Re: [GBlist] Accessible housing (was Eco Condos in Montreal)

[Speireag Alden <Joshua.M.Alden.91@alum.dartmouth.org>]

Sgrìobh Ellen Cooney:

>I would be delighted if, as Corwyn put it, there was diverse housing 
>for diverse needs -- but it just is not out there. All too many 
>builders, developers, architects, etc. do what Christopher Holmes 
>has done with the ecocondos -- decide that accessibility is too 
>expensive. (Where have we heard that before? "It's just too 
>expensive to build green." "It's just too expensive to install 
>alternative energy") Everyone assumes that some other project will 
>include accessibility, but they don't.
>
>As a businessperson, this perplexes me. Why would I design a product 
>that automatically excludes 20% to 30% of my potential customers?

     That's an easy one.  If you produce your widget to accommodate 
the entire population, and sell 1000 widgets at a profit-per-widget 
of $1, then you can make $1000.  But what if you design your widget 
to accommodate the easiest 80% of the population, and thereby cut 
costs so that your profit-per-widget is $2?  Sell 800 of them and 
make $1600.

     Purely on the numbers, it's a no-brainer.  Which one will keep 
you in business longer?  This is an excellent example of why market 
forces, useful as they are in many cases, should not always be 
considered the best answer to a public policy question.

>As a person interested in building with principles -- building 
>green, creating community -- I am taken aback when those principles 
>are pursued to the exclusion of large groups of people or in ways 
>that make those folks second class residents. A nearby cohousing 
>project, for instance, offers a very limited number of handicapped 
>accessible units, but they are only 850 sq. feet, 20% to 50% smaller 
>than other units.

     Too bad, isn't it?  My immediate family (those who live in this 
house) is entirely able-bodied for the time being (with a minor 
exception which I'll get to).  When we designed our house, we set 
things up so that it would be easy to incorporate ramps and bathroom 
access, in case any of us became disabled.  Well, so far we're okay, 
but a member of my extended family was recently diagnosed with ALS. 
Ramps are going in shortly, and won't be much trouble at all.

     Yesterday my young son twisted his ankle, and he can't put much 
weight on his foot yet.  I find myself wishing, today, that I already 
had that ramp in place, despite the fact that tomorrow he'll probably 
be walking easily again.

     I practice Aikido, a rather peaceful martial art which reaches 
out to everyone in the world.  Being a martial art, it gets pretty 
physical, and in my memory only people who can walk have ever come 
through the dojo doors.  We're not only able-bodied, but in good 
shape.  Last summer we re-built the front deck on the dojo so that it 
was ringed with benches, thereby creating a sociable sitting area at 
the entrance.  What a change!  Prior to that re-building, there were 
two ways to get onto the deck:  there was a short set of steps (about 
five), and there was a ramp.

     Should satisfy everyone, right?

     Well, this is snow country, and we all shovel more of the stuff 
than we really want to.  So, when it snowed, human nature being what 
it is, we would just shovel the steps.  Over the winter, the ramp 
would get pretty deep in crusty snow, to the point where it would 
have taken twenty minutes of vigorous shoveling to clear it.  But 
that wasn't a problem, because everyone could walk, right?

     Well, in point of fact, there are people who practice Aikido from 
a wheelchair, or on the remains of their legs.

     But there are none in our dojo, so we're all set, right?

     Our art seeks the loving reconciliation of all conflict, and 
welcomes everyone, male and female, young and old, able and disabled. 
(If you think that's ridiculous in a martial art, go read up on 
Aikido and then we'll talk.)  What kind of a message were we sending 
when we didn't make our dojo open to everyone?  What about parents of 
children who practice with us?  What about spectators?  Could we 
always guarantee that they would all be able to climb steps in the 
winter?

     Of course not.

     However, when we arrive for class after work, perhaps in a hurry, 
perhaps running late, are we going to take time to shovel the ramp 
when we can shovel the steps about five times more quickly?  Well, 
sometimes.  Not always.  We try, but we're not perfect.

     So we changed the set-up.  When we re-built the deck, we 
eliminated the stairs entirely, and put a railing where they used to 
be.  That also gave us more bench space on the deck, which was nice.

     Now, everyone uses the ramp, all the year 'round.  And now, when 
we shovel, out of necessity we shovel the ramp clear.  And everyone 
can get in.

     I recognize that the answer is not always this easy.  This is not 
an issue I have to deal with much, since I'm able enough to jump 
fences as necessary.  However, I look forward to the day when people 
look askance at a building which has no ramp or elevator.

-Speireag.

-- 
Recently, I was asked if I was going to fire an employee who made a 
mistake that cost the company $600,000. No, I replied, I just spent 
$600,000 training him. Why would I want somebody to hire his 
experience? -Thomas J. Watson, industrialist (1874-1956)

______________________________________________________________________
This greenbuilding dialogue is sponsored by REPP/CREST, creator of
Solstice http://www.crest.org, and BuildingGreen, Inc., publisher of
Environmental Building News and GreenSpec http://www.BuildingGreen.com
______________________________________________________________________