Lorna’s story: Putting wheelchair skills to the test
5 February 2025
Meet Lorna:
- Loves the outdoors
- Enjoys pottery in her studio
- Based in Scotland – she can see five islands from her house!
Lorna, from Argyll, Scotland, dedicated herself to outdoor pursuits. But two years ago, her life changed when she sustained a T3-level spinal cord injury after a horse riding accident
“I was out riding my pony, when he suddenly took off at a fast gallop. I came off at high speed. I remember lying on the ground feeling as if I was enveloped in an air bubble – knowing that I wasn’t able to move.”
“I’m coming up to the second anniversary of my injury now, and since then I’ve been trying to claw back everything I loved doing before.”
After sustaining her injury, Lorna had rehab at the Glasgow spinal injuries unit, where she relearned everything from scratch. She wanted to get back to living her life as soon as possible, but needed to overcome many challenges first.
“In hospital I eventually became competent and quite strong in using my wheelchair – but there were a lot of things I still needed to practice. How would I get up high curbs while outside? How would I cope with staying in a hotel by myself while travelling?”
Lorna registered for our Edinburgh City Skills course – which is designed to give wheelchair users the opportunity to navigate a city independently after spinal cord injury.
“I wanted to put the skills I learned at the spinal unit into practice in a real-life environment. To try this on a Back Up course was really empowering.”
“Edinburgh is a challenging city to navigate as a wheelchair user. The cobbles, steps and steep hills – make it an ideal place to practice my wheelchair skills.
“I was able to try going backwards down steps in my wheelchair, and got the chance to independently wheel backwards down a great big slope!”
Lorna took home more than just practical skills from this course. She found a supportive community that she talk with about life after spinal cord injury.
“There is so much you can get on a personal level from others on the course. It was inspiring to hear how they tackled challenges – from advice on booking accommodation to wheelchair attachments.”
Lorna is now more confident in living her day-to-day life.
“Now, my town has been made a bit more accessible to me. I can get the bus and go into town alone, and I now feel OK going out into busy streets and finding my way around.
“I feel like I can go to an awful lot more places now because of the Edinburgh course.”
Getting around a city after spinal cord injury can be challenging – but Back Up is here to help you get the most out of life. Download our free wheelchair skills training app so you can practice wherever you are.
