Eco-Access South Africa

Redpoint Design is featuring Eco-Access as a non-profit that exemplifies the power of courage and perseverance. For Rob and Julie Filmer (founders of Eco-Access) enduring countless hardships has been the norm. However, they have continued to improve the lives of others and be an inspiration to all of us. Their mission is to facilitate the inclusion of all people, particularly those with disabilities, into the natural environment and society. They teach respect for ourselves, for others and for our environment.

It is said that, 'what we do not know, we fear'. Through the concept of 'twinning' Eco-Access creates opportunities for disabled and non-disabled children to participate in activities designed to break down barriers. While they focus on nature, they get to know each other as human beings and real change takes place in the attitudes of all concerned.

Eco-Access workshops, camps and outings do not emphasise what it is like to be disabled. They emphasise the removal of inherent fears of interacting with people with disabilities.

Eco-Access also encourages all people to take on the responsibility of caring for mother earth, and champions the right of disabled people to access wildlife areas.

People who are blind, deaf, intellectually and/or physically disabled are often NOT considered in the planning and implementation of environmental programmes and facilities. Our work is based on the philosophy of inclusion, ensuring appropriate access for people of all ages and levels of ability.

The power of Twinning

Make a donation to Eco Access

Eco Access staff: Rob Filmer, Julie Filmer, George Roberts, Scott Walker, Dan Makwakwa, Silas Makhukho, Custan Malima

Meet Rob Filmer

Founder and Honourary Life President of Eco-Access

As a diabetic from birth, the possibility of going blind always loomed large for Rob Filmer, but he never imagined that he would lose both his eyes within eighteen months. He was only 24-years-old when he had to learn to walk with a white stick.

Being a nature conservationist, the loss of a sense that has been so fundamental to his appreciation of the environment, birds in particular, was an exceptionally cruel blow.

Together with wife Julie, Rob started Eco-Access in 1994. 'We realised there was a great need to make our natural environment more accessible to disabled people and to get people to meet each other,' he says.

Eco-Access

The work of Eco-Access has contributed, among other things, to the creation of fit-for-purpose hides from which people in wheelchairs can watch birds, to Braille information in natural spaces and to the opening up of national parks for guide dogs. It also provides information to those who host disabled people for a weekend.

All these achievements can be traced back to the dark time when Rob Filmer arrived at Bourke’s Luck Potholes and found solace in terrain guard, Elias Malibe’s presence. Perhaps that is where the idea of twinning originated? Malibe would take Rob Filmer around when the office became too claustrophobic. 'He played a huge role in my life,' recalls Rob Filmer.

After Malibe, Julie Filmer took over as Rob Filmer’s 'twin'. He has never seen his feisty wife. They met when he was already blind and just as his body reeled into kidney failure. She was the one who rushed him to hospital for treatment.

Today he has to spend 5 to 8 hours on a dialysis machine, three days a week to do what his kidneys can no longer do - cleanse his body of toxins. As he writes and does research against the backdrop of the droning machine, Julie lobbies for funding and makes things happen.

Rob is the Honorary Life President of Eco-Access and Julie is the Executive Director. Together they make a formidable team.

[Text by Cornia Pretorius]

Find out more about Eco-Access

Redpoint Design and Associates :: 303.554.4369 :: contact info