Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Wheelchair Accessibility

[Ann Zabaldo (zabaldo]

My neighbor, Sharon Villines, thoughtfully covered many important points
about the need for accessibility in our housing arrangements.  She pointed
out that even The Temporarily Abled Bodied sometimes need assistance and
assistive devices due to falls, strains, fractures, etc.

As a person w/ a disability who sometimes uses a wheelchair I would like to
speak to the issue of "visitability."  This means the ability to visit my
neighbors because THEIR units are accessible.  Here at Takoma Village
Cohousing in Washington, DC,  80% of our units are accessible on their first
floor.  If there is a bathroom on the 1st floor it is also accessible.  This
is truly a major design feature in building the community we all desire in
cohousing.  

Sometimes when visiting other communities that claim diversity as a value in
their mission or vision statement(s)  I note how accessible and visitable
they are.  Sometimes I'm surprised how much they are not.  When I point this
out the answer often is:  we don't have any members w/ a disability.   And
guess what?  It's likely you never will.   Those that become disabled will
either make do under less than helpful circumstances...or move.

I have to say I am particularly very sad about the cohousing communities
that purposely build their CH's and common facilities circumventing the ADA
regulations on accessibility to reduce cost.  I think this happens most
frequently when a person w/ a disability is either not a part of the
community in the beginning of the design process or joins late in the
process.  What I think is even more egregious is that this is sometimes done
w/ at least the knowledge of, if not the approval of, the cohousing
professional(s) hired by the group.  This is particularly remarkable given
how shortsighted this is as Sharon pointed out.

I recognize that tough choices often have to be made to keep the budget from
spiraling out of sight.  The question to wrestle w/ is:  would you make the
choice to reduce, restrict or eliminate accessible design if a member w/ a
disability was part of the group from early on?  In other words, I think
it's easy to eliminate or reduce standards when you don't "see" the need.
It makes it a whole lot harder to act on your values of inclusiveness and
diversity and being a welcoming community.

If you are beginning the design process I urge you to make your community
both accessible AND visitable. The cost of making the built environment
accessible and visitable from the beginning is minimal compared to the cost
of retrofitting.  And compared to the loss of diversity, the sense of
community and community members themselves...well..what price would we put
on that?

Ann Zabaldo



On 1/19/05 8:47 PM, "Sharon Villines" <sharon [at] sharonvillines.com> wrote:

> 
> On Jan 10, 2005, at 9:14 PM, Pacific Gardens Cohousing Community wrote:
> 
>> - What percentage of units should be wheelchair friendly, with wide
>> doorways, larger bathrooms ..?
>> - What size units should accommodate wheelchairs, 1 bedroom, 2
>> bedroom, 3 bedroom etc.?
>> - How often has this been an issue in your cohousing community? Did
>> people have to sell and move away if they became dependent on a
>> wheelchair?
>> - Did non wheelchair-bound people buy the specialized units, as a
>> hedge against their possible need later in life?
>> - Are units with stairs popular, or do they become a problem for
>> current residents and for resale?
> 
> I think what is missed in most discussions of accessibility is that it
> is much bigger than wheelchairs. it also affects people with temporary
> injuries like sprains, broken bones, trick knees, etc. Knee problems
> run in families (like mine) but they also happen to skiers, etc.
> without prior warning. If your knees are fine, you may have friends who
> cannot do stairs. I now limit stairs to 6-8 flights a day which means I
> do not visit a friend who has three flights of stairs to climb. A
> prospective resident could not consider the same apartment because her
> fiends would not be able to visit her. Some of our people put full
> bathrooms in their downstairs so they would be able to stay if they
> were disabled or to have disabled guests.
> 
> Parents have to negotiate strollers for years. Can they pick up their
> mail and still be within view of their child? Is a child on a trike
> likely to fall over the edge of a platform? When the ice comes, will
> those outdoor stairs become an ice flow?
> 
> I have one of the apartments with the large doors. It was strange at
> first but I've gotten used to it and would choose large doors again,
> everywhere except the broom closet.
> 
> Stairs inside apartments take up a huge amount of space. In order to
> reduce the space, stairs are made too steep to be either safe or easy
> to climb. Someone must have done a study of this but I know that some
> stairs I can climb without difficulty and others mean instant pain. It
> has to be the ratio of slant to height of stairs. Even the size of the
> stair tread is important. Some are so narrow you have to put your foot
> down at an angle -- bad for knees. They are also hard to negotiate in
> running shoes which tend to have wide soles.
> 
> Going up to make a smaller footprint is good but I would recommend
> elevators rather than two story apartments. Elevators are expensive up
> front but not as expensive to operate as most people think. They are
> weighted in such a way that they use gravity to rise and are only used
> for a minute or less at a time.
> 
> Sharon
> ---
> Sharon Villines, Editor and Publisher
> Building Community: A Newsletter on Coops, Condos, Cohousing, and Other
> New Neighborhoods
> 
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