Photo: Alina Simone

United Cerebral Palsy Association

Maggie Smith and her care giver at her home.

My name is Maggie Swain, I have lived in this house for the past 50 years. For years I worked as a home health care nurse until a stroke left me where I can’t walk. I had a lot of trouble moving around the house after my stroke. I couldn’t take a shower by myself or go down the steps. Someone always had to carry me. With my only income coming from Social Security, I couldn’t afford to fix up the house to the way I needed it.

"I had a lot of trouble moving around the house after my stroke. I couldn't afford to fix up the house to the way I needed it."

"When they put the ramp in I went on down and looked in my backyard. I hadn't been there for years!"

When UCP came it changed everything. They put in a bigger shower and now I don’t need help. They built a ramp for my wheelchair and now I don’t need no one to carry me down the steps, I do it myself. When they put the ramp in I went on down and looked in my backyard; I hadn’t been there for years. Oh how I love it, now I go all the time! And just the other week, it was Juneteenth and I wanted to see what kind of celebration they were having down on Chicon Street. There wasn’t nobody home except me, but I got in my electric wheelchair, went down my ramp and made it there by myself! Since UCP fixed everything up I don’t have any trouble!”

Removing Barriers to Independent Living

The difficulty of navigating through their own home can leave a disabled person stranded without the help of a caretaker. United Cerebral Palsy Association addresses this vital concern by providing free home modification for more than 400 low-income, disabled Austinites each year. UCP’s Architectural Barrier Removal Program allows residents greater mobility by widening doorways and installing wheelchair accessible showers and toilets. The wheelchair ramps built by UCP make a world of difference to disabled clients. Transit services for the disabled will not pick up a resident unless they have a ramp accessible entrance, leaving some disabled people literally trapped in their homes. New ramps and railings make street access easy. UCP services allow disabled residents to move freely about their homes and enjoy a greater degree of independence and privacy.