This week marks National Inclusion Week, an annual event that promotes inclusion in the workplace and beyond. Antonia Rubio spoke to Melissa Alves, who has spent years fighting barriers that she says should no longer exist – from inaccessible shops and housing to workplace discrimination and cancelled flights.
THERE is a question that runs through Melissa Alves’s experiences of living as a wheelchair user.
It is not, how did you overcome it? It is not, how inspirational are you?
It is much simpler. Why should she have to fight in the first place?
Ms Alves says she has experienced discrimination and bullying throughout her life, but that her motivation for speaking out has never simply been about herself.
Now the wheelchair user, campaigner and life coach wants something more than apologies, she wants change.
“I’ve spoken out and tried to fight for it because my aim is to always not think about myself, but whoever’s coming after me,” she explained.
“I don’t want it to happen to children growing up with disabilities – that’s always been my main priority. It’s never about me or never about what I want out of it, it’s always about what they’re going to go through.”
And then came another experience that left her asking how much progress has really been made?
In August of this year, Ms Alves was told that she would not be able to fly because there were not enough resources or staff to get her onto the plane. Far from being an isolated incident, this was not the first time that this happened to her in the past 12 months.
“I thought ‘no, no, this can’t happen’. It’s 2026, and things like this are still happening,” she said.
Ms Alves said that a very similar incident occurred in December 2025, and since then, despite her raising a complaint, nothing had been put in place to ensure other people in a similar situation would not experience what she did.
For Ms Alves, the frustration is not simply about the cancelled journey, the incident became another example of the gap between promises of progress and the reality experienced by people with disabilities.
The progress that isn’t felt
MS Alves has previously campaigned around accessibility in Jersey, including parking and pavements.
But she said changes announced on paper do not always translate into meaningful changes for people actually trying to navigate the island.
“It’s always nice and positive to hear things on the news – ‘oh, we’re changing this, we’re changing that’ but in reality, are you changing it?
“People that are actually living it are not seeing that change.
“Because our life doesn’t change, if we don’t see changes and it’s always the same.”
She referred to parking and accessibility to disabled spaces as an example, highlighting the lack of spaces available in town.
Ms Alves added that some spaces have been redesigned to make them more visible, but that does not necessarily solve the practical problem she faces as a wheelchair user who needs to get her chair from her car onto the pavement.
“In the hours that you want to go to town, those parking spaces are always full and then where are we supposed to park?”
For Ms Alves, one of the biggest problems is that the decision-makers are not always listening to the people who would be affected by the changes.
“It’s always getting stuck – you make progress for two seconds and then get stuck again. I just feel like it’s so frustrating.”
Independence
FOR Ms Alves, accessibility is inseparable from independence.
She said that far too often it is assumed that people with disabilities will always be with somebody else or need a carer.
“You’re not thought of as living independently or you’re not thought of having like independence at all,” she said.
Ms Alves said that when she is with her mother, people sometimes speak to her mother rather than to her.
“They’ll ask her ‘how’s Melissa?’ and I’m like ‘hello, I’m here’.”
For Ms Alves, the answer is not to avoid talking about disability but to ask questions.
“I’d much rather an awkward question than no a question at all.”
Listen to the people living it
MS Alves said too often people with disabilities are only consulted on decisions that may affect them after it has already been made, adding that she would like to see Islanders with disabilities and wheelchair users encouraged to use their lived experience to influence actual change across the island.
She said: “I’d much rather use what I’ve gone through to help someone that’s going to go through it and make it better for them.
“Because if nothing changes, it’s just going to be the same thing over and over again, and then they’re going to have to fight for it when they grow up.
“And why should they have to fight for something that should have been changed years ago?”
Accessbility in town
MOST of Ms Alves’s most powerful examples of struggling with Island life are not about major government policies, but everyday life – going to town and going shopping.
She said accessibility affects much more than whether someone can physically enter a building and described the frustration of wanting to go into certain shops and being unable to because of steps.
“It’s embarrassing for me to go into town or to a shop and I find I can’t go in somewhere because there’s a step,” she said. “I’ve had one time that I’ve gone to town by myself, and I’ve gone to a shop and I’ve had to have a person working there come to the door, give me what I want, and pay at the door.
“It gets to a point where you get tired and decide this is enough.”
