ABSTRACT
Independence is firmly bound to mobility. To be immobile is to be dependent. Disabled persons find themselves being governed by the non-disabled, be they extreme conservatives or left wing revolutionaries. Either way they have to deal with what they decide. They have to educate governments to accept their responsibilities. The World Programme of Action Concerning Disabled Persons is a key document in this respect as it clearly lays down the areas of government responsibility. There are vast amounts of money to be made for companies and their share holders in the manufacture of “Special Equipment” for disabled persons. These are just two examples of how a conventional everyday piece of mobility equipment succeeds in meeting the mobility needs of those disabled persons when the ’special aids’ manufactured at considerable cost by technicians and prescribed by doctors after assessment by physiotherapists had failed to meet the mobility needs of the persons concerned.
