let me take you with me back in time to
the last day that I could walk
it was June 13th 1998 my husband Mark
and I were celebrating our third wedding
anniversary and went for a bicycle ride
on a nearby path while we were riding
mark heard a loud sound like a gunshot
got his attention and as he looked he
saw a tree falling to the ground he
shouted to me the warning look over
there something’s falling stop but I was
hit from behind by a 7,000 pound tree
entangled with live electric lines
paralyzed from the waist down for me
life changed in an instant five hours of
emergency surgery five days and
intensive care and five weeks in a
rehabilitation center when the day
finally arrived when Mark drove me home
and that’s when I encountered my first
obstacle
getting into my home you see there were
three steps at my front door my family
and the neighbors had built a temporary
but very steep wooden ramp so that mark
could push me into the home however as I
looked at that ramp thinking about going
down that ramp independently it was like
riding a luge in the Winter Olympics our
home intensified my disability you see I
couldn’t even roll on the carpet I was
so weak that Mark had to push me all
over the house when I was in the kitchen
the reality hit me I couldn’t reach the
freezer
I couldn’t reach the microwave I
couldn’t reach shelves in the upper wall
cabinet using the cooktop was difficult
the counters were too high and there was
no nice space for me to pull under any
of the counters any of the sinks or the
cooktop life for me was very depressing
in that house what about you what if
what if you had a temporary illness
recovering from surgery what if you
needed a wheelchair in your home what
would your life be like in your current
home we knew we had to sell that house
and find something more suitable and
that’s when we came up with this very
rude awakening as we were shopping we
realized it was gonna be very difficult
to find a home the data shows that 90%
of homes in this country are
inaccessible for people with
disabilities AARP research also reveals
glaringly that only 1% of homes
stand the test of time for independent
living and 90% of people would prefer to
age in their own homes so here’s the big
question if the population is growing
older there’s more people in this world
where will they live that becomes the
problem so we decided in September of
2004 to hire an architect to design our
home four months later we met with this
group of professional colleagues mark is
the one standing on the left my husband
as we met with this group they gave us a
very innovative audacious but
intimidating idea they said to us make
your house a national demonstration home
and get product manufacturers to
contribute the best products on the
market
now our home was going to be more than
just our home it was going to be a model
of freedom autonomy and independence
that was the launch of our universal
design living laboratory this is our
current home in Columbus Ohio we bought
the home site in December of 2006 we
assembled a national team of designers
and a marketing consultant and began the
process to start building our national
demonstration home it was a fun event
during our groundbreaking ceremony this
was in September of 2009 mark and I had
never built a house before and believe
we served as the general contractors for
this building this house ourselves a
month later the excavation process the
big digger arrived
I remember mark had gone to the building
site and he came home that night after
watching them with the Big Dig here’s
what he said to me he says Rosemarie I
went to the construction site and they
were digging the big hole and literally
my stomach came up into my throat he
said I knew that we were all in and
there was no turning back at this point
in time this was an overwhelming
obstacle monumental and it’s undertaking
you know what I felt like most of the
time I felt like I was pushing my
wheelchair up a hill with a big boulder
in front of it from my wheelchair what
about you and your momentum when you’re
facing a very difficult adversity or a
challenge or an obstacle what do you use
as your momentum let me share with you
some lessons that I learned early on
after my injury they seemed to help a
lot during this
Construction process I call him lessons
to build on let me share with you the
first one we thought of this one all the
time during the process and that is do
something new every day we had to look
at the architect plans that the
renderings hire subcontractors get all
the sponsors we had to change our
mindset every day it was a very steep
learning curve to do something new every
day towards this goal of building this
home my second lesson this one really
helped me in terms of my mindset of
focusing on hope and not on self-pity
you can imagine how depressed I was
because I couldn’t garden I couldn’t
cook I couldn’t even shower
independently in the former home and I
started thinking about all those things
that I couldn’t do and I started getting
more and more depressed so in order to
change that position of what I was
thinking about I focused on the new home
and all the things I would be able to do
because of the way the home was going to
be designed so what would a home look
like what’s a sustainable home that has
features that’s going to keep you safe
from falling and keep you independent
let me share with you a few of the
features in our home noted that these
features can be used in a much smaller
home with a much smaller budget so that
you can take some of our ideas and
borrow them to use them for your current
home or future home I’m going to take
you on a virtual tour this is our front
entrance there’s no steps at that front
entrance in fact at any of the doors
there’s just a gentle sloping pathway to
get into our home as we go into the home
you can see the threshold at the doorway
it’s only a half inch so anyone walking
in or out isn’t in a trip the doors are
36 inches wide so everyone with
wheelchairs and walkers can get in
independently the doors have lever
indle’s making that really easy for
someone with paralysis or arthritis to
open and close the doors I’ll take a
look at the center door panel that glass
