Eleanor Smith, MA, MEd, Director of Concrete Change, will speak about visit-ability and the relationship between public health and livable communities.

About Concrete Change and Visit-ability

VISIT-ABILITY (Inclusive Home Design)

Our focus is new homes. Not government buildings, restaurants, etc. (important as they are). Our goal is to make ALL homes visitable, not just "special" homes â€" to be at the party, meeting, and family reunion . . . not isolated. We narrow the emphasis from a long list of access features to the most essential: entering a home and fitting through the interior doors. So that widespread construction change is more likely to happen quickly.

Steps at every entrance of a home shut out people who use wheelchairs or walkers, or have weakness, stiffness or balance problems. A narrow door stops wheelchair users from fitting through the bathroom door in a friend or relative's home.

Universal, basic access goes beyond visiting. It's also about the home of a person who develops a disability, whether child, middle-aged or older. Without basic access in place, architecture forces severe choices: Expensive renovations â€" if a home is even amenable to renovation. Or existing as a virtual prisoner in an unsafe, unhealthy house â€" unable to exit independently or enter one's own bathroom. Or the disruption, grief and high financial cost of moving out of one's community into a nursing home.

To change that reality, three essentials can become routine:
* One zero-step entrance, at the front, back or side of the house
* All main floor doors, including bathrooms, with at least 32 inches of clear passage space
* At least a half bath, preferably a full bath, on the main floor.

Builder by builder, city by city, policy by policy, the change is already beginning to happen in parts of Arizona, Texas, Illinois, Georgia and many other locales.

Directions are available at http://www.sph.emory.edu/cms/about/directions_maps/index.html.
Parking is available in the Michael Street Parking Deck.