Wheel inspiration! Birmingham student’s week long wheelchair challenge in aid of spinal cord charity

University of Birmingham student Karen Thomas, 21, chose an unconventional method of fundraising when, as an able-bodied person, she decided to live life in a wheelchair, in aid of spinal cord charity The Back It Up Trust.

Over the course of 5 days she undertook a series of challenges, on the University’s campus and across the city centre, which she hoped would raise much needed awareness of those living with spinal cord injury (SCI) on a daily basis.

Karen, who is studying for a Masters degree in Physiotherapy, was inspired to undertaken this challenge when she experienced several of her closest friends going through the ordeal. In an interview with broadcaster Adrian Goldberg, which was featured on BBC West Midlands 95.6 radio, she said “they both had accidents and were in bed while they were suffering from their injuries”. They were fortunate enough to recover but Karen became aware of The Back It Up Trust and how it had supported her friends. She also talked about her personal experiences of being an able-bodied person in a wheelchair, and how she was having to wake up several hours earlier in order to do her usual daily tasks.

 

As part of her challenge, she also tried out wheelchair badminton and went on a lone venture to the university in order to test the accessibility of different locations, saying that “we noticed that the libraries were a bit harder to get into”. On a trip to the supermarket, she also found that the aisles were too narrow for her to navigate her wheelchair through, meaning she had to time her turns in advance.

She said the highlight of the project was achieving more than she had expected. She wrote on her WordPress blog entitled Pursuing Physiotherapy:  “having people from 19 different countries following my challenge really is an incredible thing and if I helped just a small handful of the 800 people who did have a scroll through learn more about SCI I am more than happy. In terms of the actual challenge, I think seeing how much more proficient and confident I was in the chair by the end of the week was something that made me really proud of myself”.

She said the most difficult part of her experience was the physical endurance. The constant use of her arms to drive the wheelchair left her feeling tired at the end of each day. With regards to discrimination, she said “some people didn’t want to be discriminating, so they would look right away. But I would rather be treated as if I was just walking along”. Some people would also move out of her way when they walked past, which she believed was unnecessarily. Nonetheless, she was grateful for the support she received from passers-by who showed a genuine interest in offering to assist her.

Molly Browne, the Vice President for Sport and Nutrition at the University of Birmingham, recently hosted a wheelchair basketball tournament on the campus and is delighted that the university now she its own wheelchair basketball team, in conjunction with a local community club. She said that “Having worked for the last 12 months in a students’ union, I’ve had my eyes opened to the difficulties other students face day-to-day on campus. The Guild is doing some brilliant work with its liberation associations to raise awareness and tackle some of the barriers that prevent students taking part in activities and having the same experience as other students but there is still so much more that needs doing”.

Ellis Palmer, a former Disability Officer at the University and full-time wheelchair user, added “It’s great to see somebody who is able-bodied actively engaging with access issues by taking up such a challenge. Whilst Karen can stop using the chair after five days, wheelchair users face access issues and social stigma and exclusion on a daily basis, and this is something that needs to be resolved by government and civil society”.

What’s next for Karen? She has raised over £600 to date, exceeding her £500 target, and hopes to continue to raise additional funds for the charity, whose services include mentoring, wheelchair skills training and activity courses as well as support for those getting back to work or school following an injury. She will be running the Birmingham Half Marathon later this year, also in aid of The Back-Up Trust.

To read Karen’s blog visit: https://pursuingphysiotherapy.wordpress.com

To donate to Karen’s Just Giving page visit: https://www.justgiving.com/Karen-Thomas18

For more information about The Back-Up Trust visit: www.backuptrust.org.uk

Working for Careers Network: Suna Yokes

My blog about the joys of working for Careers Network part-time while at university…

Real Voices

Suna Yokes works as part of the Careers Network Student Engagement Team (SET) as a Film & Digital Projects Assistant

I assist the Multimedia Manager with a range of tasks including filming, editing and subtitling video content for the YouTube Channel. What I love about my role is that it’s creative. Sometimes I will be asked to go along to certain lectures, talks or workshops and film content. But if I find some events or sessions that I think would be good to capture, I have free rein to do so. For example, I attended an interactive workshop with multi-business entrepreneur Mike Bandar and made a video which included an interview with Mike as well as highlights from his presentation and the group activities. I also went to the Societies & Services Fair earlier this year with Mehek, another member of the SET team. We interviewed several society’s members about how doing extra-curricular activities…

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Nott so bad…Birmingham Volleyball Girls beat Russell Group Rival in 3 sets

It’s still early days in the season, but the Women’s first team were on fire in their second away game at Nottingham. After a close defeat to East Anglia, the girls were hungry for their first victory away following impressive victories against Loughborough and Aston. With a small squad of 7, and with no coach in attendance, it was clear that they would have to stay focused throughout in order to clinch it. Luckily, the super 7 were able to storm their way to a 3-0 victory in just over an hour.

Straight sets victory for UoB!

How did they achieve this you may ask? With an excellent line-up of golden oldies and fresh faces, combined with our outstanding coach of the day, Oli, who stepped in at short notice to provide valuable advice along the way.

Ready in defence

Nimble Nicole Smith was impressive in her debut for the team as libero, having usually played as opposite, getting her hands on most of the tricky attacks and taking one for the team in the shape of a sore eye when she had a collision with another player while scrambling for a ball – what a fighter! Agile Agata Stefanowicz the outsider also played some fantastic digs straight to our setter and her serves, often soaring low over the net, proved difficult for the opposition to receive. Her tenacity was clear to see, as she lunged and dived for every ball.

Sensational Suna Yokes came into her own this game, serving with variety and consistency, at one time 7 times in a row, showing considerable improvement from previous matches, combined with some solid blocks and spikes as middle against the Nottingham offensive. Blazing Bettina Ra, also a middle, was once again on top form, unleashing her inner prowess whenever the ball landed in reach of her at the net. She also had a couple of incredible stuff blocks, sending the ball straight to the ground of the opponent’s court, which wiped the smiles off the faces of the Nottingham attackers.

Consistent serving

Fierce Flavia Irti was formidable as opposite throughout the match, serving and spiking with a power that not one of the Nottingham girls had an answer to. Nelson was even caught on camera being utterly hypnotised by her service motion! Jumping Janelle Yee was just as exceptional as outside, unleashing hit after hit at every angle as well as passing in some great balls, making it effortless for the setter to set up an offensive. She also served some unbelievable aces, leaving the opposition speechless!

Team talk at half time

Last but not least, the glue holding our team together, our setter Hotshot Harriet Roberts. Always vocal on court, she was able to fire up the whole team throughout, keeping the team focused and on the ball. Her setting distribution was once again spot on, but what was even better was her ability to adapt to any situation in order to rescue the point.

A massive thank you to Oli Hoelzinger for stepping in to coach us through the match #OliForPresident. To “Tight hands” Tom Tumukunde who proved to be an exceptionally good amateur photographer, capturing some priceless facial expressions on camera. Also to our little group of cheerleaders, headed up by James Labram. And how can we forget Joy….there are no words or nicknames that can adequately sum up just how entertaining Joy’s raucous laugh was! Seemingly unprovoked, he can set off a cackle to rival a bunch of witches on Halloween. We look forward to his laughter continuing to light up the room, both at home and away. As for the women’s team? Onwards and upwards towards our next game, where we will take on Derby. Bring it!

Team huddle after securing the win

In the 2014/2015 season, The University of Birmingham Women’s 1sts finished 2nd in the BUCS Midlands League and made it to the Quarterfinals in the BUCS Trophy competition. Full results and scores available on the BUCS official website.

2014/15 BUCS regional results