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Back in the 80's, while working for a large architectural-engineering firm as Marketing Coordinator, I was building a house in the outskirts of Albuquerque, New Mexico...and never gave a thought to accessibility.

More important were details like the finish for the oak flooring and the tiles for the kitchen counters. Then, unwittingly, I became a member of the disability community by coming down with multiple sclerosis.

Going from scampering up ladders to using a wheelchair occurred in relatively short order after completing the house. I resigned from my marketing job, pondered the aforementioned question about accessibility and aesthetics, and found myself researching the very issue of accessibility as I needed to retrofit the newly- built abode.

Institutional-appearing particulars came to mind. I was devastated by the thought. Obviously, all the changes needed to agree with the handsome and attractive qualities of our home.

To shorten a long story, I ended up in the Scandinavian countries photographing and writing about accessible and aesthetic architecture in 1989, their being quite advanced with such thinking.

I followed through doing the same to some of the newer-built accessible homes in both the U.S. and Canada a year later. Yet, to find an aesthetically treated, accessible home here in the U.S. or Canada ten years ago was difficult. Inconceivable were such concepts then.

But, take Gannett News writer, Demetrius Patterson's Dec. 29, 1996 article, "Design for accommodating home design on rise." In it, he says, "Families...are increasingly calling on architects and construction companies to explore so-called 'universal- design' modifications."

Patterson continued by quoting Leon Harper, a senior housing specialist with the American Association of Retired Persons who says, "...as a mainstream thing [universal design], it's just recently becoming desirable."

Ironically, when in the Scandinavian countries ten years ago, I had trouble locating accessible, universally and aesthetically designed homes to photograph for an entirely different reason.

Why? As far back as 1977, universal features were a standard mandate in most of their building codes. So any newly-built place did not consider accessible nor universal design treatment special. Simply, it was a given. I ended up photographing many normal-appearing, yet entirely accommodative, abodes. Universal or aesthectic, yet accessible, design? It depended more on the designer.

Of course, as the population ages, there will be an increased demand for accessibility in our country. But, an aging population should not be the only reason for accessible/universal design. It is known that joining the disability community can happen to anyone at any age, anywhere.

Face it, universal design can appeal to all universally. Take the pregnant mother, the unlucky weekend skier, or the infant learning to walk. Add to that a beloved Grandma who temporally has moved in to recover from a hip replacement operation, the nursing home being a no-no financially, emotionally, and spiritually. And why not expand the marketability of your home?

According to most knowledgeable architects and designers, accessible features add to construction costs one to two percent at most at the drawing board stage.

If you take Concrete Change's Eleanor Smith's simple criteria for increased accessibility, that of wider doors and no front stairs, you are talking about negligible cost increase.

But, if you are looking at any retrofitting plans later on, you are not only looking at exorbitant costs, you are looking at a greater challenge in creating aesthetic touches to any accessible feature. In this case, chances are such changes will look like an clumsy afterthought, not a built-in, and therefore, gracefully incorporated feature.

Common sense and costs alone should behoove us to design wisely, universally, and with focus on maximum flexibility and minimal expense. There is no such thing as a normal or standard lifestyle.

Too, there is no reason accessibility cannot be aesthetic. So enjoy yourself in meeting this realistic and reasonable challenge.

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