Matty Bauernfeind has two great passions – Arsenal Football Club and advocating for disability accessibility.
Add a third one to that now – travelling on Waikato’s cycleways with the wind blowing through his hair.
Tamahere Lions Club members with Matty Bauernfeind, from left Andrew Scott, Craig Phillips, Matty’s parents Neil and Bernadette, Catherine Scott and Fred Hanson. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Now thanks to the Lions Tamahere Club, he and other disabled people can travel free from Riverside Adventures base at the Velodrome near Cambridge to anywhere that is accessible by bike.
The London-born 23-year-old tertiary student – who emigrated to New Zealand with his parents Neil and Bernadette when he was one – has cerebral palsy and needs support with everything he does.
He went to school at St Peter Chanel School in Hamilton and then Hillcrest High School before starting at Wintec nearly two years ago where he is studying communications.
He is in the Enabling Good Lives programme which enables disabled people to have greater choice and control over the supports they receive.
Matty Bauernfeind is loaded onto the e-trike by mother Bernadette and Lions Tamahere president Craig Phillips watched by member Sue Fookes. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
Making things accessible for him and other disabled people has seen Matty help get a hoist installed at the polytechnic because the disability toilets did not suit his needs.
“My motivation for wanting to leave the hoist at Wintec after I leave is so that other students who have mobility impairments can go onto further education after they leave high school, and not have to worry about changing facilities.”
The e-trike will make a big difference to other people’s lives, he said.
“Something like this means they can get out and about. I can get out, I can interact with people. I can have the wind in my hair,” he laughs, seeing the irony in his buzz cut.
That was not the only reason for his good mood. His beloved Arsenal had only hours before scored two goals in stoppage time to beat Leicester 4-2.
“I didn’t tell Matty,” said Neil who had recorded it for him. “He was going ‘we’re 2-0 up at the half’ and then Leicester got two back and he was worried.”
The pair went to the Emirates Stadium in December last year to see Arsenal beat Brighton 2-0. Both were impressed by the disability facilities at the stadium and how well they were treated.
Their mood was not so great 11 days later when West Ham beat them 2-0. “That was terrible,” said Matty.
Neil looks after the Enabling Good Lives budget and during Covid he and Matty saw a similar e-trike for sale – not as powerful, says Neil – and bought it so they could get out and exercise during the lockdown.
Lions Tamahere club members saw the original e-trike and through Matty’s advocacy for other disabled people, decided to start fund raising acknowledging in part in bringing the service to the community.
Club members raised more than $25,000 to import an electric e-trike that can carry a wheelchair in front so the physically disabled or mobility compromised – including the elderly – can have someone ride them around the region.
Matty Bauernfeind
So powerful is the e-trike that the daunting hill from Te Awa River Ride below the Velodrome is a breeze for the rider with a wheelchair passenger.
Neil, deputy principal at Te Awamutu College, can attest to that. He has ridden Matty effortlessly from the Velodrome to their Tamahere home and back again.
The e-trike will be maintained and operated by Riverside Adventures at the Velodrome and will be available, free of charge to all users.
Lions president Craig Phillips said the service club was very good at raising money to buy things but were generally not keen on administering them, hence the partnership with Riverside.
They took the e-trike to the Te Ara Pekapeka Bridge open day last month where one disabled women could be heard shrieking with excitement and joy as she travelled along the bridge.
Lions will meet the cost of ongoing maintenance but members are also considering starting a fund raising social media page so they can keep its free status.
“That’s the catch cry I suppose. The only charge we want is in the (bike) battery,” said Phillips.
“I can imagine a fleet of these across New Zealand.”
Lions Tamahere Club and Riverside Adventures are launching the e-trike at the Velodrome on Saturday.
Matty Bauernfeind at the Velodrome with from left Tamahere Lions president Craig Phillips, father Neil and mother Bernadette. Photo: Mary Anne Gill.
