ICON - The magazine of the American Society of Interior Designers - (Page 56) aging in style Visitability – A Welcoming Concept By Nena Donovan Levine, Allied Member ASID Any designer unaware of the aging of America may as well have been living in a cave, one without newspaper delivery and Wi-Fi, for certain. By 2030, today’s over-65 population will nearly double, to 70 million seniors, according to the American Planning Association and the U.S. Census. This guarantees more individuals with disabilities, which increase with age, even in the absence of acute health problems. Additionally, thousands of American veterans are now returning with disabilities. No wonder universal design has gained currency. However, a related strategy, “visitability” (or sometimes, “visit-ability”) still has not. The idea of visitability is that all new, singlefamily homes be visitable by those with mobility impairments—an estimated five percent of Americans, about 14 million people, use some sort of mobility-aiding device, according to the U.S. Census. A subset of universal design, visitability comprises only three design features, but it says that these are non-negotiable. A key aspect of visitability is also its focus on private, single-family homes, which are not covered by previous legislation such as the Americans with Disabilities Act (1990) or the Fair Housing Act Amendments (1991). The three requirements of visitability are • one zero-step entry • minimum clearance of 32 inches at all interior doorways on the entry level, including bathrooms • a half-bath on the entry level, though a full bath is preferable. Given these, the mobility-impaired can comfortably visit the homes of others and come and go in their own homes; homeowners of all abilities can welcome every guest. Eleanor Smith, a formidable advocate for the disabled, deserves much of the credit for promulgating visitability. She founded Concrete Change in 1986, and since then the organization has championed legislation and incentives for visitability nationwide. The group’s Web site offers copious data and cogent reasoning to support the concept and provides resources such as zero-step entry drawings for builders as well as answers to some of the most frequently asked questions 56 This Habitat for Humanity house is an example of a home that meets the three requirements of visitability. The Atlanta affiliate of HFH led the way in 1989, by making all its homes visitable. Hundreds of homes throughout Atlanta, and beyond, have since been constructed to these standards. posed by builders, homeowners and legislators. Smith urges designers who regularly practice universal design to “resist the temptation to use everything [you] know. Make a bright line between those things that are so dire [the three features] versus other things that are desirable. Harp on the basics.” Targeting every new house is “an extremely broad application,” admits Smith, but also “shallow,” since there are so few essential requirements. Smith’s efforts in her home state, Georgia, yielded the first visitability legislation in the country, passed in 1992. Compliance was mandatory for subsidized, single-family homes in Fulton and DeKalb counties. In Georgia, city building fees were waived for those builders whose properties met visitability requirements, in effect subsidizing the program—and providing an added incentive to comply. Tax incentives, city loans and federal block grant funds are other forms a subsidy can take. In fact, financial incentives are sometimes the only way to encourage visitability ASID ICON | THE MAGAZINE OF THE AMERICAN SOCIETY OF INTERIOR DESIGNERS CONCRETE CHANGE
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