So before we get started, please note that this episode contains discussions of suicidal thoughts, which some people may find distressing.
Sophie: Hi, I’m Sophie-Marie Odum, Lifestyle Magazine’s editor.
Sam: I’m Samantha Renke, broadcaster and disability rights campaigner. And welcome to the final episode [00:01:00] of this season of The Motability Lifestyle Pod. Oh, I’m shedding a tear. In this podcast, we invite our friends from the disability community into the studio for a conversation about…
Well, how we can all live our best life. And particularly, you know, when we’re navigating a disabling world.
Sophie: Today, we are joined by the former Royal Marines Commando, Mark Ormrod. While deployed in Afghanistan in 2007, Mark lost both legs and an arm due to an explosion. Since then, he’s been on a mission to spread a message of positivity and resilience, and continues to challenge himself. He has a long list of remarkable achievements.
Reasons to be cheerful
Sophie: Hi Sam, how are you?
Sam: I’m good, my darling. I’m a bit tearful. I
Sophie: I know…
Sam: I’m a bit sad. I’m a bit triste. Oh we’ve had a good run haven’t we ?
Sophie: We have! Today is the last episode of season one.
Sam: Season one, but I do feel like we’re having a mini breakup. like when you are on a break. Like, I, I really still care for you. I [00:02:00] still love you, but I need a break.
Sophie: need, I need some time. I need some time, need break. No, it has been such a great series. I hope all our listeners agree and we’ve got a little cup of something here to, uh….
Sam: little drinky poo,
Sophie: To a cheers, to an excellent season one. So, onto our last reasons to be cheerful for this season. Our first is, Cool Crutches and Walking Sticks launches, the UK’s first walking aid recycling scheme.
Oh, wow. So what they’ll do is they’ll send refurbished aids to those in need globally. Um, and I was just thinking this links back to our episode one…
Sam: yes.
Sophie:…with James. You remember our episode with James Freeman and he was talking about when he was at the Paralympics and obviously he got talking with people from other countries and he was saying like he realised how lucky he’s got it really in the UK that he is given mobility aids, whereas in some parts of the world, yeah, they’re not given freely
Sam: and and, one of the reasons is, because I’ve looked into this, my mum’s a nurse and she works in residential care and they get like zimmer frames and like abundance of mobility [00:03:00] aids and she’s like so, so wasteful because sadly if someone passes away, like, what do you do with it? And one of the reasons is obviously health and safety and it costs too much for an occupational therapist to come out and say whether that is actually safe or not.
I mean, it’s a joke Any who my friend who works for, um, with refugees. He used to go around pick up things. So we actually just gave him, it sounds really bad, like, you know, but we gave him a lot of, um, wheelchairs and mobility aids because we don’t think about it.
They may be people who are disabled who have to abandon their wheelchairs when they’re crossing the channel. So, um, I’m so glad that it’s, it’s working in a way that suits everyone and it’s… hopefully that will be something we can… ,
Sophie: Should be a universal thing. Yeah, Yeah
Sam: Exactly.
Sophie: I agree. So, the company Cool Crutches, which is a walking aid company, um, is working with PhysioNet, which is a UK based charity…
Sam: There you go.
Sophie:…dedicated to redistributing unwanted mobility aids. Um, and they found as well that there was a [00:04:00] WHO study, W.H.O study…
Sam: mm-hmm.
Sophie:…that found that there’s like millions, I haven’t got…
Sam: yeah
Sophie-7: …exact numbers to hand. There was a lot of people in need of, of mobility aids worldwide.
So how it works is, you purchase a new walking stick or crutches from Cool Crutches and Walking Sticks, and then the company will send the necessary packaging for you to pack up and send your old walking aid. And then it’ll be hand delivered to the, team of volunteers at PhysioNet. If you’re interested in, in this scheme, then you just need to visit coolcrutches.com and there’s all the information on the website.
Sam: So what next? What else have we got? News
Sophie: Accessible rambling! Are you a rambler? Do you like… a rambler? Do you like going walking?
Sam: Absolutely, Absolutely not. No, actually I, I’m gonna be moving somewhere where I can do a bit more rambling moving back to the northwest.
And we have got beautiful places to ramble.
Sophie: Is Cumbria far from you? Is it quite far?
Sam: yeah.
Sophie: This.. And
Sam: I mean, it’s all, it’s up there,
Sophie: It’s still up north, but yeah. Still a bit far because this… it’s a… the first ever walking guidebook for wheelchair users, published [00:05:00] in Britain and it’s called Pathfinder Lake District and Cumbia: Accessible Routes For All it’s by Ordinance Survey, and it’s a walking guidebook designed for wheelchair users…
Sam: I love that.
Sophie: …and it showcases 38 walks in the Lake District, National Park, the Cumbrian Solway coast, and sections of Hadrian’s Wall.
Um, so every route has been meticulously crafted to ensure a seamless experience.
Sam: Love it.