panel has little circles in it the tall
one is for my husband Mark that’s his
peephole
he has six foot four inches tall the one
in the middle is for me I am seated here
at four foot two and that lower one
that’s for our cat Kiko come with me
into the kitchen the center island is
our focus we have three different
heights the 30 inch countertop is great
for people who want to stay seated and
cook or for those who’d like to dine the
next height is 35 inches and the taller
one is 40 inches I can’t overemphasize
for you the importance of universal
design when it comes to storage and
convenience let me share with you what
we’ve done we actually did some things
when we constructed the house lowering
the wall cabinets what we did is put 14
inches between the bottom of the wall
cabinet in the top of the counter
so that those shelves were more
accessible now in some of the upper
shelves we put in hardware that I could
pull down with ease so that those items
were very accessible come with me into
our master shower this is where I shower
there’s a wonderful shower chair there’s
a grab bar there there’s a bar with an
adjustable height nozzle for me to
shower I’m very independent there on the
opposite wall is mark showering station
now I had to crop this picture for
if any of you are wondering how he’s
able to stand on one leg like that we
did a DNA test we discovered he’s part
flamingo as I share more of the features
of the shower with you let me share with
you the floor of the shower it is gently
sloped so the water can go to the back
notice there’s no lip there’s no curve
we call these a curbless shower it’s 36
inches wide so it’s easy to enter the
shower water goes to the back wall into
the channel drain so this makes life
easier for everyone doesn’t it when we
think about this project and we think
about over 200 sponsors that made this
project possible we also think about the
volunteers that helped us this was an
amazing amazing project for mark and I
to orchestrate without the help of these
sponsors and volunteers this would never
have happened
this project was possible because of
them that led me to my next lesson to
share with you you’ve all got to believe
this to believe that the impossible just
might be possible when we started to see
the floor plans and the renderings and
watching this house going together it
started to gel with us that this was
going to be a reality the mindset that
we put has an impact on what we think
are possibilities and we might be
limiting what truly is possible as we
look forward as this project ended we
applied for certifications we actually
are now the top rated home in North
America because of the universal design
features with three national
certifications we also earn two national
green building certifications so our
house has totally changed our
perspective of design
let me introduce you to what is
universal design in case you haven’t
heard this term before it’s actually
been around since the mid 1980s think of
it as a framework a framework for the
design of living spaces and working
spaces and we’re designing it now with
everyone in mind without specialized
design it’s not just for people with
disabilities it’s for everyone it’s
leveling the playing field it’s for all
ages it’s for all sizes it’s good design
and so that’s the concept that we
achieved in our home is leveling the
playing field inclusive design using
universal design characteristics of
course our life-changing adversity from
the bicycle ride absolutely changed our
life making mark and I a catalyst for
change in the design and building
industry in this photo you’re seeing the
toileting area in my former home in
comparison to my new master bath and
then next to that you’re seeing the bath
tub and the shower in my former home
compared to our master bathroom this
particular project catapulted me into
becoming the voice and vision of a
growing independent living movement that
life-changing bicycle ride sent me
rolling down a path that I never could
have imagined the project took a lot of
time you could imagine there were a lot
of delays let me share with you what
helped me as we dealt with the time
element you’ve got to allow more time to
get things done and be patient with
yourselves
anytime you’re frustrated think about
being more patient patience is the true
acceptance of the way things are for now
we’ve got to have more patience and
realize that things will move on and
that things of quality they have no fear
of time
that leads us to my last lesson and this
one helped us to lower our stress think
about your life and how many times
you’re asking people especially those
closest to you to do something for you I
learned this when I was asking mark to
do too many things he had so many
responsibilities so I had to get more
volunteers more subcontractors more
sponsors and I had to take on more
responsibilities so to lower my stress I
lowered my expectations of other people
and then graciously when I started
asking people for help do you know that
they were very grateful for me asking so
that they could contribute to this
worthwhile cause let me review with you
the lessons so as you’re facing
challenges as you’re facing obstacles
these helped us to be persistent to
overcome obstacles to see new vision to
move on closer to your goals take a look
and see which one of these resonates
with you the most as you think about
your life and what you’re facing right
now in the short time that I’ve been
here today I hope I’ve given you some
ideas of inspiration as you’re thinking
about your home or your next home what
are some of the ideas that resonate with
you that you can implement in terms of
making your home more sustainable for
the long term either you or your family
members hey life happens are you
prepared for the inevitable for the
ongoing changes that are gonna happen in
your life my advice is to do something
now whether it be a small modification
or just starting to think about the
current home or you live in what will
you do because when we think about the
challenges that we face think about the
transformations that can affect us
as well as the lives of those we love
thank you very much [Applause]
