I myself, if I was completely paralysed, some of these tasks would be impossible, or at best only possible with quite a bit of help from a care assistant. As we could see by Jackson's character, he was able to use a computer, albeit with a little bit of poetic licence. He was also able to operate his electric wheelchair by himself. With the technology that is available nowadays, I think that a person in his position would be able to have somewhat more of an independent lifestyle, i.e. turning lights on and off, opening curtains, operating an electric bed, switching on the television and radio etc etc.

The scriptwriters obviously decided that they only wanted to show him living in one room, only having a couple of people as personal carers. In real life, he could have easily lived in his own house, had two or three care assistants to help them with daily living, funds would have been made available for somebody with such a high level of disability to live an independent life as possible without relying on his immediate family. From this point of view some people might look upon this as a negative theme to follow but obviously that is what they chose to write.

Jackson obviously fell into deep depression from virtually the first time he was told he would never walk again. I'm pleased that the scriptwriters followed through and didn't suddenly turn the storyline into a farce by somehow turning his situation into a miracle where he got up and started walking again. We have seen these so-called crazy miraculous recoveries with characters in soaps such as Eastenders where we saw Jack Branning being shot and sustaining a serious brain injury that rendered him unable to speak properly and almost incapable of walking. Less than a year later he is now walking around as if nothing ever happened.

Last night's episode of Emmerdale was extremely moving, I am not embarrassed to say that I did have a tear in my eye whilst watching Jackson's mother agonise over giving her son a drink that she knew would end his life. Then Aaron who was against the whole thing at the beginning gave Jackson the drink himself which he knew would kill the person he loved. A truly moving and superb episode of Emmerdale which I hope will receive the praise that it deserves.

Finally, hats must be taken off for Danny Miller and Marc Silcock for this excellent portrayal of a man who can't cope with life in a wheelchair, and his partner who can't imagine life without him. Marc did a grand job of portraying a completely paralysed man, believe me I watched his hands on more than one occasion and how he managed not to move his fingers whilst also delivering his lines I will never know.

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Apparently there has been a breakthrough in the world of spinal injury. A man paralysed from the waist down is now able to stand up all by himself, albeit in the standing frame with quite a few people supporting him. With the aid of a pacemaker device implanted in his spine he is able to wiggle his toes, move his ankles and bend his legs.
Now I know I'm going to sound pessimistic but I just don't see what all the fuss is about. They admitted on the news that this is a very fit individual and he is the only one that they have managed to achieve this breakthrough with. He was able to stand, apparently take a few steps on the treadmill, but that's really about all he is able to do. I've seen these things before, there was a woman in the UK a few years ago that was able to use a similar setup to peddle a cycle using her legs, she was also able to stand up. Just being able to stand up and move your legs doesn't give you independent, in fact, I can't really see much benefits of going to all this trouble if all you are able to do at the end of the day is stand up by your self. It may be exciting to begin with but I'm sure that as soon as you have a reality check you realise that maybe this is just another case of making a mountain out of a mole hill.

A breakthrough in my books is paralysed people getting feeling back, being able to move fingers that haven't worked for years, getting their bodily functions back, maybe even being able to have a normal sexual relationship. How many millions of dollars were poured into this project? I'm amazed that the Christopher Reeve organisation funded this, I would have thought that the money would have best been put towards research into stem cells, after all this is probably what is going to eventually help cure spinal injury properly, not the use of a box of electrics.

I'm afraid until they come up with a way of mending a broken spinal cord then they can keep all their electrodes, I'm really not interested, I would rather wait for a proper cure, whether that will be in my lifetime, I wouldn't like to bet my life on it.

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Now unless you have been living under a rock for the last few months you will have heard of all these cutbacks that are being made by the government. It is possible that disabled people will suffer because of this government money saving idea. Now I'm not going to go on about why disabled people shouldn't have their benefits cut because it should be fairly obvious that the majority of disabled people get benefits because they are not able to work, the benefits are not an awful lot of money, in fact many people just about get by on them. 

