RENEE GOOSSENS WILL never forget the few seconds of horror that turned her life into a nightmare of constant pain, put her marriage on the rocks, and confined her to a wheelchair. The future seemed rosy to the 21-year-old daughter of famous conductor and composer Sir Eugene Goossens, nursing her seven-month-old baby Philip, as her husband drove them through the quiet English countryside towards the university town of Oxford. Suddenly her world was turned upside down. Her husband fell asleep at the wheel, she screamed in panic, and in the confusion he put his foot down hard on the accelerator instead of the brake. The car tore through a hedge and plunged into a field, overturned several times, throwing all three clear, and then ran over Goossens, breaking her pelvis in nine places. Darkness was falling, and she lay dazed, helpless and frantic, fearing her baby had been killed. No one had seen the accident happen and the hedge obscured the wrecked car. But Philip was not dead. Miraculously the baby was only slightly injured, and his cries saved himself and his parents. A passerby heard them and clambered into the field to investigate. TODAY, 40 YEARS ON, Philip lives in a spacious, luxury apartment in Mid-Levels with magnificent views over Victoria Harbour. Philip Alexander is president and CEO of iBEAM Asia, a leading technology company. Mother and son were reunited briefly last week when Goossens passed through Hong Kong on her way to Sydney from London. The pain is still so bad she can only walk a few metres, and she is confined to her wheelchair most of the time. Before she left for Australia she wheeled her way around some of the major tourist attractions of the SAR to find out how we cater for the disabled. For Goossens writes for magazines dedicated to people like herself, such as Disabled Motorist, which has a circulation of around 60,000, and Disability View, which has a readership of 20,000. Both are published in Britain. She is no stranger to Australia. She worked there for 20 years as a language teacher, writer, and appeared on television regularly giving advice and information to the disabled, before taking up residence again in England in 1987. Goossens is moving back Down Under permanently. She will continue to work as a freelance writer, and hopes to become an ambassador for the disabled, striving for improvements to help their mobility. Looking out over Victoria Harbour from her son's apartment, Goossens gave Hong Kong the thumbs down for its lack of facilities to help the disabled. She says Singapore is way ahead of us. 'In Singapore, taxi drivers must attend to the disabled first. Members of the public come up and help, but not in Hong Kong,' she says. She waited for 30 minutes trying to flag down a taxi during her visit to the SAR, and no one offered to help. Indeed, it was the indifference of a taxi driver - not in Hong Kong, but Australia - that brought a major setback in her fight to cope with her disability, says Goossens. After the accident she spent 18 months in hospital and the next three years in a wheelchair. However, she persevered until she learned to walk again, albeit painfully. Then a taxi driver in Sydney refused to help her lift a computer. In frustration and anger, she picked it up herself. The effort put her back in a wheelchair. That was 1987. 'I tried to use the Mid-Levels escalator on this visit, but no one offered to help. They tend to look the other way. People here avoid you if you are disabled. 'There are dropped kerbs and wheelchair-friendly buildings in Singapore which are well-indicated. Generally speaking, access to buildings in Hong Kong for the disabled is atrocious,' Goossens says. 'My visit to Singapore was heart-warming, happy and enriching. They are much more enlightened there.' Goossens adds that many people coming to Hong Kong for the first time are surprised at the low standard of English here, especially considering its historic links with Britain. 'Being disabled, and not being able to be understood, can be a frightening experience.' She says the Disability Discrimination Act in Britain, which will come into force in 2003, requires that all public places have reasonable access for the disabled. 'It is proving very expensive and a nightmare for small businesses,' she says. She doesn't believe the SAR Government should follow suit and spend millions of dollars to make life easy for the disabled here, however. 'We must take responsibility for ourselves, but the authorities could be doing more. Buildings should be made more accessible, not necessarily by adaptations, but by staff awareness training. Buildings could have a bell next to a picture of a wheelchair. Disabled could ring to get help.' Often ramps here are too steep to be negotiated by people in wheelchairs, she complains. She experienced problems with the one outside the Regent Hotel, for example, but staff had proved helpful when told of her plight. 'On the plus side, the new airport connections are excellent. Staff are helpful from the moment you arrive.' But she says hotel staff often stand around without coming forward to help. 'The Tourist Information office will give you impressive, glossy brochures indicating routes possible for wheelchair users, and pictures of buses that are easy to access. However, not all routes have these buses available, and generally you will find the only way to explore Hong Kong is by taxi.' In Hong Kong around 700,000 poeple have physical disabilities, and around half are able to work including deaf, blind and those with other handicaps. But there is no breakdown on the number of people in the SAR who must use wheelchairs. In Britain, disability allowances of GBP36 a week (about HK$400) prove helpful for public transport, says Goossens, and if disabled people are accompanied to the theatre, their companion is given a free seat. Sydney had also made many improvements to help the disabled before the Olympics, but there is still much to do there, she believes. And after flying back to Sydney with Matilda, she will get to work immediately to push for more improvements, starting with the Sydney Opera House. Matilda? 'Oh, Matilda is my wheelchair,' says Goossens. 'If I arrive at an airport and can't find it, I'll tell staff 'I've lost Matilda'. It brings a much better response than saying I can't find my wheelchair.' In the hallway of Philip Alexander's apartment is a bust of Sir Eugene Goossens, who was conductor of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra. It is a copy of the bust which is a permanent exhibit at the famous opera house. Renee Goossens' father chose the site of the Sydney Opera House. It used to be a tram depot, and Sir Eugene suggested it would be a grand site for the magnificent building. Ironically, access for the disabled there is appalling, says Goossens. She has made an appointment to meet its chief executive to demand improvements. Her father would have approved.
