“What keeps her independent is being able to cook for herself in her apartment” said our Ottawa Chapter Coordinator Paul Marriage. “To do that she needs to be level with the counter.”
The completed project was delivered with an eight-page instruction manual and a wiring diagram.That point gets a chuckle out of Ottawa chapter coordinator Paul Marriage – but he’s also immensely proud of the thoroughness of his volunteers who wanted to detail every aspect of the operation and maintenance of the elevating chair they had built.
The elevated chair was built for a woman born without arms, who uses her feet for all household tasks, who wanted a chair that raises to the height of a bar stool so she can access counter tops, the stove and microwave with her feet.
Paul explained that Derrick du Toit put in hundreds of hours of work with help from Michael Parry and a design from Nathalie Tambay. It’s a stable and sturdy plywood “column in a column” structure that creates a telescoping pedestal which – powered by a battery-operated electric motor – raises an upholstered seat that can swivel 360 degrees.