Dealing with Challenges
Getting into the First Floor of a 1954 Cape Cod,
or
Ramps and Patience
The First Ramp
In
1990 I was diagnosed with MS, a progressive disease that my family and
I dealt with as the disease developed. When I was confined to my scooter,
I found I needed a driveway ramp to step into my van and to keep other
cars from blocking my way in the driveway. My twelve-year-old son, Chris,
built the ramp with my instructions.
In
1990 I was diagnosed with MS, a progressive disease that my family and
I dealt with as the disease developed. When I was confined to my scooter,
I found I needed a driveway ramp to step into my van and to keep other
cars from blocking my way in the driveway. My twelve-year-old son, Chris,
built the ramp with my instructions. Our first ramp.
Building the ramp seems simple enough. First, learn how to build it, gather your tools, and then simply do it. But with my failing coordination, I needed others to make things happen. The former classroom teacher that I had been had to learn a new way to explain his ideas. Sharing the master plan with others, we set out to build a second, more complicated ramp and landing which would rise six feet as it moved from the driveway to the back door of our house. My son Chris and his younger brother, Jon, were involed in their own kid activities with their firends,so my wife Judy stepped in as carpenter. While the ramp would not satisfy the twenty-four feet called for by the ADA, its final, twenty-one foot length has served me well for seven years by elevating me two feet toward the back door. My father, a engineer, was astounded by the fine work done by my wife, Judy, and nominated her for sainthood.
The second ramp we built, one I use to move from the driveway to the back yard.
I next designed a self-closing stockade gate, using a spring from garage door spring to close the gate quickly and loudly enough to keep our dog from escaping and to prevent the neighborhood kids from opening the gate. I found, however, that my long arms would now allow me to pull the gate open to enter before I got through it. I soon realized I could hook up a wire and a grab handle to open the gate and use screen door clips to hold open it while I got through to the other side of it. After entering through the gate, I pulled it free of the clips with a strap connected to the gate and--bang--the gate closed. A sharp turn to the left put me next to my above ground pool as well as to "Birdzilla" on my right. I make my way past the footings for the deck and kitchen door still four feet above me.
Grasping the wood handle of the wire pull, I open the gate.
Left
to right: I grasp the handle of the wire pull to open the gate. The
screen door clips hold the gate open. After I move through the gate,
I pull it free from the clips and the spring shuts it behind me.
