UruguayLiving.com

I have come to the conclusion that the three monkeys, “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” are in charge of Uruguay’s strategic plan for providing for its handicapped citizens, residents and visitors. They way this works is that

• you see no handicapped people out and about
• you hear nothing about handicapped people, and
• no one even speaks about handicapped people and their needs.

As one of my interlocutors commented–the handicapped in Uruguay live in guilded cages doted upon by their servants and families.

I really hate wriitng about negative things–finding a positive side of almost any situation is my preference. But I must admit to being more than a little frustrated right now about the situation here in Uruguay for the handicapped. Since this blog is not about hype, but rather is about a truthful representation of this country, I am going to indulge myself in a little bit of Uruguayan whine…

After 7 months, the only wheels I can get for my wheelchair are basically bicycle wheels, you know the old kind with lots of little spokes about the width of wire clothes hangers. With my size and girth (big and fat) they last on average a week unless I confine myself to three rooms in the house. I cannot buy stronger wheels with more solid “dirt bike” spokes for love nor money.

Yesterday, a wheel on my outside wheelchair broke as I was going out the door to the hospital–I had to cancel everything and go back to my room because it is the only one I have that works for outside travel. That wheel had lasted 5 days.

I asked the wheelchair “manufacturer” to reinforce the wheels–they didn’t know how. I asked for a spare set of wheels so we could do a quick change–they didn’t have any spares at all. For months they have promised to import the extra strength wheels we need and for months they keep on telling us they will have them “in 2 or 3 months”.

Yesterday, Jimbo spent the entire afternoon and early evening going to every wheelchair place in town trying to get spare wheels without any success, or even hope.

For me, this means being confined to the house until this situation is reolved. Today we are going to try to find dirt bike wheels that we can have welded onto wheelchair axles and see if that works.

One would think that a country with universal education and medical care, and headed by a Medical Doctor President who outlawed smoking in public places by presidential decree, greater attention would be given to the handicapped. Not so. The President in an oncologist, so he cares about cancer–I haven’t found anyone yet who cares about the handicapped.

There are exactly two handicapped transport vehicles in a city of 1.5 million people. There are virtually no ramps anywhere, there is no provision in law for handicapped service animals and even the big hotels don’t really have handicapped access. The only way into the moonie-owned Radisson in Centro is around the back and through the casino. I have already related my experiences on the Buquebus.

On the positive side, if you go back to my very first post, Carrasco International Airport took great care of me–they get full marks, but they are pretty much alone. The only other places that are really handicapped friendly are the malls–they even have real handicapped bathrooms.

I try never to complain about something without offering some kind of solution. Thus, I offer the following:

1. the government might mandate minimum handicapped access for new buildings and major renovations.
2. the taxi companies could cooperate and make sure the bigger taxis are available on a priority basis for handicapped people.
3. private community service groups could start making street corner ramps throughout the city.

I really think number three has promise. IS ANY MEMBER OF THIS BLOG COMMUNITY AN ACTIVE ROTARIAN? There are literally dozens of Rotary clubs here in Montevideo. If they would take it upon themselves to buld street corner ramps instead of park benches, the problem would go away in a few years. Please let me know if you have any contacts for this.

Oh, and I did think of a 4th point as well: 4. Government subsidies for the purchase of sedan chairs and the hiring of teams of people to carry them about….

Posted by southron on Thursday, October 12th, 2006 at 16:31.