“THE WHEELIE”

Colin James...the man behind the Wheelie's Handbook of Australia.

Australia's Colin James, not to be confused with the Canadian blues singer of the same name, also has a musical background... e.g. more than forty years experience as an accomplished entertainer, TV performer, songwriter, booking agent, promoter, radio presenter, freelance journalist, motivational public speaker and community worker. He is also a Justice of the Peace, a Medal of the Order of Australia recipient and tour guide.

Over the past ten or so years, however, Colin has embarked on a far different career... that of researcher and writer of travel guides on behalf of people who use a wheelchair as their main source of conveyance or, as Colin puts it, “wheelies.”

Colin is a wheelie himself, through the effects of rheumatic fever as a four year old. Now, more than fifty years later, he lives alone (after three unsuccessful marriages) in Bendigo, the third largest provincial city in the state of Victoria, Australia. His only child, Leanne, a daughter from his first marriage, presented him with twin grandsons (Jack and Ryan) in 1994 and added Colin's third grandchild, another boy (Harry), in May 2000.

As a much travelled entertainer, Colin was forever coming up with difficulties in trying to find suitable accommodation in the towns and cities where he was performing. Whenever he did find something that was accessible he took particular care in noting as many details as possible... whether the room offered sufficient turning space for a wheelchair, telephones within reach of the bed, accessible bathroom and toilet facilities with grab rails, mirrors, light switches and clothes hanging facilities at wheelchair height... just a few of the many factors that have to be considered.

Many places also appeared to overlook the fact that access was also needed to reception areas and restaurants.

In the early 1990's, with the entertainment scene in Victoria in a decline, Colin and his wife Diane set out to travel as widely as they could for the purpose of not only seeing and enjoying the country at a leisurely pace, but to compile sufficient information to publish a travel guide for other wheelie's, listing as many accessible accommodation options and tourist attractions as they could find. The book, titled "A Wheelie's Handbook of Australia,” was eventually published in 1995 by the couple, who also marketed it themselves.

A lot of media interest was shown in this publication and copies were sold to disabled organisations, groups and individuals in every state and territory of the country, not to mention libraries, travel centres and tourist agencies.

After spending the next few years as a customer service representative, Colin still had itchy feet and decided that the year 2000 would be ideal time to publish an updated edition of the Wheelie's Handbook. The year of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Sydney, Australia, would certainly attract a lot of additional interest from overseas wheelie's who could make good use of an informative and updated wheelchair accessible travel guide of Sydney, together with all other areas of the country.

Colin, incidentally, was part of the Olympic torch relay around Australia, when he carried the flame at Elliminyt (near Colac in Victoria) on July 21, 2000.

Early in 1999 Colin, together with a carer (by this time Diane was working full time as an employment officer for people with disabilities), left to tour various parts of the country using a modified special purpose vehicle called a 'Flash Cab' (widely used in Australia as taxi cabs for transporting people in wheelchairs). This vehicle was generously sponsored for the project by the Flash Cab company, who also arranged the donation of some fuel through National Foods and Pura Milk.

Other companies who assisted Colin with this venture were the Paraplegic & Quadriplegic Association of Victoria, the Ford Motor Co. and Geelong sponsors Leahy Petroleum and the Lions Club of Leopold.

Using his own powered wheelchair and moderate physical limitations as a guide, the task of checking out accessible facilities was hampered by the fact that many of the disabled rooms were booked out, thus it was impossible to see them. When this occurred a questionnaire was left with the owner/manager of the facility to be filled out and mailed back to Colin as soon as possible. Thankfully this was done in most instances. In order to present the most informative guide as possible, Colin also mailed out and faxed many questionnaires to all areas he did not have time to visit.

Colin believes that this new edition of “The Wheelie's Handbook of Australia” is as close as one can get to providing a true reflection of what access is available to wheelchair travellers. “What is accessible to me should be accessible to the majority of wheelchair users, powered or otherwise”", he says. So it is that, nowadays, Colin James is regarded by many as a true advocate for people with disabilities from hands on experience.