Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Soundproofing with Tectum/accessibility

[Elizabeth Stevenson (tamgoddess]

Hi, Kay-

This is why I put it in quotes. Believe me, as the parent of a child with an
"invisible" disability, I'm all too aware of people dismissing it as not
real.

I don't know what was budgeted for soundproofing, if anything, before
construction. It was a long time ago. We were fortunate to have a burning
soul who wanted to get it installed. She found the best material at the best
price and someone to install it at a very reasonable cost.

Interestingly enough, we've had another accessibility issue that cost a fair
amount to retrofit recently. A member needed to get to the bike shed more
easily, as it had a dirt path to the curb. It cost 1800 bucks to put in a
walkway, when it would have been negligible at the time of construction. Our
original member, in a wheelchair, told us it needed to be there, but she was
overruled by those of us who wanted more privacy. I was one of them, sad to
say. I'm a slow learner.

Lesson: if you want to know what's accessible, you can't depend on codes and
laws. Everything here was up to snuff legally. You need to have someone who
has real life experience and *listen to them.*

Liz
> 
>> ... many groups end up cutting [soundproofing], along with other
> "luxuries" when they are trying to get it built.
> 
> Soundproofing is a "luxury" only if you consider, say, insulation or
> accessibility to be luxuries.  As with those, retrofitting tends to be
> clunky and expensive, and the results don't begin to approach what can be
> achieved if the goal was incorporated in the design from the beginning.
> 
> Noise control strongly affects everyone's comfort, and for anyone with poor
> hearing or overactive fight-or-flight responses, it really is an
> accessibility issue, despite the tendency to limit such considerations to
> more recognized impairments like paraplegia or blindness.
> 
> Kay