I’ve been preparing a piece on accessible kitchens and found a recent article from the US that I thought was worth posting in its own right. It’s from the Minneapolis – St. Paul Star Tribune and you can read it here. I know when I was designing our kitchen, decent, practical articles were tough to find.
Posts Tagged: universal design
14
Jul 10
Promoting Livable Housing Design in Australia
Yesterday marked a significant day in access for those of us with mobility limitations. Bill Shorten, Federal Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities, launched a new voluntary code for ‘Livable’ housing.
While personally I don’t think the code goes nearly far enough, it’s a move in the right direction and should be applauded for what it is.
As soon as I can get hold of a full copy of the guidelines I’ll publish my analysis here.
Until then, I’ll just report the spin and what real information I can find. Here’s Bill Shorten’s media release, which you can also link to here.
Promoting livable housing design in Australia
Leaders of the housing industry, disability sector and community have today agreed to an aspirational target that all new homes will be built to disability-friendly Livable Housing Design standards by 2020.
Today’s announcement is the outcome of the National Dialogue on Universal Design, convened by Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities Bill Shorten last year, to improve the availability of Livable Housing and get industry and disability groups working together to promote it.
The voluntary Livable Housing Design guidelines consist of three levels: Silver, Gold and Platinum and outline the key features required to meet each standard.
Mr Shorten said Livable Design aimed to build houses that could be adapted to meet the changing needs of residents over their lifetime.
He said that it would become increasingly important as Australia’s population aged and disability became more common.
“These are houses which are easier to live in, can be adapted more cheaply, and will be easier to sell,” Mr Shorten said.
“Livable Housing Design is housing which meet the needs of all people, including people with disability and senior Australians,” Mr Shorten said.
“Families with young children, anyone who suffers a temporary injury, or has a friend with disability to stay the night, will also benefit from Livable Design.
“A few simple design features, such as a reinforced bathroom walls, a flat entry to the house and wide corridors and doorways can make a home suitable for an older person or a person with a disability at minimal cost.”
“A Livable house can give a person with disability a life of independence and dignity, and improved their chance of employment and involvement with the community.”
The industry has also agreed to a set of voluntary guidelines for housing, which will be used to inform consumers and the industry about Universal Design, and increase its application.
The Gillard Government will invest $1M over four years to drive an innovate partnership with leaders of the construction and property sectors to promote Livable Housing.
Although the standards are voluntary key industry groups including the Property Council, Master Builders Australia and the Housing Industry Association have supported them and committed to the 2020 target.
They will also provide useful information for consumers seeking to introduce universal design features into a new home and could also be readily applied within an existing home.
Dialogue members have agreed to develop a national awareness campaign and brand for Universal Housing Design.
Property Council CEO Peter Verwer said that developing the guidelines had been a great example of collaboration between the industry and the disability sector.
“Livable Housing has great potential for the future. It has low costs and huge returns both for homeowners and the broader community.”
Australian Bureau of Statistics research shows that between 1981 and 2003, the number of people with a disability more than doubled from 1.9 million to 3.9 million.
The ABS estimates that the number of Australians with disabilities will continue to increase through the first half of this century, due to the ageing of Australia’s population.
The requirements of the Silver standard are as follows:
Silver Standards
- A safe and continuous path of travel from the street entrance and/or parking area to a
dwelling entrance that is level, - At least one level entrance into the dwelling,
- Internal doors and corridors that facilitate comfortable and unimpeded movement
between spaces, - A toilet on the ground (or entry) level that provides easy access,
- A bathroom that contains a hobless (step-free) shower recess, and
- Reinforced walls around the toilet, shower and bath to support the safe installation of grabrails at a later date.
The members of the National Dialogue are:
- Australian Human Rights Commission
- Australian Institute of Architects
- Australian Local Government Association
- Australian Network for Universal Housing Design
- COTA Australia
- Grocon
- Housing Industry Association
- Lend Lease
- Master Builders Australia
- National People with Disabilities and Carers Council
- Office of the Disability Council of NSW
- Property Council of Australia
- Real Estate Institute of Australia
- Stockland
- Victorian Building Commission
Probably the most important document released so far is the The National Dialogue Strategic Plan which is now downloadable from the Property Council’s website, here.
