Queensland Air Museum
Stories of Inclusion / Queensland Air Museum
I had a sub arachnid haemorrhage ( SAH) two years ago. I have an ABI which caused a stroke and I still don't have full mobility. Because of this I tire quickly when walking. I'm immune suppressed from a double transplant of kidney and pancreas therefore I get anxiety with big crowds. That’s how I found Cérge. I didn’t need extra help as such but what I do need is information so that I know what I can access or not. I love that Cérge allows me to make that decision.
After using the Cérge tools to visit the place in brissy we were ready for another adventure.
I wasn’t as nervous going to a new place as I usually would be, because I’ve already used Cérge. We found the Caloundra Air Museum and decided to go on an adventure. I looked at the museum online through the Visual Story and Visual Tour. I needed to make sure I would be able to use my wheelchair and wouldn’t get stuck or not be able to see things. I don’t want to tell you how many times I’ve visited places ana can’t get in or see anything. It’s extremely disappointing.
The staff were wonderful and the whole places is run by volunteers. So friendly and Gary the Manager is very passionate and wants to make sure the museum is as inclusive as possible.
The museum itself is very informative and has so many exhibits. I was in my wheelchair and was able to get up so close. Often at places I can’t get close due to the chair or heights and it can be frustrating. I was able to fully experience the Caloundra Air Museum and it was awesome.
I prepped my kids in advance and we looked over the information online. It was very comprehensive although obviously the planes are much much bigger in real life.
We were shown the inside of the cock pit of and F111 and shown how a dump and burn works and inside the engine. We also spotted 2 celebrity pilots ( Tigger and Pooh Bear ??).
It was a wet day but the rain held out long enough to check out the planes outside.
Pathways were adequate for my wheelchair and plenty of room to move around. There are also golf buggies for use and driven by staff if you need them which was pretty cool.
What we truly love is that Cérge enables us to know which businesses want to give it their best to be inclusive. Being able to scroll through and see all the different places that are wanting to show they care is so good.
Read More Stories
I wear two hats as I am the dad of a son (28 years old) who is quadriplegic, with Cerebral Palsy and I’ve been his carer for most of his life until NDIS came along. My son Christoper is an incredible human and is volunteering as the Qld Air Museum Video Production Manager. He uses a head switch and eye-tracking to control his devices and edit videos, operate cameras and fly drones. He is also my very own personal tech support! Haha
Being his dad and carer has taught me a lot over the years. My second hat is that of being the President of the Queensland Air Museum. I am one of over 140 active volunteers.
You see our volunteers want to be able to provide a welcome and good service to anyone and everyone who visits us. We want to be as accessible and inclusive as possible and we want everyone to enjoy our amazing venue and we hope that shines through when you visit.
We want people to feel as though we are interested in treating them as a person and not as a disability. Everyone comes to enjoy history and planes and that’s a passion we can all share together.
The Cérge website is brilliant and it’s started us on such a good path. We now have a button front and centre on our website - a wheelchair icon as it’s the universal symbol for disability, even though we know not all disability means a wheelchair. We have a lot of information now to share with every customer before they even arrive so they can check us out before they travel to visit us: Access guides, Visual Story, Virtual Tour, Keyword Sign Board, Audio Guide
It is so brilliant that people can see it so easily and from the safety of their home where they can plan their outings. They can even use the measuring tool in the virtual tour to measure heights. It’s very cool!
Cérge has been the talk of the town here and has started us with a bunch of new projects and plans. We now have one of our volunteers who has taken on the role of developing an Access and Inclusion plan.
Obviously infrastructure is always one to improve on. I’m working on a way to assist people with mobility challenges to access cockpit of an aircraft.
Alongside this we are also currently launching a major infrastructure development that is very exciting, it will take time but we have lots of things on the go to deliver the best access and inclusion possible.
We are very excited to have Cérge showcasing our air museum which we just love. Opening up and seeing all of the photos and the virtual tour just speaks volumes to our visitors and visitors to be! Not to mention the whole community who sees our business caring about each person as best we can.
My role as president is to influence the culture of our organisation as well as the infrastructure and we are always trying to improve!
See you soon for a tour of all the amazing planes and many displays!