Starting High School
By TAD Journal, Vol. 28, No. 3, pp. 14-15Publication Date: October 2008
Article describes classroom modifications made to accommodate high school students with short stature. Designed by volunteers at Technical Aid to the Disabled (TAD) in New South Wales, Australia, the accommodations for the two students include desk modifications, platforms for reaching counters in home economics, woodworking, and science lab rooms, steps for accessing books in the library, and a stool for the art room. To modify the desks, the team of volunteers cut a 20 centimeter piece from the metal legs and then cut tubing inserts to fit inside the legs and rejoin them, using a jig to ensure the desks would all be the same height. Platforms, which needed to be light and easy to move around, were fashioned of metal tubing with the hand rails and legs in one U-shaped piece and attached to plywood platform bases with anti-slip strips. Home economics platforms and library steps were fitted with wheels mounted in front of the legs, allowing the units to be moved around like a wheelbarrow. The art room stool was modified with a footstool attachment.
Published by: Technical Aid to the Disabled (Website:http://www.tadnsw.org.au)
