Joanne Lockwood: Welcome to Inclusion Bites, your sanctuary
Joanne Lockwood: for bold conversations that spark change. I'm Joanne Lockwood,
Joanne Lockwood: your guide on this journey of exploration into the heart of inclusion,
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Joanne Lockwood: ignite the spark of inclusion with Inclusion Bites.
Lindsay Mitchison: And today is episode 162 with the
Lindsay Mitchison: title, breaking the disability mold. I
Lindsay Mitchison: have the absolute honor and privilege to welcome Lindsay Mitchison.
Lindsay Mitchison: Lindsay is an award winning disabled entrepreneur and founder
Lindsay Mitchison: of Neowalk. They create stunning acrylic
Lindsay Mitchison: walkistics to empower people with confidence and
Lindsay Mitchison: style. When I authenticate to describe her superbash, she said it
Lindsay Mitchison: is believing in possibility and empowering
Lindsay Mitchison: others to thrive beyond limitations. Hello, Lindsay.
Lindsay Mitchison: Welcome to the show. Hello, Jo. Thank you very much for having
Lindsay Mitchison: me. How are you? I'm very good. So you're you're based
Lindsay Mitchison: up north in The UK, and I'm down south as they say. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: I'm in the frozen North. So it's a bit chilly up here, but,
Lindsay Mitchison: yeah. We we had snow last week, but a bit warmer this week. So, yeah,
Lindsay Mitchison: York's a lovely, lovely city. It is. I remember going to
Lindsay Mitchison: the railway museum there as a child, and, yeah, I don't think I've
Lindsay Mitchison: been back to York specifically, but certainly being around that area in the Yorkshire area.
Lindsay Mitchison: Beautiful part of the country. Yeah. Very friendly, aren't you? Up
Lindsay Mitchison: north. It was a love and We are. Dark, are they? Yeah. We're not
Lindsay Mitchison: we're not ducks up here. You'd be, you'd be a pet or a mate. You'd
Lindsay Mitchison: be, yeah. Now then mate. So when
Lindsay Mitchison: we've connected in the green room earlier, I was welcomed by
Lindsay Mitchison: someone who said hello. And I, you came on to the green and said, sorry,
Lindsay Mitchison: that wasn't me. That was my parrot. So I have a conversation with me in
Lindsay Mitchison: the background. Yeah. That's my, that's my little friend,
Lindsay Mitchison: Blanco. He's my umbrella cockatoo. He's he has two words that he's
Lindsay Mitchison: really good at, which are hello and goodbye. So you you said
Lindsay Mitchison: hello, and he went, hello. He's very, very sociable.
Lindsay Mitchison: And I didn't realize it was a parrot when I first say
Lindsay Mitchison: hello and he came on, you wheeled yourself on. It was like, it says,
Lindsay Mitchison: it was, that was my parrot. So Yeah. He's just my assistant. He just
Lindsay Mitchison: steps in when I need him to. So like a a a different version of
Lindsay Mitchison: chat GPT sort of holds the thought for you.
Lindsay Mitchison: Anyway, para agent. He's, he's quite
Lindsay Mitchison: sociable, although he does like calling people bad boys. So if you if we'd kept
Lindsay Mitchison: him in longer, he probably would have started saying, hello,
Lindsay Mitchison: So, Lindsay, you, you had a, a life changing
Lindsay Mitchison: should I say event? Is that, is that event? Is that the right word? Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: Fifteen or two years ago. And you're now a globally
Lindsay Mitchison: recognized entrepreneur fueled
Lindsay Mitchison: well, first of all, show it by sharing what happened and,
Lindsay Mitchison: what turned the corner to inspire you
Lindsay Mitchison: to to take control of your your life again? Yeah. I think that that's
Lindsay Mitchison: the word. It was taking it was taking control because this happened
Lindsay Mitchison: to me. The, previous to me being
Lindsay Mitchison: ill, I was, I'd trained as a hairdresser. I was
Lindsay Mitchison: hoping to set up my own business being a hairdresser. I was mum. I got
Lindsay Mitchison: two lovely kids. And I had always had arthritis
Lindsay Mitchison: since I've been a teenager, and I had surgery on the on one of
Lindsay Mitchison: my knees. And I contracted a catastrophic
Lindsay Mitchison: MRSA infection, which was at a time, I don't know whether you remember, when
Lindsay Mitchison: MRSA was rife in hospitals. It it was it was all that
Lindsay Mitchison: was that was talked about. And I I contracted one during surgery. They stitched
Lindsay Mitchison: me up, sent me home, and, it it burbled away
Lindsay Mitchison: and really destroyed the bottom part of of my leg. And
Lindsay Mitchison: I ended up having my leg amputated three years later. I lived with it for
Lindsay Mitchison: as long as I could because I'm a trier, and I thought, you know, I
Lindsay Mitchison: can I can do this and see what I can salvage from what's
Lindsay Mitchison: happened? But, yeah, I I opted to have my leg amputated
Lindsay Mitchison: because all it was doing was holding me back, and I was
Lindsay Mitchison: facing an amputation in the future anyway. So I kind of took
Lindsay Mitchison: control back, made what had happened to
Lindsay Mitchison: me work again for me because I knew that with a prosthetic, I'd be
Lindsay Mitchison: much more active. I was I was younger. I was 43. And I knew that
Lindsay Mitchison: with a prosthetic, I'd be super active, which which I was. So the
Lindsay Mitchison: plan actually worked out because I'd be I became this I walked about
Lindsay Mitchison: everywhere with this prosthetic leg on, and I, trained
Lindsay Mitchison: to be a circus performer. Does that sound silly? I'd I I got
Lindsay Mitchison: offered all this. I I had to keep working. So I
Lindsay Mitchison: joined an agency called Amputees in Action, and they
Lindsay Mitchison: find work for amputees like me. So I I started doing lots of
Lindsay Mitchison: crazy jobs like being a live casualty
Lindsay Mitchison: actor where I would literally get placed into different situations with
Lindsay Mitchison: a a a leg that would be made with makeup to look like it had
Lindsay Mitchison: just been blown off. And I did work for the army,
Lindsay Mitchison: the SAS, all the blue light services, private security,
Lindsay Mitchison: all all sorts of people, lots of simulations.
Lindsay Mitchison: Did that. And then one day, I got this strange email
Lindsay Mitchison: asking about doing something for the Paralympics, so I said yes as
Lindsay Mitchison: well. So I became this kind of yes person who just
Lindsay Mitchison: wanted to test my limits. I just wanted to see where my
Lindsay Mitchison: new limit sat because I knew that it was it was different.
Lindsay Mitchison: So, yeah, I started the business very early on as well. I
Lindsay Mitchison: started making the acrylic walking sticks very early on. But for
Lindsay Mitchison: myself, I made them just for me, and the the magic
Lindsay Mitchison: happened there. But, yeah, it's it's been a complicated journey the last
Lindsay Mitchison: sort of twenty years. It's been very, very up and down, very up and
Lindsay Mitchison: down. Can I ask us to to go back to that time where
Lindsay Mitchison: you were in hospital, you had your knee operation,
Lindsay Mitchison: and you you've been carrying, as you say, this arthritis for years anyway? So you
Lindsay Mitchison: are partially mobile or less less mobile, less active than you wanted to be,
Lindsay Mitchison: which is the whole reason you had it. How does the MRSA manifest itself
Lindsay Mitchison: first? Made you aware of it. So I was
Lindsay Mitchison: aware that my recovery wasn't going as well as it should be from the knee
Lindsay Mitchison: surgery. Physiotherapists were saying, you probably shouldn't
Lindsay Mitchison: be in as much pain as you still are. I wasn't able
Lindsay Mitchison: to move the knee as much. So they they were concerned that that something had
Lindsay Mitchison: gone wrong. But then it manifested as, like, a
Lindsay Mitchison: cellulitis, so lots of redness and swelling on
Lindsay Mitchison: on the skin around the knee. Then it manifested as blisters. It just
Lindsay Mitchison: kept getting worse and worse, and I kind of knew that something was going on.
Lindsay Mitchison: Plus I started to feel quite ill. So it but, yeah, it it sort of
Lindsay Mitchison: bubbled away for about four months before I was
Lindsay Mitchison: taken seriously by the GP in the hospital.