Sophie: Um, it’s categorised by accessibility ratings, easy, moderate, challenging, and very challenging. And it’s written by Mike Routledge who lives in and works in Cumbria. So he is very well versed he’s a volunteer at Calvert Trust, a specialist outdoor residential centre offering a range of accessible activity breaks with people with disabilities. And he said: “The book aims to remove barriers, install confidence, and encourage wheelchair users who have been daunted by the prospect of venturing off the beaten track to enjoy the beauty…
Sam: I love that.
Sophie: “…and freedom that they felt they couldn’t experience before.”
Sam: you know, the Lake District, I’ve spent a lot of my childhood there. Absolutely stunning. Um, I think it’s Hadrian’s Wall. I feel like I’ve just had a flashback to my [00:06:00] high school class. What, you know, just to make sure you buy a lot of Kendal Mint Cake.
Sophie: Oh.
Sam: Because that’s the only reason you go rambling, for the Kendall Mint Cake
Sophie: ah, yeah.
Sam: Well Kendall Mint Cake is like mint covered in chocolate to give ramblers or hikers that energy boost. But if you’re not hiking or walking, then it just gives you a sugar rush ultimately. That’s all I remember
Sophie: I’m all for a sugar rush. Um, if you are interested in this book, you can get a copy at shop.ordinancesurvey.co.uk
Sam: hoorah.
Guest interview
Sophie Our guest today is Mark Ormrod, MBE. Mark is a former Royal Marines Commando.
He was four months into a tour of duty in Afghanistan, when on Christmas Eve 2007, he stepped on an explosive device, which blew up in front of him. He was the UK’s first triple amputee to survive the Afghanistan conflict. Now, he’s a motivational speaker, author, and athlete. He won numerous medals at the Invictus Games and is ready for his next challenge.
Sam: [00:07:00] Mark a really warm welcome to the Motability Lifestyle pod. Let’sgo back to that moment for for a second. In 2007, you’d obviously been injured in Afghanistan and then within five months, you learn how to walk with crutches and received a medal for bravery at the Royal Marine Ceremony, which is fab.
Have you got photos of you in the, uh, the little outfit? I would love for you to send them by, by WhatsApp later.
Um,
Mark: Start a group.
Sam: Honestly, anyway, I digress. where do you find the motivation to regain your independence so quickly?
Because, you know, I was born with my disability and, and I guess that’s a very different journey for when you have acquired a disability. And although our journeys may overlap in the sense of I have only in, you know, subsequent years found that pride in my disability, but I guess for you, who has had a, a glimpse of what it’s, as a non-disabled person, you know, it’s completely [00:08:00] different.
And I, I’m always fascinated, inspired in a non icky way by people like yourself.
Mark: so before I answer your question, I mean, I, I think the same about what you just said. I always, I actually feel quite grateful in a way that I’ve seen both sides of it. You know, so I had 24 years as a fit, able bodied man and then now, the rest of my life as a disabled man. And that’s not something that I, I take for granted.
I’m very grateful that I’ve been able to experience that. But in terms of the motivation after the incident, in the Royal Marines, we have very high standards, personally and professionally. We have a very strong ethos and a brotherhood, and we’re always looking out for that man to our left and to our right.
And we’re always trying to live up to the standards that are ingrained in us when we go through that, that grueling training. When I was injured, obviously, you know, I’m not gonna say that I just woke up in hospital and was like: [00:09:00] “Okay, cool, it’s happened, let’s go!”
Because that’s not how it works, right? There were some, some dark times too. But, when I was laying in the hospital bed, I I spent six weeks in the hospital, I didn’t have anything to do but think, and I started to think about those standards, and and that ethos, and, uh, that that code, I guess, if you like, that we get ingrained into us.
And I thought to myself, Well, just because I’m now a triple amputee, It doesn’t mean that those standards don’t apply. Now, my unit was still in Afghanistan when I was in hospital. And I knew that when they came back, we’d have this big, fancy medals parade, where everyone gets issued their operational service medal, and all their friends and family flying from all over the world.
And so I just remember thinking, while I was going through rehab, that I could apply those standards to my recovery, and I wanted to show those people at the unit, and those people watching on TV, what being a Royal Marines Commander was all about. [00:10:00] And that those standards applied to everything that we do, personally and professionally. So once I was given the green light to be able to use my prosthetics, I had to be very sensible, this was hard for me.
Because I was very, you know: ” Just get it done. Just get it done. Just get it done”. But because of the wounds I had, and the scarring, I had to be very patient. And I couldn’t just say: “give me the legs, let me go”. I had to listen to what the professionals said. Calm myself down a little bit, and wait. And when that day finally came, and they said: “okay, you’re healed enough now.
You can start learning to walk.” I had already set up a plan. I knew what the date was gonna be of that Medals Parade. And so I started working that plan. And uh, I’ll be honest with you. It was brutal. It was brutal physically. It was brutal mentally. It completely destroyed my ego, because I thought I’d just, you know, give me the legs, I’m fit, and I’ll go.
