Independence

 

Independence has always been a very big deal to me. My family is quick to tell stories of a little me politely declining help with a loud "I CAN DO IT MYSELF!" Some things don't change.

My independence is why I have an electric chair rather than others pushing me. Well... that and my penchant for motion sickness if I'm not in control. It's often why I push myself much harder than I should physically. There's just such reward for me to do things independently. There's nothing like it. That feeling of accomplishment that never comes when I ask for help.

This is the reason I'm working hard to make my home as user-friendly as I can. It's vital that I keep that feeling of independence for as long as I can. Here are a few projects going on in my house right now. 

My husband built this beautiful space for raised pots, then we'll build out the walkway up to our door with cement stones to make more wheelchair space. There's room for me now, but it's tight. This will be a huge improvement (and it still looks good).

We used to have a towering bookshelf here, but it got moved this weekend because it was a little bit in the way of me getting out the front door. AND my husband was worried I'd hit it and kill myself (with shit falling on my head.) It was a valid concern. Seeing as I refuse to die such a stupid death it seemed wiser just to move the damn thing. So now it's a very improved landing site for my purse and all my Sweetie's needs. Plus now I can reach all of this from my chair. Before I couldn't. Win-win for everyone!

Due to the itty bittiness of our galley kitchen we've always had our beautiful dishes out on a shelf. But now it's great because I can easily reach what I need without getting up. Same goes for our printer that until recently was hard to access. Accessibility = independence.

Can you spot the "black tower of death" in the corner? That was the shelf that got moved in the previous picture. 

This is the best change yet. I'm working on moving all of my clothing out of our closet and onto the walls. My husband says "You have a real thing for hooks." It's true. Because they are WAY easier and take less spoons than anything else. They also come in a huge variety of cute colors, shapes and sizes. This is still a work in progress, but I think it will look great and be super useful when we're done creating it. 

Making my house work for me is a big goal right now. Thank goodness I have family on board who supports me with their energy and money to help make my vision come to life. That's the kind of help that's always welcome and appreciated. 

Welcome to my world!

I was explaining to my husband this morning that as a person with a chronic illness I feel like the whole entire world now gets to experience my life every single day.

Can't go to your office to do a job you love?
Check
Worry about falling ill and dying constantly?
Check
Can't leave your house and do what you want when you want? 
Check
Social isolation? 
Check
Limited mobility? Can't ride the subway, train or hop a bus? 
Check 

Yup. That's my reality.

We belong to a fun local social group and I'm able to participate minimally due to my health and mobility needs. Now everyone is in the same boat so they're thinking outside the box and doing things like Zoom meetups. Because when healthy, able bodied people become affected by something, that's when the problem solving and alternative solutions come out.

Work from home everyone!
Stay safe and take care of your own needs.
Take plenty of time off when you're sick or your family is ill.
Financial compensation for your loss of income.

Where are all these solutions for the disabled population?
I'm talking globally here, not just in my town, state or Country. 

I hope when the Coronavirus crisis is over some of these changes remain in place for the percentage of the population who could use the accommodations daily. And also that now healthy, able bodied people come away with just a bit more insight and empathy about what it's like to live every day of your life this way.

The next big project

One good thing about being home rather than working 40 hours a week is that it has afforded us the time to get some lingering home projects done. So far we've had our leaky kitchen sink replaced, the dry rot facia boards in the front of our house replaced, our front door fixed (complete with door handle that was falling off) and most recently our tub re-calked. My husband proudly installed the shower grab bars himself!

The next project we have up is a big exciting one. We're getting cement work done to form a ramp to our front door. Right now the lip to our front door is 3 inches. Even my six wheel tank of a chair "Dory" can't take that on. We also have a useless flower bed taking up space making the walkway to our door tight for a chair. 

Two lips into the front door.

We like to use our tiny front patio for coffee when the weather is nice and it would be fun to expand that out to make it larger. This would helpfully cut down on some of our garden size and hopefully make it more manageable too. 

Then the driveway will be expanded to better fit both our new wheelchair van and our Kia Soul. We have a useless little weed patch that takes up a good portion that will be cemented over giving us more space. 

Weed patch taking up driveway space.

Not for long weeds!

All those cracks will get patched too.

Thanks California earthquakes.

Here's the wonky flower patch with old bricks. 

You can see the tiny patio too. 

I'm hoping to make ALL of this cement.

Now that we took on the wheelchair van payments I do have to be very careful with our projects. After the cement our last big one will be our fence. It's literally falling down on one side and patched all over on the other. Considering we live between an in-home daycare center and a bunch of college kids (neither were there when we bought our house) a good, tall fence is very important to my mental health. Especially being home as much as I am. Anything we can do to cut down the noise is a medical necessity. Heck! I should be able to write it off on my taxes!!!