fringsters, Meet Barry Botes a dynamic quadriplegic fringster from Johannesburg, South Africa.

Barry is officially (as far as we know) the world’s first C5 quadriplegic fringster.

Shot during a car hijacking in 1994, Barry and has been left totally paralyzed from the neck down, he is classed as a C5 quadriplegic which means that he cannot use his hands or feet. This “temporary setback” as Barry calls it, has not stopped him from living life to the full.

Barry is the founder of a unique NPO called Ama Wheelies which aims to help quadriplegics become self sustaining. The project also aims to provide accommodation and business opportunities for quadriplegics living in Thaba Chweu, South Africa.

Barry is also a member of the newly formed ‘South African Property Maintenance Assessors Guild’. Barrie’s role sees him traveling to clients premises assessing the facilities and then either certifying the building wheelchair friendly or providing a report on what needs to be upgraded to make the building friendly to the disabled folks of South Africa.

fringsters feel free to follow the Ama Wheelies project on their website, blog, Twitter, facebook or flickr.

If you happen to be in a fringing giving mood you can also donate to this amazing project by clicking here.

How does a quadriplegic use fring?

After a recent road trip with Barry to the world famous Kruger National Park, your local fring blogger introduced Barry to the sexy Nokia 5800, I thought a few days of testing would see if this great new touch screen handset would make life easier for quadriplegics. The results I must say are very good. For the first time since being shot Barry can now, make and receive phone calls, send and receive SMS and yes even use fring without the need for assistance, something that Barry has for a long time been working hard to achieve. Never before has this been possible, all other handsets on the market are inconvenient to use, or are way too expensive. For the first time ever it is now possible for a C5 quadriplegic to not only use a cellphone easily but also to afford it. The Nokia 5800 is the only handset that makes this possible and I think a huge shoutout to Nokia is in order for this achievement.

Thanks Nokia you guys rock! Even if you didn’t design this handset for the disabled, it sure is benefiting them.

So getting back to using the handset, Barry got me to put this unique quadriplegic stylus together. The stylus is easy to make DIY style and all that you would need is a pencil, a Nokia 5800 stylus 3cm of bandaid and some electrical tape.

I’d say the hardest part of the whole experience was actually purchasing the handset, once that and the unique stylus was done, it was smooth sailing, Well almost, the auto lock feature is a pain to operate without assistance, but Barry gets it right with some difficulty, we are thinking of adding something with a bit of superglue to extend the button and make it easier to use. They say practice makes perfect though and it’s good to see Barry practicing to improve his newly acquired cellphone and fringing skills.

From everyone here at fring a huge shoutout to Barry for becoming the world’s first C5 quadriplegic fringster. Welcome Barry we look forward to following your progress and the progress of Ama Wheelies in the next few months.

Disclosure: Barry Botes is a relative of our South African fring Blogger.

Tags: Ama Wheelies, Barry Botes, C5, C5 quadriplegic, disabled, fring, quadriplegic, South African Property Maintenance Assessors Guild, wheelchair, worlds first