ACCESSIBLE

People sat elbow to elbow in the Orfordville Lutheran Church pews on a sunny , autumn Saturday. The folks were patiently waiting for their numbers to be called allowing them to go to the basement and eat the Norwegian dinner including lutefisk and leftsa. The annual, ethnic meal drew an elderly crowd to this southern Wisconsin village. Canes and walkers were popular accessories. Many of those who walked without assistance shuffled slowly down the aisles. Old friends that hadn’t seen each other since last year greeted one another. The camaraderie was a great weapon against depression, an enemy of age. Eating the foods of one’s childhood revived pleasant memories of Mom’s cooking and preparations for holidays.

I thought of the Trinity Lutheran Church suppers of my youth that served about four hundred people from miles around Durand. I’d worked as a waitress ferrying platters of chicken, bowls of homemade noodles and all the trimmings from the kitchen to the ten people at my table. The first seating in the basement dining room at 4:00 p.m. drew the grey-haired and the bald. Only the spry could traverse the rough stairway leading from the nave to the cellar of the building on West Main Street.

In 1990, the federal Americans with Disabilities Act improved the lives of senior citizens. The changes required in public buildings to accommodate the handicapped may have been costly, but the lives enriched are priceless.

The older generation is growing at the rate of about 8,000 a day with baby boomers reaching the traditional retirement age of 65. They are the people who were never going to get old, but it happens. New, light-weight materials have made wheelchairs and scooters easier to maneuver. Many who would have been shut-ins a few years ago enjoy socializing today.

Do you take advantage of handicapped accessible accommodations if you need them instead of remaining homebound?