Welcome MOB-SHOP; stepping inside the Mobility Shop concept and exposing a hell-scape of clinical beige whilst trying to reimagine what the Mobility Shop of our disabled dreams could look like.
Each week for the month of this residency on The White Pube’s website I’ll be chatting to disabled and chronically ill people about Mobility Shops, mobility aids and devices. A transcript of the podcasts will also be made available on the website as a downloadable PDF **COMING SOON**. Using the Mobility Shop as a catalyst, these discussions aim to expose disabled experiences and where they sit in cultural consciousness; holding a spotlight to these peripheral spaces, and potentially offering new and better alternatives to the dreaded, grey-beige-purgatory of how they exist today. Disabled people all over the world are taking matters into their own hands and making their own aids and devices in brilliantly creative ways, but unfortunately these are the exception to the generic, medicalized spaces that most disabled people are forced to experience. Void of fashion, youth-culture and any form of autonomy and self-expression, Mobility Shops are a fascinating example of the excruciating, rigid, ableist narrative that cuts right to the heart of how society sees disabled people.
Scroll down to the bottom of this page and treat yourself to a wander round the interiors of different mobility shops via virtual tour!
MOB-SHOP WEEK 2
In this second episode of Mob-Shop, I chat to the brilliant Nina Tame. Nina Tame is a disability activist and writer. She uses her fantastic Instagram page to talk about disability, ableism, disabled parenting, her journey to her disabled identity and beyond – if you don’t already follow her you definitely should be! She’s also a trained psychotherapist. Her experience of growing up disabled is a continual influence that runs through her work in becoming the disabled person she strives to be today. She also challenges the inherently ableist narratives and practices of non-disabled parenting of disabled children; weaving in her own experiences of being a disabled child whilst sharing how she brings up her young son who is also disabled. Wit, passion and lots of wheelchair selfies, Nina’s work explores the nuances of the disabled experience whilst contributing to the growing, diverse and brilliant online disabled community.
In this episode we ask why there are no accessible sex toys in mobility shops, if you can ever truly compliment someone’s mobility aid, and we discuss the timelines of our mobility aid journeys and the long and often convoluted route to acceptance of using them.
**Transcript coming soon**
Thank you all for listening to this conversation as part of the mini series of podcasts for MOB-SHOP, really hope you enjoyed listening and hope you tune in for another episode next week - all previous episodes of the podcasts can be found on the page MORE MOB-SHOP (link at the top of this page).
Click on the images of Mobility Shop interiors below to be directed to the Google-view of the inside of the shops and have a virtual wander round