And I was so wrong. [00:11:00] I’m missing both my legs above the knee, and my right arm, which is my dominant arm, above the elbow. So for me to do anything, it takes between 300 and 500 percent more energy than an able bodied person. It was ugly, you know, the walking was never going to be pretty, but I just wanted to be able to muddle my way through it so I could stand on the sidelines, walk on the parade ground. Stand shoulder to shoulder with those men that I fought with, and then receive that medal in in the only way, in my mind, that I thought was acceptable.
And so that was my motivation right from the very beginning. But when I achieved that, I went home that evening and started reflecting on this tiny journey that I’d been on to that point. And just had this epiphany that goal setting was what I needed to do with my life because it gave me a focus and it gave me a direction. It was very positive.
And so I started setting goals in my [00:12:00] personal life and in my professional life, in all the areas that were important to me. You know, so my family, my career, my finances, my health, my fitness, and all those things. when you do that, You know, when the alarm goes off in the morning, if you’ve got something to get up for, and something to aim for, and a goal to achieve, it’s so much easier than having nothing, and just getting up and thinking, you know, what’s today going to bring.
As long as whatever it is you’re aiming for, gives you goosebumps and the hairs on the back of your neck stick up, that’s a goal worth pursuing. If you go back to why you’re doing these things, when you’re struggling, and your morale’s low, that’s what I found brings me out of it.
As well as having phenomenal people around you.
Sam: Well, I think you’ve just hit the nail on the head, I think having that team around you, having like-minded people, people who are there to support you. You know, what you just said there is so powerful you know, if you [00:13:00] do one thing every day, no matter how big or small, then it will get you towards your end game.
But you need to be clear about your end game, but also for, for balance. Even if you were in a wheelchair, me as a full-time wheelchair user, even if you went up in a wheelchair, that is absolutely still valid as well. ‘Cause we know that there’ll be a lot of people here, um, listening to the podcast who, you know, that would be their, their, uh, lived experience and that is also valid.
But I think the, the, the culture, working in the, military, my dad was a army man as well, is that camaraderie. And I think maybe that’s what we’re missing in our wider society is that, you know, no matter who you are, what you look like, what your circumstances, we will support you irrespective.
So I think that is so beautiful that you had that in that moment of, of need ultimately.
Mark: Absolutely.
Sophie: Um, you mentioned there about, you know, throughout the whole process, your, your ego, you know, you, you had to rebuild up yourself, but was there any other tough, really tough moments that you, you look back on and just think like: “wow, like, how did I get through that?”
Mark: So I had the, the moment that you might all [00:14:00] expect in that first six weeks in hospital, where the doctor came in and told me that I would be wheelchair bound for life. I hope you don’t mind me saying, but I’ll be very honest, that made me suicidal. Um, I didn’t see a way past that. I was 24 years old, you know, and having this professional come in and tell me that I would rely on people for the rest of my life was very hard for my ego to take, but I did get over it.
I guess, you know, destiny stepped in, you know, a couple of days after that doctor came to visit me, an amputee came to visit me. He was missing both his legs above the knee. And he was on prosthetics. And so he talked to me about his journey, about the re rehabilitation process, about the prosthetics and, and the things that he was doing.
So he was a father. He was still in the army. And he was a Paralympic winter skier. So he’d achieved a lot. And that gave me hope. And that was great. That pulled me out of that, that depression. And then about a week and a [00:15:00] half after that, uh, I left the hospital and was allowed to stay out of the clinical environment for a night.
They… I got rid of all the infections and they said I was safe and I went into a flat that was provided for my family and I saw myself for the first time in a full length mirror and I had gone from 6 foot 2 and 16 stone to, I think, I’m about 3 foot 5 maybe without my legs on now and at that point think I was under nine stone in weight as well obviously because of the limb loss but the infections and my face was very gaunt and where I had a jacket on the arm was flapping next to the wheelchair and I just I cried all night. I sat with my now wife Becky. She was my girlfriend at the time and I cried all night because I just didn’t want to live that way you know, I was too wrapped up in what I thought I was, which was you know, it was all about my physicality back then, about how strong I could be, how fast I could run, you know, I could do this, I could do that, and uh, [00:16:00] I didn’t see a way forward as this guy now in a wheelchair, missing three limbs, having to rely on people.
So that was extremely tough, but again, getting good people around me. People that can help me shake it off. Having a good cry is very therapeutic. You know, it just, it’s like a purge. And you get rid of all those negative thoughts, you wake up the next day and you’re like: “right, that’s done, let’s go”. And then I went back to the hospital, started creating this plan for when I eventually left and went to rehab, and then got to rehab and started implementing it straight away to keep me busy.
Sophie: That’s really refreshing when you said that having a cry is… a good cry is just a cathartic process, ’cause men don’t talk about that enough.
