Mark Bannister’s story

A disability is defined by the environment

Does our water and sanitation workplace cater for people with disabilities? Mark Bannister, a recipient of WISA’s 2021 Senior Fellow Award and chief engineer: Water Services Planning and Information at the Department of Water and Sanitation, talks to WASA.

With a career spanning over three decades and a lifetime spent in a wheelchair, Mark Bannister has a unique perspective on the inclusivity of water and sanitation operations. “In terms of infrastructure planning, issues regarding disability and inclusive access are often an afterthought.”

He points out that it is easier and

Mark Bannister and the Malundjawele Water Committee

less costly to include better access for people with disabilities in the planning and design of infrastructure rather than retrofit at a later stage. “All water and sanitation treatment plants should have wheelchair access and appropriate toilets to encourage the employment of people with disabilities. This provides for temporary disabilities in the workplace such as a broken leg, and for visitors with a disability. In many instances, physical barriers to access – such as steps, stairs and inaccessible toilets – should not even be there. Inclusive planning from the beginning will maximise accessibility using ramps for entry to buildings, appropriate toilets and

meeting rooms that are accessible for everyone.

“You get some organisations that construct ramps for the sake of compliance, rather than with functionality in mind,” explains Bannister. “I have been to a major water utility who was proud to show me their wheelchair access to a particular building. It was 45-degree slope with a door at the top that opens outwards, with no level platform by the door. Imagine trying to access that building in a manual wheelchair with a laptop on your knee, and then trying to open the door at the top without rolling back – it is simply impossible.”

Social barriers The physical barriers to inclusivity are obvious, but the social barriers are less so, as they are not visible. When applying for work as an engineering graduate, Bannister declared his disability with every job application and received no interviews at all for four months. He then decided not to declare it and rather take the interview panel by surprise. From there, he could challenge any doubts the panel may have and remove any stereotypical perceptions that exist.

“So, how will you move around a muddy construction site?” they would ask. Bannister would pull out a photograph of him riding through the South American Andes on a quad bike and explain that a muddy construction site is simple in comparison to what he had achieved. He was employed with Severn Trent Water within a few weeks. These are typical social barriers that he comes across on a regular basis and this example demonstrated the stereotypical misconceptions people have that can impede progress.

The social model of disability states that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control.

“My own disability has brought a different perspective and approach towards my life and work experience. As a person with a disability, I am forced to be creative, develop a

MARK BANNISTER’S STORY

Mark Bannister was born in Liverpool, UK, with a degenerative disorder called spinal muscular atrophy.

From an early age, he took an interest in motor sport and competed against able-bodied drivers in kart racing – the first stepping stone towards Formula 1. He won two Provincial Championships in his class during 1981 and 1983, and raced against future F1 stars such as David Coulthard and Johnny Herbert.

However, Mark realistically knew that his disability would not help him become an F1 world champion and he decided to focus on the engineering side of race car design to see if he could enter F1 from that direction. In his karting days, he would spend many late nights after school tuning and rebuilding his two-stroke engines and changing his chassis configurations to increase his performance on the track. He therefore decided to study mechanical engineering.

Mark approached several universities and was denied acceptance. He was told to study a physically less demanding subject, such as languages. Mechanical engineering requires students to learn how to weld, work on milling machines and use workshops that were not accessible for disabled persons. Undeterred, he was eventually accepted to do his honours degree at Loughborough University – the top engineering school in the UK.

Due to his media exposure as the only wheelchair user in the UK karting fraternity, Mark was given the opportunity to participate as a volunteer in Chile with an expedition called Operation Raleigh. Realising that it would be difficult to navigate the terrain of the Andes mountains in a wheelchair, Mark managed to gain sponsorship from Suzuki for a quad bike. When the terrain became too much for the quad bike, he simply swopped it for horseback.

The quad bike was a great help and, despite one near-death experience, Mark assisted in refurbishing a medical centre and building a wooden bridge across a tidal river for children to get to school.

It was working in poor communities and witnessing first-hand the difference basic infrastructure could make in people’s lives that changed Mark’s dream from working within an F1 team to working towards the provision of basic services. He developed a desire to elevate the poorer communities of the world so that they could have options to grow and develop within their own potential.

South Africa

Mark’s love for development brought him to South Africa to work in rural areas building water and sanitation projects, with close community involvement. He offered his services free of charge to a programme called Voluntary Services Overseas. “Assisting a community to build their own project and give them access to basic services is incredibly rewarding. These types of projects had a positive impact on women, as they could collect water safely and efficiently. I would visit the site after a year of completing the project and find community members with new skills and the time to start businesses and earn a living.” While implementing water and sanitation projects in rural South Africa, Mark experienced fewer social barriers to his disability compared with the UK. “The communities were desperate for basic services – they didn’t see a guy in a wheelchair; they saw an engineer who was there to work with them, build a water project and give them a better life.”

Mark is now the chief engineer within the Water Services Management Branch of the Department of Water and Sanitation.

Mark now resides in South Africa, with his son Jayden and wife Sina