Mrs. C has a great new  article on Wheelchair Accessible Kitchens - The Fridge

http://www.disaboom.com/accessible-rooms/wheelchair-accessible-kitchens-the-fridge

 

Read our newest article on Disaboom Wheelchair Accessible Kitchens: Appliances just click on the link below
Mrs.C

http://www.disaboom.com/accessible-rooms/wheelchair-accessible-kitchens-appliances

Hi Everyone
Please click on the link below to read our latest article Wheelchair Accessible Kitchens, this one dealing with cabinetry on Disaboom.com.
 
 http://www.disaboom.com/accessible-rooms/wheelchair-accessible-kitchens-cabinets
 Linda & Carole Special Needs Home Consultants

Mrs C has a great new article on Disaboom.com about wheelchair  and disabled travel
Click on the link below


http://www.disaboom.com/accessible-planes-trains-and-cruises/handicapped-cruises-four-top-tips-for-wheelchair-travel

See our newest article on Disaboom.com Special Needs Housing Entryway click on the link below

http://www.disaboom.com/accessible-homes-general/special-needs-housing-the-entryway

Check out our new article at: www.Disaboom.com Make any Bathroom a Wheelchair Accessable Bath

CAROLE:    

Last posting we talked about the problems you may have just getting to and through the door. Now I want to talk about what you may find once you make it through the door.

 Remember my friend Sherry? We were talking the other day after exercise class about problems she has experienced when visiting other people’s homes. She said that the bathroom is always her biggest worry. After all, how many times might she have to use the facilities before she goes home?

 

SHERRY:     

My husband and I took a four-day trip to stay with family at their timeshare. I’m in a Jazzy electric chair these days, and they knew that a tub was a total impossibility for me; so, they put us in the master bedroom that had a shower with a low lip we all hoped would allow me to shower. (Bless their hearts; they were really thinking!). Showering was difficult, but not impossible.  My husband helped, and I got clean.

The next trip we took, I phoned ahead to check on the bathroom.

My MS is to the point now where I need a seat in the shower. Of course there wasn’t a need for one until I got there. I phoned the company where I get my equipment to see what they could suggest. Problem solved! They insisted that I borrow a used shower bench for our trip.

 

CAROLE:   

My husband Marty and I traveled with our boys as long as we could. This was back in the 70s and motels weren’t designed to handle wheelchairs like they are now. Restaurants weren’t built with extra-large toilet stalls; for that matter, most places didn’t even have wheelchair ramps.

 

How have you solved problems like these when you’re a guest? Share with us please—helping one another is what it’s all about, after all.

 

P.S. 

Before I forget, Sherry’s New Year’s resolutions are to “exercise at the YMCA and eat properly. But the most important I think is to get off my ‘arse’ more and use my walker whenever possible.”  

What a gutsy gal!

 

 

CAROLE:     

There are front doors that you’ll never get up to in your wheelchair—our townhouse in Suffern, NY had three wide steps up to the door.

When we built our current home here in Florida, our contractor ramped the front walk so neatly that you’d never know it was made to handle a wheelchair.

That was great unless it was raining. On rainy days, I’d pull the van into the garage, and prop a long piece of plywood over the two steps into the house, he’d get a running start in his electric wheelchair, and up he’d go sailing right into the laundry room.  Our friend Sherry has MS and is in a wheelchair. She drives a super-duper electric wheelchair. I asked her what she would do in this situation.

 

SHERRY:            Getting in?  I have a fold-up aluminum ramp with handles that I use when I go somewhere with steps. You can get a ramp like mine at medical equipment stores or online (Google: portable ramps), or from medical equipment catalog.  They come in different sizes and lengths. 

 

CAROLE:      I remember being invited to my cousin’s new condo for dinner.  Thank heavens I thought to call her and ask about the front entrance—yes there were steps, but couldn’t we just lift the chair?  Since the last time we’d seen her, Craig had got an electric chair. I don’t think there was any way that my husband Marty, my cousin and her husband and I combined could have lifted that chair up the two or three steps into her building.  

 

SHERRY:      Several of my friends keep plank boards in their storage areas that they place at the door so I can get in.

 

CAROLE:      If any of you who are reading this have suggestions, let us know—helping one another out is what it’s all about, after all.