"I danced a lot at Sunday School," Chantelle Nassari says with a smile."We walked back home after."Danced. Walked. Coming from her mouth, these two ordinary verbs take on a new dimension."Hold on, let me get the CD from my car," says Jason Clarke on another occasion.His car. The average person would not automatically assume that he has, or can even operate one.
Chantelle, from England, and Jason, from Tobago, are two of the teachers (Art & Costumes and Choir respectively) whom I met at this year's Buccoo Integrated Summer Camp.Since childhood, both of them have been in wheelchairs–Chantelle, from age six, after being diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy and Jason, also from age six, after falling from a Julie mango tree and landing in an instantly damaging sitting position.Chantelle's wheelchair is motorised.
She can whizz around at such a speed that people using legs would have to run to keep up with her.When holidaying in Tobago, she goes dancing, limes at accessible bars and restaurants, swims, enjoys boat trips to quiet beaches with friends and, with her six-year-old daughter, Maya, finds magical crystals left by the elusive "Rastafairy."Jason's wheelchair is manual. He propels it with powerful arms, doing wheelies on occasion to move up or down steps, over certain obstacles and into many places that have no ramp.