00:00With another amber heat warning upon us here in Kent, you might be turning on your fan, getting your freezer
00:06stocked with ice cream and even looking forward to sunbathing in your garden.
00:11But for roughly 70,000 amputees across the country, heat waves, which are becoming more frequent in the UK thanks
00:19to climate change, are less about enjoyment and more about endurance.
00:24Summer can be a tough time of the year for those with a limb difference, as the body has a
00:29reduced surface area to evaporate sweat off, which cools the body down.
00:34And this isn't the only challenge.
00:36An amputee, because you're covered in a silicon covering.
00:41I mean, this is a slightly different one that's meant to be sort of helping in the heat.
00:47I'm not sure anything can be that brilliant, but yeah, I suffer with it a bit, but you just have
00:54another glass of water and get on.
00:56But yes, you're absolutely right.
00:57You do get that little bit hotter because your natural sweating is not having anywhere to go.
01:03So you do get a bit hotter.
01:05I think over time, your body adapts and just doesn't sweat in the places where sweat does no good.
01:11Disability Assist is a Maidstone-based charity that helps those across the county live independently.
01:17With their disabilities, they're urging residents to look out for each other.
01:22It does actually take an awful lot of effort to be using a prosthetic.
01:28It may be about balance.
01:30It might be about coordination.
01:32When you're trying to focus on all of those things at the same time as doing sort of the day
01:38-to-day tasks that so many people take for granted,
01:42it can just be really exhausting.
01:44And in this hot weather, it's, yeah, it all just piles up, doesn't it?
01:49And you really need to take extra care of yourself.
01:52And I think it's worth communicating with your employer if you're working or the people around you to make sure
02:00that they are aware
02:01and make adaptations or adjustments to what you do to make sure that you get the support that you need
02:10during this time.
02:11It's set to be one of the longest heatwaves since the 1970s.
02:15And as Kent often faces the worst of hotter temperatures,
02:19charities like Disability Assist prove all the more important for those that need them.
02:24Megan Shaw for Kame TV.
02:26Megan Shaw,
02:29You
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