West Michigan resident David Ball is now able to live in a home, his forever home, that is both ADA-compliant and wheelchair accessible – thanks to the support of Sable Homes and Disability Advocates of Kent County.

“It's all designed for me to live a life,” said David. “This is now my big open space. There's a weight lifted off me because I knew I had somebody in my back corner who was taking care of the little small details behind the scenes that I didn't have to worry about.”

As a T-7 paraplegic, David’s new Harvest Meadows home through Sable Homes allows him to live and move about with freedom – something he hasn’t been able to do for over a decade. Thirteen years ago, David was injured in a car accident, leaving him paralyzed from his lower torso down to his toes. Bound to a wheelchair, David’s previous living environments, a 1970s-style ranch and then an apartment, had to be modified just for him to be able to live in those spaces.

“The first home I built it was accessible, but there were also things that we did that I would have done differently, and I made sure I remembered that when building this home with Sable Homes,” David said. “The master bathroom, master bedroom, kitchen, and the laundry room area are probably the four areas that were the most important and were the four areas that we focused on the most.”

Sable Homes worked closely with David and the Disability Advocates of Kent County to customize the home for David to live comfortably, such as making the master bedroom bigger and widening the bathroom to put in a rolling shower.

“We worked closely with the Disability Advocates of Kent County to help navigate us and show us what we might need to do differently to accommodate David’s needs,” said Angie Takens of Sable Homes. “We learned a few things from David as well. He was very insightful in the process. David was an incredible person to work with. It's been the most rewarding experience for me to be able to help someone – he was very easy to work with.”

When David started looking for a new home to fit his needs, he discovered Sable Homes’ Freedom ranch-style floor plan that provides the handicap-accessible features he desired with modern amenities. With lots available in Wayland’s Harvest Meadows, David was eager to start the design process with Sable Homes.

“It’s beautiful,” Nicholette Driggs of Disability Advocates of Kent County said of the Sable Homes’ house that David now calls home. “The accessibility is woven into the design of the home. It’s not an afterthought. You aren't coming in and fixing what's already been built. You're building it from the ground up to be accessible.”

Sable Homes’ Freedom model is a zero-step entry ranch designed with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and an open concept layout. It features a spacious kitchen, large dining area, convenient laundry room, and various shelving and pantry height placements – customized to the homeowner’s needs. With the Freedom floor model, Sable Homes is filling the gap of accessible homes in West Michigan, and customizing the design to accommodate the homeowner’s needs.

“It's almost like it's too good to be true by how good it really is,” David said. “This is my forever home. Thank you, Sable Holmes. I appreciate it.”

Throughout our video series, watch David’s journey of acquiring an ADA complaint and wheelchair accessible home through Sable Homes.

In this second segment, watch David Ball move into his new ADA complaint and wheelchair accessible home and reflect how Sable Homes helped him make his forever home a reality.