Cohousing-L Mailing List: An addition to the Universal Design thread

[Fred H Olson (fholson]

Debby Kaplan <dkaplan [at] swansway.com>
is the author of the message below. 
It was posted by Fred the Cohousing-L list manager <fholson [at] cohousing.org> 
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Hi,

I am one of the disability activists who lives at Swans Market Co-Housing
in Oakland, CA that Jill Robinson referred to early in this thread.  I
appreciate all the discussion, especially the great technical tips and
advice. 

One of the aspects of this topic that has always perplexed me is the
denial that most people have about disability and aging.  The reality that
many of us are not too willing to admit is that we are very likely to
experience temporary or permanent disabil ities as we get older.  I know
many people, especially middle-aged or older, who hope/expect to live in
co-housing for the rest of their lives.  Yet, if we live in inaccessible
units, that's not possible.  Experiencing a new disability is just the
kind of personal change/crisis that we hope a community will help us with
support and friendship.  How ironic if that's just when someone could be
forced to move out.  And how traumatic for the rest of the community. 

I also understand that while basic accessibility can be very affordable,
some accessibility features can raise the cost of units when construction
is going on, depending a lot on the construction site.  And, of course,
show me a construction project that didn't have escalating costs as it
went on.  So, there are lots of pressures to reduce costs, especially for
a community that wants to attract lower-income members. 

I do think the co-housing movement could become, is becoming (slowly, by
my taste...), more intentional about disability and accessibility issues. 
Maybe there need to be some visible instances of people being forced to
move out of inaccessible units and communities to force people to think
about disability and aging on a personal basis. 

Deborah Kaplan


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