Other coverage and reports today are:
From the Property Council of Australia, a media release.
From Architecture and Design magazine, a piece titled Guidelines for ‘Liveable’ Housing Released — But Voluntary.
There’s a good item in the Domain section of the SMH Online too. You’ll find it here.
I’ll post other links as I find them, but not just news reports, which all seem to say the same.
Happy reading!
16
Jun 10
Inaccessible Pedestrian Environment in Delhi: An Essay by Shivani Gupta Before the Commonwealth Games
This excellent essay was written by Shivani Gupta, the Director of AccessAbility, a leading Universal Design and Disability Employment Specialist, based in New Delhi. It is reproduced here with permission.
In the flurry of preparing Delhi for the upcoming Commonwealth Games, Delhi has been revamped. There is the new BRT Corridor, the low floor buses, huge overhead bridges, accessible pathways and the swanky metro. All of these have accessibility incorporated in them. I should feel fortunate being a wheelchair user that now public transport and the pedestrian environments is accessible to me. But the unfortunate reality is that none of these so called accessible facilities are really accessible to the disabled and hence have not brought the desired mobility. Money is being spent in the name of accessibility but what we have really got are ‘teasers’. ‘Teasers’ being my way of describing facilities that are signposted as being accessible but are not usable by disabled people in reality.
Usability is the first and the basic requirement of accessibility and it is here that all these fail. Usability goes beyond blindly putting on ground accessibility standards, it is about how a user will actually interface with the given service/facility/infrastructure etc. it may also vary based on the social context, therefore what may be a working design in a developed country may not be so in a developing country. To increase usability is also the crux of Universal Design.
Just yesterday I went out on my wheelchair and thought of crossing to the other side from the overhead foot bridges that have been built all over Delhi. The bridge is about seven meters high with a ramp 89 meters long of 1:12 gradient to get onto the bridge and the same ramp on the opposite side.
In India most people will say “there is a ramp to get on and off the bridge and that to 1:12 gradient, then what more do you want?” What they fail to see is that a wheelchair user will need to wheel two hundred meters, that too up and down a ramp to cross just a 10 meter wide road. So it’s 10 meters verses 200 meters.
Major Design Flaws:
- To provide a ramp to negotiate a level difference of more than 3 meters is impractical and not usable by the disabled and here it is more than double that height.
- A ramp to negotiate a level difference of more than 3 meters must have a gradient no more than 1:18 here the gradient is 1:12
- Landings must be provided after every five meters, here landing is provided after 40 meters.
I am sure even athletes using wheelchairs will find negotiating this ramp difficult!
Here I will also like to point out that accessible parking is demanded & provided closest to the entrance to ensure that disabled car drivers and passengers do not need to walk extra, but when it comes to pedestrian environments adding 200 meters to the journey is reasonable. Why this disparity?
A recent press release by the Delhi Metro said that there ‘Delhi Metro provides wheelchair facility to old and physically challenged commuters at all Metro stations. On an average, 149 physically challenged people and 78 blind commuters use the Metro system daily’ and ‘On an average, it is carrying about 800,000 commuters everyday.’ Just taking the figures published by them it is easy to calculate that there are only 0.02% people with disabilities who use this so called ‘accessible transport system’ to travel.
The pavements in Delhi are been refurbished and most with tactile guidance and ramps at the beginning and end. The amazing part is that the guidance breaks whenever there is an obstacle in the path like trees, poles etc., hence ensuring people with blindness bang into them and majority of the ramps are blocked by bollards, through which a wheelchair cannot pass.
I wonder when will people with disabilities stop compromising and accepting shoddy solutions to improve access. The UNCRPD talks about ‘Persons with disabilities to have access, on an equal basis with others’. It’s time we demanded it.
AccessAbility
D8/8073 Vasant Kunj
New Delhi 110070
1
Jun 10
Small Steps, Big Barriers
An edited version of this post appeared on the Letters page of the Sydney Morning Herald on 25 May 2010.
