International Wheelchair Day 2023

If you’re one of the 1.15 million Australians with mobility disability that use a wheelchair, or a person who supports the user of a wheelchair, you may be celebrating International Wheelchair Day.

1 March 2023 International wheelchair day

If you’re one of the 1.15 million Australians with mobility disability that use a wheelchair, or a person who supports the user of a wheelchair, you may be celebrating International Wheelchair Day.

International Wheelchair Day is the 1^st of March. First launched in 2008, this world event celebrates how wheelchair mobility promotes health, wellbeing, and social inclusion. 

Globally, wheelchair mobility is recognised as a critical policy issue at the forefront of legal reforms on accessibility as it is not a choice but a necessity of life. Australia as signatory to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities recognises:

… the importance of accessibility to the physical, social, economic and cultural environment, to health and education and to information and communication, in enabling persons with disabilities to fully enjoy all human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Indeed, since 2014, the Disability Inclusion Act (NSW) requires all government departments to develop Disability Inclusion Action Plans, including municipal authorities and those of Transport for NSW (2017). So, while disability policy often focusses on the provision of infrastructure to enable persons with mobility needs  to conduct routine activities in the name of social justice, there is much to still learn from the those with lived experience of everyday wheelchair journeys.

Project update

The research team at the University of Wollongong want to share some insights from our collaborative project with ATSA. Our project engaged with people who use assistive mobility devices– mobility scooters, manual wheelchairs, power-assisted wheelchairs and motorised wheelchairs. We are happy to share with you two academic publications that highlight the problems associated with access to public space and public transport. We argue that providing more infrastructure like ramps, lifts or disability parking spaces is only the beginning of the solution to equitable access. There remain significant challenges for integrating people who rely on motorised mobility devices into social life, not least of which are social attitudes towards people who look or move differently due to different forms of disability.

Other issues we have identified arise from the care and support structures that are in place to support people with disabilities. For example, in our focus group discussions with health professionals and prescribers we learnt about the processes of applying for funding through the NDIS. Health professionals realised that funding success relies very much on how applications are written. Applications require that a person’s level of inability must be demonstrated in order to justify why they require particular equipment to aid with their everyday lives. Often health providers and applicants reiterated to us that documenting this negative perspective (i.e., what a person is unable to achieve by themselves) has a detrimental impact on well-being. Rather than a focus on ability and what is possible, often the negative framing of disability further added to feelings of dependence and reliance on others. Added to this were frustrations about what equipment was available to them to support their independent mobility. Often applicants were forced to choose between a device that would serve them at home, or one that would provide access to local neighbourhoods and outdoor spaces. This ‘either or’ approach meant that some people were limited in how they managed their everyday lives using devices that were not entirely suitable to their needs. Further, we heard of the long wait times for approval processes which often resulted in another level of anxiety and stress for participants. Sadly for some participants devices came too late – changing medical conditions meant that the originally prescribed device was no longer suitable and thus required further adjustments.  

Our discussion groups with industry representatives and government planners also alerted us to how legislation is often outdated or contradictory across federal and state jurisdictions. There was disjuncture between for example, building standards and requirements in housing, corporate and government buildings. Often legislation designed to support the rights of people with disabilities did not go quite far enough. For example, in the educational context schools that have students with disabilities enrolled are able to access funding to install lifts, ramps and bathrooms. Yet, it was a different story when the parents of the student had a disability – parents related to us their time consuming ‘battles’ to have supportive infrastructure upgrades in their children’s schools so as to be able to attend concerts and ceremonies.

The importance of International Wheelchair Day

Conventional codes of ability continue to shape everyday public spaces through privileging independent movement of standing and walking bodies. Our work continues to highlight the need for more inclusive spaces through design, consultation and collaboration with people who have lived experiences of moving by wheelchair. International Wheelchair Day provides an opportunity to reflect on the important achievements of persons with mobility needs and the ongoing importance of social activism and social responsibility in matters of everyday wheelchair journeys. Our project participants were often proud of their service as consultants in local accessibility committees and their efforts must be celebrated as part of International Wheelchair Day for their political advocacy. But the fact that such political advocacy is required for wheelchair users only further confirms the entrenched norms that marginalise those reliant upon wheelchairs for not living up to able bodied expectations. International Wheelchair Day plays an important role in showcasing disability advocacy to support everyday journeys and cultivating cultures of everyday mobility rooted in acceptance and inclusion