sometimes, it just makes me want to cry with the irony.

[capri0mni]

Tonight, on the PBS program This Old House, the team of home renovators congratulated themselves on dismantling the ugly and cumbersome wheelchair ramp which the current owners of the house in question didn't need, and replaced it with a much more beautiful and welcoming brand new set of stairs.

The documentary that aired in the very next hour focused on the work and life of African American painters, and the struggles they've personally had to wage against racism in the professional Art World. The injustice of Segregation and Jim Crow laws, which codified in writing where individual people were allowed or forbidden to enter was mentioned more than once.

. . . . . . . . .

I trust you, Gentle Reader, can see where all the irony quotes should go without me actually typing them. Do I trust rightly?

Comments

[spiralsheep]

Well, if they'd installed an attractive, cutting-edge, designer wheelchair ramp then THE WORLD AS WE KNOW IT MIGHT'VE ENDED or possibly the house owners might've been prepared for future contingencies involving themselves, their relatives, or their friends... idk, probably one of those two options. Y'know, like when white USians discovered they could have African American acquaintances round for socialising without triggering an apocalypse. Not, I'm sure, that any of my discerning mobility-assisted friends would want to socialise with shitheads who believe their decor is more important than their human relationships, OBV.

/rantette

[capri0mni]

Not, I'm sure, that any of my mobility-assisted friends would want to socialise with shitheads who believe their decor is more important than their human relationships, OBV.

truth. But it still hurts to be told, to your face (in a way), that someone just doesn't even want to consider being your friend.

Note well: The ramp they dismantled was a beautiful work of carpentry, that was a perfect match for the house's timber siding and trim. But it took up more room than a the three steps that replaced it, and cut off an awkward section of yard because of its geometry. I could totally see taking out that ramp, and putting in another one that curved in a different direction, to open up the closed spaced.

[spiralsheep]

Well, I'd've had a new, stylish, innovative ramp instead of boring old stairs. I mean, what can anyone do with stairs? Ramps + wheels = FUN for ALL the family!

[capri0mni]

As Dave Hingsberger quoted someone he was chatting with from a conversation in one of his recent blog posts: "If mankind's greatest invention was the wheel, why did we follow that up with stairs?"

Tee-Shirt Idea I will get around to soon:

"My Machine Romance: Wheel/Ramp OTP
(They were made for each other)!"

ETA: Of course, ramps have an inherent strike against them in the style department that no amount of good construction and elegance can overcome: They are a reminder of life's fragility. And a lot of people aren't well-equipped, emotionally, to deal with that.

Of course, a lot of people aren't well-equipped to deal with parenting small children, either. But that doesn't seem to be a deterrent.

[spiralsheep]

ramps have an inherent strike against them in the style department that no amount of good construction and elegance can overcome: They are a reminder of life's fragility. And a lot of people aren't well-equipped, emotionally, to deal with that.

Of course, a lot of people aren't well-equipped to deal with parenting small children, either. But that doesn't seem to be a deterrent.

TRUFAX.

I would hope that the generations who've grown up with ideas such as skateboarding would feel more positive towards ramps but sledding and slides don't seem to have had that effect. :-(

I grew up on the top of a looong steep hill so extreme sledding and dangerous 30ft heath-robinson slides were part of my childhood. Also the idea that if someone was injured-but-not-fragile, which happened to most horsey girls at least once, then we just loaded them onto a jerry-rigged all-terrain go-kart (old pram wheels in those days) and took them along. And, yes, I'd totally take my friends adventuring with me the same way these days if they wanted.

Now that's what I call a tunnel conversion (the whole Monsal Trail is basically one long ramp with four tunnels and a couple of spectacular bridges and, yes, the entire length is wheelchair accessible):

http://www.forgottenrelics.co.uk/tunnels/gallery/headstone.html

Hardcore-sitting extreme-ramp style:

http://www.damncoolpictures.com/2008/12/aaron-fotheringham-extreme-wheelchair.html

Freestyling on a bike (ad for ramp-building business):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/camp-ramps/3513054833/

DRAINBOARDING (not for the faint-hearted, heh):

http://urbandecayue.blogspot.com/2008/02/phalen-drain-boarding.html

[capri0mni]

I mean, what can anyone do with stairs?

Oh, lots of fun things:

1) When winter comes, you can slip and fall on the ice and break a limb, or even your neck. Stairs are a lot more fun for people who are risk-takers and adrenaline junkies.

2) Try and carry new, large pieces of furniture up the stairs -- that's a much more entertaining challenge than putting the sofa on a dolly or two, and rolling it through the door. Where's the fun in the simple solution?

3) Sit on the bottom step when you're waiting for someone to come home. It makes you look much more sympathetic and lost-puppy-like. They might even give you a cookie.

[spiralsheep]

1) In the past I've chosen NOT to rent several otherwise desirable homes because of the stairs/ice impracticalities and I am (usually, Temp-Able &c.) a relatively mobile adrenaline junkie, heh. If they'd had ramps with handrails.... cos if I'm gonna injure myself then I'd prefer it was doing something excitingly extraordinary rather than tediously everyday.

2) One of my friends is a professional house-clearer whose favourite tool is his "piano wheels" (good enough for one person to move a heavy Victorian upright piano on a mere four wheels) can only dream of a furniture accessible house. The last time I had to move bed-frames from an upstairs room we literally had to throw them out of the window onto the lawn, which was several metres from the house!

3) You're correct. Playing on a ramp wouldn't be nearly apathetic enough for a chocolate box lid.

[capri0mni]

Playing on a ramp wouldn't be nearly apathetic enough for a chocolate box lid

Okay. This made me laugh. Thanks.

[pebblerocker]

When I think of how much it costs to retrofit ramps onto existing inaccessible houses, the idea of knocking one down just makes me want to cry.

The housing department is desperate for accessible homes -- there just aren't enough available to house the people who need them -- and recently several 1960s state houses down the road from me have had lovely new ramps fitted. In fact I think nearly all the houses in the area which have ramps are state housing, I can't think of one I go past which is more likely to be a private home. I really hope that private homes which change hands don't often have the ramps ripped out.

[capri0mni]

What makes me want to cry is that every time I see a house with no ramp, I think that there's another family I will never be comfortable, or equal-footing friends with, because I can't even go up and knock on their door they way they can knock on mine.