There’s been lots of discussion in the Sydney media about ‘universal design’ and Federal Government policy in the last couple of weeks.
Cynthia Banham waxed lyrical in the SMH (24 May 2010) about Bill Shorten and his efforts to introduce universal design principles to new houses built in Australia. Here’s the article, which can also be found here:
You never plan for a life-changing injury. It’s something you just hope never happens. Growing old is more of a certainty. But both events can have a profound impact on the way you feel about your home: a sanctuary, or a kind of prison.
I know this first-hand. Catastrophic injuries from a plane crash changed my world forever. If not for the efforts of a family friend, a builder who extensively modified my home while I was still in hospital, I would not have been able to get in the front door, let alone my kitchen or shower.
But what really came as a shock was the impact my injuries had on visiting family and friends. Dropping in for a meal or a cup of coffee, to stay connected to people, is essential to a person’s mental well-being. Yet here I was, left in tears on a visit to my in-laws from the indignity of not being able to use their bathroom without help, unable to visit my parents’ home where I’d grown up because I couldn’t climb the stairs to their front door.
We have laws about accessibility standards in public spaces, but for private homes there are none and I never imagined this would change.
Then eight months ago Bill Shorten, the parliamentary secretary for disabilities, asked me to speak at a meeting he had organised, with Therese Rein as patron, for executives from the housing industry and the ageing, disability and community sectors, at Kirribilli House.
The subject was “universal design” – building a house to last its occupants’ lifetimes so whatever happens, should they get injured or grow old, they will still be able to live independently.
If we introduced some minor, inexpensive changes to the way Australia builds homes – changes many times more expensive if done retrospectively – then no house need be a prison. Making houses accessible from the street or car park, slightly widening front doorways and passages, putting a toilet on the ground floor that could be used by someone with mobility issues.
I agreed, intrigued something could be done to improve the lives of 20 per cent of the Australian population with some kind of a disability, and encouraged this concept could have economic and social benefits for all.
Universal design ideas are already being implemented overseas, in Japan, Britain, Canada and Norway. They are gaining traction in Victoria.
What is the appeal? Like Australia, these places have ageing populations. Given the option, most would prefer to grow old in their own homes, retaining connections with family and social networks where they have spent their lives. But with the majority of homes, this is virtually impossible for older people with mobility issues.
It doesn’t stop there. A house built for a lifetime would be easier for mothers with prams and people with temporary injuries.
I started out thinking it was an extremely lofty ambition to get this diverse group to agree there was a case for universal design in Australia. The Property Council of Australia, the Housing Industry Association, Master Builders Australia, the Australian Institute of Architects and the Human Rights Commission are unlikely allies.
But Shorten is a superb negotiator, and the determination he has shown over the past three years to fight for a better deal for some of the less lucky Australians is remarkable.
The final details are being nutted out, but soon this dialogue will deliver concrete proposals to the government. These professionals have surprised even themselves with their ability to reach common ground on an issue that for many will be life-changing, in a good way.
Critics might say they don’t want to be told by governments how to build their homes, or they don’t want to live in houses resembling hospitals. That’s not what this is about. Making a doorway a few centimetres wider does not make a house more sterile, just more liveable.
Is it really that big an ask of Australians to give a damn about their fellow citizens with physical limitations, but still want to engage as fully in society as you, their friends, colleagues, families and neighbours?
You never know, one day you might just grow old.
I’m less in awe. Universal design principles are sensible, modest, but far from new. As Banham correctly points out, a number of countries have introduced them already. So why has Shorten set an ‘aspirational goal’ of all new homes to be of agreed universal design standards by 2020? Remember, this is not about retro-fitting an existing stock of buildings – it’s simply about ensuring new buildings conform to a new standard. Shorten himself argues that these are ‘a few simple design features’. So why must we wait?
Shorten has appointed a working party to codify national standards but the working party has a very limited brief. There is no talk of encouraging – by incentive or requirement – even the most modest changes to existing houses. State and Federal Governments provide incentives and rebates to fit all manner of water and energy-saving devices, but if you want to remove an unnecessary single step at the front of your house and build a ramp to provide universal access, you’re on your own.