Lindsay Mitchison: And then they looked at it, and it was like, shit. There's something
Lindsay Mitchison: really bad going on here. As you said, that was, at a time where the
Lindsay Mitchison: awareness of MRSA wasn't as heightened. The awareness,
Lindsay Mitchison: I think, was there. The control wasn't. So they hadn't managed to
Lindsay Mitchison: get it under control in hospitals. It was it was one of the things
Lindsay Mitchison: that you got tested for before you went into hospital. And
Lindsay Mitchison: ironically, I caught it actually in a an Operating Theater, which is
Lindsay Mitchison: where you would think it would have been, immaculate. But, you know,
Lindsay Mitchison: there you go. I was I was unlucky. I was unlucky. Yeah. So
Lindsay Mitchison: what was it like making that decision? I mean, you said you were at the
Lindsay Mitchison: point where you couldn't carry on, and you want to take
Lindsay Mitchison: agency back for yourself, make that decision. It must have been
Lindsay Mitchison: quite, I don't know, quite a stressful time for your children, for your
Lindsay Mitchison: family, to know you're gonna go back. Because even though you're having
Lindsay Mitchison: an amputation, I guess there's still a risk the MRSA
Lindsay Mitchison: may not be removed at that time. Is it is that possibility? Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: It is a possibility, but that they were they were quite confident that they, they
Lindsay Mitchison: got rid of all the infection at at the time when I
Lindsay Mitchison: had the last surgery for it. But really, because I was left
Lindsay Mitchison: with a a knee that I couldn't bend. I couldn't bend it literally, and
Lindsay Mitchison: it was very painful. I couldn't walk. It was really painful. So
Lindsay Mitchison: I was already in use using a wheelchair. I was already using Mobility
Lindsay Mitchison: Aid. I'd already lost it. Do do you do you know what I mean?
Lindsay Mitchison: People said that must be the hardest decision ever to choose to have your your
Lindsay Mitchison: your leg amputated, but I'd actually already lost it. So the decision
Lindsay Mitchison: came a lot a lot easier. The the trauma I went through was losing the
Lindsay Mitchison: use of that leg at the time I was ill. So three years later, I
Lindsay Mitchison: just couldn't wait to get rid of the thing because it was just holding me
Lindsay Mitchison: back, and I knew it was holding me back. So the decision wasn't as
Lindsay Mitchison: hard as you had. So you you already realized that a
Lindsay Mitchison: prosthetic would've been less pain or no pain. Your
Lindsay Mitchison: mobility would've been improved. So you weren't losing anything.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. Okay. Yeah. Everybody that I spoke to
Lindsay Mitchison: said because I spoke to a lot of people that that were amputees when I
Lindsay Mitchison: was doing my my research on what it would be like for me. And every
Lindsay Mitchison: single one of them said, you'll wish you'd done it sooner. Every
Lindsay Mitchison: single one of them. Yeah. Alright. I'm related, but I I knew of a friend
Lindsay Mitchison: who had, a glossary bag fitted. And everyone went, oh,
Lindsay Mitchison: how terrible, how terrible this. And and they said, no. Actually, I wish I'd done
Lindsay Mitchison: it sooner because it all the issues they had going on, it diverted obviously their
Lindsay Mitchison: intestines, and and they were able to regain their life with a difference. Whereas
Lindsay Mitchison: before, they were trapped in this cycle of pain and inconvenience and and
Lindsay Mitchison: stress. Yeah. So that many times. Do the same thing. You
Lindsay Mitchison: know, seeing beyond the surgery and
Lindsay Mitchison: seeing what benefit it will have for your life. And I
Lindsay Mitchison: think if you research it enough and you talk to enough people, which I
Lindsay Mitchison: I did, it kind of confirms it in your head that it's
Lindsay Mitchison: the right Mhmm. So you do feel a lot more confident going
Lindsay Mitchison: into it. What's rehab like? So you're presumably,
Lindsay Mitchison: you you stay in hospital for a short period,
Lindsay Mitchison: walking frames, physio, people helping you regain your your balance,
Lindsay Mitchison: your momentum, walking upstairs, downstairs, those kind of things. Yeah. How how long did
Lindsay Mitchison: that part of recovery take? So I was in hospital for about
Lindsay Mitchison: five days after the amputation and got home.
Lindsay Mitchison: Everything was a bit it was all a bit home wasn't really laid out for
Lindsay Mitchison: me anymore at that point because I was I was in a wheelchair while I
Lindsay Mitchison: while I recovered in the house. And then phys physio is is
Lindsay Mitchison: really quite quite instant and quite brutal. It
Lindsay Mitchison: starts the week after, and they get you up straight away. And you
Lindsay Mitchison: use, a temporary prosthetics. So instead of having
Lindsay Mitchison: one where you've got the socket made exactly for your leg,
Lindsay Mitchison: you use, it's an inflatable prosthetic.
Lindsay Mitchison: And she's called Pam. She's got it's a Pam aid, it's called. And they get
Lindsay Mitchison: you walking. So they get you straight up, and they show you exercises.
Lindsay Mitchison: And I was at physio twice a week learning to, to to walk,
Lindsay Mitchison: and it was intense. And it was but by then, the pain had gone, you
Lindsay Mitchison: see, because I didn't have the leg there. It was completely different
Lindsay Mitchison: situation. And how kind of empowering to be
Lindsay Mitchison: stood up again. Because for a while, you know, for three years, I'd
Lindsay Mitchison: I'd spent a lot of the time sat down where people kind of look spirit
Lindsay Mitchison: over your head. And it was quite empowering to be, to be stood up and
Lindsay Mitchison: tall again, you know? So physio was hard. Rehab was, I
Lindsay Mitchison: would say it took me about five months to be walking
Lindsay Mitchison: properly on a prosthetic leg, but my God, I was off. I was
Lindsay Mitchison: loved it. It was it gave me back my freedom. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: So above the knee amputation, correct me if I'm wrong, is is more of a
Lindsay Mitchison: challenge to regain your balance, your stride than below the knee, because you're you're
Lindsay Mitchison: obviously missing a joint. So you've lost two joint. Relearn. So you lose
Lindsay Mitchison: Two joint. Yeah. Lose your knee and you lose your ankle. So with the
Lindsay Mitchison: below knee, you only lose your ankle. And I I saw
Lindsay Mitchison: people with below knee amputations coming in at the same time as me for
Lindsay Mitchison: physio. And within two weeks, they were off. Like,
Lindsay Mitchison: you know, they'd they'd lost nothing. It was amazing to see.
Lindsay Mitchison: Above knee is a bit different because you've got to learn how to use the
Lindsay Mitchison: the prosthetics that because they have knees that you've got to learn how
Lindsay Mitchison: to to control as well. So a bit bit more complicated.
Lindsay Mitchison: Exalston. Mhmm. And above knee amputee
Lindsay Mitchison: uses approximately double the energy, as
Lindsay Mitchison: a an an ambulatory non or person two
Lindsay Mitchison: legged. It takes twice as much energy for me to do
Lindsay Mitchison: anything as as it does for you. Especially the
Lindsay Mitchison: cognitive load of your brain trying to process that process that new
Lindsay Mitchison: movement. Yeah. When we're when we learn to walk as as as infants, we that
Lindsay Mitchison: takes us eighteen months to get the hang of standing up and moving. Yeah. I
Lindsay Mitchison: remember being being in the in the physio because it was all
Lindsay Mitchison: indoors, obviously, and that they used to take us out into the corridor so we
Lindsay Mitchison: could walk up a bit of a a ramp and. Then one day,
Lindsay Mitchison: they said, right. We're going outside, and it will be totally different. And
Lindsay Mitchison: I'm like, yeah. Really? It's just outside. I'm used to going
Lindsay Mitchison: outside. It was terrifying because they made me walk on
Lindsay Mitchison: gravel. They made me walk on grass. They made me do some steps.
Lindsay Mitchison: The wind was blowing. The whole thing was just so
Lindsay Mitchison: different to learning to walk inside, and it completely
Lindsay Mitchison: threw me that it would make such a difference, but it it actually it it
Lindsay Mitchison: really did. It's like you say, it's the overload. It's just overwhelming. And
Lindsay Mitchison: being outdoors just added more more complication into the
Lindsay Mitchison: walking process. But it it I mean, I mean, I I was I was
Lindsay Mitchison: good at walking. I really put a lot of effort into it because that was
Lindsay Mitchison: my goal. That that was the whole reason for the amputation because I
Lindsay Mitchison: wanted to be able to I didn't want to be a woman with
Lindsay Mitchison: one leg. I wanted to be a woman with a prosthetic leg. That that was
Lindsay Mitchison: what I wanted to be. So it's redefining your identity, really. You
Lindsay Mitchison: weren't a woman with a disability. You you're a woman who has a leg that's
Lindsay Mitchison: different. Yes. That was very much what my what my goal was.
