More needs to be done for disabled, says Susan Martin

Casual Day, the annual fundraising campaign of the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities (NCPD) is today, September 1.
This year’s theme is #ShareASmile with Persons with Disabilities, and Scottburgh local Susan Jane Martin (62) who is Complete T6, stated that this theme and any focus on people with disabilities is simply fantastic.

Susan became paralysed from the chest down after a mountain bike accident.

“We are humans, just like everyone else and we are just as deserving and worthy of being here,” she said.
“Our bodies might not be as able as able-bodied people, but we still want to enjoy and experience life. We might be the same height as a child because we are sitting in a wheelchair, but we can still think and talk for ourselves.”

Susan stated that there are many things that come as a challenge to people like her. One of which is simply opening a door. She has to manoeuvre herself close to the door as her arms are short, but then the chair gets in the way, so she needs to move all over again.

Susan hopes that in the near future, the country could do more for people with disabilities. In terms of transport, Susan said that if she didn’t have her own vehicle, she would hate to imagine how she’d get around.

With parking, Susan said that for every 300 parking bays, there are maybe three to five disabled parking bays and they are almost always used by the elderly who are not in a wheelchair.

“People in wheelchairs need the bigger space. The door needs to be opened as wide as possible, to get their wheelchair close to the seat. They cannot park anywhere else, other than those designated areas,” she said.

“Every town should consider people in wheelchairs all the times. Scottburgh is a town for the elderly, yet the main street is not wheelchair friendly at all.”

“There are stairs on the main street or very steep ramps which makes going up (or down for that matter) very difficult.”

A suggestion is also made to restaurants to consider the height of the tables so people in wheelchairs can roll underneath as eating sideways isn’t ideal.

Susan has chosen to help others with disabilities by volunteering for the well-known Breadtags for Wheelchairs project.

“I like to recycle and do what I can for the environment, and soon after my accident in 2015, I was looking for a volunteering job to fill my days and stumbled onto this project which not only cleans up our environment of plastic, but with the money they receive from handing in the plastic to recycling companies, they buy wheelchairs for the less fortunate.”

“It was a win-win project from the start in my eyes.”

Taking this year’s Casual Day theme of #ShareASmile into consideration, Susan hopes that more kindness and positivity is shared this year and that the next time you happen to be near a disabled person, ask ‘how can I help’?

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