the last day that I could walk
it was June 13th 1998 my husband Mark
and I were celebrating our third wedding
anniversary and went for a bicycle ride
on a nearby path while we were riding
mark heard a loud sound like a gunshot
got his attention and as he looked he
saw a tree falling to the ground he
shouted to me the warning look over
there something’s falling stop but I was
hit from behind by a 7,000 pound tree
entangled with live electric lines
paralyzed from the waist down for me
life changed in an instant five hours of
emergency surgery five days and
intensive care and five weeks in a
rehabilitation center when the day
finally arrived when Mark drove me home
and that’s when I encountered my first
obstacle
getting into my home you see there were
three steps at my front door my family
and the neighbors had built a temporary
but very steep wooden ramp so that mark
could push me into the home however as I
looked at that ramp thinking about going
down that ramp independently it was like
riding a luge in the Winter Olympics our
home intensified my disability you see I
couldn’t even roll on the carpet I was
so weak that Mark had to push me all
over the house when I was in the kitchen
the reality hit me I couldn’t reach the
freezer
I couldn’t reach the microwave I
couldn’t reach shelves in the upper wall
cabinet using the cooktop was difficult
the counters were too high and there was
no nice space for me to pull under any
of the counters any of the sinks or the
cooktop life for me was very depressing
in that house what about you what if
what if you had a temporary illness
recovering from surgery what if you
needed a wheelchair in your home what
would your life be like in your current
home we knew we had to sell that house
and find something more suitable and
that’s when we came up with this very
rude awakening as we were shopping we
realized it was gonna be very difficult
to find a home the data shows that 90%
of homes in this country are
inaccessible for people with
disabilities AARP research also reveals
glaringly that only 1% of homes
stand the test of time for independent
living and 90% of people would prefer to
age in their own homes so here’s the big
question if the population is growing
older there’s more people in this world
where will they live that becomes the
problem so we decided in September of
2004 to hire an architect to design our
home four months later we met with this
group of professional colleagues mark is
the one standing on the left my husband
as we met with this group they gave us a
very innovative audacious but
intimidating idea they said to us make
your house a national demonstration home
and get product manufacturers to
contribute the best products on the
market
now our home was going to be more than
just our home it was going to be a model
of freedom autonomy and independence
that was the launch of our universal
design living laboratory this is our
current home in Columbus Ohio we bought
the home site in December of 2006 we
assembled a national team of designers
and a marketing consultant and began the
process to start building our national
demonstration home it was a fun event
during our groundbreaking ceremony this
was in September of 2009 mark and I had
never built a house before and believe
we served as the general contractors for
this building this house ourselves a
month later the excavation process the
big digger arrived
I remember mark had gone to the building
site and he came home that night after
watching them with the Big Dig here’s
what he said to me he says Rosemarie I
went to the construction site and they
were digging the big hole and literally
my stomach came up into my throat he
said I knew that we were all in and
there was no turning back at this point
in time this was an overwhelming
obstacle monumental and it’s undertaking
you know what I felt like most of the
time I felt like I was pushing my
wheelchair up a hill with a big boulder
in front of it from my wheelchair what
about you and your momentum when you’re
facing a very difficult adversity or a
challenge or an obstacle what do you use
as your momentum let me share with you
some lessons that I learned early on
after my injury they seemed to help a
lot during this
Construction process I call him lessons
to build on let me share with you the
first one we thought of this one all the
time during the process and that is do
something new every day we had to look
at the architect plans that the
renderings hire subcontractors get all
the sponsors we had to change our
mindset every day it was a very steep
learning curve to do something new every
day towards this goal of building this
home my second lesson this one really
helped me in terms of my mindset of
focusing on hope and not on self-pity
you can imagine how depressed I was
because I couldn’t garden I couldn’t
cook I couldn’t even shower
independently in the former home and I
started thinking about all those things
that I couldn’t do and I started getting
more and more depressed so in order to
change that position of what I was
thinking about I focused on the new home
and all the things I would be able to do
because of the way the home was going to
be designed so what would a home look
like what’s a sustainable home that has
features that’s going to keep you safe
from falling and keep you independent
let me share with you a few of the
features in our home noted that these
features can be used in a much smaller
home with a much smaller budget so that
you can take some of our ideas and
borrow them to use them for your current
home or future home I’m going to take
you on a virtual tour this is our front
entrance there’s no steps at that front
entrance in fact at any of the doors
there’s just a gentle sloping pathway to
get into our home as we go into the home
you can see the threshold at the doorway
it’s only a half inch so anyone walking
in or out isn’t in a trip the doors are
36 inches wide so everyone with
wheelchairs and walkers can get in
independently the doors have lever
indle’s making that really easy for
someone with paralysis or arthritis to
open and close the doors I’ll take a
look at the center door panel that glass
panel has little circles in it the tall