Lindsay Mitchison: And you asked how how did I do
Lindsay Mitchison: it? What made me feel able to turn that
Lindsay Mitchison: round? And I think it's it's belief. A lot of
Lindsay Mitchison: it is self belief, but it's also belief in believing in who you
Lindsay Mitchison: surround yourself with because they they give you power
Lindsay Mitchison: to push through. They give you the the support. Look at this. This
Lindsay Mitchison: was the first tattoo I ever got. It's gonna be backwards, isn't it? But it
Lindsay Mitchison: says believe, and I got that just after the
Lindsay Mitchison: I I did it before Ted Lasso did. It was it was a
Lindsay Mitchison: language for his, but I think a lot of it is belief. It's self belief
Lindsay Mitchison: and, believing in in possibilities, which is how you
Lindsay Mitchison: introduced me. And I knew that it was possible for me to do so
Lindsay Mitchison: much once I got rid of that that leg that had stopped
Lindsay Mitchison: playing as a team player. See, if you ride the clock back fifty, sixty,
Lindsay Mitchison: hundred years, false limbs, prosthetics, however you wanna describe them,
Lindsay Mitchison: were all such a social stigma, weren't they? People used to hide them. They
Lindsay Mitchison: women wear long dresses and all. Men will wear trousers to cover them up completely.
Lindsay Mitchison: They look kind of blend them in. But I've seen influences on
Lindsay Mitchison: YouTube or on television where people are kinda owning the look. They don't have to
Lindsay Mitchison: be looking like a human birth leg. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: They're titanium. They're kinda glitzy. Yep. I mean, they're some of
Lindsay Mitchison: them are absolutely stunning. There's, a model called Victoria
Lindsay Mitchison: Modesto, and she's the one that famously might have seen an advert
Lindsay Mitchison: on TV where it was a perfect came to a perfect point.
Lindsay Mitchison: This this prosthetic leg, absolutely stunning. She's got some gorgeous legs.
Lindsay Mitchison: But, yeah, people people still want to hide them. Some people do. I
Lindsay Mitchison: never did. They they gave me a leg that had a cover on it, and
Lindsay Mitchison: I took it home and ripped the cover off because it it just didn't there
Lindsay Mitchison: was no point pretending it was a real leg. I just got rid of one
Lindsay Mitchison: of them. And I just thought, no. Just accept it for what it is.
Lindsay Mitchison: It's a prosthetic leg, and it wear it and be be proud of it. But
Lindsay Mitchison: there's some absolutely stunning legs now. Really gorgeous. They cost a
Lindsay Mitchison: lot of money. They do Yeah. Cost a few yeah. And the
Lindsay Mitchison: NHS, to be fair, they give you a leg that matches your
Lindsay Mitchison: capability. So when I was 43, they gave me good
Lindsay Mitchison: legs because I was younger. Whereas now, nah, not so much.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. Because I'm 57 now, and it's tight.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. Yeah. You're not gonna do much with it, Lindsay, are you really? So, you
Lindsay Mitchison: know, it's not exactly a broom handle, but, you know, the the as you
Lindsay Mitchison: get older, they, they they give you less and less.
Lindsay Mitchison: They save you the super active people. So you haven't got
Lindsay Mitchison: one of those, sprint blades that you see on the Paralympics? No.
Lindsay Mitchison: Would love one, but no. I I've asked, but no. No. I'm
Lindsay Mitchison: not gonna sprint anyway. I wouldn't even sprint if someone was chasing me. I just
Lindsay Mitchison: wouldn't have. Take your leg off and throw it at them.
Lindsay Mitchison: Be the answer, wouldn't it? Come on then if you think yeah. But, yeah, the,
Lindsay Mitchison: the the NHS sort of it's got no money. I mean, let's let's be
Lindsay Mitchison: totally honest. It's it's on its knees. So, yeah, they
Lindsay Mitchison: they allocate their money carefully. Yeah. I I'm I'm just
Lindsay Mitchison: hypothesizing. You know? It's fair and reasonable for the NHS to
Lindsay Mitchison: provide you enough so that your quality of life is
Lindsay Mitchison: restored roughly to where you were before. They're not there to give you more than
Lindsay Mitchison: you already had. So just maintaining that point of life. Okay?
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. Yeah. But they they definitely don't. The actual knees,
Lindsay Mitchison: some of them are microchipped. You know, they've they've got
Lindsay Mitchison: little computers. They learn how you walk so they can help you
Lindsay Mitchison: back. It knows when you go on an uneven surface, you know, and it
Lindsay Mitchison: it it kicks in and helps you. It knows you're going downhill. And it yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: Amazing, amazing technology. We've got to thank our veterans
Lindsay Mitchison: for that because so many guys and girls were coming back from,
Lindsay Mitchison: you know, Afghanistan and Iraq that were amputees. So a lot of
Lindsay Mitchison: the progression with prosthetics has come around because of
Lindsay Mitchison: them, lad. You you said when you first came home from hospital after
Lindsay Mitchison: the amputation that you realized your house wasn't designed
Lindsay Mitchison: for wheelchair access or for your mobility needs at the time. How have you
Lindsay Mitchison: found society in the world at large going from
Lindsay Mitchison: that? I appreciate you went through a phase where you were less able because of
Lindsay Mitchison: the infection in your knee and everything. But you you must have found the
Lindsay Mitchison: world less accommodating than you expected, or or did you expect it to
Lindsay Mitchison: be a challenge getting on and off trains and buses and driving
Lindsay Mitchison: and things like that? I mean, we're here to talk inclusivity
Lindsay Mitchison: because, you know, that's the name of your podcast. And I'm living in
Lindsay Mitchison: a world that isn't built for me. It's not it's not
Lindsay Mitchison: built to accommodate my my needs. You know? Times you'll
Lindsay Mitchison: be lucky, and you'll, you know, plans will go easy
Lindsay Mitchison: and train travel and all the rest of it. And you'll you'll go to a
Lindsay Mitchison: restaurant where there might be a toilet for you. But, you know, a lot of
Lindsay Mitchison: the time, it's just it's not built for people with mobility
Lindsay Mitchison: issues. It's frustrating. I deal with it because there's
Lindsay Mitchison: bigger things going on in life. You know, if there's a if I have to
Lindsay Mitchison: go to a public toilet, you know, hundred yards away if I'm in a
Lindsay Mitchison: restaurant, don't really care as long as I can go. As long as I don't
Lindsay Mitchison: just have to go on the floor. You know, I'm happy with that. There's bigger
Lindsay Mitchison: things to complain about. I I would never make a fuss. What does
Lindsay Mitchison: bug me are, dirty disabled toilets
Lindsay Mitchison: at service stations where there's no other choice. You know?
Lindsay Mitchison: Because there's no there's no need. So I I have complained about things like
Lindsay Mitchison: that. But, yeah, the it's just not an inclusive an
Lindsay Mitchison: inclusive world for people with, with disabilities. Not at all. Following up
Lindsay Mitchison: on what you say about the toilet association, what what what we just what what
Lindsay Mitchison: gets me on my soapbox is you turn up that another door, they have this
Lindsay Mitchison: check sheet. This this toilet was last cleaned, and they have the hour slots. And
Lindsay Mitchison: you think, well, no one's no one's checked. It's like six hours or eight hours.
Lindsay Mitchison: In fact, no one's been there today. Or someone's filled in all the gaps, the
Lindsay Mitchison: same signature all the way down. They go in there and think, nah. You've not
Lindsay Mitchison: been in there. Absolutely. No. I So can that? Really bugs
Lindsay Mitchison: me, really bugs me. And I I have complained about about that. I've
Lindsay Mitchison: been on my soapbox about that. But generally speaking, I
Lindsay Mitchison: try not to complain too much. I try not to get my blood grew up
Lindsay Mitchison: and, there's bigger things to complain about. But not
Lindsay Mitchison: everybody is empowered to be an advocate for themselves or for others. And so
Lindsay Mitchison: sometimes if, if nobody does, then nobody, then it doesn't change. You have,
Lindsay Mitchison: you have to create change, don't you? No. You do. In York, I live
Lindsay Mitchison: in I live in York. A lot of the buildings are really old. So whenever
Lindsay Mitchison: you do sort of question, have you got a disabled Lou? Why haven't you got
Lindsay Mitchison: a disabled Lou? It's it's, planning. We're not allowed we're not
Lindsay Mitchison: allowed to do this. We're not allowed to do that. Yeah. Okay. It's probably
Lindsay Mitchison: a valid valid reason. I don't know, but it's one that's thrown around
Lindsay Mitchison: quite, We hide behind the jostle, don't we? It becomes GDPR. It
Lindsay Mitchison: becomes planning. It becomes, oh, no. We we we can't do that here.
