A Hazelbrook woman confined to a wheelchair has lost her independence after a special acceleration system was stolen from her car parked in the driveway.
The system, which looks like a Playstation, allows Rebecca Cameron to depress the accelerator with her hands rather than her feet.
Ms Cameron has Scheuermann’s disease, and has lost the use of her legs. She discovered the $8000 system had been stolen early on Friday morning, February 1, just six days after it was installed.
“It really does kick you in the guts. Thirty-two years in the Mountains and I never experienced something this low. They may as well have taken the wheels off my chair,” she said.
“It’s a necessary thing to be independent. This has taken my independence away from me.”
Ms Cameron works in the disability sector in Penrith four days a week and is now relying on others for lifts into work.
She urges residents to lock their cars and homes, and worries how the elderly and others with a disability would cope if their home was broken into. A friend has given her a security camera to help avoid a repeat incident.
As the system had only just been installed, Ms Cameron had not finalised insurance, so the theft is not covered and she and her partner do not have the finances to replace it. A friend has started a fundraising page at: https://www.gofundme.com/help-beck.
Blue Mountains Police are investigating and a forensic examination of the vehicle has been undertaken.
