ERSKINE teenager Tayla Stone is hoping to develop a community group for physically disabled people in the area after a “freak” dirt bike accident put her in a wheelchair more than a year ago.
The 17-year-old said she had searched for community groups and sporting teams for people with physical disabilities in the area but had no luck.
Tayla was very sporty before the accident and said it would be great to have a supportive group where people of any age with any type of physical disability could get together socially on a regular basis and possibly play sport.
She found quite a few groups catering for the needs of intellectually disabled people but none for people who solely had a physical disability.
Tayla said there are “plenty of things” around Mandurah catering for people in wheelchairs but doesn’t want to be “pushed aside” when she “should be out socialising” because there’s no group where people in her situation can meet.
Since the accident Tayla hasn’t met anyone local in a similar situation to her.
Tayla’s accident left her with a broken back and a torn cruciate ligament in her left knee which led to months of gruelling surgery, rehabilitation and physiotherapy.
She said the whole experience happened really quick and at first she hated the wheelchair and found it hard to be seen in it but now she has “faced the facts” and moved on with her life.
Tayla still goes to rehab each week and despite being told she had a five per cent chance of walking again just after the accident, she has recently taken her first few steps and is determined to keep progressing.
“I just have to keep pushing myself,” she said.
While nothing much in Tayla’s life had really changed after the accident she said it was tough seeing all her friends driving and on their P-plates.
But Tayla hasn’t let her disability get in the way of doing typical teenage things and has recently got her learner’s permit and is looking forward to becoming a P-plater herself.
Tayla admitted she’s had her good and bad days but is now ready to get back in to playing sports and meeting new people who may have been through or who may be going through what she has and is.
She said the accident made her a lot more mature and has opened a lot of doors for her in terms of job prospects she never considered.
Before the accident Tayla was an apprentice hairdresser but now she wants to help people with disabilities because she “knows what they’ve been through.”
Tayla has been working at Ostara, a non-profit organisation specialising in assisting people who have an illness or disability find employment, in Mandurah for the past few months and her heart now lies with helping people.
One way in achieving this is through her idea of a supportive community group for physically disabled people in the area so they don’t have to travel far to socialise with people in a similar situation.
To express interest in Tayla’s idea email lauren.pilat@ruralpress.com
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