To fulfil the UN Disability Convention (CRPD), the German Government passed the revised Disability Discrimination Act in 2016.

The German Constitution stipulates no one may be disadvantaged because of disability. However, the revised Disability Discrimination Act only required state institutions to provide full accessibility. This move was criticized as completely inadequate.

Unfortunately, only 35 percent of all German public facilities are totally barrier-free. By comparison Austria mandates full accessibility for all businesses, and has since 2016. However, in times when the Federal Government continues to face a wide range of foreign policy and domestic challenges, politicians prefer to focus on topics possessing mass appeal versus those relevant only to a minority of approximately 1.5 million wheelchair-dependent people.

Able-bodied people don’t encounter the barriers their disabled fellow-citizens face on a daily basis. To raise more acute awareness and empathy, and create a collective consciousness, we turned the tables. We created a situation where able-bodied people were exposed to an obstacle that was easily accessible by wheelchair users.

The German Sports and Olympic Museum in Cologne is a popular, frequently-visited public venue. It’s all about athletic excellence and fully accessible, making it the perfect spot for an obstacle that impedes able-bodied people but not wheelchair users.

For two days, the main entrance was equipped with a stair “barrier” hanging upside down from the door frame. Upright able-bodied visitors had to duck, wheelchair users could easily pass underneath.

Once inside, Raúl and his Sozialhelden team engaged with visitors to discuss their experience, illustrate the issue and encourage purchase a of Wheelramp for non-accessible facilities or contributions for Wheelramp funding.

To build further awareness, the unique exhibition was captured in a video distributed on the social media channels of all participating partners: Raúl Krauthausen, Sozialhelden, German Sports and Olympic Museum.

The unique exhibition has given food for thought:

• Traffic on Sozialhelden’s project website increased by 300 %

• Wheelramp sales have increased roughly 200 %

• Donations for the funding of Wheelramps increased by 120 %

Equally important: Thanks to the special public attention to the exhibition, Raúl successfully engaged with the new German government, who have increased pressure on the private sector to make Germany accessible to all.

Strategic approach focused on disrupting the everyday for able-bodied people to help them truly understand the barriers they may not see, can be huge for those who are disabled.

As a long-time and successful inclusion activist, Raúl Krauthausen was the perfect embodiment of the problem and solution, and served as the spokesman for the exhibition and its documentation.

Raúl was awarded the Cross of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, published his biography "I did not want to become a roofer anyway" and hosts "Krauthausen - face to face", a talk show on culture and inclusion on German television.

Since 2004, The German non-profit organisation Sozialhelden (Social Heroes) and its founder Raúl Krauthausen, Germany’s most prominent disability rights activist, have developed creative solutions to a variety of social problems in a spirit of diversity and inclusion.

Sozialhelden wants to raise awareness of social problems, encourage people to see things from a different perspective and get them involved in making the world a better place.

Being a former colleague, Raúl Krauthausen asked the Geometry Group to help him bring much-needed attention to lack of accessibility in Germany and to promote Sozialhelden’s non-profit project Wheelramp. Wheelramp is a lightweight mobile ramp, that easily overcomes height differences of up to 30 centimetres and makes buildings with up to three steps accessible to everyone without government constraints or costly construction.