Cheikh's chair
When we met Cheikh S., a student at Park West High School (PWHS) in Manhattan, in 2014, his classroom chair wasn’t working for him. He needed some extra support to sit properly and the slippery seat surface wasn’t helping. Plus, even though he was quite tall, when he sat in that chair, the desk was much too high for him; he could barely see his work, let alone write easily. So he had been sitting in his wheelchair all day, every day, and his therapists wanted to change that.
They worked with ADA to design a “chair insert,” made to fit over the regular chairs in that classroom, that raised him to the right height for the desk and gave him better back and arm support. The higher seat meant that his feet didn’t sit solidly on the floor, so ADA built a foot support, too.
Cheikh really liked it, and used it constantly.
By early 2017, it was clear that he was outgrowing it. They asked ADA to build another one. In the time being, ADA had started an internship program at PWHS. A few students were coming to ADA regularly to learn cardboard carpentry skills. Two students in Cheikh’s class, Cary and Jordan, were in the program and were getting pretty good at this stuff. The program’s ADA coordinator, Talya Feldman, thought they could take on Cheikh’s project themselves, and they were eager to try.
Because their time at ADA was limited, it took a long time to finish the chair. In the process, they learned lots of new skills. Near the end, Michael, another Part West-er, joined the internship program, and helped with the finishing. When the completed item was finally ready, delivery was set for Friday, October 20.
What a day! Cheikh had let it be known that green was his favorite color and that the insert MUST be green. He was really exicited when delivery day was scheduled. So on that Friday, all the students in his class wore green beads and Cheikh wore his favorite lime-green shirt. Jordan, Cary, Michael, and Talya brought the chair to Park West and attached it to Cheikh’s classroom chair. When he sat in it for the first time, and was helped to put on the lap belt and the chest harness, he was even more excited. He gladly posed for photos, by himself, and with his friends who had built his new, green chair seat.
