NO MORE
TRAFFIC, NOISE AND BOONDOGGLES
We’ve found
this fixer upper on the Tamiami Trail.
We’re
trading arroz y frijoles for gator bites and blue crab.
We’ll still
be right on Route 41, but in Ochopee instead of Miami.
Nah, April
Fools — we’re staying in Little Havana.
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
DON has gutted and rebuilt
existing abandoned houses (rendering above) and constructed new accessible
homes on vacant lots in and around New Castle, Pennsylvania.
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
Land banks acquire, maintain, and return vacant and blighted property to productive use.
Operating as nonprofits, they leverage public and private resources to transform problem properties into community-oriented uses.
In this role, land banks serve as the intermediary between local governments, which assist in land acquisition, and community organizations, which need land to advance their missions.
The mission often is rehabbing houses or apartments for use as affordable housing.
In western Pennsylvania, a disability advocacy nonprofit is
using land banks to create more affordable and accessible housing.
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
 |
| http://idea.ap.buffalo.edu/ |
Steinfeld
said:
"Even
fire codes play a role ... overly restrictive interpretation of fire prevention
codes can make it impossible for people to add chair lifts to stairways serving
second-floor apartments."
CHECK OUT
AND SUPPORT ANNA PAKMAN’S
“SOCIAL FITNESS” MOCKUMENTARY
 |
| Social Fitness |
Anna Pakman,
my new friend and a disabled filmmaker, has released a very short film about
pandemic life. The film, created for Easterseals Disability Film Challenge,
features a cast that includes 70% performers with disabilities.
“SOCIAL
FITNESS” is a mockumentary on the shared experience of quarantine, finding
humor in the commonalities of pandemic life culture. The cast and crew behind
the film represent diverse communities with disabilities, including Cerebral
Palsy, Multiple Sclerosis, Autism, Mental Illness, Epilepsy, PTSD, Limb
Difference, ADHD, traumatic brain injury, and Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI),
alongside committed non-disabled allies.
I checked
out an advance media screening. I love the skewed sense of humor, because
quirky appeals to me. The inclusion of people who are both talented on-screen
and diverse, gets huge bonus points.
The material that follows is taken from the press release about the short and the Easterseals support of disability and diversity.
With
COVID-19 restrictions limiting in-person filmmaking, the team took advantage of
advanced editing technology and the Zoom video conferencing platform to bring
together talent from New York, New Jersey, California, and Florida in one
seamless remote production.
The
Easterseals Disability Film Challenge is a filmmaking contest that challenges
filmmakers to produce original films in just five days (March 16-21, 2021) and
gives new voices within the industry an opportunity to write and produce short
films that challenge the limited representation of disabilities in the media by
telling stories to showcase disability in its many forms.
Although
people with disabilities are 20% of the U.S. population, a Ruderman Family
Foundation study found that only 2% of characters on Primetime TV have
disabilities, with only 5% of those authentically cast with disabled actors.
The team behind Annatated Productions shares Easterseals’ goal to elevate this
through high-quality entertaining content and create a better pipeline for
disabled artists to showcase their talent to the industry.
The film’s
producer, writer and director, Anna Pakman said, “Growing up with a physical
disability, I rarely saw myself represented in front of or behind the camera.
Making my own content has allowed me to rewrite that narrative by creating
roles that defy the typical disability tropes used by Hollywood. I am grateful
to Easterseals for giving us this platform to show audiences around the world
what we can do.”
Pakman, who uses a wheelchair for mobility, added “People with disabilities tend to be masters of adaptability from years spent learning how to navigate inaccessible spaces, so it felt especially poignant to look back at a time when the whole world had to learn how to adapt to an unexpected situation that changed the course of everyone’s daily lives and find the humor in the ‘new normal.’”
Pakman will
be joined by a powerhouse cast featuring internationally renowned comedienne
Maysoon Zayid (General Hospital, You Don’t Mess With the Zohan), Bree
Klauser (Audible Original Phreaks, Apple TV’s SEE), Anita
Hollander (National Chair, SAG-AFTRA Performers with Disabilities Committee, Law
& Order, FBI: Most Wanted), Liz Simons (Broad City), Eric Stafford
(The Blacklist, Alpha House), BJ Lange (Jimmy Kimmel LIVE!), Shashi
Bangera (Sesame Street, Kelly & Cal), Mary von Aue, Josey Miller, and
Sylvia Longmire.
The
production team also includes editor Liz Pritchard (A&E’s The
Employables, ADA30
Lead on Celebration of Disability Arts, Culture, Education and Pride),
advertising industry veteran Jd Michaels of Michaels.Adams, and Stefanie
Parish.
Here’s the
link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awnB9jUGOig
 |
| Anna Pakman |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awnB9jUGOig
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
Providing density bonuses and fast-tracking permitting can be incentives to build more accessible units than those required by federal laws, Steinfeld says.
"Policies
that provide incentives to build accessory dwellings or convert single-family
homes to two or more apartments can help homeowners extract value from their
homes and enable them to remain living independently," he says.
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
 |
| Edward Steinfeld, AIA |
Except in a few localities that require visitability and for a small proportion of units built with public funding, very few accessible single family homes are being built.
Given the aging of the population and the almost
universal desire to “age in place,” this means that government policy is
not matching demand, says Edward Steinfeld, AIA, director of the IDeA Center at the School of Architecture and Planning University at Buffalo, SUNY.
