Welcome to Doug Paulley's Website.

Picture: caricature of myself holding a pint

About Me | Incarceration | My Websites | Website Design | Pictures

About Me

I'm a wheelchair user living in a residential home in Wetherby, West Yorkshire.

I study with the Open University and volunteer in a local school.

I'm a passionate man, passionate about a number of things. I spend a lot of time doing Website Design for various organisations. I'm also an environmentalist, what the Government would call "anti-capitalist", an animal rights activist, and a disabled peoples activist. I wish I had more time!!!!

You may email me if you like; you may also download my PGP key - the key is also available on keyservers, ID 0xDEC21FD6.

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Incarceration

I am forced against my will to live in a Leonard Cheshire residential home.

Whilst the home is much better than any other I have lived in, it still has its issues. For example, I am not able to work whilst I live in the home, as due to ridiculous government rules I would be worse off than I currently am - and I currently don't have enough money to live on as it is, given that the majority of my Income Support goes towards the home's fees.

I have tried hard to get out of the home - but have not yet managed to do so, and have no current prospects for moving out soon. This is due to the lack of facilities provided by Leeds City Council.

I haven't taken this lieing down, as you can see from the following.

Radio Leeds breakfast show, 27th July 2007

I really enjoyed this one - talking to friendly and funny people, Andy and Georgey, explaining the trap I am caught in and being asked to comment on Georgey's bum! I explained the whole situation in a nutshell.

Radio 4: "The World Tonight", 24th July 2007

Geoff Adams-Spink, disabled Age and Disability Correspondent for BBC News Online, produced a piece looking at how social care doesn't work for service users, carers or purchasers, and how it needs radical reform to continue to operate. As part of the piece, he interviewed me about my frustrations of living in an institutional enviornment.

Radio 4: "You and Yours" 13th July 2006

I speak about my situation in a discussion on Independent Living, in relation to Lord Ashley's fantastic Independent Living Bill.

I think this is actually a very good piece explaining the problems myself and others face.

Hosted by Peter White and Carolin Atkinson, and with spokespeople from the Disability Rights Commission and the Association of Social Service Directors.

Jonathan Dimbleby, May 1st 2005

My Dad was on Jonathan Dimbleby on Mayday 2005 to ask Alan Milburn and others why it is that I am prevented from working. I am very proud of him, it is great to have him backing me and trying to find a way round things. As expected, the MPs largely ignored the question but there you go.

I know next to nothing about dealing with video etc. but I've tried to make it available here in a few formats so hopefully whatever your connection speed or access needs you'd be able to get something.

Radio Leeds, 2nd September 2004

I was interviewed by John Boyd live on Radio Leeds about my inability to take up work as an accessible web designer due to accessible housing shortages in Leeds and punitive rules against employment in residential homes. It went quite well despite my great nervousness! I've recorded the 10-minute interview and you can either listen to it or read the transcripts here:

Magazines and online articles

Anybody wanting the background on this might find the following articles interesting:

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Websites

I write websites for organisations. Here are some of my recent websites, most recent first:

Picture: Thumbnail of Rainbow Ripples website Rainbow Ripples Website for Rainbow Ripples: Leeds' LGB Disabled People's group.
Picture: Thumbnail of SPPhotos website SPPhotos Written to exhibit my Dad's fantastic photos + hopefully sell a few. XHTML 1.0 Strict / CSS / WCAG AAA.
Picture: Thumbnail of Technopolis website Technopolis A gathering in Leeds to discuss and combat the technologies of control. XHTML 1.0 Strict / CSS / WCAG AAA.
Picture: Thumbnail of Windmill Club website Windmill Club Drop-in Center Made to "sell" a local voluntary club set up to support people who experience mental distress, in the hope of getting more grants and other such funding. I hope the website serves its purpose! XHTML 1.0 Strict / CSS / WCAG AAA.
Picture: Thumbnail of Yorkshire Lupus Group site Yorkshire Lupus Group Written for my friend Joan, a useful site for local people with Lupus. Also my first attempt at a bulletin board and expanding navigation menu (CSS with Javascript for IE.) Fully accessible and validated.
Picture: Thumbnail of She's All That site She's All That Written for my friend Woody, an excellent couture milliner (hatmaker). My first completely table-free site (CSS only!) also WCAG AAA and XHTML 1.0 Strict.
Picture: Thumbnail of Leeds Involvement Project site Leeds Involvement Project A disabled peoples' and carers' organisation in Leeds. The organisations made some of the design decisions for this site. WCAG AAA accessible.
Photo: Thumbnail of Solidarity South Pacific site Solidarity South Pacific In active solidarity with indigenous and radical ecological struggles in the Pacific. Website written - and regularly updated - to support a group in active solidarity with indiginous tribes in Bougainville, West Papua and the Philippines. Valid XHTML / CSS.
Picture: Thumbnail of Yorkshire Books site Yorkshire and Humberside Books Website selling books by a local historian - a cinema and radio (especially pirate radio) buff. I'm proud of it because it is WCAG 1.0 AAA certified, and is also fully valid XHTML 1.0 Strict!
Picture: Thumbnail of Earth First! Summer Gathering site Earth First! Summer Gathering The Earth First! Summer Gathering is the place where people involved in radical ecological direct action - or those who want to be involved - get together for four days of time and space to talk, walk, share skills, learn, play, rant, find out what's going on, find out what's next, live outside, strategise, hang out, incite, laugh and conspire. Held in August 2003, I am responsible for writing and maintaining the website.
Picture: Thumbnail of Wetherby Methodist Church site Wetherby Methodist Church A thriving church and community which I attend. I am responsible for much of the design and all the coding of the website.
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Website Design

Writing websites is not difficult. However designing good, accessible, easy-to-use websites takes a little more thought and work.

I've been writing websites for seven years now. It is only recently that I have written more "professional" websites.

I now write websites for not-for-profit organisations of various kinds, free of charge (except for any hosting or domain name purchasing costs). These websites are accessible, easy to use, low in bandwidth requirements so fast to load, and all validated HTML / CSS

For examples of my work, see the websites section above. If you are a socially / evironmentally responsible not-for-profit organisation and need a website writing free of charge, contact me to discuss the possibilities.

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Pictures

I'll update this as and when, but for now, there's pictures of my adventure sports holiday! Click on photos to go to webpage.

Picture: pulling myself up the tower in my wheelchair Kielder adventure sports Doug's adventure sports in Kielder.
Picture: wheelchair user gold panning Gold panning Gold panning in a wheelchair? You'll never believe it!
Picture: new wheelchair with bike attachment New sports wheelchair With the help of an awful lot of people, my new wheelchair has arrived. Hurray!
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