It’s International Wheelchair Day and an ideal opportunity to celebrate being a wheelchair user!  That might sound strange to some. However, having had Cerebral Palsy since birth, I’ve used an electric wheelchair since I was about sixteen.  It really has transformed my life and given me an independence I wouldn’t have enjoyed otherwise.

I’ve often received pity and sympathy for being a wheelchair user, with some well-meaning people commenting that “It’s such a shame.”  Although the disabled community is now leading conversations around positive language, the media still insists on using terms such as “wheelchair bound” or “confined to a wheelchair”. It makes me so sad when I hear such disempowering language. It completely ignores the freedom and independence that being a wheelchair user has given me.

Transforming My Life: The Power of my Electric Wheelchair

Since getting my first electric wheelchair as a teenager, my life has been transformed. I’m able to go where I want to go, when I want to go. I travel all over the country running my own disability training business.  I visit schools up and down the UK, delivering my Disability Awareness Assemblies. The children love seeing how fast my wheelchair can go and they are particularly amazed when I raise my seat up and down!

On a personal level, my wheelchair enables me to be an active parent. I do the school runs and take my boys here, there and everywhere! From the day they were born, my wheelchair has enabled me and given me the confidence to just be a parent – something most people take for granted. My boys have never known any different and accept my disability, and my wheelchair, as a part of who I am. And it has to be said that my youngest still enjoys a ride on my lap!

Navigating Challenges: The Reality of Wheelchair Repairs

When things go wrong and the chair breaks down, it really hits home how much my wheelchair enables me to do. Being stuck at home, reliant on others to do everything for me is so frustrating.  I’ve known wheelchair repairs to takes up to 8 weeks which is why we now store a spare as a back-up. It’s unthinkable to ask anyone to put their lives on hold for months. Why should wheelchair users be unable to leave their homes independently for that long?

So that’s why I celebrate International Wheelchair Day! Far from “confining” me, my wheelchair gives me freedom and I’d be truly lost without it.