UNIVERSAL DESIGN

ROAD SHOW

Happy to announce that I have finalized a deal to bring my unique and passionate presentation of design for all to a major event in the Great Lakes region.

I will be in my native Midwest in June, presenting Universal Design ideas to architects, planners, urban designers, transportation engineers, disability advocates and more.

My interactive and highly visual program will be a revamped and super customized version of something I've had the privilege of presenting at national and global events.

Specific details coming soon.

UNIVERSAL DESIGN -- ACCESS FOR ALL

 SITE DESIGN MUST ELIMINATE ANY ABUSES 

THAT WILL BLOCK THE WHEELCHAIR-ACCESSIBLE PATHWAY

Planners, Urban Designers, Architects, Landscape Architects plus city Zoning and Building officials MUST be visionary when designing wheelchair/pedestrian access.

The sidewalk/only accessible way into this Miami luxury high rise has been blocked by valet parking.

This forces people with disabilities to use the driveway, where they can easily be run over by cars not expecting pedestrians in the roadway.

The site actually has accessible walkways on both sides of the drive. But both are blocked with dozens of valeted cars.

Planning has to consider that once the building is occupied, lazy and thoughtless valets will take up any paved space with the cars of VIPs.

Landscaping a few feet tall, or a decorative border wall between the walkway and driveway would prevent misuse of walkways as valet space.

Police will NEVER in 100 lifetimes go onto private property to ticket or tow to resolve an Americans with Disabilities Act violation.

Cities will not in one million lifetimes pull a certificate of occupancy or otherwise hold a development accountable for discriminating against the human rights of people with disabilities – violated by safe pedestrian pathway blockage.

So designers must anticipate these issues and design to prevent them from Day One.

HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY

PROFESSOR JOHNSON-WRIGHT

Tomorrow marks the 35^th Valentine’s Day I’ll spend with my soulmate, Heidi.

Through the years, she has been my:

Scholarship winning undergraduate student Valentine

Law school graduate Valentine

Proud public servant for the State of Ohio Valentine.

Co-author of hundreds of articles about travel and disability Valentine.

First time home owner Valentine.

Travel around the world by wheelchair Valentine.

Move 1,200 miles from heartland Ohio to pulsing Miami Valentine.

First in history full-time Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator for the City of Miami Beach Valentine.

Purchaser of a 100-year old home in the heart of Little Havana Valentine.

Point person for all things ADA, serving nearly 3 million constituents, in Miami-Dade County Valentine.

Protector of urban park land and open space (stopping concrete paving over paradise) Valentine.

Educator of town planners, urban designers, architects, mobility engineers and other shapers of the built environment Valentine.

Survivor of the pandemic – using her own computer to stay connected in a leadership role – Valentine.

Creator of a unique course on design for all Valentine.

Lead instructor/professor of a graduate and undergraduate full-credit course on Universal Design at a top 10% rate school of architecture Valentine.

Happy Valentine’s Day – my soulmate, superstar wife and partner in making the world a more equitable, inclusive, diverse and accessible place.

THOUGHTS ON TURNING 57

SIX DECADES ON EARTH AND STILL STANDING

I  turned 57 on Oct. 22nd. In my 40 years as a writer, I have interviewed the famous, the infamous, the mega wealthy and those headed to prison.

My life as a journalist, marketer, storyteller and advocate has taken me to places I never thought a kid from a working-class family – the first to go to college – would ever go.

Certainly, my greatest accomplishment has been being a companion to my Heidi for 35 years.

When it comes to professional achievements, I have a Pulitzer nomination and several diverse awards on my walls. I have reinvented myself from a sportswriter to urban affairs journalist, then to a public policy chief, business development director, marketing manager, communications leader, storyteller and advocate.

One of my favorite story sources, who became a friend and mentor in Ohio, had an “I love me” room filled with honors, accolades and scrapbooks from his rewarding life. Perhaps like me, he sometimes doubted his ability or shrugged off praise while taking the slightest shortcoming to heart. Maybe that’s why Saul crafted his I love me room in his cozy abode in greater Columbus.

I recently submitted an extended bio for a speaking engagement. After publishing about 7,000 bylined stories during the past 40 years, it felt odd to write about myself in the third person. Despite the awkwardness, I did feel fairly good about myself (always a challenge in these go-go-go, dog eat dog times), so I will share some of it:

His 40-year career, the past 21 in greater Miami, has been marked by dozens of national stories on the planning profession in diverse publications plus more than a decade of daily Blog, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn posts on urban design.

