So here we are, a mom and a son. Him, 6; me, 25. We're ready to buy our first home and plant our roots. Call someplace our own. We imagine fun summer days in the backyard, with cookouts and friends! We think of evenings watching movies together, laughing joyously. We imagine our home.
But as I am finding out, our imaginations may be a little wild; and us: delusional. Universal design is slowly catching on in public spaces, but this is clearly not the case in the home-buyers market. I was expecting some challenges when considering homes built in the 1950s. However, even new built town-homes have massive staircases.
For a person in a wheelchair, these staircases may as well be a mountain, because no matter how you try, you're not getting up them. Sure, for an added cost we could reconfigure the entire space; pending approval of an association; to make the home accessible. This often includes widening hallways and doors, increasing the bathroom size, adding ramps or elevators, opening the shower space and lowering countertops. OR we could always move into a senior living community- though not exactly fit for a 6 year old kid and a 25 year old mom.
I considered moving into a house that has bedrooms on the main floor, with added space upstairs or down. But I figured it may feel bad to live in a home in which you could only access part of the space. I can see the scenario now:
Me: "Hey babe, have fun downstairs, we're all going upstairs to watch a movie. We'll see you soon."
Definitely not an option.
For now, we will just have to take what we can get, and find a way to make it work. But it makes me wonder, why does my son need to modify his behavior for the environment, rather than the environment modifying itself for him?
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