Last post Sun, Jul 13 2008 8:35 AM by tavah. 4 replies.
I'm having a horrendous time finding a wheelchair accessible apartment! I have Spina Bifida, & I've lived in my current accessible apartment for about 6 years. My rent recently jumped about $60, plus there are some management issues I haven't been pleased with, so I decided to look for something new. I am at my wits end! Yes, obviously they legally have to BUILD a certain number of accessible units at these apartment complexes, but the problem is that the majority of them are quickly filled with non-disabled residents. From what I've been told, the accessible units are always the first to get grabbed because they are on the first floor and people don't want to climb stairs (people that are capable of doing so). There are 2 competing laws it seems: ADA tells these communities that they have to have the accessible units, but Equal Housing laws demand that they be open to anyone, not just those who legitimately need them. I'm not really sure what the solution is, I know they'll never be able to just lock them up & keep them only for those with disabilities, but something really needs to be done. It's like building a ramp, but putting a fence in front of it... or having accessible parking only to say that everyone can park there! They might as well not have the accessible units at all. And it's a problem at literally every apartment community I check out, not just an isolated issue here & there.
I don't even need all of the accommodations that are present in traditionally accessible apartments-- I just need a bathroom door that I can get my chair through (many places insist on putting tiny doors on bathrooms, even when the other doors are average size), & I need to be able to reach at least the bottom shelves of my kitchen cabinets. But because these places do indeed have accessible units, I would have to pay out of my pocket for any changes I'd want if I had to settle with a non-accessible unit. This weekend I checked out a brand-new apartment complex where they could only offer me a non-accessible apartment that I could potentially make do (minus the kitchen cabinets, microwave that was mounted above the stove, & stove with knobs in the back where I'd have to reach over the heat to get to them), but get this... they wanted to charge me an additional $10 per month because it was on the first floor!!! That's how lazy people are-- so much that living on the first floor is considered the same "luxury" as having a 3rd floor unit with vaulted ceilings/fireplace or a pool view (those are the other units at this particular apartment that also get $10 added)!!! I realize that apartment are huge money suckers anyway, but charging someone who is paralyzed & uses a wheelchair for the "convenience" of not having to climb stairs is ridiculous, especially when the apartment they have to offer isn't even fully accessible. Bottom line: I'm stuck in my old apartment, paying out the nose, because I simply can't go anywhere else.
It's ridiculous how they do the accessible apartments at some complexs. When I graduated from college I got a 3 bedroom apartment with 2 of my friends and the only one available was non-accessible. Luckily for me I have learned how to adapt to the environment that I am in since I grew up in a house that was pretty much inaccessible too. I lived in the apartment for 2 years until I finally decided to go buy a house. When I moved out my friends decided to stay at the complex but move into a two bedroom apartment. The funniest thing about this to me was they moved into a handicapped accessible one! Neither of them are handicapped. Go figure.
WilmyK8E,
I've never had to look for an apartment and when I became a fulltime chair user, both manual and power, we started to make modifications to our home to accomodate me. What I have come up against is finding an accessible hotel room when traveling. Seems to be a similar issue; they go to anyone that "wants" a 1st floor room. Arrggghhhh!
I believe that Disaboom plans to get involved with issues like these so stay tuned. The site is quite large and I'm not sure exactly where the advocacy portion will be but I hope to become involved in that area.
C 'ya around!
Dave
I spent 13 weeks searching and living in Super 8 while doing so. Two places were going to force me to pay a "licensed approved" contractor to ramp a little step. My husband can do it with his eyes closed in his sleep but that wasn't acceptable. How do I know these "approved" people don't think ADA is American Dental Association." Talk about discriminatory! I challenged the girl and told her the 1988 Fair Housingg Act (Which I read her) supercedes her management company. She didn't charge me the application fees. Where do you live, I can look with you if you'd like. 4 wheels are better than 2
