> Byte size interview No 11: Andy Rickell
- 4 Oct 07, 03:23 PM
Andy Rickell is the Executive Director at Scope, a UK disability organisation whose focus is people with cerebral palsy. His role is to champion the leadership of disabled people internally and externally, as a key element towards achieving equality for disabled people.
Andy has cerebral palsy himself and he has had an influential career campaigning for disabled people's rights including being Chief Executive of the British Council of Disabled People and was one of the original authors of the Disabled People's Rights and Freedoms Charter.
In his spare time, Andy enjoys sailing, supporting Cheltenham Town and reading. He is also a lay preacher for the Methodist Church.
Q: What are your favourite websites?
There are many. I like websites to be uncluttered, and the results of a search to be well laid out and easy to read. So I really like dogpile search engine, as I use it to go hunting for stuff or for information. The best for news is the BBC, particularly its business market data section with updated stock market figures. I love my financial adviser's website because I can manage my investments online. Then there is the price comparison website moneysupermarket and the airline tickets website kayak - as you can watch the quotes come in in real time. My most recent godsend is worldweather.org for finding out the weather across the world, which is really useful when planning holidays.
Q: What are your least favourite websites?
There are many as well! The results of a search can take you to lots of commercial websites that are little more than indexes to other websites - a complete waste of time. I loathe busy websites with flashing ads.
Aside from BBC’s Ouch, a lot of websites in the disability world are not very good – there’s not enough interactivity.
Q: What was the last thing you bought online?
Silly Christmas presents from I Want One Of Those, and advance rail tickets for commuting from First Great Western.
Q: If the web was taken away from me today I would…
Struggle to manage both my finances and my shopping in the limited free time I have, as both the phone and having to travel are much less convenient for me as a disabled person.
Q: What's the most adventurous thing you've done on the web recently?
I am trying to build my own website Andy Rickell, and a number of embryonic Christian websites for example, God For Today.
Q: What's your favourite blog?
There are a couple of blogs which I read, such as the ones on BBC Ouch’s website. However, as I don’t have much free time, I tend to use websites instead.
Q: Have you ever heard of Facebook?
Yes, and one day I might get round to investigating it.
Q: Do you have a favourite gadget?
Yes, my PDA/emailer. You know it’s addictive when you’re constantly looking up the latest Hang Seng stock index or Cheltenham Town score!
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