Lifts - Abilities Council Relic

My work here hasn't ended and my ideas have certainly not dried up. We've just been so happily enthralled with our wonderfully changed life and rapidly growing daughter. Now that we have some routine and rhythm back in our lives, and the busyness of the summer has passed for another year, I'm ready to resume work on Challenging Reality. If you are still with me, still checking for regular updates, thank you! If that's you please spread the word to anyone else you know has been visiting that I will be back with new photos, technology and updates. It may not be the 7 AM Monday morning every week posting that it was before but I won't leave you hanging as long as I did this last phase.

This was the first lift I ever owned. While waiting for the tedious bureaucratic process of planning and approval of renovations to make a home barrier free, in this case my parents' house which I returned to after my stay in rehab, my father decided he wasn't going to wait any longer. Seeing the lift pictured above for sale he purchased it to be temporarily installed at the front door of their home until a proper, modern lift would be approved and installed by insurance. Once that was done this one was handed down to make my access to their cabin virtually effortless.

So, why highlight such an archaic lift that you probably would have trouble finding today? Simply to prove the point that these lifts, which were so abundantly distributed by the Saskatchewan Abilities Council to anyone needing a lift to access their home due to a disability, may not be the most attractive but they are rocksolid reliable. They have their downfalls including having a significant portion of them made from plywood that will rot over time, not having the greatest weather sealing which means the cables inside may need replacing, they are very slow moving and they do not have a set stopping point.

Their operation is a bit finicky including that the lever to activate the lift moves in two directions, one moving the lift up and the other moving the lift down but if you should release the lever and switch to the other direction before the lift comes to a dead stop the platform will continue moving the same direction it was going. This may be a built-in safeguard to prevent any jerking or unnecessary pressure on the cables should the lift be accidentally jammed into the wrong direction. Not having a set stopping point, it's easy enough to determine when to let go of the lever once you have reached the ground but when being elevated to your higher destination the user has to make the decision when to release the lever, taking into account that it will continue to coast for an additional few centimeters, or so.

The safeguards to prevent a user from falling off are entirely manual. The hinged ramp folds up and hooks onto an eyebolt to prevent the user from rolling off. Of course, this is entirely optional and I don't know if I have used it more than a dozen times in 17 years. The lift move slow enough as it is I'm not willing to spend the additional time necessary to lift that gate. I've never fallen off. Ironically, right in front of the bench in the photo is where I fell out of my chair one time due to it being a wheelchair I was not accustomed to and a dip in the ground. It had nothing to do with the lift as it was at the front of the cabin at that time. I used the opportunity to play in the grass with my dog for awhile before getting help to get back into my chair.

So simple and reliable are the mechanisms for this lift that I have seen one converted to transport a user from the main floor of the house to the basement and back up. It required its own support system, much larger than the triangular vertical support that the lift was designed with, but the motors, gears and cables worked very well to safely get a person between floors without concern.

I understand the closed operating system of modern lifts and how the safety is not a bad thing. Sometimes, though, it's nice for someone who is skilled at adapting or modifying things to be able to take a solid piece of technology, like this lift, and tweak it to be well suited to function in a way or location other than originally intended.

If there is anything that Challenging Reality has shown, and this man has learned, it's that often the best solutions are not something you can find mass-produced.

Source: No longer made. Available used from adaptive equipment sellers' classifieds sources such as abilities council or Canadian Paraplegic Association. I would recommend a new lift for intended purposes or one made from scratch for custom purposes.

Ramps - Our Deck

The time has come to begin my series on elevated access. By that I mean ramps and lifts that enable us to access those places not on ground level. I say that the time has come because until now I have focused on subjects whose consequences have the greatest impact upon quadriplegics. Ramps and lifts affect such a broad range of disabilities it would be difficult to list them all.

This ramp is the one in our backyard that allows me access down to our patio, flower boxes and lawn. Our deck supports are made of treated lumber but the surface materials are made from Trex composite material that does not require staining or care of any kind. That, combined with the aluminum railings, was undoubtedly more costly initially but over the life of the deck the savings in stain and labor to maintain it will easily pay for the additional cost. At some point I will discuss the invisible costs of living with a disability. Paying for labor to do something as simple as stain a deck is one example of those less visible costs.

Though it does not look very steep because of my choice of ultra-wide-angle lens, the ramp is the building code standard of 1:12, which I find a very easy climb, unless my push rims happen to be wet from watering flowers or chasing the dog with the hose. Times like those I am grateful for my hill-climbers which, when engaged, prevent me from rolling backwards. On occasion the flat landing halfway up the ramp has been a great benefit to either have a different view of our backyard or to be a place to turn around and chase the dog back down.

One final note for anyone looking to build or modify a home to be barrier free: Be aware of your space limitations on each side of the house. On one side we have crushed rock, which I cannot access nor cross. On the other side, by the patio as pictured above, is a sidewalk that leads to her front gate with the inconvenient exception that the air conditioner blocks my path. Had we known, or had our home builder being more mindful of the situation, we would have either relocated the air conditioner or had it installed higher up so that getting past my wheelchair, or with the lawnmower, would be possible.

Source: Custom-built by our home builder to suit the size we wanted and the space available.