On Friday, May 14th a co-worker and I went to Syracuse, New York to look at a visitable Habitat for Humanity home. The event started off with a speech from a city representative thanking everyone for their hard work and commitment. Next, a lady from Habitat spoke about what it means to be visitable, how it impacts the community, the cost, and how the homeowners feel. The event on this day declared May Visitability Month in Syracuse.

What is Visitability, you ask? Good question.

Most homes have steps at every entrance and have bathroom doors that are narrower than other interior passage doors. Visitable homes have:

• One entrance with zero steps;
• 32 inches clear passage through all interior doors, including bathrooms; and
• At least a half bath (preferably a full bath) on the main floor.Visitable homes are designed with basic access for residents who typically do NOT have disabilities. The visitability movement is a campaign for these features to become standard in virtually all new homes, through legislation, voluntary implementation, market forces and strong advocacy from interested individuals.

The visitable home I saw that day in Syracuse had the zero step entrance on the side of the house, a huge utility room, a bathroom big enough for 2 wheelchairs, 32” clearance in the width of all doorways and an open floor plan.

If one of my friends or family owned this home, I would be able to visit without any barriers. I wouldn’t have to sit outside because they have steps or leave early because the bathroom door is too narrow. Just think if we had more homes that were visitable – the opportunities it would open for people with disabilities! I’m talking more independence and social and recreational activities.

With all that said, one of my goals is to educate Rochester area policy makers, developers and other housing specialists on vistiability so we too can have visitable homes.