There is a general characterisation of a wheelchair as a prison for its user by way of Zimbabwean diction. Most Zimbabweans who perceive a wheelchair as a prison do so without any consciousness of the meaning behind their claims. It is the intent of this opinion article to raise the awareness of the readership regarding wheelchairs and their users in the domain of disability.
Some people with physical disabilities or motor challenges usually use wheelchairs. The fact that they use wheelchairs does not qualify them as being wheelchair bound. It is as wrong as wrong can be to describe people with motor disabilities using wheelchairs as being bound by the wheelchairs that they use. Analogously, it is like saying people who use cars are car -bound. A wheelchair just like a car is a tool for mobility that enables people to have freedom of movement. A wheelchair enables its user to move from point A to B, it gives the user independence, convenience, freedom and confidence to navigate his or her environment with ease. People with disabilities who use wheelchairs are not therefore wheelchair bound but wheelchair users.
Some disability scholars also believe that a wheelchair is an extension of the body of its user. Given this thinking, it is persuadable to argue that wheelchair users have their own space that need to be respected and protected. For example, one cannot just go on to touch their wheelchairs without their consent; to do so is like an intrusion on the wheelchair user’s space and privacy. Wheelchair users are often taken for granted by people without disabilities. For example, if a wheelchair user enters a supermarket in the company of a colleague, the shop attendant is tempted ask the companion of the wheelchair user about what the wheelchair user would want to buy. This attitude speaks voluminously of mind to world that is what the so-called normal people perceive of wheelchair users. To the so-called normal people, the wheelchair users are imprisoned, and their liberties have been curtailed by their conditions and the wheelchairs that they use. In terms of the world to mind, that is what the so-called normal people make of the people who use wheelchairs may eat into the confidence of wheelchair users.
It is important to appreciate that conditions that lead to using wheelchairs may not necessarily be emanating from brain damage. Some wheelchair users are victims of accidents; others may be due to debilitating muscular dystrophy or cerebral palsy. Wheelchair users are therefore not a homogeneous group of people with respect to the etiology of their conditions. Wheelchair users need to be recognised in terms of their additional needs with respect to products, services, programmes, tools and projects being accessible to them. For example, buses and combis ought to be universally designed so that their dignity is not compromised in the process of using them. Dignity for a wheelchair user is lost when he or she is lifted into and from the bus. Inner peace and relational harmony that are critical to human dignity should be protected in the process of doing business with wheelchair users.
It is also of import to highlight that wheelchairs cannot just be donated to people with physical or mobility challenges. This writer has read numerous articles where politicians have donated wheelchairs to people with mobility challenges. The writer has often wondered if politicians do that out of ignorance or self-interest. Wheelchairs are different to confetti at a wedding, because they should be customer made. Before a wheelchair is donated, there is a need for an assessment of the condition of the potential receiver of the wheelchair and the terrain of the user. Wheelchairs that are given to people with mobility challenges without having had assessments of their conditions and physical environment have the potential of compounding the conditions of the receivers. Some wheelchairs may cause back aches and others may result in the recipients experiencing neckline discomforts.
Any assessment of a wheelchair should be done in the light of its efficiency, effectiveness, relevance and impact to the recipient. Wheelchairs should be seen as assistive technologies that are meant to enhance the quality of life of their users. Wheelchair users have the agential capacities, if not expanded capabilities to meaningfully participate in their villages, communities and societies because their tools for mobility are connectors of different points and spaces. Architects and civil engineers should ensure that their products are universally designed. For example, banks, schools, churches, community halls, food courts, community libraries, stadia, airports and roads must be adaptive fit for wheelchair users. Pathways should also be made in such a way that they are navigable for wheelchair users.
The mantra of leaving no one and no place behind by 2030 may remain a pie in the sky for wheelchair users if buildings and vehicular transport remain inaccessible to wheelchair users. This writer has seen food courts mushrooming in Zimbabwe whose toilets do not even have ramps or wide doors for wheelchair users. This normative practice that is visible in the design of critical public buildings or architectural work speaks voluminously about attitudinal barriers in our society that approximates wheelchairs to prisons. A society that thrives on diversity will live to embrace differences and in the process fold peculiarities into its programming.
By Dr. Aribino Nicholas (Law Student-UZ) (Writing in own capacity)
