Instead of Herbert Hoover’s assertion of a “chicken in every pot”, our rallying cry should be “A no-step entrance for every house!”

A highlight of the U.S. Access Board visit to Atlanta in May was a tour of Visitable homes with Concrete Change founder, Eleanor Smith.  Smith illustrated the concepts of Visitability with a tour of her co-housing community.  Every home had at least one no-step entrance, doorways of a width sufficient to allow a mobility device to pass through and a restroom on the main floor with room for a mobility device to enter and shut the door. The rolling contours of the community’s site allowed for varying elevations and non-uniform entries, to lend a sense of personalization to each of the 72 homes.

 

A driving factor in choosing co-housing is the importance of community and getting to know your neighbors, of all ages. Visitability encourages all members of the community to be able to enter each other’s homes and engage in community activities with the group. It has also benefited members of the community who have fallen ill or have increasing limitations due to the aging process. They have been able to come home to their houses when others might have had to go to a rehabilitation facility.

It was a pleasure to meet Eleanor and to see first hand the many ways a home could be sited to allow for the most feared feature — a no-step entrance.

See this post on No-Step Entrances.