[Visitaccess] FW: Planetizen Article on Accessible Housing

Tue Jun 5 09:48:35 EDT 2007

I know I have pointed people here before....this is the website with the
report that the graph I just sent out came from. Data on the future
predictions of use of mobility devices, including canes and walkers, is
in this report:  

Demographics of Wheeled Mobility Device Users
Mitchell P. LaPlante, Ph.D.

It can be found on this website along with some other interesting
papers. Please note that this is a pre-publication version that is being
updated. 

http://www.ap.buffalo.edu/idea/Space%20Workshop/index2.asp

Here is the summary Mitch wrote:

"One must admit that the relationships between age, mobility impairment,
and type of mobility impairment, and wheeled mobility devices and type
of wheeled mobility devices are uncertain. Furthermore, one major
predictor of use of wheeled mobility devices, being unable to walk a
quarter mile, appears to be declining in the elderly. This only
reinforces the impression that much of the growth in use of wheeled
mobility devices appears to be due to social and technological factors.
Because these factors are not well known, drawing out the implications
of the aging of the population for wheeled mobility devices use remains
uncertain. To be sure, the advance of the 76 million baby boomers into
the older ranks will propel use of wheeled mobility devices even faster
than it has grown in the past. As younger cohorts with better
understanding of disability and the place of people with disabilities in
society replace older ones with different views, stigma against using
wheeled mobility devices may decline. Segways, powered mobility devices,
and Ibots may be adopted more readily by aging baby boomers and fuel
growth at an even faster pace than has been observed in the past. 

Perhaps the best projection is a simple extrapolation from past trends.
In that case, the rate of growth from 1969 to 1999 has been 5.9 percent
per year. At that rate, by 2010, when the leading edge of the baby boom
generation reaches 65 years old, we would expect to see 4.3 million
users of wheeled mobility devices."  

Note that there is data on use of other devices in the report also,
which are much more prevalent than wheeled mobility devices, as you can
tell from the previous chart. Moreover, even though the Boomers are less
likely to have mobility limitations due to better health, the incidence
of those limitations is much higher than at younger ages so that slight
declines combined with vastly increased numbers add up to lots more
people with mobility impairments. 

Edward Steinfeld, Arch.D., AIA
Professor of Architecture and Director
Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access School of
Architecture and Planning
University at Buffalo, State University of New York

Tel. 716 829 3485 (x327)
Fax. 716 829 3861
email address:arced at buffalo.edu
IDEA Center website: www.ap.buffalo.edu/idea 

-----Original Message-----
From: visitaccess-bounces at cnunext.org
[mailto:visitaccess-bounces at cnunext.org] On Behalf Of Bruce F. Donnelly
Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 9:14 PM
To: CNU VisitAccess
Subject: Re: [Visitaccess] FW: Planetizen Article on Accessible Housing

Edward,

To be honest, what really matters for our discussion
is the percentage of housing units of each type in
which people needing wheelchairs will be housed or
visiting.  I'm not arguing that accessibility and
visitability are not important, but it's not
persuasive to say that because people are living
longer, and because we had a population boom we will
necessarily have more of those units.  Maybe yes,
maybe no; do you have the statistics?  

I have had the impression that 60 years ago more
peoples' bodies failed quickly, so that most never had
both a mobility impairment and the ability to
compensate with wheelchairs.   I have heard the
numbers are higher, but I would like to see the
statistics -- not in terms of numbers, but in terms of
percentages.  

--- "Steinfeld, Edward" <arced at buffalo.edu> wrote:

>  
> 
> The % of people who have a mobility impairment is
> cross sectional data -
> it doesn't tell us who is at risk or who will
> eventually have such an
> impairment over the course of their life. Since
> houses last a long time,
> we have to take the long view. The % over 65 IS
> important because older
> people have a much high probability of having a
> mobility impairment than
> the rest of the population. They are a large portion
> of the population
> at risk. Moreover, they will drive the market for
> accessibility because,
> due to the experience with their parents, this
> generation is much more
> aware of the importance of access for aging in
> place. 
> 
>  
> 
> Edward Steinfeld, Arch.D., AIA
> 
> Professor of Architecture and Director
> 
> Center for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access
> School of
> Architecture and Planning
> 
> University at Buffalo, State University of New York
> 
>  
> 
> Tel. 716 829 3485 (x327)
> 
> Fax. 716 829 3861
> 
> email address:arced at buffalo.edu
> 
> IDEA Center website: www.ap.buffalo.edu/idea 
> 
> ________________________________
> 
> From: visitaccess-bounces at cnunext.org
> [mailto:visitaccess-bounces at cnunext.org] On Behalf
> Of Bruce F. Donnelly
> Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 6:53 PM
> To: CNU VisitAccess
> Subject: Re: [Visitaccess] Planetizen Article on
> Accessible Housing
> 
>  
> 
> I'm immediately skeptical when someone uses
> irrelevant statistics.  The
> percentage of people over 65 isn't relevant; the
> percentage of people
> with mobility disabilities is.  
> 
>  
> 
> Too static <-> "Life" <-> Too noisy
> 
> --Christopher Langton
> 
>  
> 
> Bruce F. Donnelly
> 
>  
> 
> 216 470 9348
> 
>  
> 
> From: visitaccess-bounces at cnunext.org
> [mailto:visitaccess-bounces at cnunext.org] On Behalf
> Of Todd McLeod
> Sent: Monday, June 04, 2007 4:02 PM
> To: visitaccess at cnunext.org
> Subject: [Visitaccess] Planetizen Article on
> Accessible Housing
> 
>  
> 
> The linked article on accessibility for
> single-family housing was posted
> to Planetizen last Tuesday, and includes a reference
> to Eleanor Smith
> and "Concrete Change."
> 
>  
> 
> http://www.planetizen.com/node/24729
> 
>  
> 
> Todd McLeod, E.I.
> 
> Civil Design, Inc.
> 
> The Guaranty Building
> 
> 120 S. Olive Ave., Suite 403
> 
> West Palm Beach, FL 33401
> 
> Tel:  (561) 659-5760 x102
> 
> Fax: (561) 659-5772
> 
> Cell: (561) 676-6208
> 
> tmcleod at civil-design.com
> 
> www.civil-design.com
> 
>  
> 
>  
> 
> > _______________________________________________
> Visitaccess mailing list
> Visitaccess at cnunext.org
>
http://mail.cnunext.org/mailman/listinfo/visitaccess_cnunext.org
> 

Yours truly,

Bruce F. Donnelly

(216) 470-9348

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