A soldier by profession, now a woman with a disability after an accident, Esperanza Castro points out that “the change from a normal life to having an acquired disability is very abrupt. When I woke up from the Intensive Care Unit, after a month and a half, my first intention was to go back to work, and it’s very hard to see that you can’t”.
Castro explains that the strategy to live “well with disability” is “to have the economic support that allows you to do so”, as the government’s coverage is not enough. Both public and private organisations provide support to people with disabilities and their families, and work to raise awareness in society as a whole. However, there are still many needs for this group. For Esperanza, the first of these was guidance on what to do, because of the sense of loss she and her family felt, as well as the architectural, administrative and mental barriers.
In addition to these, psychological and legal support, among others, is also important. In his case, being in the military, he had other obstacles related to health coverage due to military bureaucracy. “Today, after 20 years, I still have some difficulties, but I know how to get around.
She also explained that “being a woman with an acquired disability is a different world to that of a man, as, for example, they have problems in gynaecological consultations due to a lack of accessibility in the sanitary furniture”. Another of the issues to be addressed as a necessity is sexuality in people with spinal cord injury, who are considered “asexual”, but this is not at all the case. “The lack of information led me to experiment on my own and, subsequently, to bring it to the attention of the specialists, although with a bit of taboo on their part”. A whole series of social, psychological, physical needs, etc., and the ability to cope with them, a readjustment to a new life on wheels.
This interview is part of the Readjusting To Life Project, co-financed by Erasmus+ of the European Union, and in which the Provincial Federation of Associations of People with Physical and Organic Disabilities of Seville participates as a partner along with entities from Turkey, Greece and the United Kingdom.
