It's Time to get "Visitable!"
By Lisa Y. Schatz, Esq.


Inaccessible houses impede the lives of people who use wheelchairs. Being a visitor in an inaccessible house means the dangerous possibility of being dropped down the steps, the worry and embarrassment of being kept from using the bathroom, the social awkwardness of being carried, the frustration of not being able to knock on the door to see if someone is home.

Inaccessibility makes friendships harder to create and cuts people off from meetings where information is exchanged and decisions made; it causes people with disabilities not be be invited places, or to have to turn down invitations. If they have low incomes, as many persons with disabilities do, inaccessibility often forces them to live in a house where they may, literally, have to crawl every time they use the bathroom or stay inside all day because of the steps.

These are serious matters. Unfortunately, architects and builders have yet to make any effort to construct basic access in new housing. It's time to make changes in our community so housing will welcome all.

Protection & Advocacy is in the development stages of establishing Albuquerque as the third city in the nation to enact a "Visitability" ordinance. In 1992, Atlanta, Georgia enacted such an ordinance requiring a zero-step entrance in certain private, single family homes. Over 500 homes have been constructed under the ordinance as of 1998. Just last year, Austin, Texas, enacted a similar ordinance mandating newly constructed single family homes, duplexes, and triplexes which receive financial assistance from the city must be "visitable." As of April 1999, newly constructed homes built in the United Kingdom must include a no step entrance, wider doors and corridors and a downstairs bathroom, making the U.K. the first nation in the world to mandate basic access in every new home.

Let's work together to achieve basic access
in ALL homes.

*A significant portion of this article was taken with permission from Concrete Change, a non-profit organization committed to making all homes visitable. For more information, access their website at :
Concrete Change@mindspring.com.