SNN December 2018

The Ministers in a Wheelchair for a day was
met with huge media interest and a divided
response from the SCI community.
WHEELCHAIR FUN RAISES FUNDS FOR
SPINAL INJURY By Eddy Bramley
Weekend shoppers had a fun chance to experience the challenges of
life in a wheelchair on Saturday 8 September.
The New Zealand Spinal Trust and The Palms Shopping Centre
partnered to open The Wheelchair Challenge – a fun obstacle course
that gave shoppers an insight in to the everyday difficulties of being in
a wheelchair.
The challenge was the main event of the New Zealand Spinal Trust’s
second annual appeal which began on World Spinal Cord Injury Day
on 5 September.
New Zealand Spinal Trust information and design service manager
Bernadette Cassidy said the goal was to increase awareness and help
people understand the challenges that people living with spinal cord
injuries face.
“The idea is to take it kind of mainstream in somewhere like a
shopping mall where people can do something fun but at the same
time realise that doing things in a wheelchair is not so easy and kind of
put them in the shoes of someone in a wheelchair,” said Bernadette.
The theme of the appeal was ‘Relieve The Pressure’ which signifies the
immense physical and mental pressure individuals and their families can
face when affected by a spinal cord injury.
Three New Zealanders are affected by a spinal cord injury every week
and the aim of the New Zealand Spinal Trust is to provide physical,
mental and social support.
One of the trust’s key support programmes is vocational rehabilitation
which helps people who have recently sustained spinal cord injury get
back to work. Before the programme was in place only 12.5 percent
of people went back to work after suffering an injury – that figure has
now grown to 65 percent.
Another popular event during the appeal week was ‘Celebrities in
Wheelchairs’ where health ministers Iain Lees-Galloway and Carmel
Sepuloni, Canterbury District Health Board chief executive officer
David Meates all attended meetings in a wheelchair.
New Zealand Spinal Trust community and marketing manager Mike
Brown, who has a spinal cord injury himself, said such important
members of society experiencing a day in a wheelchair could only be
positive for the development of support for people living with spinal
cord injuries.
“It’s a great step in the right direction to
making people understand and to think
about the design of buildings to improve the
lifestyles of people in wheelchairs.”
“The feedback we got was that they wouldn’t have normally
understood the struggles of using a wheelchair everyday and so I think
it’s a great step in the right direction to making people understand
and to think about the design of buildings to improve the lifestyles of
people in wheelchairs,” said Mike.
“They are great decision-makers in our country and it was awesome
to have them experience a day in a chair and it was quite a profound
experience for them.”
New Zealand Spinal Trust appeal week was a great success and also
included a Wheelchair Challenge at the University of Canterbury.
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