Sam: Yeah.
Sophie: Do they? Men, as in general, don’t talk about crying and how it is actually a helpful process
Mark: I’ve seen it.
Sophie: So for you to say that…
Mark: I, I, I’m, I have zero shame. And I’ll go on the biggest platform in the world and tell people that if it helps them, because it is so beneficial. [00:17:00] And, you know, I’m not the biggest, toughest, you know, rowdiest man in the world, but I was a Royal Marines Commander. And if I can say that, then I think a lot of people can go out and say it and do it and see the benefits.
Sam: And you’ve, you mentioned, you know, the triumphal over adversity and I guess that can be somewhat problematic for the disability community in the sense of, and it was the late Stella Young, so she was an incredible, um, Australian activist and she coined the term inspiration porn and she did an amazing Ted Talk.
Um, she said, you know, no amount of positivity or, or smiling at a flight of stairs is gonna, is gonna mean that I can get up the flight of stairs as a wheelchair user. Are you mindful of that? ’cause obviously your social media is incredibly, you know, positive, it’s awash with inspirational messages.
How do you get that balance? Because, you know, people, like you said, people aren’t always in a position to see the light in, in the dark. And we also don’t wanna objectify disabled people go, well if you know, you’re only valid if you, [00:18:00] you know, push yourself to your limits. Some people are just happy with
their circumstance, and, and that’s, that’s okay too. So how do you keep that balance whenever you are, on stage or given these inspirational talks?
Mark: I share that exact message. You know, everybody is on their own individual journey. Everyone has their own individual goals. They have different lifestyles, different things they want to achieve. You know, we’re not, we don’t all have to push ourselves every day to breaking point, to be, to be valid. And it’s, it’s very funny actually, because I remember when I was first injured, and I was in the wheelchair, and I would meet people for the first time, and you know, shake their hand and say hello, and…
I don’t know if this is like most people’s, most disabled people’s experience, but within the first five minutes 90 percent of these people would say: “so when are you training for the Paralympics?” It was like, is this a prerequisite of being disabled? That we have to be…
Sam: yeah.
Mark: Paralympic stars? And I’m like, I don’t want to do the Paralympics.
I’ve got different [00:19:00] goals. You know, I want to grow my family, I want to figure out what I’m going to do as a new career. Or, uh, do other things. I don’t want to be a Paralympian. You know, and, and for a while I get exactly what you’re saying. It kind of felt like, well, am I not valid as a disabled person unless I’ve got a medal at the Paralympics?
What, what’s that about? So I just, I ignored it all for nearly 10 years. When it came to sport, I just set my own path. Focused on what I wanted to do. Uh, cause there’s a, there’s a lot more out there. You know, you could be a writer, a TV presenter, radio host, whatever, whatever you want to do, in this day and age, you know, it’s, it’s, I was going to say it’s a great time to be disabled, I guess it’s never a great time. Well, it’s the best time, because of technology, because of opportunities, everything, you can go out there and pretty much do what you want to do. So, you know, you don’t have to be doing a million things all the time, just find what you’re passionate about and go and do that
Sophie: I’ve seen so many of your talks, Mark, and you are just such a positive person, like a ray of [00:20:00] sunshine. Like, you know, there’s always, you’re always looking at like the positives of life and, but you’re human. And on the days that you don’t feel positive, like what, how do you bring yourself back up and what advice do you have to listeners on the days that they might not feel positive
Mark: I just tell myself that it’s fine. I’ve actually
been going through that recently. If you check back a couple of days ago on my social media, I put out a very honest post. About how I was so grateful. I’ve got three healthy, happy children, a lovely wife, a roof over my head, and food in my belly. I’ve got all these amazing opportunities that I’m lucky enough to have, but I just felt a little bit bleh, for like, a week and a half, two weeks.
But I know it’s temporary. I know you, you just, you can’t go through life riding the crest of the wave all the time. You have to come down, and it’s taken me a while to get here, because I would used to, in the past, get wrapped up in the, Oh, I feel rubbish, this isn’t nice. Now, my mindset is this is normal.
This is part of the process. You have to experience these lows and go through them to [00:21:00] appreciate the highs. You know, and this morning I went and visited my eldest daughter and had this exact conversation with her because she’s going through some stuff too. And I said, if you never, if you just left school, started this business and everything was plain sailing, you’d be bored and you won’t understand it or appreciate success when it comes.
You’re, you have to ride this out and figure ways through it to be able to appreciate the other side of it. So if you don’t have, you know, I do. Like I just said, wake up on days and I’m like: “You don’t want to do it, or I’ve got too much to do, I’m overwhelmed, or…” then I’ll just chill.
Sophie-5: I mean, we were talking about this as well, it’s about setting boundaries as well, and just knowing how much you can give. And sometimes it’s okay, like you said, just to kick back and have a you day and not feel like you need to be on and, and, you know, be this positive person. And obviously you are positive by nature, but there are some days that you might not feel positive and it’s fine.
