Caroline, Alfie and Jess’ final intervention

What?

We travelled around campus in a wheelchair, occasionally getting out,

stretching and walking around as

well as having footraces from a wheelchair start.

We also tried to go up some stairs that were hard to avoid

And abandoned the wheelchair in strategic places

Why?

Two main reasons:Neither Caroline nor Jess

had any experience of being ‘disabled’. We wanted to see how we were treated and what the physical barriers were to wheelchair users.

Secondly, we wanted to test the public’s reaction when wheelchairs were not being used for their primary purpose – to help someone less abled.

What we found…People tended to direct questions

to the person pushing the wheelchair, not to whoever was in the chair, even if it was about them.

When we got out of the chair and walked around, people were confused, frowning, as if it wasn’t acceptable to use a wheelchair if not disabled, even though many users are partially mobile

People weren’t happy to interfere, even when someone was seemingly ‘tipped’ from the wheelchair. It took a good few minutes for anyone to ask if help was needed and people literally crossed the road to avoid it.

It’s very difficult moving around in a wheelchair, not simply traversing the built environment tailored for taller, more nimble users, but steering, pulling your weight and so on.

So…

Notions of: Abject behaviour – when wheelchairs aren’t

used for their supposed purpose The body in space – how the built environment

assumes ‘able’ bodies