Lego grandma builds access ramps for wheelchair users

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT VIDEO SHOWS: VARIOUS OF LEGO GRANDMA RITA EBEL WHO IS IN A WHEELCHAIR, BUILDING WHEELCHAIR ACCESS RAMPS OUT OF LEGO / VARIOUS OF RITA AND FRIENDS OUT AND ABOUT IN

RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT VIDEO SHOWS: VARIOUS OF LEGO GRANDMA RITA EBEL WHO IS IN A WHEELCHAIR, BUILDING WHEELCHAIR ACCESS RAMPS OUT OF LEGO / VARIOUS OF RITA AND FRIENDS OUT AND ABOUT IN WHEELCHAIRS / VARIOUS OF LEGO RAMPS AROUND TOWN SHOWS: HANAU, GERMANY (FEBRUARY 17, 2020) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1.

FADE UP TO 'LEGO GRANDMA' RITA EBEL SAYING: "Hallo!

I'm Rita Ebel and I build lego ramps for wheelchair users to make my town more wheelchair friendly." 2.

TIMELAPSE OF EBEL BUILDING RAMPS OUT OF LEGO 3.

EBEL PUTTING DOWN GLUE ON LEGO AND STICKING LEGO BRICKS ON TOP OF EACH OTHER 4.

CLOSE OF EBEL'S FACE 5.

LEGO BEING STUCK DOWN 6.

BAG OF LEGO 7.

EBEL STICKING LEGO / PAN TO EBEL'S LEGS IN WHEELCHAIR UNDER TABLE 8.

CLOSE OF LEGO RAMP IN TOWN 9.

EBEL GOING UP RAMP INTO MEETING SPACE FOR WOMEN 10.

EBEL AND FRIENDS IN MEETING CENTER CHATTING / IN BACKGROUND TALKING ABOUT HOW MUCH PEOPLE AND CHILDREN LIKE THE COLOURS AND LEGO 11.

CLOSE OF EBEL 12.

WHEELCHAIR COMING DOWN LEGO RAMP 13.

VARIOUS OF EBEL AND FRIENDS DRIVING THROUGH TOWN IN THEIR WHEELCHAIRS 14.

TWO LEGO WHEELCHAIR RAMPS AT ENTRANCE WITH COMPANY LOGO BUILT IN 15.

LEGO RAMPS SEEN IN VARIOUS ENTRANCES 16.

EBEL GOING INTO HAIRDRESSERS USING RAMP 17.

(SOUNDBITE) (German) HAIR SALON MANAGER, MALIKA EL HARTI, SAYING: "Everyone that walks past is happy about the ramps.

Finally it is something that you can already tell from far away that you can get in here without any problems. It's great, it just makes everyone who sees the lego ramps happy.

Brilliant!" 18.

EBEL AND FRIENDS GOING UP LEGO RAMP 19.

VARIOUS OF EBEL AND HER HUSBAND WOLFGANG EBEL BUILDING AND GLUING RAMPS TOGETHER 20.

VIEW FROM LEGO BOX OF LEGO BEING TAKEN OUT 21.

VARIOUS OF THE EBEL'S BUILDING TOGETHER 22.

(SOUNDBITE) (German) 'LEGO GRANDMA' RITA EBEL, WHO VOLUNTARILY MAKES WHEELCHAIR RAMPS OUT OF LEGO, SAYING: "In this last year I started building ramps out of lego bricks to be able to get access to shops that have steps, where unfortunately, as a wheelchair user, you can't get in without help." 23.

EBEL'S HAND SORTING LEGO 24.

VARIOUS OF EBEL STICKING DOWN LEGO 25.

(SOUNDBITE) (German) 'LEGO GRANDMA' RITA EBEL, WHO VOLUNTARILY MAKES WHEELCHAIR RAMPS OUT OF LEGO, SAYING: "Nobody just walks past a lego ramp without taking a look.

Whether it's children who try to get the bricks out or adults who take out their mobile phones to take pictures.

And that's exactly it!

Simply to just try and raise people's awareness a bit.

To make them think: if I was in a wheelchair or was at the point where I needed a zimmer frame, well then I would start having problems getting in certain places.

