Related to Material relating to the rehabilitation of spinal and spinal cord injuries
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Account by paraplegic individual of experience of travelling through continental Europe 'by wheel chair and car' (25)

'I started on my homeward journey on a hot Sunday morning - alone and rather broke...

On the way to Ravenna there was a steep and nasty pass over the Appenines. About half-way up, the engine petered out and refused to start. The midday sun beat down. I waited. Eventually a motor cyclist ccme[sic] along and we managed to start the engine after pumping some petrol through the carburettor.

The engine stopped again near the top and I thought I could start it if only I could get the car pointing down-hill. Two youths appeared at this moment and helped me around. However, it still refused to fire, and as it was siesta time - just after lunch - it was unlikely that anyone would come along for a while, so I decided to get out and play around with the carburettor myself. I keep the chair in the back seat, so I got it out, lined it up for the transfer, let go of it for a moment to adjust the car seat - and looked up just in time to watch it roll gently over the edge of the precipice and out of sight. Miniature avalanches continued for some seconds, and it sounded as if the chair had come to rest about fifteen feet below. Five, fifteen, or fifty, I now had to wait.

... Quite soon afterwards a small Fiat drew up and an elderly lady and gentleman stepped out. My Italian was sufficient to explain that I couldn't walk and didn't have a chair... but... I had to resort to sign language, and it was a long time before I could make it clear that I did not want to go all the way down to San Godenza at the foot of the pass. I managed to direct them to the point where the chair had gone over and the discussion continued irrelevantly until one of them happened to look over the edge and saw the chair. The dawn of enlightenment broke rapidly. The man disappeared over the edge, and after many further avalanches and much wheezing he reappeared with the chair. It was a good effort and they were a very nice couple. I adjusted the carburettor, started up, and this time reached the top.' (29)