Lindsay Mitchison: It's Lens plan. Yeah. But do you know what?
Lindsay Mitchison: I'm I'm always I'm capable enough to find a solution to most things. I
Lindsay Mitchison: mean, we're in socially, going out toilets are
Lindsay Mitchison: are generally a problem. So as long as I know that I'm somewhere
Lindsay Mitchison: near a public low, I can just and go and,
Lindsay Mitchison: and find one. Because I'm in a wheelchair I'm in a wheelchair now. I don't
Lindsay Mitchison: walk very much. I I I I have other bits of me that are falling
Lindsay Mitchison: apart now. So I'm in a wheelchair all the time now.
Lindsay Mitchison: So Oh, okay. That kind of changed life for
Lindsay Mitchison: me when I had to sit in a wheelchair all the time. But, you know,
Lindsay Mitchison: it's fine. I run my life. There's nothing I can't do from
Lindsay Mitchison: my, from my wheelchair that I could do before. Nothing at all. I
Lindsay Mitchison: can chase my kids, Tom. I can take my dogs for a walk. I can
Lindsay Mitchison: do you know what? There's nothing I can't do. Bang. Whatever's going on there. It's
Lindsay Mitchison: like the parrot escaping. I've got one of my, they're they're big kids. I've got
Lindsay Mitchison: one in the in the room. He works for me. Fantastic. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: So what what can businesses, offices,
Lindsay Mitchison: society do? I mean, you talked to me about maybe more of a growth mindset
Lindsay Mitchison: about what what's possible. What coral organizations think about in
Lindsay Mitchison: terms of accessibility? Because it sounds like you've gone through
Lindsay Mitchison: several different stages for being active and relatively
Lindsay Mitchison: healthy to developing arthritis, to developing
Lindsay Mitchison: MRSA, to having a an amputation, go through
Lindsay Mitchison: rehab, and then becoming a wheelchair user. So you've been through
Lindsay Mitchison: an evolution. So you've seen different aspects where, to paraphrase,
Lindsay Mitchison: went from being able, partially disabled,
Lindsay Mitchison: to a wheelchair user, and there's a completely different experience for you in society
Lindsay Mitchison: in that way. So what can people maybe learn from that? Each
Lindsay Mitchison: step is very much a hurdle that you've got to get over.
Lindsay Mitchison: So in connection with with the business, you know, I've been
Lindsay Mitchison: through all those changes. I've been through that evolution. So when
Lindsay Mitchison: people come to us and they talk about their disabilities, I can very
Lindsay Mitchison: much relate, and I can it resonates with me. So
Lindsay Mitchison: that's one of the reasons we're in such a good position to give
Lindsay Mitchison: advice and support to people in within our community. We have
Lindsay Mitchison: an amazing community. Got a very, very large community on Instagram,
Lindsay Mitchison: and we we do offer each other support. That's another
Lindsay Mitchison: thing as well, you see, because I'm part of the community
Lindsay Mitchison: that I serve. So my purpose, my
Lindsay Mitchison: my why now is to serve the disabled community, either
Lindsay Mitchison: through providing mobility aids, advocating,
Lindsay Mitchison: fighting for people to help them thrive, and
Lindsay Mitchison: be productive and happy and healthy. So all that,
Lindsay Mitchison: I see it from a disabled person's point of view. So it's it's quite a
Lindsay Mitchison: unique position to be a disabled creator, disabled entrepreneur.
Lindsay Mitchison: But to to go back, the the the wider world,
Lindsay Mitchison: I think, still needs educating a lot
Lindsay Mitchison: on how to not label people with disabilities
Lindsay Mitchison: because instantly, I'm labeled. We're all I know we're all labeled, but
Lindsay Mitchison: instantly, when people see me in a in a wheelchair, I'm labeled
Lindsay Mitchison: as weaker, less less
Lindsay Mitchison: able, that they, you know, they kind of assume that you've got some kind
Lindsay Mitchison: of neuro thing going on as well, which isn't true. You
Lindsay Mitchison: you kind of viewed as less than. And it's when
Lindsay Mitchison: I open my mouth and I start you know, it's when someone
Lindsay Mitchison: looks over my head and says to my son, does she know
Lindsay Mitchison: her PIN number for for her card? Exactly.
Lindsay Mitchison: How does that great. You know? And you it'll just say, well,
Lindsay Mitchison: I don't know. Ask her. You know? Or they'll look over my head
Lindsay Mitchison: and say, can she get out of her chair to get into a seat, like
Lindsay Mitchison: at the theater? And again, talk to the person talk
Lindsay Mitchison: to the person with the disability. It's, and
Lindsay Mitchison: that's that's an ignorance thing. That's someone not having
Lindsay Mitchison: come into contact with someone who's got a disability. That's just not knowing
Lindsay Mitchison: how to do it. So I think if there was more
Lindsay Mitchison: education for the younger generations
Lindsay Mitchison: to meet more opportunity for them to meet people with disabilities
Lindsay Mitchison: so they they understand. I used to do talks in
Lindsay Mitchison: schools. I'd I'd I've done a few, and kids are great. Kids just
Lindsay Mitchison: wanna know if it hurts. Does it does it hurt? No. It doesn't hurt.
Lindsay Mitchison: Okay then. Right. Can I ask you a question, miss? What did they do with
Lindsay Mitchison: your leg after they cut it off? That's where they go. Kids are very oh,
Lindsay Mitchison: they wanna look at your your prosthetic because they're the engineers of tomorrow.
Lindsay Mitchison: You know, they're and they would they wanna fiddle with it and see how heavy
Lindsay Mitchison: it is and, and see if you they just wanna play with it. I
Lindsay Mitchison: think the younger generation doesn't get that opportunity
Lindsay Mitchison: to interact with with many people with disabilities. So
Lindsay Mitchison: we've grown up into a generation of people that are just quite ignorant of how
Lindsay Mitchison: to, how to deal with it. Yeah. Sorry. My mind's
Lindsay Mitchison: wandering off here. I sometimes can't stop myself thinking about a humorous image in my
Lindsay Mitchison: head and I'm thinking, well, what do you do with your leg once it's cut
Lindsay Mitchison: off? I was thinking, well, maybe they take all the flesh off it, and then
Lindsay Mitchison: you you just get the bones back. So you get your foot and your your
Lindsay Mitchison: leg bone. You can then mount it, put it in your mantle piece or something.
Lindsay Mitchison: Have a little I don't know whether this kid had, maybe he's known someone
Lindsay Mitchison: who got their tonsils back in a jar. I don't know whether they were gonna
Lindsay Mitchison: give me it in a big long jar or, you know?
Lindsay Mitchison: No. I suppose you don't I mean, we collect a lot of tat anyway in
Lindsay Mitchison: our lives. I mean, the last thing we need is a an old leg. Imagine
Lindsay Mitchison: having that sat by the fireside in a in a With a
Lindsay Mitchison: freezer. Oh, that'd be like something off Dexter, wouldn't
Lindsay Mitchison: it? At Christmas, someone called, yeah, one of
Lindsay Mitchison: relatives, and I thought, oh, get joined at the freezer. Yeah. Don't not the one
Lindsay Mitchison: at the bottom. That's my cockney leg. That one. Not that not the one with
Lindsay Mitchison: not the one with the hairy toes. No.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. So I was about to ask a bit more about your your movie career.
Lindsay Mitchison: You know, you're a one legged stripper. So you, there must be
Lindsay Mitchison: I mean, you you said yeah. After the Paralympic thing, I
Lindsay Mitchison: did circus training to perform in the Paralympic opening and closing
Lindsay Mitchison: ceremonies in London in 2012. So performed
Lindsay Mitchison: in all these different bits in the opening. And then in the
Lindsay Mitchison: closing, I did a a big thing with, with Coldplay
Lindsay Mitchison: with I mean, they're my absolute I love them. I really
Lindsay Mitchison: love them. So they were playing underneath me, and I was hanging underneath
Lindsay Mitchison: a motorbike on a on a trapeze. And this motorbike went
Lindsay Mitchison: up a high wire. And it it was it was insane. It was one of
Lindsay Mitchison: the best nights. It it was great. But after that, I started getting
Lindsay Mitchison: opportunities for other circus things. Went to Brazil to teach
Lindsay Mitchison: circus for a bit. That that was really fun to disabled
Lindsay Mitchison: people because they got the Olympics after us. So we were
Lindsay Mitchison: looking at at helping their disabled people, you know,
Lindsay Mitchison: become circus performers as well. And then I got, I got offered
Lindsay Mitchison: this job as Peggy Sue, the one legged stripper
Lindsay Mitchison: in Bad Education, the movie with Jack Whitehall. And it was hilarious.
