Many people with disabilities draw on their personal strengths to enable them to live their lives with as much independence as possible. This means finding alternative ways to do everyday things that many others wouldn’t give a second thought to. Things such as doing the washing, getting the groceries and many other routine tasks can be modified to work with someone’s abilities. That being said, everyone runs into situations where something goes wrong and they need to find a way out of it.

Rachel describes herself as a resilient and capable person, saying “one of my tag lines is that I’m only vulnerable when my nails are drying, however this isn’t true”. Rachel found herself in a difficult situation recently when her electric chair got stuck in the mud. Rachel takes her dogs for daily walks. On one such day her daughter’s puppy got loose and became stuck on a branch by it’s collar. “Dog crying and daughter crying, it had to be done”, Rachel explained.

Rachel says all was fine until she turned around and got stuck. It started raining and her chair started fizzing. She started panicking. Her 6-year-old ran home to get her older daughter come and help Rachel out. It became evident that they weren’t going to be able to do it alone, and they ended up calling local firemen in. Unfortunately, they couldn’t help. Two hours were spent being stuck and sitting in the rain, waiting for a tow truck and salvage company come.

Rachel went on to say “Two trucks and $180 later and I was free. It reminds me why were so open to anxiety as disabled people; one false move and were really in trouble. I’m one of the lucky ones who had a phone, credit and money, but what if I hadn’t had that? Cold, wet, stuck and crying in a local park. Anxiety and a cold blew the budget. Long story short, there is a lot more to wheelchairs than it looks.”

While this experience was rather overwhelming for Rachel, she feels prepared for possible similar events in the future and still takes her dogs for their daily walks!

www.yesdisability.co.nz