dwfisk
Quintessential Chatty Farker
Recently, Brother Chambers posted an inquiry about wheelchair friendly cookers. Got me to thinking and doing some research and I thought I would share my initial findings/thoughts and solicit input from y'all. I've talked with folks at an ADA design studio (UF Dept. Occupational Health); they put me in a wheelchair an we made a series of range-of-motion measurements.
I remain amazed there is very little already in the way of wheelchair friendly grills/cookers available (my lawyer friends suggest potential liability for mainline manufacturers is probably an issue) and I'm starting to feel custom fabrication may be the only real solution.
I find these drawings helpful when trying to visualize the issue.
In the original post, Brother Buccaneer raised a very critical issue, safety. I'll boil that down to 2 issues:
From the drawings above, I've concluded the cook surface should be no higher than 27" and probably more like 24" above ground level. In addition, sitting in a wheelchair with the cooker 90* to one side or the other, side reach (i.e. to the center of the grill grate) should be no more than 15". Finally, at an approximate 15" reach, someone sitting in a wheelchair could reach down to about 14" above ground level, for example to reach a charcoal bed below the cooking grate level.
In looking at available cookers, I'm thinking the egg style cookers that already substantial hinges on the back are the most likely candidates. I don't mean to imply only BGE's although they could certainly work, I'm actually thinking the insulated steel cookers being lighter might work best. I'm thinking of 3 key design components"
These are just my thoughts and I would really appreciate any input or thoughts y'all might have. My plan is to then put some alternatives into a CAD sketch program and take those back to the ADA design studio at UF for a critique.
I remain amazed there is very little already in the way of wheelchair friendly grills/cookers available (my lawyer friends suggest potential liability for mainline manufacturers is probably an issue) and I'm starting to feel custom fabrication may be the only real solution.
I find these drawings helpful when trying to visualize the issue.
In the original post, Brother Buccaneer raised a very critical issue, safety. I'll boil that down to 2 issues:
- the cooker must be stable from tipping; and,
- as many folks that are wheelchair bound have also lost feeling in their legs, there should be an active component of any design to prevent accidental burns from contacting a hot cooker.
From the drawings above, I've concluded the cook surface should be no higher than 27" and probably more like 24" above ground level. In addition, sitting in a wheelchair with the cooker 90* to one side or the other, side reach (i.e. to the center of the grill grate) should be no more than 15". Finally, at an approximate 15" reach, someone sitting in a wheelchair could reach down to about 14" above ground level, for example to reach a charcoal bed below the cooking grate level.
In looking at available cookers, I'm thinking the egg style cookers that already substantial hinges on the back are the most likely candidates. I don't mean to imply only BGE's although they could certainly work, I'm actually thinking the insulated steel cookers being lighter might work best. I'm thinking of 3 key design components"
- I feel this style cooker must have some kind of stand or nest for stability (instead of just sitting on the ground) but in many instances the stand or nest would need to be modified to lower the cooking grate to the 24"-27" range (some like the BGE small are already very close);
- a bumper from the cooking grate level down to the ground to prevent accidental contact with the cooker to avoid burns (even though some ceramics remain cool to the touch, some don't); and,
- an appliance added to the hinge that would essentially add a lever arm and either a counterweight, additional springs or a linear actuator to aid or actually do all the lid lifting.
These are just my thoughts and I would really appreciate any input or thoughts y'all might have. My plan is to then put some alternatives into a CAD sketch program and take those back to the ADA design studio at UF for a critique.