Littlehampton woman launches adventures blog for disabled people, helping them find disabled-friendly places to visit

A Littlehampton woman with an invisible illness has launched a blog to help other disabled people find accessible places to visit.
Tara Roberts out in Littlehampton with her mobility scooterTara Roberts out in Littlehampton with her mobility scooter
Tara Roberts out in Littlehampton with her mobility scooter

Tara Roberts, 35, created Rarars Adventures as she drives a mobility scooter and has noticed it can be hard to judge how disabled friendly new places might be.

It means conquering her own anxieties and fears of going out but she hopes it will help others in a similar situation.

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Tara used to be a carer and had a great career ahead of her, heading towards nursing, but now cannot work due to her condition.

Tara said: "It occurred to me that I can't be the only one stuck in this situation of not being able to work and also having a disability that makes it hard to go out and about to new places. I wanted to do something to give disabled people some of their independence and confidence back.

"I just want to help people like myself live as independently as possible and to be able to visit the places they want to, without having the anxiety and fear of those locations not being suitable for their needs."

Back in 2007, Tara had a routine operation that went wrong and she was sent home with a perforated bowel.

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She said: "Within hours, I was in agony and was rushed back to hospital by ambulance to have emergency surgery to correct this but then developed internal scar tissue, which affects my bladder and bowels and causes chronic pain and spasms.

"I have had multiple operations since then to try to ease the adhesions, including a hysterectomy in 2011. However, sadly, the adhesions have only got worse and will continue to get worse as time goes on.

"I also suffer with PTSD, which started after the surgery went wrong. This causes me to have anxiety and regular panic attacks."

Despite her condition, Tara does her best to get out and about as much as possible, even more so now she has created Rarars adventures.

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Tara said: "I go out and about to different locations and local attractions and find out what help they offer to people who have both visible and non-visible disabilities, in order to give them the confidence to go and visit these places themselves.

"I also do posts on my blog about things that companies and local authorities offer to help assist disabled people when they are out and about, such as Radar keys for disabled toilet use.

"I also try to promote awareness about products that help people recognise different disabilities, such as some people wear a sunflower lanyard, which means they have an invisible disability and may need assistance, even though they don’t look like they do.

"I hope that by doing this and conquering my own anxieties and fears of going out and about that I can inspire others to do the same. Every one deserves to be able to live their lives to the fullest and to be able to achieve their dreams."

Visit www.rararsadventureblog.com for more information.

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