Designing home accessibility, adaptability and visitability into neighborhoods will mean that children with disabilities can enjoy all the comforts of home, visit friends and loved ones in their own community, and stay with extended family wherever they travel

How could visiting relatives during holidays or vacations have been made easier through home accessibility, universal design or other accommodations for children and adults with disabilities or mobility issues?

Adaptable homes for children using wheelchairs need only simple modifications that could have been designed into their entire community through recommendations now made by accessible and visitable housing advocates and builders.

Federal laws requiring accessibility and accommodations in rental housing have helped open up new possibilities for families raising a child with mobility issues and other special needs, too. Universal design concepts help make homes adaptable for those with unexpected or temporary mobility challenges, allow older adults to stay in their own homes and neighborhoods, and accommodate strollers, crawlers and toddlers.

Families looking for a new home now have options where builders have made accessible or adaptable homes available. In some communities, there are now 'visitability' ordinances that require basic design planning to accommodate access. Going to a friend's house or spending the weekend with their favorite relative would be much simpler in those neighborhoods!

Opening Doors Newsletter - Accessibility, Adaptability, Universal Design, and Visitable Housing
http://www.c-c-d.org

Easy Living Home.org
http://www.easylivinghome.org

http://www.concretechange.org
http://www.concretechange.org

National Organization on Disability
Access to Independence: Housing Access
http://www.nod.org

National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR)
Accessibility in Our Built Environment - Visitability
http://www.ncddr.org

PBS - Independent Lens - On a Roll
http://www.pbs.org

Center for an Accessible Society
Visitability
HR5683 - Inclusive Home Design Act - go to http://thomas.loc.gov and type in HR5683
http://www.accessiblesociety.org

Univ of Montana Rural Institute - Research and Training Center on Disability in Rural Communities - Visitability
http://rtc.ruralinstitute.umt.edu

Seven Principles of Universal Design and Barriers to Implementation of Universal Design
http://www.ap.buffalo.edu

TASH
Housing Advocate's Resource List
http://www.tash.org

AARP Accessibility and Visitability Features in Single-family Homes
http://www.aarp.org

Easter Seals
Easy Access Housing Tips
http://www.easterseals.com/site/PageServer?pagename=ntlc_easyaccesshousing_tips

Home Accessibility and Visitability for Families of Children with Special Needs
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art37751.asp

Teens with Disabilities - Transition Planning
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art33519.asp

Grandparents of Children with Special Needs
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art37114.asp

Sibling Support and Rivalry - Brothers and Sisters of Children with Special Needs
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art33375.asp

Us and Them - by Mayer Shevin
http://shevin.org/articles-usthem.html

Diversity World
http://www.diversityworld.com

NFPA Emergency Evacuation Planning Guide for People with Disabilities
http://www.nfpa.org/evacuationguide
The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) developed this free guide as a resource for creating an all-inclusive evacuation plan that considers everyone’s needs for evacuation, including the needs of people with disabilities.
Please share this with local mayors, fire and police chiefs, and school district directors.

Browse your local library or bookstore for titles like these at Amazon.com:

Barrier-free design

Universal Design Handbook

Designing for the Disabled

Universal Design in Homes

Accessible Home Design

Architecture And The Physically Challenged

Bumbo Chair