Sam: Yeah. And, and do you, do you share that, are you quite open about sharing those down moments? And because I, I [00:22:00] really struggle with that as someone who’s in the public eye in the sense of,
I, I am innately positive, but I also am human and I have my down days, but sometimes I do feel like when I share the down days, I get influx of people kind of jumping on that negativity bandwagon.
And I don’t know how, how helpful or safe that is for my own mental wellbeing. So how do you do, first of all, do you share that? And if you do, do you, how do you, set boundaries yourself?
Mark: I do share, absolutely. Um, I think it’s important to. I think the problem with social media is everyone wants to share the highs and you know make out that they’ve got this great life and everything’s rosy all the time and that doesn’t help other people because other people look at that and be like: “why have they got it so easy?
Why are they so successful? They never have bad days”. So I absolutely do share the down times, but it is hard to manage you know when you’re talking about boundaries because of social media [00:23:00] you are contactable everywhere and I do have a lot of emails, DMs across all the platforms, from people who are struggling, particularly people who are either new amputees, or, are scheduled for an amputation.
In fact this morning, I had to, to DM a guy, and say, he asked me if I could mentor him, his amputation’s booked in, could I mentor him through the process? I said listen, “I will help you where I can, but my time is very limited. I have a family, I have a career. I will help you where I can.”
That’s the boundary. And the thing is as well, I think, what I’ve learned over the years is if you help people too much, it can have detrimental effects. You can guide them and coach them, but they have to do the work. So it’s difficult. It’s difficult. It’s taken me, I’ve been doing it for, on social media for 15 years now.
So it’s taken me this long to learn to set some boundaries. But we’re getting there. We’re getting there
Sam: I am [00:24:00] still really rubbish.
Sophie: It’ll come,
Sam: Can you help me please? Um, so let’s just say that you are, I would say an overachiever. Is that, is that, is that correct? Because you are of course, a, an amazing athlete and you won gold at the Invictus Games and you are a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, um, pro and you also do a, a, a smidge of open water swimming.
Have I, have I missed anything else? Are you a whizz in the kitchen or No? Oh, okay. Cool. slightly intimidated there, but well, you reined it back in. Um,
Um,
Clearly keeping active is in, is a really big part of your life. So what is it about physical sport that kind of, you know, is important to you? Is it the regime?
Is it the fact that you can set goals or is it just for the sheer fun of it?
Mark: I just think it’s a very important part of all of our lifestyles. Thank you so much. There’s no doubt in my mind, and I’m not a doctor, but there’s no doubt in my mind that the link between physical health and mental health it’s linked. When I work out, I feel better physically, [00:25:00] but I also feel better mentally.
Clearer, more motivated, you know, it’s um, it keeps me on track. And, you build a good community of people as well around you. When you go out and do specific sports, the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu community, is probably the closest that I’ve found to the military community. And, when you bear in mind, we’re rolling around trying to choke each other unconscious and… each other’s limbs off, but as soon as we’re finished, we’re sharing a coffee together and talking about life and sharing our problems.
It’s actually a, I guess, unofficial form of therapy. But I just, it’s always been a huge part of my life since I was about 13 years old, just physical activity and, you know, feeling like I’ve left it all out there and, you know, once you, once you work out and you, you put a good session, everything else seems easy.
Sam: I love that. I love that because I think, you know, conventional therapy can be costly for starters. I think it can take a, a specific person to go and speak to a stranger so [00:26:00] openly. So I think that’s that… I’ve never thought of sport like that, that you have that chitchat afterwards. And, and you know, you Yeah.
I love that. So anyone’s listening, maybe that might be a, an avenue to explore if you do feel isolated or ostracised , go and join a, join a club. It doesn’t have to be sport. Just join a club. Yeah. Get, be part of a community.
Sophie: And Mark, I know you’re a Motability Scheme customer, um, and I just wanted to ask like, how has the scheme enabled you to, you know, do these sports and just go on all these motivational, you know, when you go and speak and talk and host workshops, like how does the scheme enable you
Mark: I mean having the vehicle just gives me independence, you know, and I often think about this I often sit there and you know, it’s a Friday now So I’ll review my week in my mind when I’m just chilling out later and I’ll sit down and think how could I do this, if I had to rely on someone else to constantly take me places? You know, I couldn’t go swimming, I mean I could but it [00:27:00] would be a lot harder taking myself to the gym daily, you know the the car, and what the scheme provides gives me that independence to go out and live the life that I want to live, you know I’m not restricted in any way and I travel the country as a speaker. It’s given me the ability to have a career after my injuries. Again, that would be very difficult There are there’s public transport.
Absolutely. But, I as a as an individual prefer the car because it just gives me it’s the ultimate level of freedom for me, I can go where I want, do what I want, whenever I want. However I want. Within the speed limit
Sophie: of course, of course.
Sam: get that one there quickly.
