- From: Charles McCathieNevile <charlesn@sunrise.srl.rmit.edu.au>
- Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 10:37:38 +1000 (EST)
- To: WAI <w3c-wai-ig@w3.org>
This might be of interest, especially to people interested in EO stuff Charles McCN ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 11 Aug 1998 09:42:23 +1000 From: Doug Piper <speced3@ozemail.com.au> To: arata-ls@mailbox.uq.oz.au Subject: Mandated Disability Access to Every New Home Subject: United Kingdom Becomes First Nation To Mandate Basic Disability Access "VISITABILITY" In Every New Home. CONCRETE CHANGE PRESS RELEASE. June 4, 1998: The United Kingdom Becomes First Nation In The World To Mandate Basic Disability Access In Every New Home. In March `98 Parliament passed legislation requiring that every new home must have an entrance without steps, a downstairs bathroom, sufficiently wide halls, all doorways passable by wheelchairs, and other elements of universal design. According to The Loundon Times : "What builders must ensure - in the jargon of the industry - is visitability housing' " (Dec. 5, 1997) The Home Builders' Federation, a major trade group in the UK, had raised the objection that excessive cost would drive first-time home buyer's out of the market. However, Parliament was persuaded by the counter-arguments of advocates from the Joseph Rountree Foundation, who had already built more than 400 of these houses and in a two-year study found costs to be low and benefits high. After the positive vote, UK Construction Minister Nick Raynsford stated, "There will be direct benefits of increased convenience, accessibility and sociability for disabled people. The measures will also help significantly those people who are temporarily disabled through accident or injury, the elderly and those with young children in prams and pushcarts." An approximately one-year period will be allowed for builders to learn the proper construction methods, and the requirements will take effect in 1999. Zan Thornton, a proponent of universal basic access, or "visitability," in the United States, and a member of the housing activist group Concrete Change, commented: "The ripples will spread worldwide. More and more people are going to see through the phony arguments raised by the NAHB (National Association of Home Builders) here in the States." For more information on the UK legislation, contact Concrete Change at their website http://concretechange.home.mindspring.com. Doug Piper Access Technology Advisor Student Services Directorate NSW Department of Education & Training 3a Small Rd RYDE NSW 2112 Australia Phone: (02) 9886-7306 Fax: (02) 9886-7377 speced3@ozemail.com.au
Received on Monday, 10 August 1998 21:00:13 UTC