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This INSIDER newsletter starts with the CBS Innovation Nation Championship, vote! The rest of the newsletter is all about accessibility and what we can do to make our worlds accessible for all. Museum in the spotlight, Elki's travels, Abby and what happened in Chicago, Alinker on Pantou's list of Accessible Tourism
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BE's hive
finals to becoming the champion of innovations!
We can be pretty sure to be through to the finals of the #MoMadness on CBS Innovation Nation. With 92.8% of the votes and just a few hours to go.
But please add your vote! Click on image
Please check twitter and vote as soon as the finals are live! Thank you!
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Abby loves museums
but two days ago, when entering a museum on her Alinker, she was refused at the doors of the Art Institute Chicago! Her friend Kent Boyer, a long term Alinker user and accessibility advocate, shared it on Facebook and tagged BE. This is what happened....
 
BE then wrote posts on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, addressing the Art Institute, while giving them more background about how the Alinker is a walk assist, does fit within the footprint of a wheelchair, and gives the user in a museum extra benefits of independence and being at eye level. BE also asked the community to send photos of Alinkers in museums so to flood them with Alinker experiences in museums around the world that had welcomed the Alinker.
So the Alinker community got onto the barricades
Accessibility is an ongoing battle... and it takes awareness and education.
The social media posts got shared and commented on and got far and wide. Some Alinker users sent emails directly to the museum and .....
before the end of the day, there was an email:
A win for sure
...and, it took all of us to show up, with kindness, willing to raise the awareness for accessibility for all, so that they understood. This is the work, this is our work. Thank you all.
You know, this is not the first time, and not the last time that someone on an Alinker was refused access. Assumptions about disabilities are deeply rooted. On an Alinker you don not "look disabled", for what ever that might be, but somehow on an Alinker you mess with their assumptions about what disabled should look like. So, though a nasty experience, it is not personal to you, it says everything about them.
Now, action....
On 25-27th June, the Abilities EXPO is in Chicago, and we are going to be there (providing the pandemic situation is safe). Maybe we can organize a trip to the Art Institute Chicago to thank them for welcoming us! Who is in??
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Alinkerers at museums around the world
People shared with us how they were welcomed with their Alinkers in many museums, here are a few: MOMA, Kunsthaus Zürich, Tate Modern London, The sculpture garden at the New Orleans museum of art, "The Museum of Science & History" in Jacksonville, Florida, Kröller Muller, Netherlands
North Carolina Museum of Natural Science, The Rooms St.John's, Newfoundland &Labrador, The MET - Metropolitan Museum NY, Rijks Museum Amsterdam (after a similar social media action to raise awareness after an Alinker user was rudely treated), Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam, Van Gogh Museum Amsterdam, The Sarah Scaife / Carnegie Museum in Pittsburgh, PA, The Frick Museum in Pittsburgh, PA, The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, The Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia, PA
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Elki's travels
For Elki, a young woman living with a neurological disease in the UK, finding the Alinker was an incredible relief.
Elki: “Before the Alinker I would rarely enjoy a holiday because I'd be so worn out by travelling. Using the Alinker, we recently travelled to Paris on the train and the whole experience for me was so much better than having to be put in a wheelchair. Rail staff were friendly and helpful once they had gotten over the confusion of me not fitting into their usual idea of a 'disabled person'.”
However, once Elki arrived in Paris, she was amazed by how much resistance she encountered. “Unfortunately we had a very upsetting experience in trying to go around a museum that I had my heart set on. They treated me very badly and we had to stand our ground for a long time, which in the end meant that I didn’t get to see the things that I had gone to Paris specifically to see.”
Clearly, Elki couldn’t walk without the Alinker, yet if she had been seated in a wheelchair, there wouldn’t have been a problem. This is a form of what we refer to as ‘accessibility oppression’. By making cultural spaces accessible – but only to a very narrow version of what disabled people can look like – we have in fact made them less inclusive.
If Elki had been stooped over a rollator or gripping crutches, she would have been allowed to venture forth. But because she was on a balanced, sturdy and beautifully-designed device, able to hold her phone or a museum pamphlet in one hand while she propelled herself – she was stopped in her own, autonomous tracks.
Our perception of people with mobility challenges needs to shift, along with our understanding of mobility devices – how they should function, and what they should look like. Our quality of life depends upon it, as four out of five of us will experience some form of mobility limitation in our lifetimes.
As Elki says, “One of the things that I love most about the Alinker is that it looks so good, like a piece of equipment you might actually want to use, but this seems to be what people struggle with most. I hope that after a time these attitudes will change.”
BE went to meet Elki when the RAF museum in London decided they wanted Alinkers for their visitors.
We love to hear from you! Please share with us your trials and triumphs on an Alinker. We use these stories to unite our global community, and inspire those who are struggling in isolation – to know that they are not alone. EMAIL
Together, we move differently.
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Elki roaming around the RAF museum in London
at her own speed and at eye level
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Alinker is now a supplier in the Accessible Tourism Directory
World Tourism for All Accredited and Recently Registered Supplier:
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Useful links
Who to contact in your country
Before contacting us directly, please review our FAQs
Czech Rep, Poland, Slovakia: EMAIL
Switzerland, Germany, Austria: EMAIL
For all international inquiries outside our distribution regions email here
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