Concrete Change founder Eleanor Smith says,

Many new articles in the press these days reference Visitability and/or Universal Design. Below is a good example, from the March 20, 2006 Fort Collins, CO, daily newspaper.

There are a couple of inaccuracies, however. For instance, it says that universal design was introduced in Atlanta. In fact, UD was introduced in Raleigh NC, and Visitability in Atlanta, at about the same time and without either group knowing of the other for a couple of years.

Nor is EVERY house required to have access in the cities listed, which the article claims.

I also question the cost figures stated by some builders in the article, since they are too high unless some factors are involved the article is not mentioning. For instance, saying basic access costs "2 or 3 percent" of the cost of the home does not compute, since incorporating the same features is not going to cost $2,000 for a 100K home and $8,000 for a 600K home--even if certain features in the high-end home such as the entryway are made with higher cost materials like flagstone instead of concrete

The most serious error is to let stand the statement that keeping water from running into the home is highly complex. When folks assert that to me, I usually counter with "Does water run into the new bank? The new Burger King?" And one can also reference Bolingbrook IL, with its snowy winters, where water has not been a problem in the thosands of homes built. (A few have received exemptions based on terrain, but that constitutes less than 3 percent.) As to cost, Bolingbrook city officials are stating a cost of about $300 for all the features--and the homes are built over basements. With all the above caveats, I still think the article moves the concept forward well.


From The Coloradoan, March 20, 2006

By PAT FERRIER

It galls Kimberly Stenberg that some of her friends can't visit her home.

With steps in and out of her front door, the home is inaccessible to her friends in wheelchairs.

Stenberg is frustrated that six years after the city first started talking about building homes accessible for the disabled and nondisabled, only a handful of builders have jumped on board.

"As an able-bodied person with friends who have physical limitations, it absolutely makes me crazy they can't come party at my house....Read rest of story.



Website courtesy of Ragged Edge Online.