OWENSBORO, KY (WFIE) -
After a recent accident where a car hit a man in a wheelchair, residents at Owensboro's Wendell Foster Center want to see some changes.
They're calling for wheelchair signs to be added in Owensboro.
The main area where residents want signs is along Triplett Street between 18th Street and the Ohio River in downtown Owensboro.
Stephanie Sharp wants people to know she's just like everyone else, and deserves the same rights, except Stephanie was born with Cerebral Palsy and has been confined to a wheelchair all her life.
"The way people sometimes approach people with disabilities and how they react around people with wheelchairs. It can make you feel very uncomfortable," Stephanie told 14 News.
What makes Sharp and other people in wheelchairs even more uncomfortable is the news that a man in a wheelchair was hit by a motorist a couple months ago.
"It can take people in chairs longer to slow down to even stop. The safety of citizens should be a priority of the state," said Sharp.
To ensure safety, Sharp, along with Wendell Foster Center resident Roger Feldhaus, are asking the city government to add wheelchair signs to different parts of Owensboro.
"It'll have the sign of a chair instead of a bike," Stephanie noted.
"I think there's an assumption that people in wheelchairs are always going to have somebody there to look for them," said CEO of the Wendell Foster campus Terry Brownson.
The problem is Triplett Street is a state road.
"The city's going back to the state as an advocate to try to say there may not be a crystal clear requirement, but we think there's a clear need. It's not because these folks are in wheelchairs. It's because there are citizens in our community who have a right to have crosswalks that are free from harm. This is where we want to go above and beyond," said City Manager Bill Parrish.
City officials hope to hear something back from the state in the next couple weeks.
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Stephanie Sharp wants people to know she's just like everyone else, and deserves the same rights, except Stephanie was born with Cerebral Palsy and has been confined to a wheelchair all her life.
