TECH EDGE |
By John M. Williams
Michael Anderson has a story to tell. A part-time wheelchair user, 8 years ago, he had a house built for his wife and himself. Anderson lost his right leg in a hunting accident when he was 28. His wife Marilyn uses a wheelchair as a result of a car accident. He says he worked with the architect and other people in designing an accessible house. Four months after the builders started, Anderson and his wife visited their house for the first time since it was started. What they saw stunned them both.
“Not a single accessibility feature had been incorporated into the house,” says Anderson.
For example, the garage doors did not automatically open using a remote control. The bathtub was not wheelchair accessible. The counters in the kitchen were inches higher than they were supposed to be. Some of the wall switches were too high to reach. As a result his wife could not reach anything from her wheelchair. Instead of a ramp, three steps lead to the front porch. Anderson says there were other problems.
Anderson called the builder, and they met days later. Anderson says it was an awfully tense meeting, and adds, “My builder had his lawyer there. I knew then, there was a fight brewing,” says Anderson.
Months later at an additional cost of $11,000 for making accessibility changes, Anderson and his wife moved into their home. He vowed never to make that mistake again. Anderson says the builder told him he lost the notes regarding accessibility.
“If we build another house, my husband and I shall visit it every day to make sure all the accessibility features and incorporated. We shall use an accessibility specialist,” says Marilyn.
One such specialist is Aaron Lema whose company is Simplified Disabled Housing (www.simplifieddisabledhousing.com). Lema’s motto is, “The belief that improving the quality of life of your fellow human beings through the capitalist system is the right way to succeed and improve one’s own quality of life.”
Lema believes that Simplified Disabled Housing goes far beyond the methods of Universal Housing and the ADA, which, he believes, limit the housing industry by giving builders a ridged set of “one size fits all” standards by which to build a new home. His patent-pending system individualizes homes by offering multiple styles, different heights, widths, depths, and left/right handedness options for the components of a home.
Here’s how it works. People with accessible housing needs tour a model home fitted with colored markers developed by his company. They determine the height, width and depth of the components of their individualized home by reaching out to the dot that best fits their needs and record their choice on a check off sheet.
Lema believes his system makes a home what it should be, an affordable and accessible sanctuary that adapts to individuals, instead of making people adapt to it. He says, “This new way of building a home will maximize your independence through greater accessibility.”
His tall order goal is to build (in association with licensed builders) a minimum of 3,317,760 homes for people with accessibility needs, nationwide, over the next eight years. He believes this will bring accessible housing into the mainstream.
Lema’s program is simple and straightforward. It should save builders money and give them peace of mind in knowing their home is being built according to their instructions. When building an accessible home, Lema advises, be sure to visit it often.
John Williams has been writing about disability issues for 30 years. He is a frequent contributor to Action Magazine. He can be reached at jwilliams@unitedspinal.org.
