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this week’s Leveled
Alison DeSmyter knows about the problems people have in wheelchairs. Alison was born with cerebral palsy, a condition that makes it difficult to control muscles. So Alison has used a wheelchair most of her life.One common problem for wheelchair users is crossing streets with curbs. To get her chair over a curb, Alison needed somebody to push or lift her chair. She wanted more independence. So Alison invented the Rampanion—a portable ramp that allows a wheelchair to move easily over a curb.Alison first thought of the Rampanion when she was asked to do an invention project for school. She had just two weeks. That wasn't much time to design something as complicated as the Rampanion.But Alison did it.First Alison thought about making a rubber ramp, but she decided it would be too bulky to carry around. Next she considered an inflatable ramp. That wouldn't do, either—it would always need to be blown up. Finally Alison decided to make a ramp out of lightweight metal. This type of ramp could easily be folded and carried.Alison began by building a small model of her ramp from Popsicle sticks. Once she had built the model, she thought about the type of metal she'd use for the real thing. The Rampanion needed to be light yet strong, so Alison decided on aluminum. Her father found some aluminum where he works, and he helped Alison put the ramp together. To build the ramp, they needed a lot of exact measurements, which Alison took herself.As Alison and her father built the Rampanion, they thought of improvements they could make to its design. They added an edge to the Rampanion's sides, to keep a chair's wheels on track. They put sticky tape on the bottom, to help secure the Rampanion to any surface—even in the rain.The completed Rampanion weighs only four pounds. When it's folded, it can be carried in its own cloth bag. The bag can be attached to a wheelchair. Alison's Rampanion won the fifth-grade grand prize for the third annual Houston Inventors' Showcase Exposition. Her prize was a trip to Florida. The trip included visits to Disneyworld, the Kennedy Space Center, and Thomas Edison's estate. Thomas Edison was a great inventor who created many electrical devices, such as the light bulb and the phonograph.Alison hasn't stopped inventing things for wheelchair users. She's working on a Handy Helper, which is a tray that attaches to a wheelchair. The Handy Helper allows people in wheelchairs to be served more easily in cafeterias and fast-food restaurants.
