‘I have lost a little bit of my independence’
WHEELCHAIR CAMPAIGNER NICOLA THROWN ONTO ROAD IN BID TO AVOID DAMAGED BOARDWALK
WHEELCHAIR rights campaigner Nicola McDonnell has been left bruised and cut after she was thrown from her chair on part of the Oldbridge walkway.
‘A little bit of my independence has been taken away,’ a still shaken Nicola told the Drogheda Independent.
She was in her chair and taking her usual route from Drogheda to Oldbridge House when the accident happened.
In an attempt to avoid the uneven stretch of boardwalk damaged in a fire some years ago, her wheelchair clipped a wooden board and she crashed back onto the road.
A worker in St John of God’s happened to be driving past and knew how to lift her properly.
She has complained to the council in the past about the dangers the surface poses to wheelchair users.
‘It must be repaired before the summer,’ she urged.
WHEELCHAIR rights campaigner Nicola McDonnell has been left bruised and cut after she was thrown from her chair on part of the Oldbridge walkway.
‘A little bit of my independence has been taken away,’ a still shaken Nicola told the Drogheda Independent.
She was in her chair and taking her usual route from Drogheda to Oldbridge House when the accident happened.
‘I love it, the whole journey, it’s great because it’s flat,’ she said.
However, the section that was damaged in a blaze some years ago has still not been properly replaced and always proves a difficulty.
‘Last Thursday, the casters caught in the wheels when I was on the stretch and I was thankful to get through it,’ she recalled.
On the return to town, she was afraid to go back through the damaged area and decided to go onto the road to avoid it.
‘People were great in the cars and there was no problem, but as I went back down a small tramaced ramp, I hit a piece of wood lodged in the tarmac and I suddenly went flying back,’ she said.
She tumbled onto the roadway and her chair landed on her, trapping her.
‘ Thankfully a chap pulled in and I was blessed because he works in the St John of God’s so he knew how to lift me back up.’
Nicola suffered cuts to her elbow and leg and a handle at the back of the chair used to push her was broken.
But the biggest injury was to her self confidence, something she will have to regain.
‘I like to go out on my own and use the boardwalk, but I won’t be going as far anymore. It is good exercise and I have been doing it since the first lockdown, going a little further all the time,’ she said.
But last August and September she noticed the big problems with the area that had been destroyed in the fire.
‘It is very uneven, even for people with reduced mobility or with buggies and especially wheelchairs.’
She contacted Meath County Council back then to express her fears, but got no response.
‘I actually know another chap who uses the boardwalk but he stopped going the full way too, as that stretch was wrecking his chair.’
She feels the lack of a full repair of the boardwalk since it was damaged has discriminated against people in wheelchairs.
‘We can only hope that the council will act, especially with the summer coming,’ she said.
‘A little bit of my independence has been taken away’