Mark: Yes.
Sam: Now, I’m pretty sure that you’ve got lots of fabulous things up your sleeve, so can you, can you give us a bit of a taste or a bit of a tease as to what might be coming up for you next?
Mark: Yeah, so I’m trying to write my second book now. Well, I’m trying to write two books actually. One is going to be a complete [00:28:00] autobiography. Starting from when I was a kid getting bullied and finding fitness through to current day. Then I’m writing one focused on mindset. And, and like we’ve talked about, it’s going to be a book that’s very honest and very raw.
I’m going to talk about the crying and going to therapy and the benefits of sport. And how I built my mind up during royal marine training during recovery and all that kind of stuff. I’m trying to get more into the the media world as a presenter; tv, radio, podcast and that kind of stuff. And, in november, myself and a team of 10 Para athletes are going out to Abu Dhabi to compete in the World Para Jiu Jitsu Championships. So hopefully by Christmas, I might be able to say that I’m a Para Jiu Jitsu World Champion fingers crossed
Sophie: that’ll be amazing. Yeah, fingers crossed. Good luck. Mark, half an hour is not enough. Um, but before you go, we have a tradition going on where our previous guests [00:29:00] ask our next guest a question. So our previous guest had a question for you, which is: “what is your favorite thing about your disability? What do you love about your disability?”
Mark: I love the fact that I never have to have a knee replacement when I get older. Ha ha ha ha! No, do you know what? Some of the speaking that I do is in schools. And kids are fascinated. And I have a thing in my prosthetic legs called a rotator in the knee. And it means that I can basically take from my knee down through my shin and foot and spin the thing 360. Or like, when an assembly of kids will come in, I’ll have both my legs or my feet facing up with like a book on them.
Sophie: No you don’t. I bet they love that
Mark: Just an instant icebreaker because there’s no awkwardness. They’re all like laughing and they’re like: “that’s so cool”. And then instantly you’ve got rapport with all of them. And then you go into telling your story or whatever it is you’re there to do. And it’s amazing that you think if you can take something, which once in my [00:30:00] life I thought was so terrible, and use it to be so empowering and then you’ve cracked the code.
Now if you can bring joy to other people through it, you’ve cracked the code.
Sophie: what a beautiful sentiment to end on. Honestly, Mark, thank you so much for your time today. It’s been brilliant. Very positive. I feel uplifted,
Sam: very uplifted.
It’s our final show of season one, but you know, if I’m not overreaching, we may have a season two. So in that eventuality, have you got a question for our next guest on season two?
So it could be something as off the wall as what is your favorite ice cream? Or something a little bit more, um, meaningful and, and, and philosophical.
Mark: Okay, so I’m gonna assume that if the next guest was born with a disability or acquired it later in life that they didn’t just wake up one day and be super positive, right? There was a, there was a turning point. So my question is, what, when, what, when, where,
was the [00:31:00] turning point?
Was it a book, a person, a seminar, a TV show? What was that one thing where the light bulb went off and you’re like, okay, we’re good to go now?
Sophie: Love it.
Sam: Thank you so much.
Sophie: Thank you,
Mark: Thank you, ladies.
Sophie: Sam, for the last time this season…
Sam: gonna do something extra. It’s car chat, car chat, with Matt. It’s car chat, with Matt. Car with Matt. Oh…Ohhhhhh I don’t know where I’m going with this. Why am I still single?
Sophie: You’re gonna miss that Matt aren’t you?
Matt: yeh, I am, yeah.
Sophie: What are we talking about today?
Matt: Today, we are talking about how to drive safely in the winter months.
Sophie: It’s approaching winter!
Matt: It is, it is. It’s very important because obviously, at the moment, in a lot of places there are delays with car repairs, so if you do get in an accident, it can mean people are without their car for extended periods, which is not ideal.
And often, obviously, even though there’s courtesy cars they’re not always perfect, or they might not have the adaptations you need or whatever. So yeah, obviously anything we can do to help avoid an accident is great.
so I’m going to jump in and say the, the first thing to do, so if [00:32:00] the weather’s rubbish, if it’s hammering with rain, If it’s snowy, if it’s icy, or even it’s just really cold, because being very cold can drastically reduce your grip, the most important thing is to give yourself time on a journey.
Give yourself time because you’re gonna go out, the windows are all gonna be frozen, or there’s gonna be snow on the car that you’ve gotta get rid of. So, you know, you’ve gotta have time to, for the car, to defrost and to demist the windows and all that sort of thing. And, you know, it’s, it is a legal requirement for your windscreen to be clear.
Um, you see people trying to look through like some saucer shaped hole that they’ve managed to. Uh, yeah.
Sam: That’s not funny. I dunno why I’m laughing.
Sophie: I know, why are we always in a rush? I mean, just wait for the upper, the wind screen to defrost.