What really makes me so very angry is all these lowlife scumbags who can work but choose to claim benefits. They are nothing but a bunch of lazy w***kers. I personally know of somebody who is a heroin addict. They get £200 in benefits every two weeks and within one hour all that money is gone. Why the hell are people like this allowed to claim benefits, why aren't people properly vetted to make sure that they are eligible and deserve benefits? anyone with a dependency on drugs or drink shouldn't get benefits under any circumstances? The government would be much better off hunting down all of these scroungers and cutting their benefits completely, that would save millions and millions of pounds every year. But no, they are intent on making the lives of vulnerable people a complete and utter misery.

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A yachtsman has become the first quadriplegic sailor to complete a solo voyage across the Atlantic.

Geoff Holt, 42, from Southampton, began the 2,700-mile (4,345km) journey from Lanzarote to Tortola in the British Virgin Islands, on 10 December.

His voyage was hampered by the lack of wind and mechanical problems on his boat, Impossible Dream.

His wife Elaine and son Timothy sailed out to greet Mr Holt off the coast of Cane Garden Bay.

Mr Holt suffered a diving accident 25 years ago in the bay that left him paralysed.

During the voyage, he has been aided by a carer and filmed by a cameraman, but did all his own sailing in the 60ft (18m) purpose-built catamaran.

Hydraulic technology

He told BBC News: "It's fantastic, it's absolutely wonderful to be back after 25 years to sail across the Atlantic Ocean, it is quite emotional.

"This has been years in the planning. It has been my dream to sail back across the Atlantic and I have only gone and done it."

This is the fourth time Mr Holt has sailed the Atlantic, but the first since his life-changing accident in 1984.

He broke his neck while diving into shallow water and has used a wheelchair ever since.

“ It has been my dream to sail back across the Atlantic ”
Geoff Holt

During his record attempt, Mr Holt has had to overcome engine problems and unexpectedly light prevailing winds.

He has limited use of his arms and hands and used a hydraulic push button technology to sail the vessel on the 28-day voyage.

Legendary sailor Sir Robin Knox-Johnson led the tributes to Mr Holt.

"What a tremendous thing to have completed," he said.

"Geoff continues to raise the bar when it comes to sheer determination to allow nothing to stand in his way.

"I am so proud of his achievement."

Mr Holt is already the first quadriplegic sailor to sail solo around Britain - a feat he achieved in 2007.

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Okay, as promised, a quick update on my joystick replacement problem on my Permobil. We were not going to let them walk all over us and simply ignore their responsibilities to all their customers. So after quite a few phone calls making it quite clear that they must bring this problem to a successful closure, a joystick became available. We were told that it was a completely different make of joystick that would be available for the foreseeable future & would also be a little bit more on the reliable side. However, when the joystick arrived it didn't really look any different from the old ones. I didn't really have any choice but to have it fitted since it arrived on Christmas Eve and the engineer had already been booked in to fit it. Even the Permobil engineer was puzzled at why they had sent exactly the same joystick as before. Anyway, it is all outfitted on the chat is working as normal which is a relief. However, been here before and have got the T-shirt........ three times, so I'm not holding my breath that this joystick is going to be any different from the last three.

If you are in the same situation as me please don't let Permobil walk all over you and abandon your situation. You may have to be firm with them but from our experience, getting a little irate does sometimes have its advantages.

I love my Permobil and I would really struggle with out it. I'm glad that they came around to my way of thinking and I applaud them for dealing with the situation promptly, rather than keeping me hanging on for months.

