Accessibility

Paralympian Muffy Davis is looking to buy a house. She'd like to live in or near the Salt Lake Valley. But whenever she hears about a wheelchair-accessible home coming on the market, it's been sold by the time she calls.

There may be a message here for contractors. Or for homeowners who are about to remodel. Maybe a wheelchair-accessible home sells fast.

Bob Tippets, president of the Salt Lake Homebuilders Association, says it's true. "Universal design is just good design," he explains.

Call it accessible design, visitable design or universal design. Its features include: a sidewalk rising gently to the porch, wide doorways, roomy bathrooms. Even if no one in your family needs a wheelchair or a walker, these features make your house more livable and one that all your friends can visit.

Deseret News graphic Home Modifications Requires Adobe Acrobat.

Chris Waddell, who is also a Paralympian, says you only have to look around an airport restroom to see that people who are not disabled prefer the wheelchair stall. It is large enough for someone wearing a backpack, dragging a suitcase or pushing a stroller.

Davis, Tippets and Waddell talked about accessible homes at a luncheon sponsored by Assist, a non-profit community design center. Assist was founded in 1969 by the University of Utah's Graduate School of Architecture and the Utah chapter of the American Institute of Architects. At the luncheon, Assist director Roger Borgenicht passed out a new version of "The Assist Guidebook to the Accessible Home: Practical Designs for Home Modifications and New Construction."

The guidebook lists the most essential features of a "visitable" home. They are, in order of importance:

1. A zero-step entry with a 36-inch wide entrance door. The flat entry doesn't have to be at the front door. A zero-step entry from the garage is handy, too, especially for whoever carries the grocery bags or delivers the furniture.

2. A ground-floor bath with 36-inch door and 30-inch by 48-inch clear floor space. This allows someone with a wheelchair or walker to come into the bathroom and close the door.

3. Usable doorways throughout the house. As it is now, 32-inch doors are required. But 36-inch doors allow everyone into every room. Also, the lower the threshold the better. Nothing more than a quarter-inch is best.