The simplest visitability mandates do not require the accessible entrance to be the front door. If the site makes an accessible main entrance impractical, it could be on the side or back of the house, or even through the garage.

Accessibility laws and codes have certainly helped increase access to many different building types. Generally, new public buildings must have a minimum level of accessibility in order to meet Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) guidelines and applicable building codes. Multifamily housing projects (apartments and condominiums) are required to conform to the accessible design standards of the Fair Housing Act (FHA) guidelines as well as building codes.

However, one type of structure remains largely unaffected by mandatory accessibility requirements: single-family housing.

Precise definitions vary, but for the purposes of this article, single-family housing is a type of residential structure designed to include one, two, or three dwelling units. Multifamily housing (covered by FHA accessibility guidelines) conversely is four or more residential units grouped together. Single-family housing generally includes detached houses, duplexes/triplexes, townhouses, and row houses. Units typically have separate access to the outside and do not share plumbing and heating equipment.

Until fairly recently, the consensus was that regulations are not required for single-family housing. Owners could renovate according to their personal needs. If a homeowner or family member uses a wheelchair, they could build ramps, install grab bars, widen doors, and reconfigure walls for clearance as necessary. If another homeowner doesn't have a mobility impairment, then why would the home need to be wheelchair accessible?

But what about the child who happens to be a wheelchair user, and gets invited to a birthday party at a friend's house but can't get in the front door? How about the baby boomer who had an injury and may need to use a wheelchair for a few weeks? Or the young veteran coming home with a spinal-cord injury (SCI) who can no longer visit his old buddies in their houses?

Enter the idea of "visitability." The concept is much simpler than universal design (UD), accessibility, or barrier-free design. Visitability seeks to provide single-family homes, not otherwise regulated for access, with the bare minimum level of accessibility so a wheelchair user can comfortably "visit" the home. In fact, one of the goals of advocates is to keep visitability to just a few requirements in the hope it will become more widespread. The main target of visitability is speculative builder housing where it can positively affect the most people, though the concept can be applied to many situations.

While the idea of visitability has its roots in Europe, it was originated in the United States by Eleanor Smith (Atlanta), a disability advocate and one of the founders of an organization called Concrete Change. According to her Web site, in 1986 Smith was driving around Atlanta, passed a new housing development, and took particular notice of the steps at every entrance. Around the same time, she was working with the disability rights group ADAPT [www.adapt.org], which was advocating a lift on every new bus.

It was then she got the idea: "A lift on every new bus? Yes. And why not a zero-step entrance on every new house?"

She soon realized that "widespread change in housing construction depended on continuously focusing on the few construction barriers that create by far the most harm: lack of a zero-step entrance, narrow interior doors, and lack of access to a bathroom."

According to Smith, she and her fellow advocates initially used the term "Basic Home Access." Then, in 1990, a young wheelchair-using Japanese architect visited Concrete Change headquarters. He said, "In Europe, they use the term visitability."


Learn more about the specifics of visitability. Much of the resistance to the concept is because many believe erroneously that it would add a huge cost to construction. In actuality, many projects cost less.