When Wright came to Florida, he already had been a Pulitzer-nominated, award-winning journalist who covered the urban affairs, smart growth and planning beat at the Columbus Dispatch newspaper. His work earned special recognition from the City of Columbus Planning Department for expert, in-depth coverage of planning in the growing city.

While working as the first full-time urban affairs reporter at the Dispatch, Wright covered not only planning, zoning and development issues, but also focused on land use’s impact on equity, inclusion, diversity and accessibility. His marquee story was a first of its kind special section chronicling a year spent with a photographer in the city’s oldest, poorest, most-neglected neighborhood – Franklinton, which was under gentrification pressure due to an Army Corps flood wall that would usher in development.

In Miami, he has worked with leading urban designers, town planners, architects, engineers, landscape architects, sustainability experts and similar leading firms that create a better built environment. He was put his expertise in Universal Design, Inclusive Mobility and access for People with Disabilities into every winning project.

 

PROUD TO HAVE MORE THAN 300,000 READERS and to

 BLOG DAILY ABOUT URBAN DESIGN AND DISABILITY ADVOCACY

 

We stared this blog a decade ago – when we only had one email account.

It was before we Tweeted several times a day, made Facebook posts all the time and shared Instagram stories plus LinkedIn articles.

We have made more than 3,000 posts.

We remember when we celebrated 15,000 unique visitors to the site.

Now we have shared more than 1,500 fine art images taken around the globe – showing the best in travel, town planning, inclusion, equity and accessibility.

We have taken government leaders, big business and others to task for failing to make the world wheelchair-accessible and barrier-free to all.

We have serialized national magazine cover and centerspread stories, enhanced with exclusive added information and images we took with our own digital SLR.

The combined content would fill three to four full volume nonfiction books.

The insights have influenced hundreds of urban designers, transportation engineers, town planners, landscape architects, sustainability experts, architects and policymakers.

It has shared dynamic theories on universal design, inclusive mobility and environmental justice.

Stay tuned for more.

 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

 FROM HONEYBEAR, HEIDI AND YOURS TRULY

According to HoneyBear, our beloved Siamese rescue cat, 2020 has already come to an end.

Note in the picture that she has closed my laptop and commenced sun bathing flat on top of it till Jan. 4, 2021.

While I envy such dedication to respite and restoration in light of the incredibly challenging year, I will not be out till then (but do hope to spend much time with my amazing partner of 33 years – Heidi – most of the last week of 2020.)

I just wanted to drop a warm note of thanks to everyone who has been a part of my life in these tumultuous times.

I won the lottery of life when I met my Heidi and I have grown to be the most-fortunate man I know – working only with clients that are focused on making the world a better place.

I earn my daily bread providing editorial services and marketing writing for highly-respected planners, urban designers, architects, engineers, mobility specialists, landscape architects, sustainability experts, disability access advocates academics, non-profits and urban infill developers.

Yours in an inclusive, equitable and accessible built environment for all,

--Steve

AARP STUDY FINDS MORE THAN THREE OUT OF FOUR PEOPLE WANT TO AGE IN PLACE

BUT LESS THAN ONE PERCENT OF HOUSING IS MOVE-IN READY

TO ACCOMMODATE A PERSON WITH A DISABILITY

Universal Design is NOT some rare thing for a small special interest group.

It is mainstream and as such deserves a huge boost in public policy rewrites, zoning code changes, economic development incentives, inclusive mobility solutions, connectivity infrastructure improvements.

Architects, engineers, urban designers, transit planners, public works directors, home builders, developers and real estate agents must be better educated.

We cannot keep pretending that at age 60, 70, 80...that we will have the exact same mobility as age 20 and 30.

We MUST erase the shameful history of segregating people with disabilities to the projects and "special" communities.

The state of being disabled is as much a part of the definition of "normal as being African American, Jewish, LBGT, tall, short, fat, skinny, male, female, rich, poor.

We cannot, as a democratic society, continue to perpetuate the myth that mobility impairment is some “one in a billion” freakish thing that results in separating a person with a disability from living a full life mainstreamed into the bounty of our nation.

These words are not a rant, they are a logical, focused and accurate reaction to an independent survey published by AARP.

https://www.aarp.org/research/topics/community/info-2018/2018-home-community-preference.html?fbclid=IwAR20yEFZx7EhA1pk7VVhlXJvH2KtQtgZdfqq2cUkB2UW91I9kmmDdF2J-rU