Each morning twenty nine year old Teppitak Wisarnsad, nicknamed Den, makes the journey from his room on Soi Yume, near Big C Xtra, to his place of work at the Big C South Pattaya store on Sukhumvit Road.
Not a long journey for anyone using a car or a motorcycle, but a wheelchair user has to face the uneven road surfaces, large pot-holes, high pavements and the huge volume of traffic. Motorcycle users driving on the wrong side of the road and baht buses stopping without warning make life even more difficult for anyone using a wheelchair.
Den, center, receives the instructions for his new wheelchair.
Den was born with no lower limbs and only one arm, which means that trying to steer his wheelchair is even more difficult. Getting across busy roads and over speed humps is almost impossible without some sort of help.
Travelling along the streets of Pattaya will now be much easier for Den.
But life has just been made easier for Den, who apart from being born with three limbs missing was also born with a cleft palate. He was recently presented with a brand new electric wheelchair which was paid for by generous sponsors from the United Kingdom.
Coming from a poor family in the province of Sukhothai, Den would never have been able to afford a wheelchair like his new one. Due to his disability he did not start his education in grade one until he was fifteen years of age. He graduated after grade nine and was determined to find a job, but the employment he was offered often turned out to be too much for him to bear.
Eventually he made the long journey to Pattaya and arrived at the Father Ray Foundation who offered him a roof over his head and helped him find employment in the offices at Big C.
Now the journey to work each morning will be much easier for Den, but the car drivers and motorcycle riders of Pattaya should be more considerate to other road users and next time you see someone using a wheelchair, slow down and let them pass.
