A Ramsgate man who suffered severe brain injuries in a random attack on a night out has launched a petition to ask Kent County Council to address the chronic lack of accessibility in his hometown.
Joe Shaw was injured in a brutal unprovoked attack in March 2018 and now uses a wheelchair. He has made a video showing just how hard it is to get around the popular resort town, even where there are supposed to be dropped kerbs.
The video shows that dropped kerbs often have lips which cannot be surmounted, pavements are dangerously uneven, roadworks block safe pavement access, and shops are completely inaccessible.
To help Councillors understand just how difficult it is to get around the town in a wheelchair, Joe says in the video: “I reckon that members of the Council should sit in a wheelchair for a day and be pushed around like a Disabled person and have the experience of that person.”
DR UK’s Fazilet Hadi said: “This video comes as no surprise to anyone who has tried to use a wheelchair or mobility scooter to go about day to day life. Councils across the country make adjustments that tick boxes at best most of the time, without meaningful consultation with Disabled people, with no comprehension of how to adapt environments as per the Social Model of Disability, and more recently, they have been taking away access by cluttering up pavements and removing blue badge parking to put in place al fresco dining spaces outside cafes and restaurants. The Government has a golden opportunity to turn this desperate workaday situation around in its forthcoming National Disability Strategy. We hope it takes it up.”