Matt: Absolutely, you’ve just got to give yourself that bit of extra time, and it takes the stress out of your journey. And also, your journey’s, even ignoring that beginning prep bit, your journey’s going to take longer because people are going to be driving slower, there’s likely to be accidents, da da da da da.
And also, if the conditions are that bad, just think: “do you need to go out today, or is it better to go another day?”
Sam: I’m happy at home from, like, November to to january.
Sophie: Hibernate.
Sam: what, where’s Sam? I’m at home!
Matt: Uh, yeah, and [00:33:00] of course, as well, when you do set off, stick to main roads, because, uh, more for if it’s snowy or icy, because the main roads will have either been gritted, or there will have already been cars that have gone and kind of cleared it up a bit, whereas back roads and rural roads are likely to be a bit more treacherous.
The next thing to make sure your car’s in, you know, is road worthy. That shouldn’t be a problem on the Motability Scheme because most of the cars will be new. But the thing that I can’t stress enough in terms of looking after your car is just make sure your tyres are in good condition…
Sophie: okay
Matt: …because It’s the only thing, the only part of your car that actually connects the car to the road. It is so important.
And the amount of people who either want to cheap out on tyres or don’t actually check that their tyres have got any tread on them and…
Sam: I was just about to say tread.
I know the lingo!
Matt: There you go, tread. Yeah, so, I mean, if anyone wants to check, the minimum legal tread depth is 1. 6 millimetres, but they advise 3 millimetres as a minimum.
you can sort of check that with the edge of a 20 pence piece, actually, if you put a…
Sophie: Oh, is that how you do it?
Matt: That’s the way. You can get proper gadgets to check it, or you can just take your car in for a health check.
Sam: I won’t be doing that myself
Matt: but yeah, it is [00:34:00] really important that your tyres are in good condition and that the pressures are correct.
Um, obviously that will get done at a service or whatnot, but you can check them yourself. And if you’re not sure what pressure your tyres need to be at, it will be in your vehicle handbook or most cars actually have it on like a sticker that’s somewhere around the driver’s door. When the doors opens, you can see what they should be.
The other thing is make sure your wipers are working and you’ve got washer fluid because if it is snowing and sometimes it’s just… you know, you’ve got to be able to see out your windscreen. So that’s, that’s an important one. Uh, check that your lights are working.
It’s an annoying one because usually you need a second person, uh, to walk around the car with you, but especially rear lights, fog lights, because if people coming from behind can’t see you and it’s foggy and you’re driving much slower than they are, it’s going to be a big, big problem. Other than that, if you’re heading out on a long journey, just make sure you’ve got a decent amount of fuel, or if you’ve got an electric car, make sure you’ve got a decent amount of charge before you set off, because if you do get stuck in a long jam, the last thing you need is the added stress of the fuel light being on, or having no more miles, and thinking, oh!
Yeah, there you go. Yeah, always be prepared
Sam: Always be prepared. What about gloves though? Because I’m [00:35:00] assuming, like, for me, I’ve got quite bad dexterity so my joints can get quite sore in winter. So would you recommend having some leather gloves?
Will they detract from grip? Or, or is that advisable?
Matt: no, you can get driving gloves. You can get gloves that are for driving that will give you grip on the steering wheel.
But yeah, absolutely, that is important. And I’d maybe recommend looking at a car with a heated steering wheel
as well, if you can.
Sophie: Good idea.
Matt: They’re not super common, but there are some cars on the scheme that have them. Um, so yeah, yeah, absolutely. Driving gloves are fine. Uh, it’s a good idea. And lastly, uh, in terms of just preparation with the car, it’s not a bad idea to keep a… it feels a bit extreme, but it’s not a bad idea to keep like a winter safety kit with you that has things like, A warning triangle in case you break down, a blanket.
Sam: Next to my kill kit. Is that what it is
Matt: Next…
Sam: yeah.
Matt: is that what it is? This what you were really talking about with the driving gloves?
Sophie: Yeah, yeah,
Sam: The driving gloves are doubling up, basically.
Matt: To mask your fingerprints, yeah. The Um, yeah, so stuff like that. Food, water, just stuff that you might need if you break down on the side of the road. Yeah, torch, exactly. Uh, that sort of thing.[00:36:00] And then and then the main thing to do once you get going is actually to think about your driving. So for one thing, stopping distances is the biggest thing in poor weather because A) visibility is reduced.
You take longer to see hazards anyway. So reaction times are longer, but it takes the car a lot longer to stop and it will take the car much longer to stop than people think it will in bad conditions. So in heavy rain, you’re generally looking at least double the stopping distance you would have in the dry.
Now, if you think it. You know, if your stopping distance is 100 metres, then suddenly 200 metres is a lot more than that. Um, it’s quite, you know, it’s quite a big distance. So, do keep your distance from the car in front. If it’s snowy or icy out, that, that stopping distance increases exponentially. You can be looking at up to 10 times the stopping distance in snow or ice.
Black ice terrifies me. Yeah.
