LYNN — A project conceived by members of the Lynn Disability Network is one of seven finalists in the Northeast Arc’s annual Arc Tank Competition.
Members will pitch their project, the “Lynnebago,” to a panel of experts at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum on Tuesday afternoon.
“The Lynnebago is our answer to allow families and individuals with disabilities to be able to attend public events and have their humanity included,” Lisa Tulipani of the Lynn Disability Network said. “It’s a way to provide universal accommodations to meet the needs of the 10,000 people who live in Lynn with disabilities.”
The Lynnebago is a mobile trailer containing a sensory room, communication room, and universal bathroom for people with disabilities that can be utilized at Lynn’s many outdoor community activities.
She said that she and other members of the Lynn Disability Network, Maria Riley and Louise Dominique, developed a traveling sensory room that they could use at various events.
“We have sensory room equipment, comfortable seating, bilingual communication boards,” Tulipani said. “We also have a foldable adult-size changing table that we bring. For anyone over 35 pounds who has high mobility needs, there’s literally no place in Massachusetts to address their toileting needs.”
The group realized that installing these features throughout the city was not feasible, so they came up with the idea of a traveling trailer.
“It’s honoring humanity and having structures in place that allow everyone in your community to participate,” she said.
Riley added, “Having this trailer would help parents humanize where they don’t have to take their children into a bathroom or somewhere secluded. It gives them the feeling of being human and not feeling ashamed of their over-sensory processing.”
Riley said most community events do not have wheelchair-accessible restrooms or a place to change children of all ages.
They also lacked sensory areas where anyone with sensory issues could de-escalate or a place for non-verbal children to communicate with us by showing photos of their feelings.
“By putting it all together in one design and knowing you could take that to wherever there’s an event, made me, as a parent, feel good that it will help service the community of people with all different disabilities, all different spectrums and all different types,” she said.
When they heard about the Arc Tank competition, the group was already formulating plans for the Lynnebago.
“I think we came up with the proposal in a day, which is kind of impressive considering that our competition is the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and big tech companies,” Tulipani said. “You don’t have to be a big fancy person to come up with an executable plan that can make a difference.”
The group put together plans and a proposal following the Arc Tank rubric. Tulipani’s oldest brother, who is an architect, helped them put together the drawings.
“We found out the night of Nov. 6 that our project was one of seven finalists out of 148 international submissions,” Tulipani said. “I don’t want to say we were surprised because it’s a solid concept and an actual need. If you look at the criteria for ARC Tank, our project couldn’t be more in line with that purpose.”
According to the Northeast Arc’s website, Arc Tank’s mission is to provide funding for “that promise to break down barriers for people with disabilities who are too often marginalized, not included as equal participants in everyday life, and prevented from taking advantage of opportunities.”
The hope is to make the design available for other communities to implement.
“We’re not only going to be in Lynn, but in every community in the state,” Dominique said.
Tulipani added, “Our whole plan is that this will be packaged up and available to municipalities nationwide. The whole idea of the Lynnebago is that we are designing this and gifting it to the city so they can take it and move it along.”
Regardless of how Tuesday’s presentation works out, the group plans to make the Lynnebago a reality.
“We aren’t assuming this will happen,” she said. “We’re just going to make it happen regardless of funding that we receive.”
They already have a national vendor that creates medical trailers ready to start building the Lynnebago.
What we submitted was a very DIY project. When we started talking to people, we realized, “If we get funding, we can execute the contract tomorrow,” Tulipani said.
The group members said that creating the Lynnebago is a way to have the voices of the disability community be heard.
“Why are we trying to give feedback to people in power when we have the power ourselves?” Tulipani said. “We are taking this ARC Tank opportunity to have our voices be heard. This helps the disability community to be taken a little more seriously.”
Dominique added, “We have the power to put ourselves together and make a change. We don’t have to wait for other people to make a change to help people with disabilities. We can make changes in this city.”