Lindsay Mitchison: I mean, I don't know whether you've seen it, but she was a bad stripper,
Lindsay Mitchison: so she didn't take many clothes off because as quick as she was taking them
Lindsay Mitchison: off, the audience were throwing them back at her. So she was a really bad
Lindsay Mitchison: stripper. But I remember at the time, I still had my dad alive
Lindsay Mitchison: with me, and, he told everybody that I was a prostitute.
Lindsay Mitchison: And, no. I'm just a stripper. I'm
Lindsay Mitchison: not not a prostitute. But, yeah, it was it was great fun. It was, you
Lindsay Mitchison: know, I mean, that's on my CV forever now. Who wouldn't who wouldn't want
Lindsay Mitchison: that? Yeah. I remember seeing a a BBC documentary
Lindsay Mitchison: several years ago now about Ellie Simmons. Yeah. And she was
Lindsay Mitchison: conflicted around how people wanted to cure
Lindsay Mitchison: dwarfism. And she said, well, I'm not broken. There's nothing wrong with me.
Lindsay Mitchison: I'm just a little person. I have different different size attributes
Lindsay Mitchison: to everybody else. But she was really conflicted because she was just saying
Lindsay Mitchison: that I've had a fantastic life. I've done things I've never dreamed of. I've
Lindsay Mitchison: competed the Olympics at my level. I've flown around the world. I've got gold medals.
Lindsay Mitchison: I've done this, that, and the other. I'm I'm the person I am today because
Lindsay Mitchison: of who I am. And the benevolent sense that kick into people
Lindsay Mitchison: say, oh, we should fix you. We should make this better. It's such a shame,
Lindsay Mitchison: and you're brave or you're sad. It's sad. Yeah. You must have had to put
Lindsay Mitchison: up with all of that. Yeah. Such a shame. Yeah. And I mean, one of
Lindsay Mitchison: the talks that I did at one of these schools that I mentioned, a little
Lindsay Mitchison: girl looked at me and said, do you do you like
Lindsay Mitchison: having one leg? And I all I could say to her was, well, I like
Lindsay Mitchison: being me. I like me. So, yes, I
Lindsay Mitchison: suppose I do like having one leg because that's who I am.
Lindsay Mitchison: And, you'll never hear me say it's ruined my life because
Lindsay Mitchison: it it didn't. I mean, all these opportunities that I've had that came
Lindsay Mitchison: about because I chose I made the decision. I
Lindsay Mitchison: chose to lose that leg that then allowed me to
Lindsay Mitchison: become more active again. So I got I you know, these are these opportunities
Lindsay Mitchison: came along because of that. But, you know, it it hasn't ruined my life. I'm
Lindsay Mitchison: not if I could would I go back and change it? No. I wouldn't. I
Lindsay Mitchison: wouldn't go back and change because it's put me where I'm meant to be. And
Lindsay Mitchison: I I really do feel like I'm doing what I'm meant to be
Lindsay Mitchison: doing now. You know, helping helping other people with disabilities,
Lindsay Mitchison: being that connection between them and their
Lindsay Mitchison: progress, their thriving. You know, we're we're able to support
Lindsay Mitchison: and to provide these these amazing walking sticks. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: Empowerment tools. They're more than just walking stick. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: I I I do a lot of talks. I've done some schools. And
Lindsay Mitchison: one of the questions people have asked me is, you know, if you went back
Lindsay Mitchison: to your 10 year old self, now what you do now, what would you do
Lindsay Mitchison: differently? And I I'm with you. I I said, well, I like who I am
Lindsay Mitchison: today. I've got a fantastic family. I've got children. I've got
Lindsay Mitchison: friends. And if the butterfly wings flap differently
Lindsay Mitchison: from all that time ago, everything I know in reference today wouldn't
Lindsay Mitchison: exist as it does today. So I can't wish away Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: Who I am and who we are today. So, therefore, I would not change a
Lindsay Mitchison: thing. I would just, maybe maybe leave a note
Lindsay Mitchison: somewhere, say don't spoke. That's what and then but then Yeah. Just
Lindsay Mitchison: think about what you said that there, though. Aren't we
Lindsay Mitchison: lucky that we're able to say that? You know,
Lindsay Mitchison: you you like you. I like me. It's it's
Lindsay Mitchison: I think it's a very lucky position to be
Lindsay Mitchison: in. It takes work to get there. It doesn't just happen
Lindsay Mitchison: overnight. It takes work, and it'll continue to take work.
Lindsay Mitchison: But do you do you think that's a reflection of,
Lindsay Mitchison: like I said about my belief, is it a reflection of the
Lindsay Mitchison: people that you surround yourself with as well?
Lindsay Mitchison: It is I think it is a privilege that not everybody has access to this.
Lindsay Mitchison: There's been times in my life over the last twenty, thirty, forty, fifty years
Lindsay Mitchison: where maybe I wasn't in a positive place, but there's been
Lindsay Mitchison: a lot of times where the love of family, friends, people around
Lindsay Mitchison: me has made my life meaningful. And I think, yeah,
Lindsay Mitchison: that and for not everybody has that privilege. I recognize that is a privilege.
Lindsay Mitchison: We all have something that maybe we just don't appreciate it. Maybe having a
Lindsay Mitchison: significant life event that you've had that I've had in my life
Lindsay Mitchison: makes you suddenly reflect about life in general, doesn't it?
Lindsay Mitchison: You you you don't think. Maybe you take life for granted
Lindsay Mitchison: until you realize that it's not predestined and preordained.
Lindsay Mitchison: You can actually take a step to the left and make a new path if
Lindsay Mitchison: you wish. Yeah. And some of that's forced. Some of that's
Lindsay Mitchison: you wake up and go, hang on a minute. I don't want this anymore. But,
Lindsay Mitchison: yeah, I I think if we just carry on living their life for everybody
Lindsay Mitchison: else, a life of expectations and being, or
Lindsay Mitchison: losing our own agency, then, yeah, we we will never be truly happy with ourselves.
Lindsay Mitchison: But, yeah, finding that passion and purpose, I think, we all need to do that
Lindsay Mitchison: at some point. I think but, again, not not everybody
Lindsay Mitchison: will. Not everybody will have that that privilege of finding their their why.
Lindsay Mitchison: I know people talk about, oh, what's your why? But it it
Lindsay Mitchison: it's important. And when you do find it, it is like magic.
Lindsay Mitchison: I remember when because I first started making the walking sticks
Lindsay Mitchison: for myself because I couldn't find a walking stick that I
Lindsay Mitchison: liked. They were all yuck and old fashioned and
Lindsay Mitchison: horrible. So I first started making the acrylic walking sticks for myself,
Lindsay Mitchison: and people were coming up to me and saying, who loves
Lindsay Mitchison: your walking stick? It's amazing. Instead of what happened to you
Lindsay Mitchison: or what's wrong with you? You know? Because that's another thing that people feel able
Lindsay Mitchison: to to go up to someone with a disability and go, oh, what have you
Lindsay Mitchison: done? Oh, what happened to you? And you're not gonna share. I'm not
Lindsay Mitchison: gonna share my trauma with a complete stranger. So, you know,
Lindsay Mitchison: politely just say, oh, I was ill and walk away. But I start that people
Lindsay Mitchison: started coming up to me and saying, I love your walking sticks. And that gave
Lindsay Mitchison: me a real boost. It gave me a real, you know,
Lindsay Mitchison: it's it's switched the focus from my leg to
Lindsay Mitchison: I like your stick. And that that was the magic. That that was
Lindsay Mitchison: the that was the moment when I thought, god, I could I could
Lindsay Mitchison: give that to other people. Because if I'm feeling it, I'm very much
Lindsay Mitchison: average Jo Jo public. If I'm feeling it, I know other people would
Lindsay Mitchison: get that as well. And that that was was the light bulb. That was the
Lindsay Mitchison: magic when I I decided this is what I'm meant to be doing. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: It's why do we have to make functional
Lindsay Mitchison: accessories? Dull and boring. You know, we I've
Lindsay Mitchison: got my nails painted, a nice pair of shoes Yeah. Have a hairdone,
Lindsay Mitchison: nice clothes, nice jewelry, a brooch, maybe a nice ring, bracelet,
Lindsay Mitchison: whatever it is. So why shouldn't a a walking aid, a
Lindsay Mitchison: wheelchair, whatever it may be, be part of your fashion accessory? And
Lindsay Mitchison: I've I've seen people who have jazzed up cochlear
Lindsay Mitchison: implants that aren't just boring bits of plastic. They're sparkly, and they're kind of an
Lindsay Mitchison: accessory. Why why shouldn't we be proud of this? Hey.