Sam: I mean, like, that is just something that just… sends shivers up my spine
Matt: mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. That, yeah, it is scary.
And the thing is, if, when you say sort of 10 times the distance, I know it does sound a lot anyway, but if you imagine it [00:37:00] say 30 miles an hour, which is a pretty slow speed, relatively speaking, you’re looking at potentially 200 meters to stop at that speed.
Now, 200 meters if, if you’re having trouble visualising that is about the dis… the length of two football fields. Wow. So if you think, if you imagine a 30 mile an hour road in a residential area where you drive, and then imagine that distance, how long you need to potentially stop. It’s a really long way
so that is the main thing. Um, and moving away from ice, you mentioned black ice, the kind of rain equivalent of that, I guess, is, is sometimes there’s deep standing water that you’re not aware of.
And if you hit that speed, you can aquaplane, which is where, uh, so your car, your, basically your tyres can sort of break contact with the road because there’s too much water for the tyres to displace. Uh, and then you end up. You’re sort of just skating on water, effectively. so just be mindful if you see a lot of standing water in the road, just be careful that that could happen.
Sophie: What do you do? Drive around or just drive slowly through?
Matt: I would ideally, yeah, if you see it in time, slow down. And if you can avoid it, great. If not, just slow down so that when you go through it.
Sophie: yeah. Okay.
Matt: If you do hit it, uh, so generally the rule is if you hit [00:38:00] something, so whether that’s sort of ice or, um, sort of standing water, if the car starts to sort of skid, start going sideways, you sort of steer it into.
Sam: I was going to say, yes, what do you do?
Matt-1You obviously don’t go, “Ahhhh” and take your hands off the the wheel. This is the… going difficult because you can give this advice, but a lot of people in the heat at the moment who aren’t used to that, they will just panic. But if you can, so the important things to do are don’t do anything like really sudden, like don’t suddenly yank the steering wheel, don’t slam on the brakes, don’t, you know, don’t do anything.
Yeah, it’s all about being gentle with cars. Um, so if, for example, your car sort of of points as if it starts pointing to the left, so the back of the car is sliding out to the right and the front of the car starts pointing to the left, you want to steer to the right. So you’re almost steering in the direction that you want the car to be traveling, if that makes sense.
Sophie: Okay.
Sam: I’m I’m totally gonna wear a, um, helmet when I drive. All the the time. I’m going to be really beautiful. So, um, um, to to wrap up today’s section, I really want to end on a high.
What gadget… tell me, what have you got for me? Better be a cracker
Matt: I hope… you might be [00:39:00] disappointed, but maybe you won’t because it’s one that you could do with at the moment, Sam, if you were driving, uh, it’s a, it’s a SunVisor tissue dispenser. So you could get a little thing that attaches to the SunVisor and has tissues in it because when you’re driving, right?
If you sneeze and you’re on a motorway, and yeah, let’s say you need a tissue, that is really not an ideal scenario to be in when you’ve not got a
Sophie: when you’re driving. You haven’t got a…
Sam: long tongue like this, like this. You’re out like this.
Matt: especially when we’re coming up to winter, you’ve got a cold….
Absolutely!
Sophie: As long just one comes out, because you know how annoying it is when you go for a tissue and then loads come out?
Sam: That’s very annoying. annoying.
Sophie: So as long as one comes out.
Sam: Also I have short arms, so I don’t even know whether, like to be quite honest with with you.
Matt: That’s a good point actually.
Sam: just need a robotic arm to do everything for me while I’m driving. You know, mop my brow, put my glasses…
Matt: maybe I’ll have a look into robot arms for next episode.
Sam: Please do. please do. Aww.
Sophie: never know. Thank you Matt for our final car chat of the [00:40:00] season
Matt: Thanks for having me.
Sophie: It’s been brilliant. Thank you.
Matt: It’s been a pleasure, I’ve really enjoyed it… Season 2. Season 2. Season
Outro
Sam: And that’s it for this season of the Motability Lifestyle Pod. We really hope you’ve enjoyed the ride. Thank you to our in-house specialist, Matt Lizzimore, and our guest Mark Ormrod. Thank you to our producer, Joleen Goffin, at Rethink at Rethink Audio, and our editorial assistant, Lucie Rhodes, at
Sophie: Lucie Rhodes at Wonderly. If you like this episode, follow us, tell all your friends and please leave us a review. If you want to tell us what you thought or if there’s something you’d like to hear, come and say hello on Instagram.
For some behind the scenes content, follow us on TikTok and watch the full video on YouTube. And I’d like to add that there’s a BSL version and a captioned version. You can find us on Motability _ lifestyle _ mag. Finally, if you want more information about Motability Scheme, go to Motability. co. uk or if you want to learn more about Motability Foundation, visit Motability. org. uk And that’s it. I’m Sophie-Marie Odum.
Sam: [00:41:00] Oh, and I’m Samantha Renke.
Sophie: See you next time.
