Accessibility

One thing I learned by having Ray's dad live with us for a few weeks (aside that our house is too small for three adults) relates to physical disability. Ray's dad has a really hard time walking, navigating stairs or curbs, inclines/slopes, and any bumpy surface, even with the help of a cane or walker. Getting into and out of our house was a challenge for him, even with us driving up on the lawn to lessen the distance between door and car.

Being out and about with Jim highlighted these challenges even more. There are lots of places where you can't pull up right in front of the door. A lot of people have those disability placards for the close parking stalls, but seem to be plenty able to walk well (I realize sometimes disabilities aren't obvious, but there are a lot of people who seem to have no trouble at all.) And the most mystifying observation of all: Jim's new place in senior housing has no loading zone or disabled access from the curb. That means when he wants to get a cab, he has to walk halfway down the block to get into the damn thing, or risk stepping off the curb and between cars to get himself out to a cab sitting in the street. This makes no sense to me! I think we're going to talk to the senior housing people about making the building slightly more ADA compliant on the outside.