Lindsay Mitchison: Look. This is my You know, early on, I had people say
Lindsay Mitchison: to me, what's the point? What's the point?
Lindsay Mitchison: And able-bodied people. And I thought if you had a
Lindsay Mitchison: disability, you'd get the point straight away. Because it would
Lindsay Mitchison: just make you feel good. It would give you confidence. I always say, you know,
Lindsay Mitchison: give a give a man a walking stick or one of our walking sticks, and
Lindsay Mitchison: he'll walk like Charlie Chaplin. But give one
Lindsay Mitchison: to a person with disability, they'll look at it, and they might
Lindsay Mitchison: cry and go, that is just beautiful.
Lindsay Mitchison: I really like that. I'd be proud to be seen with that. That's
Lindsay Mitchison: the difference. You know? But this whole what point? People
Lindsay Mitchison: just don't get it until they need it. Popped onto your website as we
Lindsay Mitchison: started talking in the green room, and, I looked at some of the design.
Lindsay Mitchison: And as you say, they they look a bit different. They're not what I would
Lindsay Mitchison: say as as a modern design, ergonomic handle. They look like a question
Lindsay Mitchison: mark, a long elongated question mark. As you say, Charlie Chaplin spin it
Lindsay Mitchison: around. It's a completely different style to what I've been used to seeing.
Lindsay Mitchison: So I'm assuming it's comfortable and functional. Yeah. It's
Lindsay Mitchison: both. I mean, you know, I mean, people I know because I use them. You
Lindsay Mitchison: know, I can I can fully, I as a percent, vouch for them because I
Lindsay Mitchison: I used them for many, many years when I was walking? We've
Lindsay Mitchison: had people goodness. People collect them. People we have
Lindsay Mitchison: collectors who've got, like, 30 different colors.
Lindsay Mitchison: It's quite a competitive challenge. We have a community. We have a Facebook
Lindsay Mitchison: community group, and people go on there and share their pictures
Lindsay Mitchison: of how they store their walking sticks, you know, all the different colors.
Lindsay Mitchison: And someone will put on, oh, has anybody got a picture of
Lindsay Mitchison: Aurora out in the sunlight? And someone will go, yes. I've got one.
Lindsay Mitchison: This is mine. And, you know, they all help each other out. It's amazing. We've
Lindsay Mitchison: we've got a marketplace as well. We've got a a Neowork marketplace
Lindsay Mitchison: where people go on and sell their walking sticks. So
Lindsay Mitchison: maybe as if they've got a color and they think, actually, it's not what I
Lindsay Mitchison: thought or it's not I've I've used it, and I have no more
Lindsay Mitchison: use for it, then they sell it. So there's a a constant exchange,
Lindsay Mitchison: like a recycling thing going on as well. So they are very much a
Lindsay Mitchison: collector's item now, which surprised me.
Lindsay Mitchison: But I love it. Absolutely love it. People are proud of them.
Lindsay Mitchison: I imagine a bit like vented for for for walking aids. Well, well, well, well,
Lindsay Mitchison: well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well,
Lindsay Mitchison: well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, well, I've, I I've fancy
Lindsay Mitchison: a different one, and Yeah. Yeah. Let's trade this one in and get another one
Lindsay Mitchison: back, sort of they go. Yeah. Anybody got a 36 inch, you know, starry sky
Lindsay Mitchison: silver glitter one, and someone will go, yeah. I've got one. I don't use it
Lindsay Mitchison: much. Yeah. And they they they sell. And it's that
Lindsay Mitchison: really it's that community side of it again, which is so important to us
Lindsay Mitchison: that that has taken off. And I love that. I love, you
Lindsay Mitchison: know, people all over the world. It's just that that single
Lindsay Mitchison: interest and passion that that they've got. And I've made friends all
Lindsay Mitchison: over the world that I've never never met. And it's it's a fabulous
Lindsay Mitchison: fabulous thing, that feeling of community because everybody is very
Lindsay Mitchison: disconnected. As as someone with a disability, you may not
Lindsay Mitchison: work. You may spend all your time at home. You know, you'll have
Lindsay Mitchison: days. I have days where, I can't get out of bed than that. And it
Lindsay Mitchison: it's lonely. It's quite a lonely existence. So that that
Lindsay Mitchison: community side to it is is really important to us.
Lindsay Mitchison: You, you mentioned when we were chatting in the green room about each each of
Lindsay Mitchison: these walking as you is the near walks are made to measure it,
Lindsay Mitchison: so you don't sell them through distributors or anything like that because they're each
Lindsay Mitchison: individual. So how important is that to get the right
Lindsay Mitchison: size? Because they're not adjustable. Once they're made, they're made, aren't they? There's no adjustment.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. Yeah. No. We have lots of, there's videos on the
Lindsay Mitchison: site to show you how to measure. There's instructions, there's
Lindsay Mitchison: there's schematic those drawings to show you how to measure it. It is important.
Lindsay Mitchison: So you need to you need to follow those instructions.
Lindsay Mitchison: But we do also say that it's just a rule of thumb. It's the
Lindsay Mitchison: same instructions you would get if you googled it online or if you asked
Lindsay Mitchison: a doctor or a physio. It's the same. They're they're not our we haven't met.
Lindsay Mitchison: That's it's it's the industry standard for measuring the length of a walking
Lindsay Mitchison: stick. But it is it is important that that you get the right height because,
Lindsay Mitchison: otherwise, you can end up with a shoulder like this if it's
Lindsay Mitchison: too long, or you can end up with a shoulder that's dropped if it's too
Lindsay Mitchison: short. And shoulders are precious. I know because mine are mine
Lindsay Mitchison: are knackered, so I know how precious shoulders are. So you need to
Lindsay Mitchison: it's, again, it's about preserving what you've got. It's about making making
Lindsay Mitchison: sure that you look after what what you've got. So, yeah, there's lots of advice
Lindsay Mitchison: on the, on the website to, to explain how to they're all made
Lindsay Mitchison: by hand because I I did all this. I know I've got a
Lindsay Mitchison: team now. I've got a team of 10 people now, But I used to do
Lindsay Mitchison: all this on my own when when sales were small. Then,
Lindsay Mitchison: yeah, I was everything. I was person who made them, posted them,
Lindsay Mitchison: social media. I was I'm marketing. I I was everything.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. Happy days. I loved I loved that, but there's just too much
Lindsay Mitchison: now. I've I've got, a wonderful team now. I wanna share the
Lindsay Mitchison: secret. How do you how do you make it's a lovely shape. Are they injection
Lindsay Mitchison: molded? Are they, formed tell you, but
Lindsay Mitchison: I'd have to shoot you. I won't tell anybody else. Just just shoot me. No
Lindsay Mitchison: one's listening, are they? No. We heat them generally. It's
Lindsay Mitchison: just, quite a low heat because the acrylic will
Lindsay Mitchison: melt and bubble if you try and heat it too quickly or too
Lindsay Mitchison: hot. So it's quite a low heat. And then they are they're
Lindsay Mitchison: molded around some specially made jigs to get the shapes, to get
Lindsay Mitchison: the handles. So, yeah, it's, it's not
Lindsay Mitchison: complicated. It's not rocket science as somebody once said to
Lindsay Mitchison: me, but it takes skill, and it takes real detail.
Lindsay Mitchison: You've got to have a real eye for detail to So in the early days,
Lindsay Mitchison: you would have gone through a lot of, lot of waste, I guess, playing with
Lindsay Mitchison: it, getting frustrated, throwing them across the room, going Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: Javelin. Yeah. Yeah. The the yeah. Trying to find
Lindsay Mitchison: the right because it's the right temperature and right timing. So, yeah, I
Lindsay Mitchison: did. But we've got a really slick workshop now. I've got a workshop
Lindsay Mitchison: at my at my home, at my house. At the at the back of my
Lindsay Mitchison: house, I had a building converted. So I've got an office and workshop in
Lindsay Mitchison: there. So we all were together in there. So if
Lindsay Mitchison: I'm ill, I'll be in the house, but the guys will know
Lindsay Mitchison: that I'm there. And if if they need me, they can come and they can
Lindsay Mitchison: come and get me. I mean, obviously, I I have lots of days where I'm
Lindsay Mitchison: not able to to take part in the work because
Lindsay Mitchison: I I live with a lot of pain. I live with
Lindsay Mitchison: a lot of fatigue every day. These are my daily struggles. So I'm I'm not
Lindsay Mitchison: able to show up for them every day, and I feel really bad when I
Lindsay Mitchison: when I can't. But they they know me well enough now to
Lindsay Mitchison: know if she's not here. There's a a good reason why she's not here.
