We did it!

Annalu, Rolf, Kathleen and Ha successfully abseilled off the Titan Crane in Clydebank on Saturday, 21 August 2010.

And we've managed to exceed our initial target of £1,600...thanks for your donations...we have updated the target to £2,500 as any ongoing funds will be used to support a unique user group of adults who use augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) to work as consultants to the Dundee AAC Research Group!

The abseil was amazing but OOHH so scary. I can only speak for myself, but here goes. The weather was great. Woke up to a bit of wind, and some clouds. We left Dundee hoping the weather would last.

I drove Kathleen, Ha and Marj Inglis (my dear friend who happens to be the local newspaper's health reporter) to Clydebank (outside Glasgow) where we met up with Rolf, Jen, Ben, Ewan and Scott. We had a pitstop before boarding the bus which took us to the crane - what a towering giant!

After checking in with the Enable crew (who organised the event), we waited our turn.

Stage 1: on the ground...being kitted up with a harness round our bottoms and one around our arms and a hard hat (they had to shrink mine to fit my tiny head, and enlarge Rolf's). Ha nearly drowned in her harnesses until they were pulled tight with enough excess cord to go round her ten times. Just before we went up, Tetsuya (my visiting Japanese colleague) and his family arrived to provide additional, much needed moral support.

Stage 2: Then off to the lift - 6 floors up. Marj with us to take my walker back down. Whooshing up the lift I was aware of open views and decided never to look down in case I became a wobbling (more than usual) wreck. Emerging from the lift, we had to cross a grated platform to where the abseiling crew was dispatching an amazing lady in her 80s! Don’t look down! Look ahead! By this time Marj decided to stay at the lift door. We walked across. Don’t look down!

Stage 3: There were two ropes, so Rolf was taken first as his rope entail his climbing OVER a balustrade before being hooked up. For me, I was given the ‘easier’ option. Having been connected to the safety line, I elected to crawl through a gate – my knees aching on the steel grating. Don’t look down! It took a little while, but I was soon upright, ready for one of the most difficult/frightening things in my life. Don’t look down! I had to inch my way round to the OUTSIDE of the balustrade before inching across to the middle of nothing. Don’t look down! My feet were on the bottom rail, hands on the top rail, inching across. Don’t look down! Every time I had to move, I had to release a hand....not easy when your left hand decides to clench into spasm and your right hand is screaming with arthritic pain. Don’t look down! My heart pumping, adrenalin being released by the gallon, dry mouth. Don’t pass out, Don’t look down! I remember saying ... “Did I say I was mad? I am stark staring crazy?” ... Kathleen and Ha watched in terror, forced smiles on faces. Don’t look down! Eventually I was there. But then I had to release a hand at a time to get the main rope attached. Nothing below. Don’t look down!

Stage 4: “Can I let go my feet?”, I asked. And then I was on my own, but didn’t move. “Relax your hands to move”, Colin said (the only instruction, by the way). (The abseil folk were amazing!) And, so, slowly I began to descend. This is easy, I thought. Scary, but ok. Don’t look down! As I descended, fear suddenly gripped as my glove kept getting caught and stopping progress (what if I got stuck?). Annalu...think...slowly pull glove out of rope. Then my left hand began to misbehave and clench. So I did what any normal sane person would do...Said the Lord’s prayer 125 ish foot above ground, while looking straight ahead across the most spectacular views of hills and scudding clouds. Breathtaking - I wanted to scream with joy.

Before I knew it, I was close enough to the ground to look down grinning (looked like a grimace) madly at my friends!

Feeling terra firma again was slightly disappointing, as I really enjoyed the last 100 foot. Oh well, maybe one day...but this time I’d be looking for a million pounds to go through the first ten minutes!

It was awesome...fantastic...breathtaking...and afterwards I was able to watch poor Ha having to work her way down. With my body weight, I just had to release my hand and I gently descended as gravity did its work...for Ha...she had to feed the rope up as she would have just floated in the air otherwise. And Kathleen made it as well, despite similar bouts of terror. Rolf, well he's macho and waved all the way down.

It was incredible. It was fab. See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AVqtRJqOlSk for the video!

Many many thanks to all our donors who made it possible for us to take Sparks to Barcelona for the most fantastic week of experiential learning for all of us. 

The Dundee AAC Group is the BEST! And I am so proud of you all! So, well done team ... WHAT’S NEXT??????

----- If you want to know why we were so mad, read on...

Question: What do you get when you cross High Tech Research with Real People?

Answer: Annalu, Rolf, Kathleen and Ha abseilling off the Titan Crane in Clydebank.

** HOW MUCH WILL YOU DONATE HAVING SEEN THE PHOTO OF ANNALU DESCEND IN TERROR? **

How?...Check out http://titanabseil.org.uk/blog/do-you-have-nerves-of-steel/ to see how scary!

WHY?...We initially raised money to enable one of our non-speaking research participants to attend a conference on augmentative communication in Barcelona in July 2010. We are now raising funds to continue ouur work by forming an ault user group who will work with as a expert user consultants on our research projects - this takes money for travel and care support!

In July 2010, Sparks (her stage name) gave an inspiring paper at ISAAC 2010 describing her experiences as an actress within our research. Sparks' has been involved in designing a system to improve communication between people with severe physical and speech impairments and hospital staff.

As you can imagine travelling with a motorised wheelchair, a communication aid and a care assistant is quite costly. The funds raised, in collaboration with Capability Scotland, covered accomodation, travel and subsistence for Sparks' and her support staff.

Please continue to help us to build a truly inclusive research team in Dundee, while also cheering Annalu and the team for completing a crazy stunt in the process!

Keep up with the gang at www.aacdundee.blogspot.com

With many thanks for your support,

Annalu, Rolf, Kathleen, Ha, Sparks and the rest of our team

The Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) Research Group at Dundee University's School of Computing