Downtown Bentonville focuses on disability rights, hosts mobile museum

Downtown Bentonville Inc. is working with the U.S. Business Leadership Network to bring a mobile version of the Disability Rights Museum to the city’s Downtown Activity Center on Oct. 20 and the Walmart home office on Oct. 21.

The museum aims to raise awareness of the 25th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

“We’re excited to bring this one-of-a-kind museum to Bentonville,” said Jill Houghton, executive director, USBLN. “We are thankful for our tour partners, especially Walmart, for helping us share this important piece of American history with the residents of Northwest Arkansas.”

The mobile museum is an accessible self-contained motor vehicle that features interactive learning opportunities and emerging technologies. The mobile museum kicked off its cross-country tour June 8, in Charlotte, N.C., and provides an opportunity for people to learn about the history of the disability rights movement. It invites visitors to participate in hands-on learning about the disability civil rights movement and the law’s impact on technological innovation.

The nationally touring mobile museum is free and open to the public from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Bentonville Downtown Activity Center on Oct. 20.  Also, the museum will be at the Walmart home office from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Oct. 21 for Walmart associates and their families.

'The fact that Downtown Bentonville Inc. is partnering to bring the museum to Bentonville gives me a sense of deep personal pride. Inclusion is not a disability issue or a diversity issue. It’s a human issue, said Monica Kumar, executive director of Downtown Bentonville Inc. “When we create inclusive experiences we benefit everybody who lives in our community.”