Thank you Sam!
x

Thanks. I will reply again afterwards

Here is the information I received from the lovely contact Jane put me in touch with. She has been so helpful - thank you Jane!

I'm a full time power chair user with quadriplegic CP and I cannot walk at all. I also have care support needs

I don't want you thinking I only managed it because I'm a super strong paralympian! I'm being flippant but I hope you see my point!

D of E was so good for me. Yes I had fantastic TAs but it was also a way for me to experience being away from home and my parents etc which non disabled kids more readily experience...

For my Bronze award, I did an ecology study. I went with a couple of teaching assistants and my best friend (who couldn't do standard DoE expeditions due to hurting her back), as well as a couple of older pupils who came with us as their voluntary hours for their silver DoE. We had to still use OS maps to navigate etc. I was expected (with my group) to still cook on the camp site with the other DoE pupils, but then I went back to stay in a youth hostel with my best friend and the two TAs. At the time, I had an offroad buggy (think 3 wheeled toddler buggy but adult sized) which TAs or the older pupils (both sports lads!) pushed. If I'm going to be completely honest, they chose an ecology area which they mistook for a wooded area, but in fact it was more an urban park, so the ecology study was on clover and some squished daisies!!! When we got back to school, we had to do an assessed powerpoint presentation on our ecology study

For Silver DofE, we went canoeing and did the distance on the canals of Wales! School liaised with the outdoor activity centre Marle Hall (I think that was the name) that the school had existing links with. Marle Hall itself is inaccessible, but the instructor came with us to Wales! For Silver DoE, I was in a group of 5, made up of my friend as above, but also three other girls who couldn't do the standard expedition for ND reasons/health. The canoe set up was 2 canoes rafted together with wooden planks. They rafted them to reduce our chances of capsizing. They then tied a white plastic garden chair into the canoe, so I had a seat! They sawed the legs off! TAs/teachers would meet us at checkpoints and a teacher was in a canoe nearby for safety. It was the same set up as above with cooking/everything outside, but sleeping in the youth hostel!

I'm really sorry, I can't remember the campsite/youth hostels but Silver DoE was in Conway Wales

For volunteering. I was volunteering anyway so that was easy. At a club for people with LD. For physical, I counted my dance sessions I had every week at musical theatre group. I was told I could count my physio though.

I'm really conscious you're probably bound by more red tape/health and safety now than we were at the time...
But you can get lifting/carry slings to get in and out of boats, mobile hoists for youth hostels...
RYA have adapted sailing/boats and perhaps somewhere like the Calvert Trust could help?

You can also hire all terrain chairs - the main ones are Mountain Trikes or Trekinetic (which has an electric version)...

Hope that's helpful!