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Okay, an update on my situation regarding Permobil ceasing to supply PG8 joysticks for older models of their power wheelchairs. We have been talking to Permobil and have made it quite clear that they are responsible for maintaining wheelchairs they have sold, and that means supplying spare parts. To cut a long story short they have now found some joysticks that will work on wheelchairs such as the chairman. I believe these are not actually PG8 joysticks, but are compatible with the wheelchair. I am having this replaced under warranty since it is any of few weeks since the last one was replaced. An engineer from them Permobil is visiting me on 24 December so I will update this information I came, hopefully with good news that everything is working and you will be able to obtain spare parts if needed, fingers crossed

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I thought I would update you on the situation regarding my Permobil. I've already mentioned that I received a letter from the UK supplier of Permobil informing me that Permobil would no longer be providing replacement PG8 joystick controls. It seems the letter jinxed me as my existing joystick which was only replaced in September has developed a fault yet again. Thankfully I have got another a wheelchair I can use but that wheelchair is not equipped to use in my van so if I have to rely on it, that screws my driving up completely.

I purchased my Permobil in 2000 which isn't really that long ago. I think this is grossly unfair of Permobil to suddenly stop providing vital components for older models of their wheelchairs. If you purchased a vehicle at the same time wouldn't it be fair to say you would expect spare parts to be available for it for considerably longer than 10 years? Blimey, you can still find spare parts for cars that are 40 years old. My wheelchair cost £13,000, I was expecting to be able to maintain it for at least 20 years but it seems Permobil have put a stop to that.

Ask yourself a question "if you purchase a Permobil in 2010, will vital components still be available in 2020. 10 years may seem a long time, but when you're spending in excess of £10,000, that really isn't a very long time.

As far as I'm concerned Permobil are still responsible for providing me with spare parts and you can rest assure that I am not going to let this matter to rest.  If you own a Permobil Chairman, or any other Permobil wheelchair that you bought 10 years ago then you may well be looking at the same problem I'm having. Don't just ignore the situation because your joystick is working okay, you will be screwed if it suddenly goes wrong, we need to take action now and try and appeal to Permobil that they still have a responsibility to older customers who rely on their wheelchairs.

This is a direct quote from Permobil's own website

Customer Support Center

A good product needs a strong organisation behind it in order to achieve it's full potential. We are here to help you find the best solution to your problem whatever it may concern: wheelchairs, spare parts or accessories. You may want a quotation for a wheelchair or you have a query about shipping documents or a technical question - we will be happy to help you.

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I own a Permobil Chairman which I purchased in 2000. I recently received a letter from the UK supplier of Permobil informing me that the PG8 joystick will no longer be available and is now obsolete. I have already had my joystick replaced three times in the 10 years so it doesn't fill me with confidence that this one is going to be any better in the long run.

I'm quite sure you can imagine my worry at this decision Permobil have come to, by all accounts there are 25 people in the UK, not counting the rest of the world who are still using a Permobil wheelchair utilizing this type of joystick, so the law of averages states that one of us is going to have problems with our joystick at some stage. I can't speak for everyone who owns one of these wheelchairs but I am extremely angry and actually quite worried about what the hell I am going to do if my joystick decides it's going to malfunction like it has done three times before. I only bought my wheelchair 10 years ago, it seems ridiculous that Permobil have just washed their hands of it completely. I rely entirely on my power chair, without it I am bedbound, it's as simple as that. I'm not suggesting that Permobil should continue to manufacture my particular type of wheelchair for the next 50 years, but I do think they should keep a stock of spares for those of us who are still using the older wheelchairs.

I would like to think that if looked after properly, my wheelchair still has quite a few years left in it.  As it stands, if my joystick malfunctions, I've got to bin the whole wheelchair. Car manufacturers don't automatically stop supplying spares for the older makes of car, why should Permobil be any different?

If you are as worried as I am then we need to unite and try and persuade Permobil that their decision is very unfair to all of the older customers who chose one of their wheelchairs over any other on the market.

I can tell you one thing for sure, never again will I ever purchase a Permobil wheelchair.

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A mate of mine who also happens to be a tetraplegic has recently created a website selling electric leg bag emptiers. I myself have been using one of these devices for the best part of 25 years. The independence it has brought me is really beyond description. Basically, it's giving me the chance to live a reasonably independent life without having to have carers visited me several times a day to empty my leg bag. If you are in the position where you are not able to open your bag yourself then one of these devices could well be your savior. Check his website out.

  http://www.legbagemptier.co.uk/

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