My life with Sinéad Burke: The office can be very disabling, we help make it more accessible

I was lucky enough to have the chance to collaborate on this section with Met curator Andrew Bolton, through my accessibility consultancy Tilting the Lens.

The mannequins were made possible with the help of photogrammetry and digital clay scanning of real-life disabled individuals.

These were then brought to life by sculptor Frank Benson, who worked in partnership with Bonaveri.

A number of the mannequins’ faces were replaced with mirrors designed by Samar Hejazi.

We curated a section of nine new mannequins for the Met in total, all based on the bodies of real disabled people.

Before getting involved in this project, I never thought about the fact that the majority of museums across the world don’t have representations of disabled bodies.

Tilting the Lens is not about visibility for the sake of visibility.

There is actually resources and commitment and change happening.

The organisation is a global strategic accessibility consultancy built on the pillars of education, advocacy, and design.

Our approach is rooted in the lived experience and expertise of a majority-disabled team based across Europe.

We realise that not all companies are going to get it right.

Not everything you do is going to be accessible to everyone, but our motto is “progress over perfection.” If we are ambitious about what we are doing, we will eventually get there.

Our 18-month collaboration between Tilting the Lens and the Metropolitan Museum of Art is something that I am really proud of.

‘The Disabled Body’ section of the exhibition wasn’t the only historic milestone for people with disabilities.

It was also the first time guests who are wheelchair users were able to attend the event following the introduction of a step-free entrance.

The entrance was the first of its kind in the museum’s 78-year history.

We also supported the guides so they were able to bring people on tours of the museum.

These are just a few of the changes we have played a role in making since setting up Tilting the Lens in October 2020.

The rationale behind founding the company has roots in my background in education and advocacy.

I have spent a lot of time in design spaces advocating for greater change.

What I acknowledged, particularly with the impact of the pandemic, was that when change happens, it is....