The Star: November 04, 2021
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<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>November</strong> 4 <strong>2021</strong><br />
8<br />
NEWS<br />
Construction<br />
of Coastal<br />
Pathway’s<br />
‘missing link’<br />
to start soon<br />
WORK TO complete the<br />
‘missing link’ in Te Ara Ihutai<br />
Christchurch Coastal Pathway<br />
from Ferrymead to Scarborough,<br />
is about to get under way.<br />
<strong>The</strong> final section runs from<br />
the east end of Redcliffs village<br />
around Moncks Bay to Shag Rock.<br />
<strong>The</strong> makeover is due to start on<br />
<strong>November</strong> 15 and is expected to<br />
be finished in mid-2023.<br />
Contractor Fulton Hogan has<br />
been appointed by the city council<br />
to carry out the work.<br />
City council acting head of<br />
transport Lynette Ellis says the<br />
project will mean users can safely<br />
and easily travel the whole length<br />
of the Coastal Pathway, and<br />
appreciate the estuary environment<br />
– creating an attraction for<br />
residents and visitors.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> existing sections of the<br />
pathway are very popular with<br />
around 5000 trips a week at the<br />
Ferrymead Bridge end, and we<br />
expect this number to grow with<br />
the path connected up.”<br />
New drinking water, wastewater<br />
and stormwater pipes and power<br />
cables will be laid in Main Rd in<br />
advance of the construction of the<br />
4m wide path.<br />
• By Chris Barclay<br />
SARAH KERR accepts you<br />
probably mean well, but if<br />
you have the urge to help the<br />
wheelchair-bound cerebral<br />
palsy sufferer unprompted, then<br />
please push off.<br />
Don’t take it to heart but<br />
the Sumner resident, who<br />
has needed a wheelchair for<br />
mobility purposes for three<br />
years, says the unsolicited assistance<br />
has had an unfortunate<br />
side-effect.<br />
“I’ve had several encounters<br />
with people pushing my<br />
wheelchair without asking me<br />
if I wanted to be pushed, these<br />
incidents have caused me to have<br />
a panic attack,” she said.<br />
“It’s got to the point where I’m<br />
nervous to have people I don’t<br />
know near me. I’m actually<br />
scared.<br />
“I know they mean well, but<br />
going up and pushing somebody<br />
in a wheelchair is akin to coming<br />
up and carrying an ablebodied<br />
person, just randomly<br />
picking them up and carrying<br />
them. You just wouldn’t do that,”<br />
she said.<br />
“<strong>The</strong> wheelchair is pretty<br />
much an extension of me so<br />
they’re pretty much coming<br />
right into my personal space.”<br />
Kerr admits needing assistance<br />
boarding and exiting<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
Ask before you push a wheelchair<br />
the bus to and from work in<br />
Riccarton, but otherwise she is<br />
content travelling at her own<br />
speed.<br />
However, members of the<br />
public will often push her at<br />
intersections and gentle rises.<br />
“It happens all over town. My<br />
natural reaction is to turn round<br />
‘It’s got to the<br />
point where<br />
I’m nervous to<br />
have people I<br />
don’t know near<br />
me. I’m actually<br />
scared.’<br />
– Sarah Kerr<br />
PUSH<br />
NOTIFICATION:<br />
Sarah Kerr<br />
has reminded<br />
well-meaning<br />
members of<br />
the public<br />
not to lend a<br />
helping hand<br />
by pushing<br />
her wheelchair<br />
without<br />
permission.<br />
PHOTO: GEOFF<br />
SLOAN<br />
and yell because I’ve been given<br />
a fright.<br />
“<strong>The</strong>re’s actually very little<br />
time when I do need help,<br />
but other wheelchair users<br />
could be different,” she said,<br />
before issuing advice to good<br />
Samaritans.<br />
“Don’t push somebody without<br />
asking. <strong>The</strong> best thing to<br />
do is say: ‘Do you need help?’ I<br />
usually say: ‘Thanks for asking<br />
because not many people do’.”<br />
Asked if investing in a<br />
motorised wheelchair was an<br />
option for the artisan weaver,<br />
Kerr replied: “No, the wheelchair<br />
is my exercise.”<br />
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