Similarly, small businesses, especially retailers, are provided with no incentives to make their buildings universally accessible. At my local shops, the cafe and the butcher have taken it upon themselves to remove steps at the front of their premises, and the deli owner installed an accessible toilet. But the newsagent has not removed a single 10cm step so I can’t buy a newspaper. In nearby suburbs, such as Concord in Sydney’s inner-west, you can see evidence of co-operation between business and the local council delivering excellent access to shops and restaurants in the form of disabled parking, easy street crossings, footpath dining and ramped access. But in other nearby suburbs, such as Leichhardt, you see no such partnership and much of Norton Street remains inaccessible. These issues cry out for a national approach. Why does Bill Shorten not take an interest? As Cynthia Banham also correctly identifies, these things are essential for staying connected to society.
Shorten’s working party was announced on 27 October last year with the aim of achieving ‘substantial progress’ within 6 months. 7 months have now passed. Perhaps the progress has met Shorten’s definition of substantial. Banham says the details are still being ‘nutted out’ but proposals will be made to government soon. If the Government is returned, I guess we may see some progress in the next term.
Don’t get me wrong, Bill Shorten has done more to move disability issues forward than ministers before him. My beef is that his steps are small. And as anyone with mobility issues knows, a small step can remain a big barrier.
29
May 10
A review of Clark Bay Cottages – Narooma
This post appeared in a different version in the magazine Out & About With Kids – highly recommended. Visit www.outandaboutwithkids.com.au.
The advertising flyer for Clark Bay Cottages says ‘another day in paradise’ and that parallels my memory of Narooma; the town where I grew up, but then spent 20 years away. Those memories were long before having kids, long before our son, Daniel, was diagnosed with Autism, and long before I used a wheelchair. I was fascinated to see how it would work now.
Clark Bay Cottages
Family holidays can be a challenge for us, especially finding suitable accommodation. As well as needing wheelchair access, we need to satisfy Daniel’s sensory needs. He loves water, so we need a pool. He loves being in the bush, so we look for a bush setting. Above all, he needs space – to run, jump, yell … and just to be free and safe. Clark Bay Cottages are ideal. The pool is gorgeous, looking as it does over Wagonga Inlet; one of the prettiest stretches of water you’ll find. There’s also a mechanical hoist into the pool and spa. The entire place is ramped, allowing a wheelchair user to explore any part of the facilities, including the games room and tennis courts.
Clark Bay Pool
Clark Bay is set on 20 acres of partially-cleared temperate rainforest, so there are many places to bushwalk, explore and just be close to nature. It is incredibly quiet. Often, the only sound is bellbirds calling. We noticed how calm and relaxed Daniel was there and wondered how much the stress and noise of the city affects his behavior.
Narooma also claims to have the mildest climate in the country, and it’s a claim I believe.
The four cabins have been built on ‘universal design’ principles, which means they are completely wheelchair-friendly, including rails in the bathroom, wheel-under kitchen benches and one cabin has a hoist from bedroom to shower. There are many other thoughtful touches, including electromagnetic cooktops, fully adjustable kitchen benches, 1/4 turn batwing taps and electronically adjustable beds. Despite these excellent facilities, nothing about Clark Bay Cottages is unsuitable for families without special needs. For most families, it’s just a great place for a holiday.
The town of Narooma is also a surprise. It’s a hilly place, but the local council and businesses have done a great job of making nearly everything accessible including shops, cafes (including some very good coffee) and services. Every park we visited (there are several excellent playgrounds and picnic spots right by the water) had accessible toilets. A special treat is the boardwalk that has been built from the centre of town, north to Bar Beach; a distance of six kilometres. It’s all accessible and hugs the water the whole way. While undertaking this walk, our kids were fascinated to watch a huge Stingray feeding in the shallows.
Narooma is a little far from Sydney (5 hours drive) to receive weekend visitors. And that’s part of the beauty of the place. Life moves at a different pace there. Once you’ve arrived, reward yourself and stay a week.