Of little boys and summer.

The BBQ Pit
1

So I’m out in the back yard the other night talking with my neighbour. We were both doing some yard clean-up after things had started to cool down as lo and behold… summer has arrived and it’s been HOT. Way too hot for a guy who’s ancestors evolved in western Europe under cool overcast skies if you know what I mean. The kids all enjoyed being outside and had water fights all afternoon while I hid out from the U.V.

But that’s not what this is all about…

So I was talking to my neighbour and she was not happy. Her son has muscular dystrophy (which is more than enough to make one unhappy) and at ten he is no longer able to walk and must rely on a wheelchair to get around. He’s getting a new wheelchair that will weigh considerably more than the hot rod he has now and they decided that they now need a wheelchair ramp as mom won’t be able to get her son and the newer, heavier wheelchair out of the house on her own.

Like good tenants they asked the manager if they could build a ramp, who then forwarded that request on to the owners. You’d think this would be a reasonable request wouldn’t you?

Apparently the management feels that a wheelchair ramp placed in the back of the unit will;

a: detract from the property value.
b: cause a safety hazard to other children.

I can hear people saying “holy fuck” right now.

I could now go on at length and call the management folks every nasty name I can think of like “syphilitic goat felching frog squicking cock ratchets” but I’m sure you all can think of your own expletives.

I have other plans.

I’m the rehab guy, I work with people who need wheelchairs and ramps and know lots of people who make it their business to deal with insensitive fucktards.

They will get their ramp.

I so want to move from here and the only thing that will make it hard is leaving the people we’ve gotten to know over the past five years. They’re great hard working folks who have enough to deal with without having to cope with a management that it still stuck in the dark ages.

fuck.

2

I take it (by your spelling of “neighbour”) that you don’t live in the states. If you did, I believe that the Fair Housing Act would apply.

3

Oh man I’d tear those owners a new one so bad they would need their own ramp to get home.

4

Fair Housing Act says they hafta comply.

Is there a no-pets policy there too? If so, get this child a service dog. They also have no choice but to accept the animal.

<g>

They are fucknuggets of the first order.

A nicely written letter for the local newspaper would also do well - property value would be the last thing they’d be worrying about at that point.

5

I’m still combing the morass that is our government website for statutes and have already sent out a number of e-mails to people I know that deal specifically with accessibility issues.

This will get fixed.

The boy isn’t going to be missing out on all the fun that is to be had because of someone else’s ignorance and prejudice.

6

Feynn just to help out the legal dopers, are you in the states or not?

7

Sheesh…

I can only do what I can to help… bringing the media in on this would be something that my neighbours would have to do.

The shitstorm it would cause would be truly immense though.

Now I’m thinking… the rental office isn’t accessible either and it is a commonly accessible area… hmmm…

BTW… I’m in Canada.

8

Feynn, you go, boy. I work in the rehab field in Calgary, too - I’ll see what I can find out for you from our old hands in the office.

9

If you Canucks are anything like us down here, you probably have a local reporter or two who just LOVES doing those torried undercover stories about wrongness around town.

10

featherlou… no way!

It’s no wonder I like you so much.

You should send me an e-mail so we can swap info and tales from the trenches.

feynn@shaw.ca