Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Required handicap access to 2nd floor/elevator

[laura (lrifkin12]

Dear Mary,

As someone who is a wheelchair user on this list and a newbie at  
exploring co-housing, I found your letter shockingly painful and  
disturbing.
"We'd like not to put in an elevator or even the shaft for future  
use.  Must we do  this?"

I'm stunned to even see the question.  Clearly I would not be welcome  
in your community.  I also responded to this list-serve awhile ago and  
received a flurry of letters from folks with disabilities warning me  
that well-intentioned  communities are not necessarily very disability  
conscious and to keep my eyes open (all of these were off-list).  I  
was informed that many folks with disabilities have had bad  
experiences with co-housing and many have left.

The idea that you can save on costs by not being accessible is an  
outdated one at best.
Imagine if you wanted to save on costs and your solution was to not  
put in a kitchen or bathrooms.  That is the equivalent of how your  
letter reads to me.
There's a reason we all worked long and hard on legislation to protect  
our rights to exist and participate.
It is in part so we would not have to re-invent the wheel every time  
we want to be part of something.

Your letter implicitly suggests that wheelchair users of people with  
mobility challenges should just find another place to live or be  
content to visit only on the first floor.
It's a "back of the bus" statement, essentially and has undertones of  
segregation and discrimination.  On a deeper level, it reminds me of  
the old arguments that disabled people just be warehoused in  
institutions somewhere.
If you understood the depth of pain that remarks, attitudes, and lived  
experience like that causes I think you would think differently about  
it.
I'd also like to say that as a newbie to this list, I find this very  
unwelcoming.


Sincerely,

Laura Rifkin
On May 8, 2008, at 3:34 AM, maryvk [at] tellink.net wrote:

> Greetings
>
> We are working hard to control costs on our Common House for our new  
> community so we can have what we want but be able to build it this  
> spring.
> Our design has our bedrooms on the second floor along with a  
> multipurpose room.  Basement has laundry and storage only.  First  
> floor has a handicap bathroom.
>
> We'd like not to put in an elevator or even the shaft for future  
> use.  Must we do this?  Are Common Houses typically treated like  
> one's private home or a public building with required handicap  
> features?  Thoughts and lessons learned?
>
> Your prompt reply is appreciated and thank you for your help.
>
> Mary Kaplan
> Nubanusit Farm and Neighborhood
> Peterborough NH
> _________________________________________________________________
> Cohousing-L mailing list -- Unsubscribe, archives and other info at:
> http://www.cohousing.org/cohousing-L/