By Rosemarie Rossetti, Ph.D.
On June 13,
1998, my husband Mark Leder and I went for a bicycle ride on a rural wooded
bike trail in Granville, OH. After riding for a few minutes, Mark thought he
heard a gunshot and slowed down to investigate.
As he scanned the scene he saw a large tree falling. He shouted, “Stop!”
But the warning was too late. Instantly, I was crushed by a 7,000 pound tree
and paralyzed from the waist down.
Coming home
from the hospital in a wheelchair in July 1998 after my T12-L1, spinal cord
injury, I realized how my home intensified my disability. My husband and I knew that we had to sell our
home and find something more suitable.
Designing and Building the Universal
Design Living Laboratory
My husband
is 6'4" tall while I am 4'1" seated in my wheelchair. Our heights and reaches were factors in the
home design so that we were both accommodated.
In September
of 2004 we hired architect, Patrick Manley to draw the house plans for our new
home. In January 2005 we hired kitchen
and bath designer and internationally renowned universal design specialist Mary
Jo Peterson.
We hired Robert
August in October 2005 to help us with branding, marketing, and contacting international
and national corporations to partner with us by contributing products and
services.
Mark and I
bought an acre and a half lot in December of 2006. We broke ground on September
23, 2009. In addition to being accessible, universal design and green building
construction principles were followed. We
received the highest levels of certification from three universal design
national certification programs.
We acquired
214 contributors and had hundreds of people volunteer to help us. Our home could not have been built without
their support. Mark and I have personally funded the Universal Design Living Laboratory
and served as the general contractors.
On May 18,
2012 we moved into our new home.