Other Donation Options
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| Visitability To New Homes |
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Visitability is not about retrofitting existing homes for a person who has become disabled. Visitability is about correcting building practices, which exclude people with disabilities from housing stock and leave us working to undo previously built housing barriers while additional barriers are continually being constructed.
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To introduce the concept of visitability in Rochester, New York, the Center for Disability Rights submitted a visitable gingerbread house to the annual exhibit held by the George Eastman House. To date Atlanta, Georgia and Austin, Texas are the only cities to mandate a zero-step entrance in certain private, single-family homes. Although the ordinance has only recently passed in Austin, over 500 visitable homes were constructed in Atlanta as of 1998.
The word "visit-able" works well. ALL homes - "special" homes - should have basic access for people with disabilities. This allows people with disabilities to participate in all aspects of community, including parties, meetings, and reunions.
In an effort to make changes in construction methods more widespread, visibility has narrowed the emphasis from a long list of possible or desirable access features to the most essential features: entering a home and fitting through the interior doors.
The basic accessibility features for a visitable home are:
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One no-step entrance (may be at the front, back, side or through the garage),
All doors (including bathroom) are at least 32 inches wide,
Halls and other rooms are at least 36 inches wide,
Reinforcements in bathroom wall around the toilet and bathtub/shower for installing grab bars, and
Light switches and other environmental controls between 15 and 48 inches from the floor.
"This basic access will be the first step toward the day when people with
disabilities can VISIT and freely socialize with neighbors and friends in each
other's homes" said CDR Board President Robert J. DeFelice. "It leads to the
day when renting a house, growing older in one's own home, becoming
temporarily disabled or having a child with a disability will be that much easier
because more and more homes will have this basic level of access."
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The house was a major success. The Eastman staff took the information about visitability and created an informative display.
In all, nearly 10,000 people (9,784 to be exact) attended the exhibit, learning about visitability while viewing the many different
gingerbread creations.
Our participation got people's attention, particularly when one young boy shouted, "Mommy! Look there's a candy potty in here!"
The child didn't know that there was also a candy grab rail and toilet paper roll, too.
The inside of the house was both accessible and beautifully decorated. Obviously, the holiday spirits were at work. This was no easy
feat. At one in the morning, the creators were fighting over were the furniture should go in order to look good and still be accessible.
As Eleanor Smith (The Concrete Change Mother of Visitability) said, "Thanks to the fairies for their hard work."
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