The scratchy sound of 1930s music resonates throughout the house of Linda Williams perched on a hill in San Martin, St Paul’s Bay, overlooking the sea.
“Let me go and get dad… He loves photographs and he loves to dance and sing,” Ms Williams, 62, says with teenage enthusiasm before she sprints into the house.
Minutes later she returns to the shaded terrace with her 96-year-old father, Eddie. But before she helps him into his wheelchair, the two unexpectedly waltz to Cole Porter’s Night and Day.
Ms Williams, a nurse by profession, urges her father to lift his tired legs and holds onto him tightly to make sure he does not fall over. He sings along and enjoys the attention of his small audience.
The parking here is a huge issue. Something must be done
“My dad loves to go out and loves to go to karaoke. But we can never find a place where to park. The parking here is a huge issue. Something must be done,” she says, pointing to the lack of parking spots for disabled in Malta.
All too often parking spaces are either already taken up by blue sticker holders or, worse, by cars that do not display the badge, says Ms Williams.
She believes Maltese law should change to reflect the UK’s, which allows holders of blue stickers to park in areas where parking is prohibited for up to three hours – so long as it is not an unloading bay or the area is not obstructed.
As Ms Williams speaks about this irking issue she gently helps her father into the wheelchair – that was once hers.
She had spent three years in that wheelchair when she was in her 30s following a horse riding accident. The experience shaped her life as it deepened her understanding of disability and turned her into a crusader for the cause.
Ms Williams, who lived in Kent, UK, had been riding horses since she was four years old.
When she was 35 she was forced to re-home her beloved ‘dancing horse’, Big Wig, because he was too large for her and her doctor told her this was leading to groin injuries. She decided to hang up her stirrups.
Later, Ms Williams allowed a friend of hers to keep her pony in Big Wig’s stable. On a cold, windy day, during a training ride, the horse reared up, threw her up the air and she landed on a rock.
Linda Williams and her 96-year-old father Eddie. Photo: Chris Sant Fournier“I knew immediately I’d hurt my back. I’d heard my back split,” she recalls with graphic sound effects.
It turned out she had fractured her spine in three places and remained in hospital for three months, living in fear she might be paralysed.
Although she could feel her feet and legs she could not move them. She started rehabilitation and it took her three years to be able to walk without assistance.
While she was undergoing treatment she decided to follow a course in rehabilitation so that she could help those with similar injuries.
She had just started walking when she got a job in Malta. Attracted to the island because she loved the sea, she makes it a point to swim every day to keep away the pain.
While working as a rehabilitation nurse in Malta she heard about a man, paralysed on one side of his body, who spent years locked up in a room in the UK and she went to see him.
I knew immediately I’d hurt my back. I’d heard my back split
“He was locked away in this room at the top of the house and just given a tin of beans to eat,” she recalls. She took care of him and brought him to live with her in Malta for eight years during which time she helped him with rehabilitation.
The man eventually moved back to the UK and lived independently.
Ms Williams is now studying for her doctorate in Naturopathic Medicine (that works with nature as a source of health) and Iridology (an alternative medicine focusing on the eye’s iris as an indicator of health) and looks after her elderly father. She is also focusing her attention on improving parking for disabled in Malta since she has many disabled friends who face the same problem as her father.
Ms Williams can be reached on williamsonlinda39@yahoo.com
The Sunday Times is telling the stories of people with various disabilities who are overcoming societal barriers. These monthly articles are aimed at helping society understand the needs and concerns of the 34,600 disabled people in Malta who are often hindered by lack of accessibility and understanding. Anyone who has a story to share can contact ccalleja@timesofmalta.com.
An EU-recognised card for people with disabilities
Just over 7,000 blue stickers are currently in use, according to figures obtained from the website of the National Commission Persons with Disability.
Communal reserved bays are intended for the use of different blue sticker holders and are not reserved for particular individuals. They do not include parking spots in private car parks.
The blue badge, or blue sticker, is an EU-recognised parking card for people with disabilities. While it is recognised across the EU, different countries allow the badge to be used in different circumstances.
For example, in the UK blue badge holders can park in restricted areas so long as they are not obstructing the passage. However, this is not the case in Malta where badge holders can park in areas reserved for disabled people that are marked with a wheelchair symbol.
KNPD chairman Joseph Camilleri thinks that allowing blue sticker holders to park in restricted areas in Malta could “translate into chaos”.
“In some other countries these regulations are allowed some leeway, so in quieter areas parking may indeed be almost where one pleases,” he said.
His main area of concern regarding reserved parking is the proliferation of pedestrian zones. Usually reserved parking is round the perimeter of a locality which is usually too far for disabled people.
“Should there be a few designated areas within the pedestrian zone? Should there just be dropping-off zones and reserved parking at the perimeter? Should there be mobility centres where a person with restricted mobility could hire a wheelchair? These exist in shopping malls abroad and they are often financed by the commercial community. None exist in Malta,” Mr Camilleri said.