Wheelchair-users join up to highlight access problems in county

Getting around towns in Meath in a wheelchair is almost impossible because of problems with footpaths, inadequate public transport and difficulty gaining access to public buildings - that is the message from two local activists who have been highlighting the problems for some time. Joan McGuinness and Mossie Ford, both wheelchair users who live in Kells, have confirmed that the findings of an Enable Ireland report, published last week, apply just as much in Meath as elsewhere in the country. The report, 'Access All Areas", showed that infrastructure including footpaths was the single biggest barrier in the lives of most people with disabilities. Navigation of potholes and uneven and narrow footpaths, cobbled roads and high kerbs, parked cars encroaching on pavements and cluttered shop aisles, are a major concern for people with a physical disability, according to the report. 'Footpaths are a problem and shops that leave flowers or signs outside - it is very difficult to get by. There are also too many steps everywhere,' according to Joan. 'If you need to go to the toilet, it is nigh or impossible. The bigger wheelchairs won"t fit into an awful lot of 'accessible" toilets and very often disabled toilets are locked and you have to go searching for a security guard to get a key.' In fact seraching for a security guard is a regular problem. 'If you go into the Navan Shopping Centre car park above Tesco, you have to get a security guard to bring you down in the service lift but you can never find a security guard up here.' Mossie said that able-bodied people parking in a disabled parking space was also major issue. 'There are times when you cannot get a parking space and you just have to go home,' she said, Visits to shops, hospitals and educational facilities can all be restricted by a lack of parking. Relying on public transport is not an option either. 'There are no wheelchair taxis in Kells and anywhere else in the county you need to book several days or even a week in advance,' Joan said. Flexibus have proved invaluable in providing transport for people like Joan and Mossie, but the demand is much greater that they can cater for. Getting out and about and socialising isn"t easy and Joan and Mossie do most of their socialising with Enable Ireland. Eating in a restaurant can be fraught with difficulty as tables are too close together and if you arrive in a wheelchair, other diners have to be moved to allow you pass through. In McDonalds in Navan, the only wheelchair accessible seats are beside the toilets and in front of a full length window looking out on the street. Getting into social functions, concerts or other amenities can be difficult as steps, narrow doors and other barriers can prevent access. Because of this, Enable Ireeland chooses venues for social events very carefully. Pauline Kelly Melia of Enable Ireland says that they regularly hold events in places like Claremount Stadium, the Ardboyne Hotel and the new Knightsbrook Village Hall because they are so accessible and welcoming. Mossie and Joan attended a conference on disability access in a hotel elsewhere in the country some time ago. The hotel had a ramp to the door but they still had huge difficulties getting inside. When they got to the door there was a 'lip" which prevented the wheelchairs going over it. 'I decided I was going in by hook or by crook, so I reversed back, went at it at speed and managed to get in,' Mossie recalls. On the same day, they discovered they couldn"t get access to the hotel"s restaurant and could only get tea and sandwiches served in the meeting room. She recalls an attempt at a day out in Dublin with a personal assistant with her. 'It was a pantomime. I had to travel in the baggage compartment and had to wait for 15 minutes for a ramp to come to get on and again to get off,' she said. The Enable Ireland survey found that for some people with disabilities it is simply 'easier to stay at home'. Joan and Mossie have no intention of staying at home and, despite the tremendous barriers, have been active in raising awareness of the access difficulties faced by people in wheelchairs or with reduced mobility. Joan points out that there are many people who will pat her on the head and say 'poor you' but that is the last thing she wants. She wants to be able to get about and live her life like everyone else. The main barrier to that is a lack of accessibility. While many buildings and developments have in recent years made efforts to be more accessible, both Mossie and Joan believe that they never actually consult with a person with a disability before putting in so-called 'accessible features". 'You can have good new footpaths with slip-ways but with a gully running along underneath, so you cannot get up or down. Disabled toilets are very often locked, I"ve been in one where there is no rail so I cannot transfer onto the toilet,' Joan said. They both make the point that getting out, meeting friends and getting involved in activities is essential for everyone"s well being, which is why they play such an active role in campaigning for accessibility. When Joan moved to a nursing home in Kells a few years ago, she discovered that the local swimming pool wasn"t very 'wheelchair friendly" and the hoist that is essential for somebody with a disability 'had seen better days'. 'We decided to look for ideas for how to raise money and a group of us from the nursing home and carers held a swim-athon and raised enough for the hoist. 'Swimming is great for somebody who is sitting in a chair 24/7. It is great exercise and we can function a lot better in water than on dry land,' she explains. Joan also campaigned for more disabled friendly changing facilities at the pool and met with the then Environment Minister Dick Roche and a couple of months later, 'the pool was very disabled friendly'. Both Mossie and Joan point out that they need personal assistants in order to get out and about. The HSE provides a limited number of hours of personal assistants and Enable Ireland also provides additional personal assistance hours which can make a huge difference to the life of a person with a disability. They are both very busy at the moment. Mossie is moving shortly from the nursing home in Kells to her own apartment in Bailis, Johnstown, and Joan is writing her memoirs. She is a member of a writers" group and had her fellow writers in stitches laughing when she recently read a humorous excerpt from her book. Mossie has also demonstrated good writing skills contributing to a book called 'Voices From the Edge" which was a collection of different people"s stories. A spokesperson for MacDonalds in Navan said they were currently revamping their premises. Work started on Monday and would be complete within a few weeks. He said the works would result in better disabled access. 'We are aware of the problems and are doing something about it,' he said. Gerry Mulcahy of Navan Shopping Centre said that there was buzzer signs beside the special needs car-parking area in the shopping centre by which somebody can contact security. He said that he would be delighted to meet with the ladies to discuss ways of improving access in the shopping centre.