How I found meaning in International Wheelchair Day

Last year was the first time that I ever did anything for International Wheelchair Day . There was a little bit of planning involved, but in all honesty, it was more luck that design.

In January last year, I started to focus on my social enterprise full time. I knew there was a lot that I didn’t know so I started doing some scoping work. I wanted to research what organisations and networks were out there that I might want to connect with. I sent emails and made phone calls with varying degrees of success.

Raising awareness

One phone call that I made was to a local hub of the British Red Cross. Before starting my research I had no idea of the size of their service. The British Red Cross supply 50,000 wheelchairs every year for temporary users across the UK. So when people have an injury meaning they need a wheelchair for 3 or 6 months then there is support there for them.

When I called the hub and spoke the manager, Lisa, she was enthusiastic about the idea of wheelchair skills. Lisa told me about an event at their HQ in Moorgate on International Wheelchair Day and invited me along to speak.

What a great opportunity that I’d stumbled on to raise awareness of wheelchair skills and challenge the social stigma attached to using a wheelchair. Needless to say, I leapt at the chance. Figuratively.

The day itself went well and I managed to talk about wheelchair skills to a range of staff and volunteers from the British Red Cross, from operational teams to the senior leadership. It started an important conversation which was followed by exploring how we could go on to work together.

What do you see in a wheelchair?

Fast forward 12 months and International Wheelchair Day is about to come around again. After seeing what a great opportunity last year provided, I wanted to think about to celebrate (for want of a better word) it this year.

Using a wheelchair is quite a subjective thing. It’s very personal. Everything about it, from how your wheelchair looks, to how it affects other parts of your identity, to the social interactions you have on the street when you’re using it.

And in a light bulb moment, I realised that it’s not about me.

While thinking about what using a wheelchair meant for me and what I could do for the day, I hadn’t been thinking about those wheelchair users that I had been working with over the last year that weren’t in the same place as me.

Perfect.

Working in schools

Over the last 12 months, I’ve been teaching wheelchair skills in schools to make sure that young wheelchair users are getting access to the vital life skills.

Teaching in schools has also given me a better understanding what life is like for young wheelchair users. I’ve started to see what their aspirations and where they get their information of disabled lifestyle from.

When thinking about International Wheelchair Day this year, I realised that working with schools gave the perfect opportunity to bring a few ideas I had together and start some conversations about using a wheelchair and disabled life.

With a quick email, the date was in the diary and a plan made to deliver workshops are Marjorie McClure School, Chislehurst.

Need for speed

I can easily say that this International Wheelchair Day is the most fun one that I’ve ever had. It was full of enthusiasm, laughter, and learning.

More than just wheelchair skills, today was about wheelchair life. Not just for wheelchair users either. It was about raising awareness for other students in the school and staff alike.

It was competition time in the morning when students, some of them using a wheelchair for the first time, pitted their skills against each other in a slalom race testing out their speed and turning skills, aiming to end up in pole position.

Every single class from the school got involved in what turned out to be a hectic morning but an enormously fun one. There were some impressive skills being demonstrated by both children and teachers.

The experience of the wheelchair users showed though as they set the best times of the day.

Talking to the school

A full school assembly gave a chance for everyone to hear about types of wheelchair (manual, power, assisted), why the skills to use your wheelchair are important and who might use a wheelchair. Spoiler alert – anyone!

Lots of the children who use wheelchairs, about 20 in total, took their place on stage and shared their experiences of what they liked and didn’t like about using their wheelchair. It was a great opportunity for them to share their story and for other students to learn.

Despite the chilly lunchtime weather there was a big group interested in keeping with the focus of the day and playing a favourite of ‘Bulldog’. Classic playground games offer a fun way to practise moving forwards, backwards and turning.

Taking back independence

Wheelchair skills are incredibly important, but they don’t work in isolation and need to be part of something much larger. Learning about life using a wheelchair is also massively important and these conversations don’t always happen. Especially from a peer perspective.

In the afternoon, we moved from the sports hall to the classroom and talked about independence; what the word meant, how it can look different for each person, who you can get help from and how pretty much everyone, disabled or non-disabled, needs help.

Independence might look different for different people, but it all comes down to choice and control. Children then showed off their artistic skills and drew pictures of what independence looked like for them in the future.

We wrapped the afternoon up with a reflection on what independence meant to each child and they responded with some incredibly insightful answers around it being okay to ask for help and thinking about the little things that you can do for yourself.

What happens next?

What a fantastic day. I was left wondering why I have never done this before. It was so much fun with loads of enthusiasm and was certainly the best International Wheelchair Day I’ve ever had.

It was great to see everyone at Marjorie McClure School getting involved, having fun and learning about wheelchairs.

While one day of raising awareness was fun, it certainly isn’t going to be enough to change societal perception of using a wheelchair. That’s why I’m working on a training programme that build on everything that worked so well today and taking it out to more people.

What are your plans for 1st March 2024? Hold it in your diary and let’s plan something fun!