My name is Tim Parnett, and I was injured in Nanaimo B.C. in 1990. My injury caused me to have to use a wheelchair and to also fight for my ability to speak well. Since my accident, it seems all I do is fight — I guess because I am a fighter. My limitations in accessibility, has made me want to focus on that, improving accessibility for ALL people. After three years of communication classes, numerous Toastmasters classes, and hours of motivational speeches, I’ve tried hard to better myself as a human being. I’ve developed a “hunger” to help all people because I have felt the pain, both physically and mentally, due to the challenges of my circumstances; as a result, I created an advocacy group called Mightywheels to assist others and to advocate for those who use wheels in their day-to-day lives.
http://Mightywheels.ca This website is geared to help all people who face social inequality due to their disability, and the main issue we currently address is accessibility for all. We focus on the barriers that cause inaccessibility; this would include things like parents pushing baby strollers, people with mobility issues or impairments, and/or people who use walking aids or wheelchairs like myself. I am motivated to do this work because I have been in the position of not being able to go where an able-bodied person has the ability to go. Mightywheels.ca wants to bring attention to poor infrastructure and problem areas in the community that you live in. I started Mightywheels years ago, when I was living in Innisfail, Alberta, but I eventually moved to Edmonton and expanded my work within that city. Edmonton has grown at a rapid pace within the past few decades, so much so that the city struggles to keep up with the demand of reconstruction of older communities. The accessibility conditions within these older neighbourhoods are severely lacking, even deplorable to a certain extent. I am hoping to raise awareness for the struggles that people with wheels or mobility issues face everyday. I do this to better people’s lives, I’m definitely all in.
Mightywheels 