Our founder, owner and president, Christopher Lynch was born and raised in New Jersey in a large family with four brothers and one sister. From an early age on Chris was involved in and interested with anything mechanical or construction oriented, which included building or tinkering with things from a very early age. This lead to a heavy load of drafting, design and shop classes, in addition to his normal high school curriculum along with working with anything that moved in the ground or the water and eventually led to him racing go carts and snowmobiles. By the age of 15 he was working in his father’s commercial design and construction company through which he learned every aspect of and how to do every trade involved in construction as well as how to organize and run the crews of men that were working within the trades, which he was doing by the time he was 18. All of this was done with a heavy eye on the future towards getting an engineer degree, which is what he initially majored in in college. However, mid-stream through his college years he switched to pre-med and earned his biology degree with a heavy emphasis in anatomy and physiology. Throughout his entire college years he continued to work for his father’s business during every semester and summer break. After college Chris decided to take a break for a year before going to med school in order to put some money aside and became a full time employee for Lynch Design Associates. This turned out to go on for much longer than initially planned as he found himself drawn in to running major jobs as an installation supervisor on such renowned structures as the Hyatt Regency Hotels in New Orleans, Houston and Pittsburgh. He also worked on the Wilmington, North Carolina Hilton, the Essex House in New York, The Chalfonte-Haddon Hall in Atlantic City, New Jersey and The Breckenridge in Kansas City to name a few among many others. It was during this period that he also became a principal in the company and became involved in even more aspects of the company including the design and space planning of the projects, preparing estimates and proposals, as well as the implementation of these designs.
In September of 1979, Chris’ life was changed forever when while working on a hotel in Philadelphia a 1,150 lb.roll of carpet broke loose coming off a truck and dropped 12’ onto him resulting in a complete spinal cord injury at the T-11/12 level. As a result, Chris underwent a spinal fusion and extensive rehab to relearn and acquire the skills necessary to allow him to move forward with his life. Following his discharge from Rusk Rehab Institute in New York he attended the Computer Processing Institute where he graduated top in his class with degrees in electronic theory and micro computer electronics. Chris worked in that field for a short while before accepting a sales job with a rehabilitation equipment company where he sold all manner of wheelchairs, seating systems and all of the associated DME and rehabilitation items that would allow others who had suffered injuries like he did to move forward and get on with their life in the most productive manner possible. He also started consulting with major manufacturers like Everest & Jennings, Kuschall and Jay Products along with others. It was during this time while visiting many of the rehabilitation centers that he realized the lack of available expertise in the area of barrier free design, which thus gave birth to Alternatives to Barriers, Inc.
Chris believes that his extensive background provides him with the combination necessary to provide a successful response to the needs of others. His experience in DESIGN, JOB ESTIMATING, SPACE PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION provide him with the knowledge to develop solid and practical economical designs. Chris’ mechanical and computer training helps him to evaluate the latest equipment and environmental controls on the market and their possible applications to clients. His degree in biology allows him to communicate with medical personnel on a professional level which again permits him to better apply his skills to his client’s specific needs. However, more than anything it is his own experience of living with a spinal cord injury and utilizing a wheelchair for his mobility needs for more than 34 years that gives him a unique perspective that is otherwise unattainable and permits him to see and meet the objectives required to accommodate the needs of daily living for those that seek out his assistance.
In addition to the successful businesses that Chris has been involved with and run he has also lived a very active lifestyle both pre and post injury. He has been and continues to be a pier councilor and mentor on every job he goes on and for those that are recently injured and sets an example of how life continues on. He does this himself with physical activities that include boating, water skiing, jet skiing, scuba diving, snow skiing, being a high performance driving instructor and as a glider pilot where recently he took on the position of President of Freedoms Wings International, which is a disabled flying club whose mission is to bring the joy of soaring in gliders to other individuals with disabilities of all types.
It is with this perspective of how life goes on and can be fulfilling regardless of what your physical limitations may be that Chris brings to every job that he consults on and what puts Alternatives to Barriers in a class by itself.
In September of 1979, Chris’ life was changed forever when while working on a hotel in Philadelphia a 1,150 lb.roll of carpet broke loose coming off a truck and dropped 12’ onto him resulting in a complete spinal cord injury at the T-11/12 level. As a result, Chris underwent a spinal fusion and extensive rehab to relearn and acquire the skills necessary to allow him to move forward with his life. Following his discharge from Rusk Rehab Institute in New York he attended the Computer Processing Institute where he graduated top in his class with degrees in electronic theory and micro computer electronics. Chris worked in that field for a short while before accepting a sales job with a rehabilitation equipment company where he sold all manner of wheelchairs, seating systems and all of the associated DME and rehabilitation items that would allow others who had suffered injuries like he did to move forward and get on with their life in the most productive manner possible. He also started consulting with major manufacturers like Everest & Jennings, Kuschall and Jay Products along with others. It was during this time while visiting many of the rehabilitation centers that he realized the lack of available expertise in the area of barrier free design, which thus gave birth to Alternatives to Barriers, Inc.
Chris believes that his extensive background provides him with the combination necessary to provide a successful response to the needs of others. His experience in DESIGN, JOB ESTIMATING, SPACE PLANNING AND CONSTRUCTION provide him with the knowledge to develop solid and practical economical designs. Chris’ mechanical and computer training helps him to evaluate the latest equipment and environmental controls on the market and their possible applications to clients. His degree in biology allows him to communicate with medical personnel on a professional level which again permits him to better apply his skills to his client’s specific needs. However, more than anything it is his own experience of living with a spinal cord injury and utilizing a wheelchair for his mobility needs for more than 34 years that gives him a unique perspective that is otherwise unattainable and permits him to see and meet the objectives required to accommodate the needs of daily living for those that seek out his assistance.
In addition to the successful businesses that Chris has been involved with and run he has also lived a very active lifestyle both pre and post injury. He has been and continues to be a pier councilor and mentor on every job he goes on and for those that are recently injured and sets an example of how life continues on. He does this himself with physical activities that include boating, water skiing, jet skiing, scuba diving, snow skiing, being a high performance driving instructor and as a glider pilot where recently he took on the position of President of Freedoms Wings International, which is a disabled flying club whose mission is to bring the joy of soaring in gliders to other individuals with disabilities of all types.
It is with this perspective of how life goes on and can be fulfilling regardless of what your physical limitations may be that Chris brings to every job that he consults on and what puts Alternatives to Barriers in a class by itself.