Health Law

UCP Supports Inclusive Home Design Act

The national disability advocacy organization United Cerebral Palsy (UCP) is one of more than 20 groups coming together to support the much needed Inclusive Home Design Act. The Act is designed to increase accessibility in homes built with federal assistance.

Parents of children with severe cerebral palsy symptoms or other mobility issues know all too well the difficulties associated with finding accessible (and affordable) homes. Less than five percent of new homes built with federal assistance include features aimed at making them more accessible for people with mobility impairments to visit and live in.

The Inclusive Home Design Act seeks to change that by increasing the number of accessible homes built with federal money.

'Universal standards for homes built with federal money are long past due. Implementing accessible features when homes are built is a simple matter of fairness, cost effectiveness and common sense,' said Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Illinois, who introduced the legislation.

Accessible Features
If passed, the legislation will only affect new homes and will not cover renovations to existing homes. The bill will also require that new homes also meet a number of accessibility criteria, including:

• Widen doorways on the main floor for a greater space of passage
• Feature at least one 'zero step' entryway and one wheelchair accessible bathroom on the ground floor
• Make controls for lighting and temperature reachable from wheelchair heights

Such modifications are relatively inexpensive (usually less than a few hundred dollars) when done at the time the house is built, as opposed to making renovations at a later point, which can cost upwards of several thousand.

Some states and cities have already adopted inclusive housing standards: Texas, Vermont, Kansas and certain cities in Illinois and Arizona.




 

Full post as published by Cerebral Palsy Law Blog on March 22, 2009 (boomark / email).