The association Wheeling Around the World was created in 2013 by Alexandre Bodart Pinto, paraplegic and globetrotter. WAW brings members together to improve travel for people with disabilities. The association anchors its convictions on the basis of an observation:

the participation of Persons with Reduced Mobility (PRM) in everyday life has its limitations as their physical condition is still insufficiently taken into account in the urban planning development and public transportation design.

80% of PRM who do not travel admit feeling discouraged because of the lack of information and fear of the unknown.

When it comes to tourism, the disabled and able-bodied are not equal. The number of special requests needed for the accessibility and comfort of a disabled person means spending more time preparing for a trip:  hours of online research or/and calling hotels directly, which often leads to contradictory, inaccurate and even erroneous information.

Accessibility barriers are a real nightmare for people in wheelchairs. More often than not they would withdraw into themself and renounce the idea of traveling, worrying that their needs would not be met on a vacation. However, the presence of disabled people in the public space is essential if we do not want their cause to be forgotten. WAW invites them to emancipate, and to make themselves publicly more visible so that their requests in terms of accessibility are heard.

Thus, institutions, industries and able-bodied citizens will be able to realize the lack of infrastructures for PRM and the need of real improvement for mobility and travel. Public visibility is essential to allow people perception and laws to change as well as industries to adapt to this constant growing market.

Taking into account the numerous legal, industrial and passive discriminations, WAW advocates above all a change of culture. Yet, it all starts with putting an end to the self-discrimination of people with physical disabilities towards themselves.