Rethink Your Life!
Finance, health, lifestyle, environment, philosophy 		The Work of Art and The Art of Work
Kiko Denzer on Art


Cob: Builders with disabilities

Chita Jing edfan at earthlink.net
Mon Jan 20 14:10:18 CST 2003 

    This is one of the most fascinating topics ever to hit any alternative building list. I hope we chew on this for quite a while. I did a large (non-architectural) project with a disAbility group once and what struck me first was that they were so often left out of things, they had a mindset tilted toward failure. I always thought that if they'd just DO stuff until they were completely worn out, they'd find out they could do more than they expected at first. During the project, this turned often out to be true.

    The reality: typical [insert a large number of demographics] will experience physical limits during some time in life. It's not uncommon for a person to take their fitness for granted until they attempt a big physical task - then they discover that building standards were made by/for healthy adult white males working with big power tools. This has to be accommodated. Even the tallest, healthiest, strongest person can break an ankle during construction and BAM! they're suddenly interested in how to do things without aggravating the injury. 

    What if we reviewed what was possible without being big, tall, strong or perfectly healthy? Nobody stays 25 years old forever and I've noticed people nearing retirement are often more adventurous than youngsters who can make up for financial inadequacy by throwing their bodies into sweat equity. 

    Of course, maybe I just yearn for a Bobcat.... :)




  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: susannah at cyber-dyne.com 


  Hello --
  I too use a wheelchair sometimes-but-not-always, so I have an idea of what you're talking about.  It seems to me that you could do a lot of this stuff, and that you definitely want other people to do the heaviest parts.  

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<DIV>    This is one of the most fascinating topics ever to hit 
any alternative building list. I hope we chew on this for quite a while. I did a 
large (non-architectural) project with a disAbility group once and what struck 
me first was that they were so often left out of things, they had a mindset 
tilted toward failure. I always thought that if they'd just DO stuff until they 
were completely worn out, they'd find out they could do more than they expected 
at first. During the project, this turned often out to be true.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>    The reality: typical [insert a large number of 
demographics] will experience physical limits during some time in life. It's not 
uncommon for a person to take their fitness for granted until they attempt a big 
physical task - then they discover that building standards were made by/for 
healthy adult white males working with big power tools. This has to be 
accommodated. Even the tallest, healthiest, strongest person can break an ankle 
during construction and BAM! they're suddenly interested in how to do things 
without aggravating the injury. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>    What if we reviewed what was possible without being big, 
tall, strong or perfectly healthy? Nobody stays 25 years old forever and 
I've noticed people nearing retirement are often more adventurous than 
youngsters who can make up for financial inadequacy by throwing their bodies 
into sweat equity. </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>    Of course, maybe I just yearn for a Bobcat.... :)</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE 
style="PADDING-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px; MARGIN-LEFT: 5px; BORDER-LEFT: #000000 2px solid; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px">
  <DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
  <DIV 
  style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B> 
  <A title=susannah at cyber-dyne.com 
  href="mailto:susannah at cyber-dyne.com">susannah at cyber-dyne.com</A> </DIV>
  <DIV><BR></DIV>
  <DIV><FONT face="Arial, Helvetica" size=2>Hello --<BR>I too use a wheelchair 
  sometimes-but-not-always, so I have an idea of what you're talking 
  about.  It seems to me that you could do a lot of this stuff, and that 
  you definitely want other people to do the heaviest parts.  </FONT></DIV>
  <DIV> </DIV></BLOCKQUOTE></BODY></HTML>