Clifford Portelli manoeuvres his wheelchair up a ramp to mount a pavement in Fgura, but when he reaches the end he comes across a step and has to turn back and pass through the busy road.
It doesn’t take much to install a ramp. It’s not a huge cost... The authorities need to carry out inspections to ensure new buildings are accessible
Across the road, on another pavement, there is a ramp – but it is only a foot wide.
“Nowadays, life is difficult for everyone. But for people with disabilities it is so much harder,” the 34-year-old says, as he steers his wheelchair along the road.
Mr Portelli recently embarked on a silent campaign to make things change – and is having some success.
He recently posted photos on his Facebook page to highlight the lack of accessibility at two service providers’ outlets where he pays his bills.
A few days afterwards both outlets contacted him with assurances they would install ramps, which they did. But those were mere battles and the accessibility war still has to be won.
He points out the missing ramps on pavements and demonstrates how his wheelchair cannot get into many shops lining the main road; such problems exist all round the island. “It doesn’t take much to install a ramp. It’s not a huge cost,” he said.
But what irks Mr Portelli most is that several buildings built since 2000, when the Equal Opportunities Act came into force, should have ramps but do not. A new confectioner in Paola was a case in point.
“Whenever I need something from there, I have to stay outside, come rain or shine, and wait to be noticed so that I am served,” he said.
“This is not fair. The authorities need to carry out inspections to ensure new buildings are accessible.”
Mr Portelli was not born disabled and when he was a child he used to see a neighbour being pushed around in a wheelchair.
“I used to think to myself that life must be a struggle for him and the person who had to push him,” he said. But the day Mr Portelli turned 16, in September 1994, he had a serious accident.
His friends had organised a surprise barbecue for his birthday at Żonqor Point. One present was a waterproof Swatch watch and he decided to test it by jumping into the sea from a spot he was familiar with.
But it was dark and Mr Portelli crashed on the rocks, splitting his head open and breaking his neck, which left him paralysed.
After spending months in recovery he decided to fight and slowly became accustomed to his new life.
“I know that disabled people are always talking about the lack of accessibility. But it really makes a difference,” he said.
According to a recent report published by the National Commission for Persons with Disability, lack of accessibility remained the greatest source of complaints.
Out of 1,074 complaints filed since 2000 – when the Equal Opportunities Act came into force – 430, or 40 per cent, concerned accessibility.