Door Willem Brand
Part of the organization – now consisting of thirteen ambassadors with Maartje van Schooten as the main controller – called it an experience activity. Haarlem residents were invited to the Grote Houtstraat to take a seat in a wheelchair or to enter the city with a blind stick and experience glasses.
Divert into the Warmoesstraat
Children in particular easily participate. Kitty Velu, who has the eye disease PXE and whose world becomes smaller and smaller until she is blind, walks around the city with Flo (12). “It wasn’t too bad, but if you always have this, it gets tough,” says Flo afterwards. His brother Felipe (13) rides a wheelchair for a while: “People look at you more.” José Hamers, whose vision is becoming increasingly blurry, walks with Jitte (9) through the Warmoesstraat. Jitte wears glasses with rectangular vision, José only sees the periphery. “We make a nice couple like that,” she says and holds Jitte while he slides back and forth across the street with his stick. “You’re doing very well,” she encourages him. He comes across a sign on the sidewalk. José: “We have to get around this.” Further on, you have to divert again to the street, where cyclists also ride. Because there is part of a terrace on the sidewalk. A woman on the terrace looks up in surprise when Jitte taps her chair. José: “It’s not your fault, you can sit quietly.”
Badminton from a wheelchair
Sandra Prins, who became dependent on a wheelchair due to a brain stem infarction, gave a badminton clinic earlier that week. “I suffer from a dislocated hip. I played standing for five years with the help of a corset and braces. That was no longer possible. I have been playing badminton for an hour every week from a wheelchair for a year now. There are four of us now. You often need a different wheelchair for sports. This is quite difficult to arrange via the WMO. But we also want to participate.” Jan Willem Hollink, who has spasticity as a disability, says that he ballroom danced in a wheelchair for 33 years, also with a walking partner. Sandra and Jan Willem have recently joined the ‘night vision’ working group. Sandra: “We want to make night culture accessible and check whether there are lifts and an adapted toilet.” But inappropriate behavior of nightlife crowds can also be an obstacle. “As a visually impaired person with a dog, you don’t like coming to Smedestraat. There is often glass there.”
Such an accessibility week is good for making people aware, but given the examples, there is still a long way to go.
2023-10-08 19:54:48
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