» Food for Thought
- intercom system
- a lower exterior keypad for the garage door
- side by side refrigerator
- an accessible or raised gardening area
- an accessible deck or patio (our next project! suggestions would be welcome!)
- an aquarium that Chris could help take care of
These are problems or concerns that we did not resolve:
- Our original intention was to have "zero grade" access to our house but local building codes required a "gas curb" in the garge which kept us from having zero grade. So we do have ramps at both entries, but that is not what we wanted.
- Chris' bedroom is on the second floor and we are concerned about how he would get out in case of fire. We probably should have put his bedroom and a full, accessible bathroom on the main floor but we planned the house with all the bedrooms upstairs. We have fire ladders for the other bedrooms but have not come up with a good solution for Chris. Our local fire department was not helpful in this matter but maybe we will contact them again for ideas. Also as Chris gets older, his upper body strength will increase and hopefully in case of emergency he will be able to get out through his window.
- Many of our walls get dinged up near the bottom due to the footrests on the wheelchair. Overall Chris is careful manuvering around but we have patched and repainted a number of spots, especially in the hallways. Has anyone come up with a solution that does not look too institutional? We did install squares of plexiglass near the elevator door, but we would not use that throughout the house.