Architects on Wheels
Milwaukee-area college students have enthusiastically embraced the Architects on  Wheels effort. Students are provided with wheelchairs and asked to go through their normal daily routine including going to class, working, going through the college food lines and negotiating their dormitory rooms. They are encouraged to go outside and experience curb cuts, sidewalk slopes and public access into various buildings. This year seventy architect, engineering and nursing students from the Milwaukee School of Engineering participated as well as 22 design students from the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design. The goal is for future designers to spend time experiencing their environment from a different perspective. Students see first hand what it is like to be two feet shorter, with a more limited reach range. They find that things that they are used to not paying attention to such as thresholds become much more obvious. We hope that their experience will impact on future designs of buildings and environmental spaces.
Some comments from past participants:
"The wheelchair event was a great opportunity, I feel, to give students a chance to experience what it might be like, only if for a few hours, to be wheelchair bound. It made you really think about the way things are designed and how it really does come from an able bodied person's perspective. Things like getting in and out of the elevators and how long those doors stay open for. When you can walk they never seem to close quick enough, I never thought about how it would be if I had to get in and out in a wheelchair… It is very important to experience these things especially if you are some sort of architect or engineer." Denise Benish
"In the chair, I noticed a great deal about floor textures and levels, because I felt every dip and sag in the floors inside buildings. The surface covering the floor has a huge deal on the mobility of a wheelchair…In all, I had a great opportunity to learn about practical building design for disabled Americans who have to deal with these little hassles every day." Gabe Gorsline
Many thanks to Beth Dufek, American Institute of Architects, SEW Chapter: Tom Kenny, Wheelchair Recycling Program: Jason Leffingwell, Student Coordinator, Milwaukee School of Engineering: Dr Samuel Scheibler, Servant Leadership Chair, Milwaukee School of Engineering; Pascal Malassigne, Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design, Tim Ochnikowski, Milwaukee County Office for Persons with Disabilities.
 Store Fronts
Employing People with Disabilities
It works for all of Us!
2006 marked the first year Tap the Potential utilized storefront displays to raise the public's awareness. Milwaukee's bustling downtown Grand Ave Mall was the site of two such scenarios. One window featured pictures of people with disabilities in various work sites (both typical office settings and atypical settings such as art welding and horse tender). The window featured a mannequin in a wheelchair seated at an architectural drafting table with a sign "
Accessibility Rocks (and Rolls)The second storefront window featured a city street scene replicating a curb cut and the street. A wheelchair, stroller, walker, and bicycle were lined up on the street with the Universal Design message "This street scene shows the benefits that everyone has enjoyed by curb cuts. Curb cuts were originally called for by the Americans with Disabilities Act. Since then not only people with disabilities have benefited but all of our lives have become easier."
Many thanks to the following people who worked on the window display project: Erica Anderson, Shops of Grand Ave; Mary Beth Djurdjulov, Visual Merchandising Consultant, Susan Klawien; Easter Seals Kindcare; Carol Voss, IndependenceFirst, Bridget Bannon, Milwaukee County Office for Persons with Disabilities.
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