When we moved into a new house on a dirt road in the country, I didn't anticipate how fast people would drive, despite the speed limit being 30mph. Our driveway was at a slight dip in the road, with hills on either side. People would fly over the hill and down past our house before I could get out there and glower at them. And then school started and I was having Lanie take the bus for the first time. I understood theoretically that loading a wheelchair-bound child into a handicap bus would take a bit longer but didn't actually have the practical timeline in mind that lowering the lift, loading Lanie, raising the lift, getting her wheelchair positioned between the tie downs and getting them attached and secure would take about 7-8 mins, and longer if it was a substitute driver.
I realized I needed to communicate with folks driving in front of our house that they needed to SLOW DOWN.
I searched 'how to add a street sign by my house' and the internet told me to look up my county's Department of Public Works. In El Paso county, a platform called Citizen Connect is used to request these sorts of things. Someone from the department emailed me back within a few days, and we went back and forth about what exactly I wanted it to say. There were some standard signs like 'children at play', but that didn't really fit, or 'blind child area' or 'deaf child area' and while my daughter does have both hearing and vision impairment, I felt like the sign needed to note her physical impairments more than the sensory ones. The word 'handicap' is reserved for parking spaces, routes and facilities, so we decided on 'SPECIAL NEEDS CHILD' on a yellow diamond sign alerting drivers to the reduce speed and be attentive to the situation.
One Christmas when we were gone for an extended period of time, the sign was stolen. I'm sure someone thought it'd be a funny joke to give a friend, but I was very disheartened. Thankfully, the county was happy to make and install a replacement and its been fine since! I'm grateful for our tax dollars and the Department of Public Works supporting our family's safety and promoting clear communication to others!
Written by Laura Lazechko