accessibility

House hunting isn’t easy, especially when you’re searching for an affordable wheelchair-accessible home. But thankfully, we managed to find a beautiful one that fits our monthly budget for rent, and drumroll … it’s wheelchair accessible! We’ve been planning to move for quite a while. My 6-year-old son, Cayden, isn’t…

This school year is the first for my 5-year-old son, Cayden. He attended preschool when he was younger, but now he’s in kindergarten at a public school, where things work a little differently. One of the biggest of those differences is transportation. For preschool, parents were required to…

Back in May, I wrote about searching for a more accessible playground for my 5-year-old son, Cayden. My wish seems to have come true, and I couldn’t be happier! A few weeks ago, our town finally reopened one of its biggest playgrounds, which had been closed for a long…

Before I was diagnosed with Pompe disease, I had never previously thought about accessibility. I had never pondered what accessibility means, why it is important, or what I would do if I ever had to deal with it in my lifetime. Then the year 2018 hit me…

I’m sure most people in the U.S. have heard of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), a civil rights law that protects people with disabilities from discrimination in all areas of life. It became law in 1990, and its sole purpose is to ensure that people with disabilities are…

Typically, when we think of playgrounds, we envision children running around, having the time of their lives. But this isn’t always the case. For my 5-year-old son, Cayden, it’s a bit hard to enjoy the playground. Cayden is in a wheelchair, so sometimes he has trouble accessing playground equipment.

Sometimes I wonder who designed spaces that are labeled accessible. Were the engineers or architects disabled? Did they actually understand the needs of wheelchair users, or did they simply do the minimum needed to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)? Was a disability plaque attached just for…

A few weeks ago, during my 4-year-old son Cayden’s physical therapy session with his home-based therapist, we had a conversation about mobility devices. Cayden has infantile-onset Pompe disease, which has caused him to have very low muscle tone. He is unable to walk or bear any weight…

There’s a first time for everything, and this past week was a big first for my family. We loaded up the car and took my son, Cayden, to an amusement park for the first time. While it sure was a lot of fun, there were also some challenges. The first…

Most people love the beach. Whether it’s your first time going to the beach or not, seaside vacations, and traveling in general, are almost always enjoyable. But what if you can’t get to the ocean once you’re there? Disabled individuals must find other ways…