A slide that people with a wheelchair can go down. That is the idea of 12-year-old Thijn from Eindhoven. He even received a youth ribbon for the idea, but the wheelchair slide is not there yet. He made many attempts to actually get the slide into the playground, but the municipality sent him a disappointing letter. After receiving his ribbon, Thijn hopes that the slide that is fun for every child will really come. “Not all ideas are feasible.”
Already in 2020, Thijn came up with the plan for a competition of the Discover Factory in Eindhoven. He made a prototype of a slide that can also be used by children in wheelchairs. The municipality thought it was a wonderful idea and a year later he even received 15,000 euros in prize money from the ‘world with guts’ fund from the SKPO school umbrella organization. “It’s a shame not to do anything with it anymore,” said the young inventor.
In 2021 he visited the program ‘Matthijs continues’ where she made the slide for Thijn in real life. “It was only the part where you can go off and not the part where they can go up themselves,” he says. But this gave the inventor an idea of what the slide would look like in real life.
“You have to get used to the fact that not everything is feasible.”
He sent a letter to the municipality of Eindhoven asking when the slide would come. “Well, as a starting inventor you will have to get used to the fact that not all your ideas are feasible,” was the answer.
Thijn got new hope for his slide when he received a youth ribbon from mayor Dijsselbloem on March 3. “I would take trumpet lessons. At least, that’s what I thought, but then my family was suddenly there too and then I knew: hey, something is going on.”
“I have not received any mail or letter.”
Thijn thought it was very special that his name came up in the hero tunnel and that he could talk to the mayor about the future of his invention. Whether that conversation will yield anything, Thijn does not know. “I haven’t received any mail or letter or anything after that.”
So wait and see, although he hopes to be able to do something with the prize money. “If the slide really can’t get there, then I would like to think of something else where the money can go.”