Another area Ms Alves said can cause problems is in the workplace – even when the building is fully accessible. She said that in one place where she had worked, the “staff’s mindset” created barriers and urged businesses to provide meaningful training.
“Within my coaching, I’m more than happy to go to a business and say ‘this is what needs changing’.
“For businesses in particular, it’s putting that training in place from someone that’s actually gone through it.”
The cost of being left out
ACCESSIBILITY affects more than where someone can physically go, Ms Alves said.
It can affect the choices people make about their entire social life and describes planning around accessibility when going out for dinner.
“I look at accessibility online and I’ll plan it well in advance,” she said. “I purposely won’t go to a place that’s not accessible.”
The problem, she says, is that accessibility can become something a person with disabilities is expected to manage themselves, rather than society simply being accessible.
‘I want to be considered normal’ – Inclusion isn’t creating a seperate world
MS Alves explained her complicated feelings about the role charities can play in people with disabilities lives.
She stressed that they are needed, but questions what happens when the only spaces available to people with disabilities are spaces specifically created for people with disabilities.
“What if you actually want an independent life like everyone else?” she asked. “How are you supposed to have a social life when the only social life available is through charities?”
Ms Alves says this was particularly significant when she was growing up.
“I was told ‘you’re going to have a disabled friend group, you’re going to be with them’.
“That’s not what I want for my life. I want to be considered normal.”
Independence doesn’t stop at the front door.
MS Alves currently lives with her parents, but said that if she wanted to live independently, finding somewhere suitable would be extremely difficult.
“I would much rather be living independently on my own because I can do it, but again, that’s another barrier,” she said.
“You don’t have places that cater for you to be living on your own. Things are not accessible, take kitchens – the countertops are so high.”
She added accessible kitchens with adjustable counters are possible and that she has how they can be implemented in the school where she works.
“We have a room with a huge kitchen with counters that go up and down. How can it be done in a school and not in a house or a flat?
“There’s no place that I would be able to find what I need. It would either need to be rebuilt or something changed inside of it.”
And she said the answer is not necessarily a supported accommodation scheme.
“I’d much rather be living in a place where I can be independent and not have my mum cook for me, but where I can cook for my family.”
Employment is another area where Ms Alves said assumptions about people with disabilities can limit their opportunities.
She said she eventually secured the job she wanted through her own determination.
“I’m in the job that I am today because I fought for it.”
“I’m there because I put myself there.”
‘Why should my wheels say that I’m inspirational?’
ONE of Ms Alves’s biggest frustrations is being described as inspirational simply because she is a wheelchair user who achieves something.
She believes people with disabilities should not be treated as extraordinary for doing things that other people are simply expected to do.
“It’s always [seen as] a win if you go through something and people say ‘oh, she’s done that, that’s amazing’.
“I’ve only done it differently because I’m in a wheelchair.
“If I win a competition or something in sport, people say ‘she’s so inspirational’. But someone else with legs has run that competition, and they’re not being called inspirational, they’ve just been called a winner.
“Why should my wheels say that I’m inspirational for winning a race or winning a competition or something like that?”
Her message to people who want to support people with disabilities is straightforward: look at what needs to change, and do something about it.
“Look at your business, look at your personal life and think about what needs to be changed,” she said.
“If you were in someone else’s shoes with a disability, actually think about what they’re going through, at every aspect of life and think what needs changing.”
Mixed progress
PROGRESS of improving accessibility has been “very mixed”, according to the chief executive of disability charity Enable.
Sean Pontin said that while there has “undoubtedly been a commitment” to diversity and inclusion, some “great work” had led to “slow improvements”.
“Looking forward we see a questionable commitment to some areas of diversity and inclusion which some now see as somewhat ‘woke’ and undoubtedly there can be tensions between profit motivation and moral and ethical conversations,” he said. “All too often accessibility and inclusion comes with a negative outlook with a focus on barriers rather than the positives.
“Its essential that we remember that people with disabilities can bring their own super powers and making things accessible for some can actually make things better for all. I think its also important to remember that we are not just talking about the need for wheelchair access or ‘disabled’ toilets there is far more to it than that.
“Going forward there is still much to do, helping all parts of our community to be more aware, to be open to learning and creating a positive narrative. Be a champion and an ally, not just when it suits but all of the time. Take responsibility and be prepared to challenge those around you. Do something rather than nothing and don’t be scared about getting things wrong.”
