A Wheelchair
Wonderland
I remember vividly a point in time where I wished
desperately that the whole world was in a wheelchair so that everyone could
know what my daughter had to go through just to go to someone’s home. The city of Austin, Texas is creating
that world. Well, kind of.
The city council in Austin, Texas is currently deciding on
new rules that could make all newly built homes wheelchair accessible. The
first two drafts have already been approved so it’s looking good that this
third and final draft will push through without a problem. If approved, levered
door handles, light switches placed at lower heights and wide doorways will be
features required on the first floors of new single-family homes and duplexes. Not
widely talked about –yet – this is known as “visitability”. This is a concept
in home design that would allow a person in a wheelchair that lives there or
visits access the home without any problem. There are cities in the US that
already have these rules in place: San Antonio, Atlanta, St. Petersburg, Fla.,
and Tucson, Ariz. According to the website www.visitability.org, a home is
visitable when it meets the following three basic requirements:
* At least one zero-step entrance
* Doors with a minimum of 32-inch clearance
* At least one bathroom on the main floor that is
wheelchair accessible
Becoming Disabled
Some of you may be wondering why this is necessary. If
you’re reading this and you’re not
disabled then you probably don’t view this as important enough to make legal
regulations over. But let’s consider that. Just because you weren’t born with a disability doesn’t mean you
never will become disabled. Here are
three examples you may have never thought about:
1. Old Age
Think about your (or your friends’)
grandparents. Do you know any who use walkers, hearing aids, have trouble
standing or reaching or bathing or cooking? Did they always have those
problems? Most likely, these disabilities
are of the acquired type meaning they were born without a disability but
because of aging they now have difficulty with one or more activity of daily
living. Oftentimes, the word “disabled” is not used when referring to senior
citizens if they’ve lived independently their entire lives. But that’s exactly
what they have become (and what the large majority of us will become should we
be blessed enough to live into our 60’s and beyond). A home built with
visitability in mind will increase the chances that a person can live on in
their own home rather than being moved into a nursing facility. And by “a person” I mean YOU!
2. Illness
There are also people who are fine into
their 30’s and 40’s and then become ill or develop medical conditions which
limit their ability to be as independent as they have always been. Multiple Sclerosis
(MS) and Lou Gehrig’s disease (ALS) typically begin to appear in adults around
this age and are debilitating diseases which cause severe physical
disabilities. Don’t think this will happen to you? MS tends to appear between
the ages of 20 and 40 in otherwise normally developing people. 15 new cases of
ALS are diagnosed daily in the US; 60% are men and 93% are Caucasian.
Arthritis is another large culprit in this
area. According to the CDC, nearly two-thirds of people with arthritis are
younger than 65. It’s the most common cause of disability and limits or
prevents over 21 million Americans from being able to climb stairs, walk more
than short distances or work. It’s more common in women than men but affects
all racial and ethnic groups. One study shows that the risk of developing
osteoarthritis in your knee that causes pain is 45% and estimates show that 57%
of people who have had a knee injury or are obese will develop osteoarthritis.
That’s about half of you reading this!
Of course, there are countless other
autoimmune & nervous, central and respiratory diseases and musculo-skeletal
disorders that can strike at any time and cause disability in an adult who has
otherwise lived a healthy and independent life.
3. Accidents
What about those that are in accidents and
become paralyzed or receive a traumatic brain injury (TBI)? Have you seen the
show Push Girls? Every one of those women was in an accident
that paralyzed them. Any of these situations can happen to each and every one
of you. Sounds bleak, I know but imagine what your life would be like if you
couldn’t enjoy the little things you do now, like going to your sister’s house
for dinner or to your friend’s for girls night as you always have because your
wheelchair can’t go up the one step leading into their home or your wheelchair
can’t get through the doorway into the living room? Now imagine if every new
home built allowed you to come and go as you please, without even a thought?
Disabled America
According to the US census, 1 in 5 citizens has at least one
disability and the number is set to grow as baby boomers age. Just over 1 in 4
American citizens in their 20’s will become disabled before they retire. But
the “that can’t happen to me” mentality keeps most of us from worrying about
our futures. 64% of wage earners believe they have a 2% or less chance of being
disabled for 3 months or more during their working career. The actual odds for
a worker entering the workforce today are about 25%!
Maybe it’s time you
start thinking about what could happen to you or your spouse now and planning
ahead. Don’t you think having a home already set up to visitability standards
would make your life easier in the long run? I hope to see this concept become
the standard in my lifetime for all our sakes.
Would you like to know what the probability of you becoming
disabled is? Check out the Personal Disability Quotient calculator here.
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Sources:
You may wish to look at www.concretechange.org for more information about VisitAbility.
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