walkway that’s a ramp, if you’re so inclined
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I grew up in a house with a Dad that is a fount of puns. Somehow I married a guy with the same inclination, so much so, that Dad and Michael have pun battles, which I have to admit are quite impressive. So far be it from me to stray far from the path, or walkway, or ramp in this case.
When we had a child, we knew we had to leave the city living. Being a person who uses a wheelchair was fine, being a person who uses a wheelchair chasing a little person, not so much. Imagine wheeling off an uneven curb with an infant in your lap. Imagine not being able to hold your toddler’s hand while walking on the sidewalk next to a busy street, Imagine being at the playground and you can’t guide them because you can’t wheel through sand or mulch.
TIme for a yard.
Trying to find a single story home, such as a ranch, in the New England market was no easy task. At first we tried closer to work, but we were going to be into these houses for three-quarters of a million dollars for a fixer upper. Since we needed some money left from the sale of our Cambridge condo for a fence to keep the kiddo where I could get him, as well as any accessibility improvements we might need, we went a bit further north in Massachusetts.
We didn’t land on a house as much as we landed on a neighborhood. It was a walking neighborhood with three interconnected rings. Perfect for Trick or Treating! It also had highway adjacency. So even though it was a bit further north than we originally wanted, we could at least get on and off the highway from work easily. Bonus is that we were now much closer to both sets of grandparents in New Hampshire.
It took us three tries over several agonizing weeks, and two offers on two houses, but we finally ended up with our current ranch, which I love. It needed a mad amount of updates, but the yard was gorgeous and I could see that I wasn’t going to have to make major accessibility upgrades (read: spend tens of thousands of dollars) to move into the home. Since a short ramp can easily be $3,000 and a lift over $15,000, this was a big deal.
That garage entrance was an easy fix, as the step up was the lowest and I could get an off-the-shelf ramp about 2.5” high. The front and back door were a different story. The front and back were both too high and going to take something extra thinking.
After a lot of research, I was lucky enough to find John Giusto, Giusto Landscaping. He immediately understood what I needed, not only to get into the house comfortably, but how to make inclusive design look good. He worked so hard to ensure the aesthetic met our standards, but also so that I could use the ramp, especially the steeper one in the back, even as I got older.
In the front, he created a ramp that was hidden by the landscaping and smoothly entered the house. I will fully admit that I cried the first time I wheeled into my home’s front door unaided. Knowing we would eventually upgrade the siding to something more modern, we went with a modern design for the walkway with bluestone and dark gravel. I still love it four years later.
A bonus was the creation of a flower bed that didn’t exist in the front yard before. The previous owners had completely ignored the landscaping (along with everything else). So I was happy to try my hand at landscaping.
The backyard was tricky because the ramp incline would have to be a bit steeper and the ramp longer because the distance from the bottom of the door to the ground was greater than in the garage or the front door.
Due to the unexpected death of Michael’s beloved Gram, we received funds to be able to extend the outdoor space in the backyard, making it more usable for me. (Wheeling on grass is a bitch.) That meant in addition to the ramp, we could add a 650 square foot patio.
John’s design was excellent there too. We designed a modern ramp made of gray composite decking. I LOVE this product. There is no maintenance and it will probably still be there after the house is gone. The ramp beautifully leads into a round at the end, which subtly trails into the rest of the patio. We used the same bluestone and dark gravel in the back to highlight the amazing pattern.
Again, we were left with a great new flower bed that I could plant to my heart’s content. Most importantly, I could get in and out of my house via every door safely and independently. I could also be proud of how my house looked. Inclusive design can be both pragmatic and beautiful, if you have the imagination and the right design partner!
Thank you to John GIusto, Giusto Landscaping!
Thank you Gram for the Laurice Watterson memorial patio. We love and miss you every day!