one is for my husband Mark that’s his
peephole
he has six foot four inches tall the one
in the middle is for me I am seated here
at four foot two and that lower one
that’s for our cat Kiko come with me
into the kitchen the center island is
our focus we have three different
heights the 30 inch countertop is great
for people who want to stay seated and
cook or for those who’d like to dine the
next height is 35 inches and the taller
one is 40 inches I can’t overemphasize
for you the importance of universal
design when it comes to storage and
convenience let me share with you what
we’ve done we actually did some things
when we constructed the house lowering
the wall cabinets what we did is put 14
inches between the bottom of the wall
cabinet in the top of the counter
so that those shelves were more
accessible now in some of the upper
shelves we put in hardware that I could
pull down with ease so that those items
were very accessible come with me into
our master shower this is where I shower
there’s a wonderful shower chair there’s
a grab bar there there’s a bar with an
adjustable height nozzle for me to
shower I’m very independent there on the
opposite wall is mark showering station
now I had to crop this picture for
if any of you are wondering how he’s
able to stand on one leg like that we
did a DNA test we discovered he’s part
flamingo as I share more of the features
of the shower with you let me share with
you the floor of the shower it is gently
sloped so the water can go to the back
notice there’s no lip there’s no curve
we call these a curbless shower it’s 36
inches wide so it’s easy to enter the
shower water goes to the back wall into
the channel drain so this makes life
easier for everyone doesn’t it when we
think about this project and we think
about over 200 sponsors that made this
project possible we also think about the
volunteers that helped us this was an
amazing amazing project for mark and I
to orchestrate without the help of these
sponsors and volunteers this would never
have happened
this project was possible because of
them that led me to my next lesson to
share with you you’ve all got to believe
this to believe that the impossible just
might be possible when we started to see
the floor plans and the renderings and
watching this house going together it
started to gel with us that this was
going to be a reality the mindset that
we put has an impact on what we think
are possibilities and we might be
limiting what truly is possible as we
look forward as this project ended we
applied for certifications we actually
are now the top rated home in North
America because of the universal design
features with three national
certifications we also earn two national
green building certifications so our
house has totally changed our
perspective of design
let me introduce you to what is
universal design in case you haven’t
heard this term before it’s actually
been around since the mid 1980s think of
it as a framework a framework for the
design of living spaces and working
spaces and we’re designing it now with
everyone in mind without specialized
design it’s not just for people with
disabilities it’s for everyone it’s
leveling the playing field it’s for all
ages it’s for all sizes it’s good design
and so that’s the concept that we
achieved in our home is leveling the
playing field inclusive design using
universal design characteristics of
course our life-changing adversity from
the bicycle ride absolutely changed our
life making mark and I a catalyst for
change in the design and building
industry in this photo you’re seeing the
toileting area in my former home in
comparison to my new master bath and
then next to that you’re seeing the bath
tub and the shower in my former home
compared to our master bathroom this
particular project catapulted me into
becoming the voice and vision of a
growing independent living movement that
life-changing bicycle ride sent me
rolling down a path that I never could
have imagined the project took a lot of
time you could imagine there were a lot
of delays let me share with you what
helped me as we dealt with the time
element you’ve got to allow more time to
get things done and be patient with
yourselves
anytime you’re frustrated think about
being more patient patience is the true
acceptance of the way things are for now
we’ve got to have more patience and
realize that things will move on and
that things of quality they have no fear
of time
that leads us to my last lesson and this
one helped us to lower our stress think
about your life and how many times
you’re asking people especially those
closest to you to do something for you I
learned this when I was asking mark to
do too many things he had so many
responsibilities so I had to get more
volunteers more subcontractors more
sponsors and I had to take on more
responsibilities so to lower my stress I
lowered my expectations of other people
and then graciously when I started
asking people for help do you know that
they were very grateful for me asking so
that they could contribute to this
worthwhile cause let me review with you
the lessons so as you’re facing
challenges as you’re facing obstacles
these helped us to be persistent to
overcome obstacles to see new vision to
move on closer to your goals take a look
and see which one of these resonates
with you the most as you think about
your life and what you’re facing right
now in the short time that I’ve been
here today I hope I’ve given you some
ideas of inspiration as you’re thinking
about your home or your next home what
are some of the ideas that resonate with
you that you can implement in terms of
making your home more sustainable for
the long term either you or your family
members hey life happens are you
prepared for the inevitable for the
ongoing changes that are gonna happen in
your life my advice is to do something
now whether it be a small modification
or just starting to think about the
current home or you live in what will
you do because when we think about the
challenges that we face think about the
transformations that can affect us
as well as the lives of those we love
thank you very much [Applause]
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