Lindsay Mitchison: So your your your journey I I mean, I hate the word journey. It implies
Lindsay Mitchison: some sort of linear path between a and b, but your your evolution
Lindsay Mitchison: of of self is is still ongoing with health and or
Lindsay Mitchison: becoming differently affected as you as you evolve.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. So when I look forward, I see different
Lindsay Mitchison: living spaces. Although I'm very lucky because I haven't I haven't got
Lindsay Mitchison: much furniture, so there's just a lot of space for my wheelchair and the dogs
Lindsay Mitchison: and the parrot, really. I live on my own, so I I can pretty much
Lindsay Mitchison: just make everything work for me. But, yeah, looking forward is a
Lindsay Mitchison: bit scary because I don't know what it's gonna mean for my
Lindsay Mitchison: mobility, for my yeah. I don't I don't know for my care. I don't really
Lindsay Mitchison: know what it looks like. Living for the moment, living for the day, and just
Lindsay Mitchison: enjoying and being grateful and thankful for what I've got, for who
Lindsay Mitchison: I've got, and making the most of the
Lindsay Mitchison: connection that we've made with with this community,
Lindsay Mitchison: and just trying to help help other people. And I'll keep doing that as long
Lindsay Mitchison: as as long as I can. Do you know what? I mean, eventually, if I
Lindsay Mitchison: can't move very much, they still won't be able to stop me talking. So
Lindsay Mitchison: I'll still be able to do this. Camera and a microphone. Yep. Drop
Lindsay Mitchison: my name. Off we go. That's And a parrot, obviously, to answer the phone. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: With a parrot on her shoulder. Yeah. So, yeah, I know the future's
Lindsay Mitchison: gonna be different, but I'm just grateful for where I am and and what I'm
Lindsay Mitchison: able to do now. No one nicknamed you Long John Lindsay
Lindsay Mitchison: yet? I I you can be the first. What? Because I have the
Lindsay Mitchison: parrot. You know? It's it's just, is she joking? When I got when I got
Lindsay Mitchison: the parrot, I got divorced last year. I'd never been allowed a parrot, and I've
Lindsay Mitchison: always wanted a parrot. And it doesn't matter. Everyone that I've ever been with has
Lindsay Mitchison: kept, no. You're not having a parrot. You know? No. It's a stupid idea. So
Lindsay Mitchison: as soon as I found myself on my own again, I thought stuff this. I'm
Lindsay Mitchison: getting a parrot. So, Not stuff the parrot. It would stuff the
Lindsay Mitchison: parrot. It'd be alongside my leg, but it's it's
Lindsay Mitchison: it's ace. He's a he's a little friend. It's a hobby.
Lindsay Mitchison: It's another interest for me outside of outside of work. But he
Lindsay Mitchison: comes to work with me. He's got a cage in in the office, and he
Lindsay Mitchison: comes through to work as well. But he's not allowed out because he likes to
Lindsay Mitchison: bite feet. So when he chases one of the guys, he he does laps
Lindsay Mitchison: around the office. He chases him. He's quite the character, and they love him in
Lindsay Mitchison: the office as well. You you're saying, I think and excuse the
Lindsay Mitchison: part, he's he's no spring chicken. He he's he's not young. He's
Lindsay Mitchison: not. He's 47. Imagine that. Imagine all the
Lindsay Mitchison: prime ministers that bird's seen. Imagine In the space of
Lindsay Mitchison: six months, there was quite a few of them, wasn't there? Well, there was for
Lindsay Mitchison: a while, wasn't there? But, yeah, he's 47, but he could live till
Lindsay Mitchison: he's 75. We could kind of outlive each
Lindsay Mitchison: other. That would be quite nice. He could be my life, my new life partner.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. Oh, so do do you know any history of,
Lindsay Mitchison: where we came from? The, He was actually with the same person
Lindsay Mitchison: all his life, which which is quite quite sad, and
Lindsay Mitchison: she became poorly and she died. So he he
Lindsay Mitchison: was for adoption because he needed a new home. And I just
Lindsay Mitchison: happened to press on the right button on that day, and, yeah, he came to
Lindsay Mitchison: live with me. But he's he's ace. I love him. He's he's a complicated
Lindsay Mitchison: boy. He's very you've got to really
Lindsay Mitchison: manage. He can be quite aggressive. So you've got to manage how you
Lindsay Mitchison: handle him, but I absolutely love him. He makes me smile. He calls
Lindsay Mitchison: me Poppet. He'll look at me, and he says, hello,
Lindsay Mitchison: Poppet. He's very sweet. So, yeah, he's he's he's the
Lindsay Mitchison: man in my life now. Soulmate. Soulmate. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No. I love him.
Lindsay Mitchison: What's next for the business? Is it just gonna carry on doing what it's doing?
Lindsay Mitchison: Is it is it gonna expand into new aids? Or
Lindsay Mitchison: We're always thinking of new things that we can
Lindsay Mitchison: design. I mean, the obvious one would be crutches. That could be something for the
Lindsay Mitchison: future. I don't know. That that would be a heavy investment,
Lindsay Mitchison: and it would also be a lot of r and d. So it would be
Lindsay Mitchison: quite complicated to do, but, yeah, I'd love to do it. We're constantly
Lindsay Mitchison: just trying to bring out new colors that excite people,
Lindsay Mitchison: new handle styles, new accessories, and just,
Lindsay Mitchison: keeping people interested. Again with the, with the
Lindsay Mitchison: community side of it. We we want to encourage people to engage
Lindsay Mitchison: with each other. So there there's lots of facets to the business, but I
Lindsay Mitchison: just I just hope it's gonna keep growing and that we keep
Lindsay Mitchison: reaching the message keeps reaching people that there
Lindsay Mitchison: is choice. You know? I I'm I'm not gonna push down
Lindsay Mitchison: someone's throat that that we're the best walking stick. For some people, we're
Lindsay Mitchison: the best, and for others, we won't be the best. But there is choice out
Lindsay Mitchison: there. And I think for a long time, there
Lindsay Mitchison: there just wasn't because designers just didn't want to tread there.
Lindsay Mitchison: You know? But there there is choice, and I think that's it's important for
Lindsay Mitchison: people to know. You've got Leboutin shoes, which are iconic,
Lindsay Mitchison: but they're not necessary for everybody. I mean, I would be
Lindsay Mitchison: absolutely panicking trying to get a pair of those on on my chubby feet
Lindsay Mitchison: and, my weak ankles. I'd be, hoshing around everywhere. So
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. They're not so It's resonating with the community, isn't it? You found a
Lindsay Mitchison: market where people want to be served in that way. And as you
Lindsay Mitchison: say, it's probably not their only walking aid. They probably have
Lindsay Mitchison: more traditional styles, but they've got they've got their party one or they've got their
Lindsay Mitchison: Sunday afternoon one or they've got their Saturday one. Why not? Why not? People
Lindsay Mitchison: have and I know this because, I mean, you've already touched on it, that I've
Lindsay Mitchison: my evolution has taken me through lots of different mobility aids.
Lindsay Mitchison: People have a whole arsenal of mobility aids. You know, you have the
Lindsay Mitchison: stick. You you'll have the crutches. You'll have a rollator. You'll have a walk,
Lindsay Mitchison: a buggy. You'll have an electric one. You'll have a wheelchair. People
Lindsay Mitchison: use different aids for different days because a lot of chronic
Lindsay Mitchison: illness is is very dynamic. So one day, a
Lindsay Mitchison: walking stick might be enough, but then the next, for no rhyme or
Lindsay Mitchison: reason, you need a wheelchair. So people have all these in
Lindsay Mitchison: their where they keep them. My garage is full. You know, you you've it's
Lindsay Mitchison: terrible. But people have different aids for for different days to to cope
Lindsay Mitchison: with how they're feeling. So yeah. And we want to continue to
Lindsay Mitchison: support to support people on that on their evolution as
Lindsay Mitchison: they as they go through that acceptance. I mean, we
Lindsay Mitchison: talked about your mom earlier, in in the green room, didn't we?