And those are my personal reasons and motivation." 26.

EBEL MAKING RAMP 27.

(SOUNDBITE) (German) 'LEGO GRANDMA' RITA EBEL, WHO VOLUNTARILY MAKES WHEELCHAIR RAMPS OUT OF LEGO, SAYING: "In the meanwhile we have sent them to Switzerland and Austria.

At the moment I am in touch with a tourism association in Spain who are offering barrier-free travel.

They are really interested in getting the ramps to Spain.

A school class from the U.S. has also got in touch and a class from Germany who want me to send them the building instructions.

For me it is just about trying to sensitize the world a little bit to barrier-free travel, I mean anyone at any second could end up in a situation that puts them in a wheelchair, like it did me!" 28.

VARIOUS OF THE EBEL'S BUILDING LEGO RAMPS AT HOME 29.

VARIOUS OF RITA EBEL IN HER WHEELCHAIR IN TOWN SQUARE STORY: Even on a grey February day little bricks of vibrant colour glint and beckon from various doorways in the west German town of Hanau.

Visible from across the square nobody - adults and children alike - is immune to going to have a closer look.

The brightly coloured blocks are in fact lego ramps lovingly built and stuck together by wheelchair-user Rita Ebel and her husband to open up the town's otherwise inaccessible shops and cafes to people in wheelchairs.

Ebel, who has been in a wheelchair since a bad car accident 25 years ago said the idea was triggered after an anecdote by a friend of hers who couldn't get out of a shop with steps and had to enlist the help of four people to carry her chair down.

Ebel then saw a picture in a medical journal for paraplegics of a woman in an electric wheelchair going over a lego ramp.

And so her idea was born.

The 62-year old got straight to work and in collaboration with the town's inclusivity initiative 'People in Hanau' found a willing public.

In Hanau there are now twelve sets of ramps and a happy clientele.

"Everyone that walks past is happy about the ramps.

Finally it is something that you can already tell from far away that you can get in here without any problems. It's great, it just makes everyone who sees the lego ramps happy.

Brilliant!" hair salon manager Malika El Harti told Reuters TV.

Rita already has a part-time job on top of the hours she and her husband put in to making the ramps but has a personal investment in trying to help her town become barrier free.

"Nobody just walks past a lego ramp without taking a look.

Whether it's children who try to get the bricks out or adults who take out their mobile phones to take pictures.

And that's exactly it!

Simply to just try and raise people's awareness a bit.

To make them think: if I was in a wheelchair or was at the point where I needed a zimmer frame, well then I would start having problems getting in certain places.

And those are my personal reasons and motivation," Rita Ebel says.

The Ebel's do their ramp-building on a voluntary basis and in the meanwhile it's become part of their everyday routine: Rain, boring TV schedule - lego ramps it is, and often for two to three hours a day.

Wood or aluminium ramps would also do the trick, says Rita, but using the lego allows her to spread her message in the hope of hilighting the day-to-day problems faced by people with disabilities.

"For me it is just about trying to sensitize the world a little bit to barrier-free travel, I mean anyone at any second could end up in a situation that puts them in a wheelchair, like it did me!" Ebel says, adding it is also about trying to reach out to non-disabled people and get them to think a bit about the importance of a barrier-free life.

"Nobody just walks past a lego ramp without taking a look.

Whether it's children who try to get the bricks out or adults who take out their mobile phones to take pictures.

And that's exactly it!

Simply to just try and raise people's awareness a bit," she says.

But even if the Ebel's had all the time in the world to make ramps for Hanau there is still the question of finding enough of the little coloured bricks.

The couple rely on lego donations, surprisingly difficult as so many families can't bear to part with the addictive building bricks.

Each ramp - which the couple make to order - contains several hundred individual bricks and uses up to 8 tubes of glue.

And as they can't hope to lego the world on their own the Ebel's have come up with building instructions for the 13 kilo ramps which they are happy to send where needed.

"In the meanwhile we have sent them to Switzerland and Austria.

At the moment I am in touch with a tourism association in Spain who are offering barrier-free travel.

They are really interested in getting the ramps to Spain.

A school class from the U.S. has also got in touch and a class from Germany who want me to send them the building instructions," RIta says.