This year’s theme, ‘You and somewhere new’, is what we’re celebrating on Disabled Access Day; the opportunity to cross borders and experience something completely new. Rowena, one of our inspiring Aspire Grants recipients, set up an initiative to give disabled people access to countryside walks in her local area.

As a paraplegic, Rowena experienced restrictions every day, borders she just couldn’t cross. She loved the countryside but her access was restricted as she didn’t have an all-terrain wheelchair. Although she had come to terms with the limitations of her injury she knew that this was something she could overcome, and help many others to overcome. She started an initiative alongside her Masters in Accessibility called Walk Colchester. The aim was to provide suitable information about walks in the local area such as terrain, steps, stiles and walking distances. She says: “It wasn’t explicitly about disability but the idea was that it was inclusive. I mapped the walking environment in and around Colchester so that people could make informed decisions about accessing the countryside.”

One of the projects she initiated, as a part of Walk Colchester, was a bid to raise funds for an all-terrain chair available for public use in High Woods Country Park, Colchester. The project won an initial public vote grant from Natwest Community Force Award in 2012 for £6,275 and with the money she bought a Boma hand bike that is available for public use in the park so that people can enjoy the country park without limitations. Rowena said: “I absolutely love watching what it does to the people using it. Their attitudes are boosted and it brings so much fun. I genuinely loved watching them transform. It is such a game-changer for so many people.”

“I absolutely love watching what it does to the people using it. Their attitudes are boosted and it brings so much fun. I genuinely loved watching them transform. It is such a game-changer for so many people.”

Not only did it change accessibility for lots of people in Colchester but it was Rowena’s first fully accessible experience of the countryside since her injury. She said: “It was my first access in an all-terrain chair in 17 years so it was quite transformative. Even if I wasn’t using it myself, I just enjoyed sitting in the visitor’s centre drinking tea, waiting for the next punter to come along and watching them use it.”

Rowena and Aspire

After experiencing a taster of what accessibility in the countryside was like, Rowena started looking for an all-terrain chair for herself so that it was immediately available to her from home. She applied for an Aspire Grant and was successful in her application for a Strycker Powered Hand Bike. She says: “I’ve never looked back. This has changed everything. It really is amazing.”

Accessibility is more than just getting around

“It’s funny”, Rowena said. “I’ve found that the world seems to be divided between people who look at me in the Strycker or the Boma and go, ‘Oh that must be fantastic; that must really make a difference’, ‘I bet she can get out and about now’. Other people just look at it and say, ‘That’s a really great machine’.  It is, but I feel like they don’t understand just how much difference it makes to people’s lives, rather they just recognise it as a good bit of machinery. I try to get across to people that it’s not just about access, it means that I can have fun again.”

"I try to get across to people that it’s not just about access, it means that I can have fun again.”

Rowena has even found that her chronic pain subsides when she’s out on her hand bike. “I’ve tried drugs and all sorts to minimise the pain but there has been no cure for me. I have found distraction, personally, to be my best weapon and nothing distracts me more than being out on my Strycker hand bike.

“This powered hand bike has really been a great part in my distraction. First with the Boma bike at the country park and now with the new powered hand bike, it’s given me back some fun and the capacity to get out into the fresh air again. I’ve got Aspire to thank for that.”

"It’s given me back some fun and the capacity to get out into the fresh air again. I’ve got Aspire to thank for that.”

To find out more about Walk Colchester please visit walkcolchester.wordpress.com