Tough time for wheelchair users

Residents with disabilities who use wheelchairs say the city is not wheelchair friendly.

Review investigated this statement and can confirm that it is true, as some of the sidewalks in the city are in such a state that wheelchairs cannot access them.

The sidewalk in Landdros Maré Street next to the Post Office and offices of the South African Revenue Service is full of loose bricks making it impossible for a wheelchair user to pass through.

On the corner of Biccard and Thabo Mbeki Street, two rubbish bins, a traffic light, a street light and a traffic notice board make it difficult for wheelchairs to pass.

Last year former mayor, Freddy Greaver participated in the Wheelchair Wednesday awareness project.

Greaver had to spend four hours in a wheelchair going about his daily duties.

At the time he confirmed that there are parts of the city that needed work to be more wheelchair friendly as he experienced challenges as he moved around certain parts of the city during his wheelchair challenge.

Johnny Graham from the Association for People with Disabilities (APD) said it is mostly the older parts of the city that are not wheelchair friendly.

“It is not just the sidewalks that we battle with. Another problem we have is motorists who park in the disability parking bays.

“These parking spaces are bigger so that we can get out of our vehicles onto our wheelchairs. If we did not have the disability parking spaces and had to park in normal parking spaces, we would not be able to get out of our vehicles.

“We have permits for the disability parking and the municipality is responsible for enforcing these parking permits. We plead with motorists not to park in the disability parking area,” Graham said.

He also added that there was a municipal disability forum, with people from different disability associations serving on the committee to help identify challenges in the city for people with disability.

By the time of going to print the municipality did not have comment on the matter. However, spokesperson Tidimalo Chuene said she would comment next week.