Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Elevators and exclusions

[Ann Zabaldo (ann.zabaldo]

Wow. (Scratching head ...)

Rob.  (More scratching head ...)

You are one of the people on this list I count as a considered thinker
about cohousing.  Your posts to the list are modicums of level headed
and serious insight.  (Scratch, scratch...)

But on this one ... Rob, seriously ... you must have had to jump
through some major hoops to equate exclusion of 99.9999% of the people
who don't live in cohousing to the exclusion of people w/
disabilities.   (Full head two-handed scratch!)

There is no comparison.  Give this one up, ok?  This line of thought
will not promote the debate that's needed here.

I give a lot of leeway to folks struggling to make cohousing happen
and who are trying to make a budget work and who are overloaded w/ a
zillion tasks needed to not only build bricks n' mortar buildings but
built a community as well.

This is tough work.

It's very difficult sometimes to see the value in providing a resource
for what seems like a very small percentage of your community if any
percentage at all at the moment.

The value is in what this debate says about the weaving of the social
fabric of your community.  The weft and the weave you lay down in the
beginning of your work together are the ones that will follow you
forever and ever.  It's very difficult to unweave the colors in the
rainbow once they are set.  So if you have all pinks n' blues in your
rainbow you're going to live w/ that a long, long time.

This debate is about money and values.

Let's just be straight about it.  Don't piss n' moan that of COURSE
you value X.  If you value something you act on it.  If  you don't
provide for it you don't value it.  (O!  THIS going to set off a
storm!!  Sadly it will be Monday before I see all the push back on
this as I'm going out of town!)

For me, I get it how hard it is to assign dollars to something that
seems like a limited use.   I understand that this isn't high on some
people's priority list or it's not what they value right now because
they have no real experience w/ it.

But, don't ask me to help you circumvent the law AND make you feel
nice-nice about it.

No.

I'm going to challenge you to look beyond what's possible to what is
transformational.

Yup.  It's hard.

Yup.  It's dollars.

And yup ... there something at stake here that's more important than
either how tough it is or the dollars involved, or who is going to use
the elevator or how much it will be used, etc. etc.   It's how the
individual and the group are thinking about it that's the real kicker
here.

I'm sure there will be blizzard of responses.  And I will have to wait
until Monday!  This is going to be great fun!  A debate long overdue
...

Best to you all!

AZ

PS while I'm gone why not try using a wheelchair this weekend?  For
everything ... using a public bathroom, riding mass transit, getting
in and out of a car, going shopping ...  just for fun ... try it.
You'll be surprised.  I promise!


-- 
Ann Zabaldo
Voice 202-291-7892
Fax 202-291-8594
Takoma Village Cohousing
Washington, DC
Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC
McLean, VA


On Thu, May 8, 2008 at 12:00 PM, Rob Sandelin <floriferous [at] msn.com> wrote:
>
>  By building a cohousing community you are excluding most people right from
>  the start who would never choose to live in such close association with
>  their neighbors. You are excluding those who do not like meetings, you are
>  excluding those who want privacy. The list of exclusions involved in
>  creating a community from scratch is huge and probably the biggest in many
>  cohousing endeavors is economic.