International Wheelchair Day: Reflecting on work and the world 12 years on as a wheelchair user

By Stephen Salmon, Marketing Executive

​You may know 1st of March as St David’s Day, but did you also know it’s International Wheelchair Day?

2020 marks the 12th anniversary of International Wheelchair Day. Coincidentally, it also marks the 12th year of me as a wheelchair user.
It’s probably safe for me to say that becoming a wheelchair user has been one of the most eye-opening experiences I’ve ever had.

It took time for me to adapt to a new way of negotiating with the world around me. Once being a wheelchair user became my new normal, I began to fully experience the positive impact my wheelchair has had in my life.

I’ve had a few wheelchairs since 2008.
Not all of them have had the same impact – and not all of them have survived! While they’ve all provided me with mobilisation, the wheelchair I have now gives me so much more.

I never wanted to be defined by my disability, but being a wheelchair user is a part of who I am.
Apart from overcoming the hurdles my disability presents, my current wheelchair gives me the confidence to be my full self. To me, this is the biggest leverage my current wheelchair has that makes an impact in every aspect of my life.

A regular consideration I have to take as a wheelchair user is how I negotiate with rail networks when travelling.
Commuting brings about many challenges that non-wheelchair users wouldn’t typically encounter. One occasion recently saw me having to travel backwards to the end of a London Underground line, before I could make head way on the forward journey due to no lift being available at the original station I wanted to use.

There are also wider challenges wheelchair users have to face on trains, such as staff not being present on arrival of a service to assist in disembarking a wheelchair user – many examples of this have recently circulated on social media.

The UK’s recent poor weather has also led to my chair needing more regular cleaning and maintenance as well as managing through all of puddles! And just like a car does, my wheelchair also needs servicing to maintain its road-worthiness (at least I don’t have to pay for an MOT!).

I was a part of breaking and setting a new Guinness World Record for the heaviest aircraft pulled over 100m by a wheelchair team.
This was one of the most positive experiences I’ve had as a direct result of being a wheelchair user. I’m looking forward to making new positive experiences in the futures, as events and challenges become more accessible over time.

As part of me making more positive experiences, I’ll be taking on the London Marathon this year.
The London Marathon is one of the biggest challenges out there for manual wheelchair users like myself and this challenge is one of the main reasons I want to take it on.

It also provides me with opportunity to raise funds to support Whizz-Kidz, a charity that supports young wheelchair users. I’ve been volunteering with Whizz-Kidz since 2018 and I’m delighted to be able to support them in this way.

If you’d like to learn more about my marathon journey, you can support me here.

There’s a huge pool of talent being overlooked by employers because of their disability.
I’ve found that many employers have often overlooked disability as part of their D&I programme. While I know there’s a fear around making flexible adjustments, it really is much easier than you’d think.

As a wheelchair user, all I ask is for the flexibility to work from home a couple days a week (since I travel into London from Billericay) and an accessibility friendly office (mainly, for the toilet and fire escape). Yes, that’s really it.

Being a wheelchair user doesn’t impact my ability to carry out the work I do, and I certainly wouldn’t want it to be a factor in my career development.
Working at Guidant, I have had an experience to match my vision of how a company can and should be accessible and inclusive. I’ve been able to develop my career here without my wheelchair being a anything other than enabling me to get around.

And why shouldn’t it be anything else but that?

What is International Wheelchair Day?
Founded in 2008 by wheelchair user, Steve Wilkinson, this day is observed annually around the world to celebrate the positive impact their wheelchairs have had and to raise awareness on the challenges faced by wheelchair users to promote inclusion and accessibility.

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