COVER STORY |
“Most people don’t want to use wheelchairs and walkers because they aren’t the right tool for the job, and worse, they feel stigmatized.”
The farm is a place for people who want to belong, who want help and support to live the way they want to live. BE says people will have access to healthy food grown locally in their hub, be seen, loved and acknowledged as human beings and have a space to heal, connect and network with others.
All this makes you wonder, why hasn’t someone invented something like this before? Because, says BE, the healthcare system only kicks in when you are sick. She calls it the ‘sickcare’ system.
MS or anyone else at all. It’s never
“The systems are not broken. They’re extremely sophisticated and very efficient at serving the people who run them. They’re just not designed for how we want to live,” she says. “Most people don’t want to use wheelchairs; they are static so any mobility reduces even more, and there’s a risk of related disease. Worse, they feel stigmatized.”
doing any job, I’d still have the same
For BE, the Alinker is a lifestyle tool rather than a mobility device. “It’s for who we want to be, whether that’s an active person who happens to have
campaigns and work in customer service
focused on the circumstances or the materialistic stuff around it. I still don’t see myself as an entrepreneur – I just get on and do things I believe in. I could be thoughts. My thoughts are manifesting themselves through the Alinker right now.” After witnessing the many social determinants of health that are not being addressed with disenfranchised groups, The Alinker Family LLC was established, employing Alinker users to run roles, and together they are building a farm in Kentucky that will be a hub for a community to flourish on a local scale.
“At the moment, we don’t show up for each other and we just dismiss and isolate people and put them on antidepressants. When we build an inclusive community, people do not have to face isolation. That’s why we’re building a community on a farm,” she says. “People are like, ‘Weren’t you selling bikes?’ But when we start telling the bigger story of what we actually want to build – a world where we can live to our full potential – the Alinker just becomes a vehicle for that change. It’s not a change in the world, it’s a change in ourselves. What world do I want to live in, who do I want to be? Then build exactly that. It’s very simple, really.” THEALINKER.COM THE_ALINKER_WORLD C O V E R S T O R Y | S H E E O . W O R L D || 3 5