Ride Don't Walk

I participated in ride don’t walk as participant number one. First I got into the elevator in Carpenter and went to the second floor bathroom. This normally simple task turned into a huge effort to open the door and squeeze the wheel chair past. Once inside the bathroom I was unable to enter the handicap stall with the bigger wheelchair due to the corner right in front of the bathroom door. I proceed to the sink where I had to stretch very far in order to get to the sink and then came the awkward wrist angle of pumping the soap. This bathroom may have said it was handicap accessible but it clearly was not made for everyone. Honestly if I had been badly injured and was in a wheelchair I would have had peed my pants due to the simple fact that I would not be able to get into a bathroom stall let alone sit on the toilet.

I felt that this assignment was very well thought out and very beneficial to all that participated. It truly got me to think about how things were angled and oriented in the room so that anyone could use it and access it. The fact that we had to do this assignment during our kitchen project and upcoming bathroom project really made me feel like I had to go back through my layouts and change things around. I rethought the majority of my designs and am planning on redoing my layouts continued by perspectives to scale to really allow myself to walk through the space I’m creating.  

The small spaces are great for saving money and using every inch possible of the space we pay for especially in a hard economy. Using sustainable materials, transforming old buildings… whatever it is we need to make sure it is accessible to all kinds of people no matter the height, limitations, and x-variables which ever it may be it needs to be inclusive.

I struggled with the fact that I had to control myself as I rolled downhill out of control and work hard to get up a hill. I’ve been in wheelchairs before but it was usually post-surgery and other people took care of me. It took me twice as long to get to the same place as everyone else who was not in a wheelchair. I struggled to get through doorways, opening and closing doors, cub boards, etc. Picking things up and carrying things were difficult and took me awhile to get used to.  Everything felt as if it was inaccessible and the things people normally take for granted were seemingly impossible.

Knowing that everyone else could do the things I struggled with pushed me to continue as always but it still would have been nice if the things that are claimed to be handicap accessible were actually just that- accessible.