'A mirror I can see myself in!' Adapting our flat into a home

Short Statured on C Street is a brief podcast about flatting with a disability by Umi Asaka and Jacq Ruth. Below is a transcript of part two 'A mirror I can see myself in!' Adapting our flat into a home.

Umi: Kia ora! Welcome to Short Statured on C Street with Jacq and Umi

Olivia: Kia ora, my name is Olivia, and I'm the editor at The D*List, and in this next part of the series, looking at flatting with a disability, we're looking at adapting the flat, making it liveable, no matter what your access needs are. I'm really interested to hear about your house. First off, how did you become flatmates?

Jacq: I find it quite a funny story. I was lucky slash privileged enough that my parents concluded that I was gonna be here for a while because I study part time. I think they were sick of moving all of my stuff at the end of each year (cos that's the typical flatting situation in Dunedin is 12 month fixed-term tenancies). So we bought a place in South Dunedin. And we were like cool, that's awesome. We bought it in October 2019. And then I told Umi about it, and Umi’s first response (because we were just friends and hanging out at that point), her first response was, “Can I move in?”

Umi: Before even saying congratulations because I didn't know that was the typical thing to say.

Jacq: Because we went to another friend's place. We told that friend, and they were like, “Congratulations. And Umi was like, “Oh.”

Umi: “Congratulations!”

Jacq: And that was the start. We started moving in December 2019, I think?

Umi: Yeah. And I like how you found this house, cause you didn't go to too many open homes, you really liked this house.

Jacq: Yep. I walked into the lounge. And I was like, yeah, this is it.

Olivia: So was it accessible before you bought it? What made you pick this one?

Jacq:  It had the structure that could be easily modified - like it didn’t have 2 dozen steps up to the front door. I just really liked the lounge. So out the front before the modifications, there were 2 or 3 steps leading to the front door. And so the first thing we did was the ramp out the front, and my dad, who's a sheet metal engineer, came down to help. 

Umi: And it was done in like, three days! I was so impressed!

Jacq: It’s pretty cool. The door handles were already low enough for us. So that was easy.  

Umi: Yeah, we are both 4.4 foot

Jacq: 4 foot exactly, which is 1.2 metres. That was probably the first big one. We also have a small ramp out the back which takes out to a wee patio bit, which my friend built for us, which was pretty cool.

Olivia: So tell me about the bathroom modifications. That sounds like a big job.

Jacq: Yes, it was! It’s kind of hard to explain. So we originally had a small toilet and then a laundry. We decided to bulldoze it, change the layout. And ended up with a small toilet again, but also a laundry with a wet floor shower, another toilet, and a sink that you can actually roll a wheelchair under, which is quite nice. Ooh, and a mirror that I can see myself in! When we were shopping for it I actually got the store person to come around with me to find a mirror that was tall enough to see me and her in it, which she thought was quite funny. 

Umi: 'Cos before we had a shower over the bath tub that wasn't accessible for our friends.

Jacq: And probably isn't great for us to use, because I had to stand on the edge of the bathtub to turn the shower.

Olivia: That doesn’t sound safe!

Jacq: A little bit of a health and safety issue. 

Olivia: How long did the bathroom modifications take, and what did you do in the meantime?

Jacq: So it was scheduled for 4 weeks. And I was like, there's no way you're gonna take 4 weeks. I think it ended up being closer to 8, and we had a giant wheelchair accessible portaloo on our back patio. In June, in Dunedin. 

Olivia: In winter.

Jacq: Yeah, which sucked. Umi decorated it. 

Umi: Yeah, it was like the portaloo you find in these music festivals. It was a huge, accessible one, and it was so big and grey and dark and not fun to use, and I was like, it has to be fun for me to want to go to the toilet. I have to go to toilet so often anyway, but every time if I dread it, it's not nice. I was like, I have to decorate this place nicely, so I feel excited. So I used all the calendar pictures I had from previous years’ calendars that I weirdly kept, and then I took all the picture cards and decorated it with beautiful pictures and landscapes of my home hometown in Japan, and different paintings and drawings that my friends gave me over the years. So it was very nice, and apparently the builders were impressed?

Jacq: They were quite interested! They were like, who decorated it? They were like, “So cool!”

Olivia: It was probably the only decorated portaloo they’ve used. Was it a shower-toilet, or just a toilet? 

Jacq: Just a toilet. Separate to what we’d modified, we had another small bathroom with the bathtub with a shower over it, so we still have access to a shower.

Olivia: Now, you've told me about your collection of step-stools around the flat. Tell me about those! How many do you have, what are their different uses? 

Jacq: That's a good question. I do not know how many I have. It’s kind of funny, I needed to do physio that involved a step, so I actually had to hunt down a step stool to use, because there aren't really steps in our house! So that's kind of funny. There's quite a few, I've got a big one, which is like a two-step step-stool for the kitchen, for when I'm using the stove, and then I've got lots of little ones that I try and keep in a corner to not trip people over. I learnt that flatting with other able-bodied people, that I cannot leave my step-stools lying around, it's a bit of a trip hazard. So they're kind of scattered everywhere. Ooh, I have a fold-up one in my car - that is very useful. The fold up ones are really good.

Umi: I actually don't use step-stools as much as Jacq even though we are the same height, because we have different conditions. And I have much longer limb. So, even though we’re the same height, my reach is much bigger. But I carry heavy stuff, for I don't have the strength, so we joke that I am the long arm, and Jacq is the strong arm!

Olivia: I love that. In the future with your flat, do you wanna do more modifications? Is there anything you need to do, or are you just happy as it is?

Jacq: The idea of more modifications, and having to like manage a building renovation, not for quite some time! But accessibility wise…

Umi: I think it's as good as it could be. Maybe there is two steps out to the back yard from the patio?

Jacq: Yeah, that would be cool, but that would be a really big ramp to chuck that in. Our kitchen is quite small and it would be nice to do something, but I think we're limited by the space - there's not much you can do with it.

Olivia: Cool. Well, later on we're gonna be talking more about the kitchen. So I'm looking forward to chats around that! 

Umi: Ka kite!

*Editor’s note: This podcast series was originally recorded in December 2023. A huge shoutout to Umi and Jacq for coming up with the concept for this podcast and their patience with us!