Happy On Wheels

Personalized

09.30.2024 by Happy On Wheels //

Author: Tony Trott

I think it’s pretty common knowledge that everybody has their own needs; this really becomes evident when you are charged with designing something to meet unique specifications. The case in hand right now is A roll-in shower. that of accessibility of a shower. Please note that the picture to the right is not our shower, it is an AI generated picture from the Adobe website!

In some ways this probably sounds like a no-brainer. I mean to make a shower accessible you just add grab bars, right? Not so. First is the understanding that it is a roll in shower. Second, my wife and I both use a shower chair, so we do not use any kind of fold down bench. Next are grab bars. That begs the questions where do you put them, what size are Photo of a grab bar attached to a tile wall. the bars, should they be vertical, horizontal, or diagonal, and there are more questions involved such as height. I have seen websites that purport to be experts on placement of grab bars and say things like, “Never place a grab bar diagonally.” The best advice about grab bar placement and accessible shower design in general is to make sure to get user perspective.

In the case of our new shower, it will be shared by more than one person, so we are going over to see it while construction is underway so we can point out where we want grab bars placed and answer other questions about them.

My wife and I are well versed in our respective needs, so I’m sure that we will be able to agree on placement of grab bars so that we can both use this shower safely and efficiently.

Files with Feeling

08.31.2024 by Happy On Wheels //

Author: Sheri Denkensohn-Trott

I decided that it was time to purge my file cabinet. So many files that had not been touched and likely papers that were no longer needed. Now that everything is digital, the file folders on my computer are much Multiple files. more user-friendly and don’t take up physical space. I attacked two full drawers of files thinking it would be tedious, but not expecting that it would be emotional. It’s only papers, right?

Instead, going through the files required looking at many items that brought back a range of emotions. Many papers were meaningless and easy to put in the shred pile. Out of date bills, tax records, and medical forms. For me, someone with many hospitalizations, the amount of paper from each episode was dizzying. Most of the records were out of date and irrelevant, but it still brought back memories of those Sheri & Deb at Sheri's wedding. awful times. Included were notes written by my now deceased sister, who was my rock throughout every health crisis. Papers with her handwriting listing questions to doctors, notes with the names and phone numbers of friends, and other notes to herself. I found it hard to push forward without getting emotional.

And mixed in were other unexpected papers. Why did I have medical records that belonged to my father? He probably sent them to me for my information and I put them in my own medical file. I realized that my files were not only disorganized, but finding these pieces of my father triggered so many memories. Seeing his handwriting in his signature ballpoint pen made me nostalgic. Charlie Denkensohn at his 90th Birthday celebration

Not every paper was sad. I still had the file with all the bills from our wedding. That brought its own decision tree. Is this information needed anymore, but why is it so hard to part with? This is not relevant almost 19 years later, but some of these papers are interesting to look back on. Ultimately it all went to the shred pile.

I did make progress on getting rid of paper, even information that evoked emotion. I’m sure I could have gotten rid of more. Who would’ve thought that cleaning files is not for the faint of heart?

To Rip or Not to Rip? That Is the Question

08.31.2024 by Happy On Wheels //

Author: Tony Trott

I think that my hearing disability is not clear to most people. Ever since I was a little kid music has always been a big part of my life. Whether it was church music or listening to my parent’s albums at home. I still remember the Cover of My Son the Folk Singer by Allan Sherman. words to “The Ballad of Harry Lewis” from “My Son the Folk Singer” by Allan Sherman!

I started piano in second grade, and in fourth grade I switched to the saxophone and never looked back. I decided to get a degree in Music Education from James Madison University, and this is about when I began showing symptoms of my disability. Looking back, I could recognize various symptoms of Friedreich’s Ataxia in high school, but these symptoms, lack of coordination and not being very physically adept, were easily misinterpreted by everyone (me included) as just being an adolescent and dealing with changes related to puberty.

In college, however, my lack of physical adeptness became more pronounced and was officially diagnosed. My hearing, though, remained stable. Since I was studying music, I did not just need average hearing, I needed Beethoven. above-average hearing. — an aside, please don’t compare my situation to that of Beethoven; he was a musical genius, and I am not. — Whether it was a sight-singing class or basic music theory, hearing was essential.

As I said, my hearing was relatively stable throughout college, it didn’t really begin to deteriorate until my mid-20s. By that time, I had amassed a rather large collection of compact discs of many different types of music.

By now, mid-50s, my physical dexterity has deteriorated
a bit, and I don’t handle CDs as easily as I used to, and I really wanted the ability to listen to them on my computer while I was working (with headphones so as to not hinder my wife with her voice recognition software). So, I am in the process of ripping all my CDs to an external hard drive (that will, of course, be backed up). And I can fit many boxes of CDs and lots of downloaded music, onto a 4”x5” hard drive! And I have many boxes of CDs. So this has not been an afternoon task. Many CDs.

Technological improvements certainly are helpful for many individuals, especially those with disabilities. As I rip these CDs, I do laugh to myself that many in the younger generation might not know what a CD is, and if they do have any, they certainly are not keeping them like I am. Just call me old-fashioned. And I need to do what works for me.

Personalized

Files with Feeling

To Rip or Not to Rip? That Is the Question

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