We are all clear on the results of Martin Luther King’s work. We’re proud that the civil right movement extended equal access to citizens of all colors. Our communities are more inclusive. We are familiar with images — signs proclaiming whites-only bathrooms, restaurants and hotels, even as we grow to forget the embarrassing impact of these policies. As civil rights thinking, attitudes and laws took effect, people of color showed up in the workplace and the neighborhood. We got to know them. Soon we invited our new colleagues and neighbors home from work for dinner or in for a beer after chatting on the block. Those friendships are the clearest indication of the civil rights movement’s success.
More recently the Americans with Disabilities Act extended equal access to people with disabilities. People with disabilities can now use the drinking fountains, bathrooms, restaurants. Workplace barriers have been removed. However, there is a difference. The ADA removes the physical and legal barriers to inclusion in the public sphere. The ADA does not have jurisdiction to prepare for the final phase of inclusion— visiting each other’s homes, a sign of friendship.
ELEANOR SMITH, founder of the visitability movement, remembers those days when kids were outside playing in the neighborhood and it started to rain. You probably remember those days, too. Everyone runs to one person’s house and the play resumes. Smith remembers because she always knew which house she would go to, her house. The only one she could get into. She also remembers when the girls were planning where they would dress for the prom. She knew where she would dress. Her house. The only one she could get into.
Smith has used a wheelchair her whole life. It didn’t keep her from having feelings, fun and friends. It did keep her from visiting friends in their homes. Smith thinks she missed an important part of socialization: seeing the inside of another person’s house. Seeing how other people live. Knowing whose mom makes the worst tuna salad in the whole world.
Should a mobility-changing event in your mom's, son's or best friend’s life mean they are no longer a welcome visitor in your home? No. The visitability movement opens the possibility of inclusion for the growing population of Americans who are just a little different. This movement, like school and hiring programs, is about diversity. It is about recognizing and embracing the changing diversity in our communities resulting from continuing medical progress.
Smith's organization, Concrete Change (www.concretechange.org), brought the first visitability ordinance in Atlanta in the early '90s. It spawned a movement. There are now visitability ordinances across the country. Each ordinance is different reflecting growing comfort with the idea of visitability and each community’s take on it. There is a national visitability bill pending, HR 1441, introduced by Jan Shakowski- D-ILL.
A Montgomery County committee of builders, advocates and officials has been meeting to craft Montgomery County’s own take on visitability. Recognizing that much of Montgomery County is built out, that a new homes ordinance would leave the huge inventory of existing homes out of the mix, the Zoning Text Amendment (#06-17) for existing homes is the first public effort of that committee. Passage will begin the shift to progressive and visitable homes in the county. Initiatives for new homes are forthcoming. These efforts will maintain our pride in the acceptance and inclusiveness of our community.
We cannot blame the builders of the past who set the design standards of our un-inclusive houses. The population for whom they were building did not have so many shapes and abilities. We need only to look around the shopping malls, movie theaters and workplaces to see today’s diversity. We will have ourselves to scold if we don’t embrace diversity and extend full citizenship and inclusion to these friends and neighbors.
We need the zoning text amendment to extend fairness to all, to make it easy for mom to visit even after a stroke, for cousin Jimmy to come for Thanksgiving even after his car accident, and for Susie to be with us for birthday candles even after she falls from her horse. Encourage the County Council to adopt the Zoning Text amendment.
Louis Tenenbaum, formerly a contractor specializing in home modifications now consults on Independent Living Strategy. His book, Fixing to Stay: The NAHB Guide to Aging in Place will be released in January.