HANAU, Germany – Let’s face it- there’s nothing quite as painful as stepping on your kid’s lego. But what a grandma in Germany did with Legos improved accessibility and opportunity for those wheelchair-restricted.
Rita Ebel, herself restricted to a wheelchair for 25 years following a car accident, found it difficult to navigate the rows of inaccessible shops and cafes and came up with an innovative, low-tech, cost-effective, high-fun solution- wheelchair ramps made using Legos.
“For me it is just about trying to sensitise the world a little bit to barrier-free travel. Anyone could suddenly end up in a situation that puts them in a wheelchair, like it did me.”
– Rita Ebel
She spends around 2-3 hours daily and with her husband’s help, builds these customised ramps using several hundreds of Legos stuck to each other using up to eight glue tubes.
The bright colours of these plastic blocks stand out in town centres, according to Rita.
“Nobody just walks past a Lego ramp without taking a look. Whether it’s children who try to get the bricks out or adults who take out their mobile phones to take pictures.”
– Rita Ebel
Local businesses have hopped on and are enthusiastic about installing the ramps. Spotting the bright lego ramps from afar, wheelchair users know that they can easily enter these establishments without any trouble.
Ebel believes the biggest challenge is getting hold of bricks and many families are reluctant to part with them and her establishment at the moment is largely dependent on donations.
The idea has spread farther than Germany- with sending ramp building instructions to Austria, Switzerland with interest from Spain and the U.S. too.
(Photos syndicated via Reuters)
This story has been edited by BH staff and is published from a syndicated field.