This inventor of the Alinker, a "walking bike", has created an innovative new form of transportation for those with mobility issues and Selma Blair has told how it has "changed her life."
In the UK alone, there are 1.2million wheelchair users and two-thirds of them require their use regularly according to the NHS.
Wheelchairs offer a significant gateway towards independence as well as an opportunity to rehabilitate.
But this rehabilitation can be a difficult process due to a lack of availability of appropriate equipment, as well as a stigma associated with no longer living an 'active lifestyle'.
This was one of the issues designer, architect and inventor Barbara Alink tried to address when she first invented the Alinker - a mobility device that operates as a “walking bike” and has been championed by Hollywood star Selma Blair.
It aims to fill the gap between a wheelchair and crutches or a cane where mobility is reduced but the user still wants to walk with ease.
Barbara was inspired to come up with the design after walking with her mother.
After they both passed a group of elderly people with walkers and scooters, her mother said, “over my dead body will I ever use one of those!”
Speaking to CBS, she said “Alinker is for everyone who is active, who identifies as an active person but something has happened.
“Like a diagnosis, an amputation, an accident, Parkinson’s, arthritis pains and they want to stay active.”
Barbara’s goal was not to make wheelchairs redundant but to create an alternative for people who want to remain active and have more options available.
“If you need a wheelchair, wheelchairs are fantastic.
“The only thing that is a problem with wheelchairs is not the wheelchairs, it’s the people at eye level that treat them differently.”
Source：mirror
This inventor of the Alinker, a "walking bike", has created an innovative new form of transportation for those with mobility issues and Selma Blair has told how it has "changed her life."
In the UK alone, there are 1.2million wheelchair users and two-thirds of them require their use regularly according to the NHS.
Wheelchairs offer a significant gateway towards independence as well as an opportunity to rehabilitate.
But this rehabilitation can be a difficult process due to a lack of availability of appropriate equipment, as well as a stigma associated with no longer living an 'active lifestyle'.
This was one of the issues designer, architect and inventor Barbara Alink tried to address when she first invented the Alinker - a mobility device that operates as a “walking bike” and has been championed by Hollywood star Selma Blair.
It aims to fill the gap between a wheelchair and crutches or a cane where mobility is reduced but the user still wants to walk with ease.
Barbara was inspired to come up with the design after walking with her mother.
After they both passed a group of elderly people with walkers and scooters, her mother said, “over my dead body will I ever use one of those!”
Speaking to CBS, she said “Alinker is for everyone who is active, who identifies as an active person but something has happened.
“Like a diagnosis, an amputation, an accident, Parkinson’s, arthritis pains and they want to stay active.”
Barbara’s goal was not to make wheelchairs redundant but to create an alternative for people who want to remain active and have more options available.
“If you need a wheelchair, wheelchairs are fantastic.
“The only thing that is a problem with wheelchairs is not the wheelchairs, it’s the people at eye level that treat them differently.”
Source：mirror