Hit by cars, tipped over - what life can be like for someone in a wheelchair

On a shopping trip along the Sliema seafront, Clifford Portelli was able to easily enter just one shop. During the half-kilometre stretch of pavement towards Gżira, his access was either blocked by steps or tables and chairs. It’s an experience the 41-year-old from Paola has had to get used to since he was left using a wheelchair after a swimming accident on his 16th birthday. [attach id=789093 type="video"]Video: Matthew Mirabelli, Bernard Casha[/attach] “I’ve been hit by cars, tipped over, I’ve fallen over pavements,” he says. Times of Malta joined Mr Portelli on a shopping trip to see what such an ordinary experience is like for people with disabilities in Malta. It comes after an inspection by the Commission for the Rights of Persons with Disability of 334 businesses along the Gżira and Sliema seafront found just 42 were physically accessible for people with disabilities. As part of the experiment, Mr Portelli negotiated his way into shops and cafes, encountering tables and chairs on the pavement or steps blocking entrances. Of the 20 or so businesses, only a handful were in any way accessible to him. Even then there were problems. One sports shop, for example, had a ramp...