Family's four-year fight for son's wheelchair ramp

Joanne McNamee says she first raised the issue of a ramp with the DfI more than four years ago.

The mother of an 11-year-old boy with complex needs says she is hopeful a four-year wait for a wheelchair ramp for her son is nearly over.

Joanne McNamee said a set of five steps outside her home in Strabane’s Ballycolman estate made it increasingly difficult for her son Kayden, who is a wheelchair user, to get to school.

She said she first raised the issue of a ramp with the Department for Infrastructure (DfI) to help Kayden, who is autistic and has Down's syndrome, four years ago, but the request was turned down.

The department said it would now be installed.

A set of steps outside the family home are getting more challenging for Kayden, his mum says.

Kayden needs to get to the top of the steps to catch the bus to school.

The only alternative is a 400 yard detour, that takes him past another busy school, which Ms McNamee says, because he is autistic, Kayden struggles to cope with the noise.

“Kayden lives in his own wee world, he is not very sociable, and everything he does has to be routine,” she told BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme.

“The same things every day, the same routine or he cannot cope."

A ramp has previously been installed leading from their front door to their garden gate but navigating the steps just outside the family home is increasingly difficult for Kayden and his mum.

In a statement, a DfI spokesperson confirmed the ramp in the Ballycolman Estate would be installed and it was hoped work would start within months.

'A school day is very difficult'

“When he was younger it was ok, you could lift him up and down the steps. Now he is older and a wheelchair user it is harder to get him up the steps,” Ms McNamee said.

“He is a big boy – for me to try and lift him, it is not possible anymore."

She said that "makes the school day very difficult”.

“I raised it (the need for a ramp) at least four years ago," Joanne McNamee said.

"I raised it and asked for a rail to be put up so he could hold on and get up and down but it was refused,” she said.

“We are getting this ramp now – hopefully it will make it easier. I just hope it can be done before the winter comes in."

'Difficult financial environment'

A spokesperson for the DfI said a timeframe for construction of the ramp "cannot be confirmed at present as there remain a number of procedures to be completed for land acquisition".

“The department is committed to carrying out improvements for pedestrian accessibility on the adopted road network, the DfI spokesperson said. 

"Unfortunately, the department is operating in a difficult financial environment due to over a decade of cuts".