Lindsay Mitchison: A lot of older people even say, I'm not
Lindsay Mitchison: using a walking stick because it'll make me look old and and, you know, old
Lindsay Mitchison: fashioned. We we actually have a market. I think our oldest
Lindsay Mitchison: client is about a hundred right down to children who are seven. You
Lindsay Mitchison: know? We we and for male, female,
Lindsay Mitchison: every in between. It's there's there's something at
Lindsay Mitchison: Neo. Yeah. And if not, if there isn't a stick, you've got the
Lindsay Mitchison: community. You know? Is that Steve stigma
Lindsay Mitchison: a generational thing, or is it just a person thing? Because,
Lindsay Mitchison: you know, you say I don't know what you're saying with a walking stick, is
Lindsay Mitchison: it? Is that changing younger people now
Lindsay Mitchison: having a, I'm not saying Oscar Storis is is the ideal role model, but he
Lindsay Mitchison: certainly glamorized prosthetics, didn't he? Yeah. No.
Lindsay Mitchison: Totally. Okay. A lot of other things went wrong with Oscar, but, he glamorized prosthetics
Lindsay Mitchison: and maybe he's made people like him and other Paralympians have
Lindsay Mitchison: have made them kind of socially acceptable. Totally. Made them
Lindsay Mitchison: cool. I think it is generational, I would say. It's our our
Lindsay Mitchison: generation and older generations, I think,
Lindsay Mitchison: are the ones that will point fingers in the street and say, well, what
Lindsay Mitchison: are you using that for? You're too young to be using a walking stick. You
Lindsay Mitchison: must be putting it on. Because the other thing is, you know, I'm very I
Lindsay Mitchison: consider myself lucky. I've got a very visible disability. People
Lindsay Mitchison: look at me and go, yeah, can see why she's in that chair. But
Lindsay Mitchison: people look at a younger person who doesn't have a visible
Lindsay Mitchison: illness, and they'll hurl abuse at them in the street and say,
Lindsay Mitchison: oh, you're faking it. You'd benefit dodger and all
Lindsay Mitchison: people get this. There's a lot of a lot of stigma associated
Lindsay Mitchison: with it, but the younger generation are changing that
Lindsay Mitchison: by embracing and accepting mobility aids. I think it's an older
Lindsay Mitchison: generation thing that will, pardon the pun, but it
Lindsay Mitchison: will die out Mhmm. As, you know, the generations
Lindsay Mitchison: get get older. But it's very unfair, isn't it, to be
Lindsay Mitchison: hurl abuse at someone just because they're minding their own business, just
Lindsay Mitchison: walking along using a walking stick.
Lindsay Mitchison: I I don't understand it personally, but, yeah, you're right. There are people who do
Lindsay Mitchison: it. And if you're gonna get abuse held, you wanna have wanna have a cool
Lindsay Mitchison: stick while you're doing it. You know, sort of bite me. I don't care.
Lindsay Mitchison: Whatever. Yeah. I hope people come back with some really good
Lindsay Mitchison: good comebacks at them. But it can be quite shocking when it happens to you
Lindsay Mitchison: because I still get people marching up to me and going, oh, what did you
Lindsay Mitchison: do then? Like, really? I'm not. No.
Lindsay Mitchison: It was a shark. Go away. Did did you just leave? Yeah. I'm not gonna
Lindsay Mitchison: share my my inner traumas with you. I I don't know
Lindsay Mitchison: you. I don't owe you any. Whistle sharp. I've sometimes said
Lindsay Mitchison: that. I was tuna fishing off off the Australian Gold Coast, and we went for
Lindsay Mitchison: a skinny dip. And, a great white popped up and, took my
Lindsay Mitchison: leg. It happens. I was I was picking cockles off.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. You never know what's gonna happen here. Every time you say it, I'm I'm
Lindsay Mitchison: laughing my head off. You're saying, I don't wanna tell my intimate story with a
Lindsay Mitchison: complete stranger. I thought, well, but we've known each other what? Listen an hour. And
Lindsay Mitchison: so we'll have this conversation. So I guess how you ask, isn't
Lindsay Mitchison: it? We're friends, don't you? We're friends now. Yeah. We're friends.
Lindsay Mitchison: You know, if someone came up to me and and said,
Lindsay Mitchison: oh, I like your jacket. I mean, people do. I like your jacket or you
Lindsay Mitchison: can I ask you a bit about your chair? Because my dad needs one or
Lindsay Mitchison: something like that. And then they might say, do you mind me asking?
Lindsay Mitchison: But what what happened? You know, there's ways to do it. But I've literally
Lindsay Mitchison: had people march up to me and say, what did you do
Lindsay Mitchison: then? Oh, not the way to do it, is it?
Lindsay Mitchison: Is that just Yorkshire bluntness though? It could be. Yeah.
Lindsay Mitchison: Yeah. If you're wondering around London, people would just not even give you the time
Lindsay Mitchison: of day walking around London, I guess. It's true, actually. Because I I come and
Lindsay Mitchison: visit visit London a bit to do some work and, yeah, you never get stopped
Lindsay Mitchison: in, in London, but up up here, yeah, you do. Maybe it's just it's
Lindsay Mitchison: blunt, nosy Yorkshire people, maybe. Yeah. It's
Lindsay Mitchison: it's almost it's almost impossible to stand out and be different in London because everybody
Lindsay Mitchison: is so different, so cosmopolitan, that no matter how how off
Lindsay Mitchison: normal you are, you're still normal in London. Yeah. Yeah. It's it's it's
Lindsay Mitchison: true. But that's isn't that good that you just that you want to
Lindsay Mitchison: stand out? And we we encourage people to that's one of our our
Lindsay Mitchison: logos is made to stand out, not to fit in. You know, and we
Lindsay Mitchison: want people to be proud to stand out, and I think that that comes with
Lindsay Mitchison: using a a walk in stick. Because, again, going right back
Lindsay Mitchison: to the good old days, that's what happened to me. You know, I was
Lindsay Mitchison: I was proud to be be seen with them. It's a
Lindsay Mitchison: it's a give to give to other people, and I I love it. Lindsay, it's
Lindsay Mitchison: been a a fascinating conversation. I've I've enjoyed your company and having having the
Lindsay Mitchison: privilege of having a natter with you for the over an hour now. How can
Lindsay Mitchison: people get hold of you? How can people I've coffee share in the, having a
Lindsay Mitchison: coffee chat. I've got my lipstick mug and, yeah. So how can, people get hold
Lindsay Mitchison: of you? So we've got the website, which is
Lindsay Mitchison: neo-walk.com. We only sell sticks from our website. So
Lindsay Mitchison: if you wanna buy one, you'd have to go to the to the website. We've
Lindsay Mitchison: got a phone number that I can't remember. It's on the website. So you
Lindsay Mitchison: go to the website, but we do have a phone. So you can ring us
Lindsay Mitchison: and talk to us as well. And you can email us, the info
Lindsay Mitchison: at neo hyphen we are going to the NADEX
Lindsay Mitchison: exhibition in Birmingham in, March. So
Lindsay Mitchison: next next month towards the March, we'll be there with
Lindsay Mitchison: the all the team with all the different colors that we that that
Lindsay Mitchison: we have. So you can come along and see, come and see us, come see
Lindsay Mitchison: the sticks. Where else will we be?
Lindsay Mitchison: Hopefully, we'll be appearing for some sort of community
Lindsay Mitchison: events later in the year at different locations around the
Lindsay Mitchison: country as well, where we're gonna try and gather people together for
Lindsay Mitchison: a natter. Because how valuable is it? Do you know what? Just getting
Lindsay Mitchison: together for a natter. Meet people that you've meet people
Lindsay Mitchison: in person that you've met online, you know, and try and just
Lindsay Mitchison: as foster that community again. And,
Lindsay Mitchison: of course, you've got your online communities on Instagram, Facebook What?
Lindsay Mitchison: And you're on LinkedIn as well. And I put all of those details in the
Lindsay Mitchison: show notes. And, and you still hang out on x a bit until, it becomes
Lindsay Mitchison: I never did. I don't understand. I never understood Twitter.
Lindsay Mitchison: Understood it less when it became x. Never understood him. Wouldn't wanna
Lindsay Mitchison: support him in any way, shape, or form. No. No. I I
Lindsay Mitchison: I've down downsized myself off those backfills completely now. So, yeah, I
Lindsay Mitchison: get I get it. Lindsay, thank you so much. Been a
Lindsay Mitchison: pleasure, Jo. Do you know what? It's been so lovely talking to
Lindsay Mitchison: you, and conversations like this are so valuable.
Lindsay Mitchison: And it was a real it was a real honor to to sit and talk
Lindsay Mitchison: to you. Likewise. Thank you.
Joanne Lockwood: As we bring this conversation to a close, I want to express
Joanne Lockwood: my deepest gratitude to you, our listener, for lending
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Joanne Lockwood: episode at a time. Catch you on the next bite.