«I had to learn how to communicate my needs.»
Anyone who is out and about in Winterthur will sooner or later come across a colourfully dressed lady on a golden BRO. Anne Hägler lives just a 10-minute BRO ride away from our offices and is practically a member of honour of the Scewo Family. We talked to her about independence and accepting help from others.
The beauty of imperfection
«Wabi Sabi» or «the beauty of imperfection» – this principle, originally from the Japanese, means a lot to Anne. A few years after graduating, the food engineer has changed her attitude to food and life in general quite a bit. «The origin of this change certainly lies on the one hand in the diagnosis of my MS disease, but also in a fundamental change in my ways of thinking and living that simply came with getting older», she says.
In the meantime, she mainly consumes regional and organically produced food and also lives according to the «Wabi Sabi» principle in other ways. She even has her own website where she writes blogs on the topic and thus inspires other people.
Accepting help is important
Due to her MS disease, Anne has to get used to new circumstances again and again, as she is often no longer able to do things after an MS episode that have worked before. For example, she recently had to accept that she can no longer cook for herself but needs her Spitex caregiver’s help. For her, as a passionate cook, this was a big break in her independence. But Anne also sees the positive in the imperfections: «My assistants are now more or less my hands in the kitchen. I had to learn to communicate my wishes and ideas better, but this too is an exciting challenge. And thanks to BRO, I can still go shopping for fresh ingredients myself at the weekly market.»
BRO as a loyal companion
These excursions through the city of Winterthur mean a lot to Anne. «Without BRO, I wouldn’t be able to do many of my activities without help. But this way I can go out to eat at my favourite restaurant despite the steps in front of the entrance», she says. Even the trips to the market would no longer be possible without BRO, as the paved streets of the old town and the many curbs she has to overcome on the way would be impossible to manage without help.
Love at first sight
This independence that BRO gives back to her was also the unbeatable argument for Anne why she wanted the wheelchair so badly. «I first discovered BRO in a magazine a few years ago and when I saw how many obstacles it can overcome that other power wheelchairs fail at, it was love at first sight, so to speak.»
