Teenage Paralympic hopeful paralysed in a surf school accident has been waiting SEVEN years for a wheelchair friendly house, her family say

A teenage Paralympic hopeful paralysed in a surf school accident has been waiting SEVEN years for a wheelchair friendly house, her family say. Nakita Wright, 14, was left paralysed following a freak incident on the Algarve, Portugal in 2015. Doctors said they didn’t know if she would be able to walk again – and seven years on she is disabled from the waist down. Despite this, mum Natasha Wright, 44, says her daughter has 'taken everything in her stride’ and Nakita is now a wheelchair basketball athlete. However, despite her success, the family say they are still fighting for adaptions to be made to make their house accessible. Natasha says she still has to carry Nakita as a result, which can be dangerous – and her daughter has sustained scoliosis due to her attempts to move herself. The mum, a hairdresser from Trowbridge, Wilts., said: “She's taken everything in her stride and not let her disability stop her one bit. “She’s been playing wheelchair basketball for the last year. "She had an ambition that she wanted to go [the] Paris [Paralympics] to play - the final deadline to prepare for Paris was this month and she’s made it. “She’s also an A* student – she's not let anything phase her and she’s determined to prove it’s not going to stop her in any way. “It’s just our situation at home which is causing frustrations – it's been seven years and we’re still fighting for adaptions.” Nakita first sustained the injury which would lead to paralysis on October 26, 2015, age eight, during a surfing lesson with her dad. She was practicing lying flat on the board and jumping up when she suddenly experienced pain and found she was unable to stand. After two months, she was diagnosed with surfer’s myelopathy – a condition mostly affecting young adults, meaning Nakita is believed to be the youngest person in the world with the diagnosis. Seven years later, the family say they are still fighting for adaptions after being evicted from the rented accommodation they were living in when Nakita came out of hospital. Following the eviction, they moved into a Selwood Housing property after being told by their occupational therapist that it would be possible to adapt the house to meet Nakita’s requirements. They moved into the new property on August 18, 2017. “When we came out of the hospital I was in rented accommodation," said Natasha. “We were issued a section 21 [eviction notice] as we were adapting to Nakita’s new life in a chair. “We started looking for properties, we wanted to stay in the local area for family support and Nakita was getting to an age where she was looking at secondary school – I wanted her to be as independent as possible. "Selwood Housing took us on as a priority case and we went to see a property in the perfect location. “We didn’t think it was adaptable but we received a call from the occupational therapist who said they had gone to the property and it could be adapted so we should go for it. “When we moved in it was an absolute mess, it needed replastering and redecorating as the last owner was a smoker. "Before we moved into the property and after we accepted it, they came in and replaced the bathroom and kitchen flooring. "I believe there was asbestos in the glue which was holding the tiles down which is a safety risk and something they needed to do by law. "When we first started looking there was also a vacant bungalow which would have been perfect and had been passed over to Selwood over 20 years ago for adults with learning disabilities. "The whole time we were looking it remained vacant - it was frustrating to be looking for properties when you know there's the perfect one just empty." Selwood Housing gave Natasha a voucher to complete some work after they moved in, she says, most of which went on repairing the floor as Nakita was having to shuffle around the house. During Christmas 2017 they expected to receive grants to make the property wheelchair accessible but were told they wouldn’t be receiving the grants after all, Natasha claims. In the beginning of 2018, they were then told they would have to go back on the housing list and over six months were offered three different properties by Selwood Housing – none of which met the family's needs, Natasha says. After informing the housing association they would not be moving into any of the other houses, Natasha alleges that Selwood refused to help any further. In the meantime, Nakita had begun to use her upper body strength to ‘monkey bar’ up the stairs, putting strain on her shoulders and posture – which led to her developing scoliosis. “We were waiting on the grants officer to release the grants when they turned around and said they wouldn’t do the adaptions," said Natasha. “They said we should go back on the housing list but as we weren’t homeless, we weren’t a priority. “Selwood had six months to relocate