Realized I was making ramps too steep for years after a friend called me out

I have been building little wooden ramps for curb cuts and door thresholds for maybe 5 years now. Always just eyeballed the angle and went with what looked right. Last month a buddy in a wheelchair came over and said my front door ramp was like a roller coaster drop. He pulled out his phone and showed me the ADA slope ratio is 1:12, meaning for every inch of rise you need a foot of run. I had been doing like 1:6 this whole time. No wonder people were struggling to get up them and I just thought they were weak or something. Felt like a total idiot honestly. Anyone else ever build something with good intentions but totally missed the mark on usability?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler_hall917d ago

Wait, hang on, shoulder height for grab bars? That's where you're supposed to brace yourself, right? I always figured the higher the better so you've got more reach. That's crazy to think about someone trying to pull their whole body weight up from a bar that's too high. It completely changes how I look at bathroom safety stuff.

samw4718d ago

This is one of those things where you assume because you built it yourself it must be better than the store bought stuff, but really you just didn't know what you didn't know. It reminds me of how people install grab bars in bathrooms and put them at shoulder height because it "feels right," but that's actually the worst spot for someone who really needs to pull themselves up. The same goes for kitchen counters. People put them at standard height without thinking about who's going to use them. It's like we all have this instinct to just make things work for ourselves and forget that other people move through the world differently. That ramp thing is a perfect example of how good intentions without actual research can kind of backfire and make things harder for the very people you're trying to help.