Tenerife Woman Regains Freedom After Council Intervention Following Disability

Five years ago, medical negligence left Susana, a 39-year-old mother from Tenerife, almost completely immobile and blind in one eye. This drastically changed her life and pushed her to the brink of suicide.

After rehabilitation, Susana could move around her house in a wheelchair. However, her situation worsened because the building she lives in, on San Vicente Ferrer Street in the El Toscal neighborhood, and the street itself, had architectural barriers that made it nearly impossible for her to leave her home.

For years, Susana sought help from public bodies and different municipal departments. Finally, a week ago, the Department of Public Services of the Santa Cruz City Council, led by Carlos Tarife, intervened, and Susana feels like she has her life back. "No one paid attention to me during this time, so I am very grateful to Tarife, who was the only one who took an interest in my case and came to see me, along with a technician, to see the reality of my daily life," she said.

A small project lowered the sidewalk on her street and added a parking area for Susana's mobility vehicle next to her house. Now, she feels freer to go out and do everyday things, like going to the supermarket or pharmacy, after a long and difficult struggle.

However, she points out that accessibility within her building is still an issue. She has reported the community of neighbors because there are no ramps from the elevator to the entrance, making it impossible for her to move around in her wheelchair without her son carrying her up and down the 14 steps on the landing.

Susana, a brave and determined woman, wants to raise awareness about the serious mobility problems faced by many people who, like her, rely on wheelchairs to get around the city.

She says that these problems are worse in older areas like El Toscal, where most sidewalks are cobblestone and narrow. She emphasizes that it's difficult to move even a few meters without falling out of the chair, which has happened to her.

Susana's ordeal began in 2020 when she received an injection for an allergy at a health center. The injection was incorrectly administered into her sciatic nerve, causing paralysis from the waist down and optic neuritis, leading to blindness in one eye due to the anxiety caused by the medical error. This heartbreaking situation was further complicated by other health issues, leading to a diagnosis of multiple system atrophy syndrome.

After a year in bed, unable to move, Susana found strength for her son, whom she has raised alone, and began to regain her will to live. "What they have done to me is inhuman, and also to my son, who is a teenager and could hardly go out with his friends because he had to take care of me and help me in the house," she says. "They have ruined my life, and I have faced a great internal struggle, but now, at last, I can be a little freer again."