Perth Voice Interactive

SAMANTHA JENKINSON is pushing for more adult change tables and free recharge points for electric wheelchairs in Stirling.

Currently there is a non-height adjustable change table at the Terry Tyzack Aquatic Centre, and another at the Perth train station. “It’s basically a table that can be moved up and down with a hoist for adults with disabilities, the elderly, or people who are incontinent,” she says. “We should be looking at providing these facilities at major community facilities and partnering with businesses to provide them in major retail precincts.”

The Stirling councillor—who suffers quadriplegia having broken her neck in a car accident as a teenager—also wants more free recharge points for electric scooters and wheelchair throughout the city. “We have an ageing population and it is not uncommon to get a flat battery when people are out and about on wheelchairs,” she says.

The recharge scheme has been a big success in neighbouring council Subiaco, which has various recharge sites at Dome cafe and at Earthwise, a non-funded community centre.

Robert Penny, a volunteer at Earthwise for more than 30 years, says his organisation hosts two recharge points.

“It’s a fantastic idea and fits in with Earthworks community ethos,” he says.

A Dome employee says the cafe has around seven recharge points which have been welcomed by regular users with disabilities.

Subiaco council acting director Karen Quigley says the cost to businesses to recharge an electric mobility scooter or wheelchair is minimal: about 30 cents per hour. Stirling council voted to look into both initiatives.

by STEPHEN POLLOCK