When Melinda Rea got her first manual wheelchair, she remembers feeling nervous.
"I still remember the day we picked up my chair, and it came with no cushion," she said.
"The wheels were in a box, and we wheeled it out of the showroom."
Ms Rea has a degenerative physical disability and started to lose function in her legs.
Eventually she needed a wheelchair full-time, but as someone who had learnt to walk in childhood, learning to use it for the first time was daunting.
The worst part was that nobody showed her how to use it, andMs Rea had to learn through trial and error.
"I remember the day we brought it home, I tried to tip myself out on the driveway," she said.
"I was trying to go from our drive across to the footpath and walk with my daughter along the footpath … but it was so steep.
"I didn't know that I had to go backwards … and tipped it forwards and the foot plates were wedged on the driveway."
Passing on the skills
Now Ms Rea has completed a four-day training program for manual wheelchair users, she's unlikely to make that mistake again.
Wheelchair Skills was started in the Netherlands by former Paralympic sitting skier Kees-Jan van der Klooster to improve the experience of wheelchair users and reduce discriminatory attitudes towards people with disabilities.
His first experiences with demonstrating wheelchair skills were in schools, showing both disabled and non-disabled students how they can be used.
Mr van der Klooster said he had experienced a lot of stigma as a wheelchair user from people who treated him like he was a child.
He saw that attitude reflected in school children when he asked them what they thought of people with disabilities.
"I started to do these classes and try to explain to kids, and I showed them what I could do with a wheelchair," he said.
Mr van der Klooster visited Perth to train a group of participants, or "wheelers", to become trainers at Wheelchair Skills AU.
He said he saw the same problems in Australia as the Netherlands because people weren't shown how to use wheelchairs safely and confidently.
Mr van der Klooster said he hoped to see more people with disabilities feel more confident to be out in the community and on public streets.
"My main mission is to give people self-respect and self-esteem in a conscious way that they really grow as a human being," he said.
Conquering the fear
Around 65 million people around the world use wheelchairs and in Australia more than 180,000 people have a wheelchair, with more than 25,000 people requiring powered wheelchairs, according to the CSIRO.
Wheelchair Skills AU was started by Perth-based disability equipment provider Wild West Wheelchairs.
Sales manager and trainer Jack O'Keeffe said launching Wheelchair Skills AU was about improving confidence and community access for wheelers.
"[Our website] talks about having a passive attitude to life with a disability and being in a wheelchair versus an active life, and kind of like taking life by the balls," he said.
"By being able to get around properly in a wheelchair … and really working on that community access aspect."
The training sessions ran for four days in April both in a gym and with practice in the community.
The participants wheeled their chairs over an obstacle course in the gym, tackling difficult manoeuvres like climbing square edged kerbs and ramps stacked at different levels, before practising the skills in the real world.
It can be hard physical work and after the first session, most participants were sweating.
Mr O'Keeffe said one participant had been especially apprehensive in the beginning, but her confidence increased over the next few hours.
"We kind of banded around her and got her to do it," he said.
"She was in tears, and by the time that she popped a wheelie, she was laughing.
"It's just about getting over that fear … that's kind of ingrained initially."
Ms Rea had hoped to learn how to do everyday tasks better as a result of the sessions, and she was satisfied with the results.
When she first got a wheelchair, she wasn't confident to go out in public or into the natural environment much, and wishes she had learnt how to use it properly earlier.
"I would've accessed more places instead of hiding at home," she said.
"[It is a] very different approach to disability, which is great … and it's very much about instilling confidence in people at whatever level they're in using that chair.
"I definitely [feel] more confident and definitely more determined to try more things."
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