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
*Light
switches, electrical outlets, thermostats, and other environmental controls in
locations that can be reached by a wheelchair user
*Reinforced
walls for grab bars
*Usable bathrooms and kitchens, with no island blocking a wheelchair user.
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
The federal Fair Housing Act requires that all residential (ownership and rental) buildings with four or more attached units have minimum access.
In buildings with stairs,
all ground floor units must be accessible, and in elevator buildings, all units
must have minimum access. In the case of these requirements, "minimum
access" means:
*An
accessible building entrance on an accessible route
*Accessible
and usable public and common use areas
*Usable (wide
enough and with lever handles) doors
*An
accessible route into and through (no steps or split levels) the covered unit
PLANNING BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
Altogether, these facts point to a desperate and increased need for accessible housing.
But
according to surveys from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development,
less than one percent of all housing is move-in ready for wheelchair users, and
virtually all of that tiny one percent is newly built multifamily housing.
The desire to age in place should drive zoning and building codes that create homes that are more accessible and adaptable for all.
But currently, few planning department policies and practices support move-in-ready accessible housing.
The next two weeks of blog posts will share some best practices and tools to help you get started on making a
change in your community.
PLANNING
BEST PRACTICES CAN ACCOMMODATE MORE WHEELCHAIR USERS
At least 25 percent of U.S. residents will experience a disability that impacts their daily life.
How can we better prepare America's housing stock?
More than three million people currently use a wheelchair full time in the U.S., according to the last census.
And America is aging at a larger scale than ever before: fewer than eight percent of Americans were 65 or older in 1950, but by 2030, AARP predicts that population will increase to 20 percent.
Due to age or
other factors, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that one in four
people experience a disability that impacts their daily routine during their
lifetime.
ABLEISM CHARACTERIZES PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES AS INFERIOR TO THE NON-DISABLED
Nor do the label a Schwinn rider as "confined to a bicycle."
They are mobility devices.
Just like a wheelchair.
Wheels and efficiency.
Zero difference.
Yet there are millions of people who know better, yet slip into the hateful, ignorant inaccurate phrases "wheelchair bound, confined to a wheelchair."
To speak
pejoratively of wheelchair mobility is toxic ableism.
NAPLES, ITALY
Seafood isn’t the only game in town.
Fresh fruits and vegetables, meats and cheeses, breads and desserts, and grocery items round out the market’s offerings.
--Napoli Unplugged
NAPLES, ITALY
Best bets are anything veraci, live, like vongole veraci or capoitni veraci.
--Napoli Unplugged
NAPLES, ITALY
Seafood means: clams, mussels and oysters; shrimp, squid and octopus; sea bass and sword fish; anchovies and sardines; the all-important bacala – salted cod and
captioni – eel for the traditional Neapolitan Christmas Eve
dinner, and everything in between, plucked fresh out of the sea.
--Napoli Unplugged
NAPLES, ITALY
Rarely frequented by tourists, Porta Nolana Market is where locals go in search of ingredients for their daily meals that are so rich in seafood.
--Napoli Unplugged
NAPLES, ITALY
If you don’t mind crowds, chaos and confusion, this market is not to be missed.
--Napoli Unplugged
NAPLES, ITALY
I’m pretty certain
this beautiful cat didn’t drive the motorcycle to the market.
But who
knows?
Naples is a
unique place with more than its share of ghosts and mysteries.
AND A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
I also knew
what comfort and love were. Those came in the form of downing whole pizzas with
6 toppings, or wolfing down enough giant burritos to feed four starving men.
When I
realized my dad was perfectly content to ignore most of my mom’s obsessive
compulsive and other damaging behavior, I salved my pain – and 40 work, 40
hours of study weeks – with newly-discovered sub shops and fatty food drive
throughs open late night in downtown Akron.
It took me
damn near a half century to figure out that I could confront pain and reward
achievement – with something other than triple slices of cheesecake with a caloric
content exceeding the recommended intake for all five work days.
I’m not all
the way there. When even a hint of anxiety or depression enters my life, visions
of iced brownies, XL orders of fried catfish and mountains of double buttered
whipped potatoes dance in my head.
I’m an orphan
now. Have been for nearly a year. Dad died of cancer a few years back and mom
died in a nursing home April last year when COVID was ravaging her dementia
care ward. They are at rest, maybe, freed from the demons that robbed them of
much joy and burdened their two sons with shame, obesity, insecurity and mountains
of unresolved issues.
I’m about as
imperfect as they come. But I have a dynamite soulmate of a wife. I have a
loving, if strained relationship with my only sibling.
And for the
first time since I was a tiny boy, I’m eating right and exercising routinely.
NAPLES, ITALY
 |
--Napoli Unplugged
NAPLES, ITALY
The market is convenient for Rome day trippers arriving at Stazione Napoli Centrale.
NAPLES, ITALY
And you hear vendors in rubber boots calling out jokes to each other while selling their wares to passersby.
NAPLES, ITALY
Porta Nolana market is outside, on the street, running among crumbling buildings.
NAPLES, ITALY
Dive in for anything from luscious tomatoes and mozzarella to golden-fried street snacks, cheap luggage and bootleg CDs.
-Lonely Planet
NAPLES, ITALY
Let’s start
the week off with a beautiful cat picture.
This sweetheart
looks well-fed and much-loved.
The feline
friend lives on the street, tempted by the seafood and other delights at the
market.
I WAS TAUGHT
TO MAKE FOOD MY DRUG OF CHOICE
I understand
the factors that made me overweight from a young age.
My late
mother was severely mentally ill and dad unspeakable things to me. A chaotic
and terrifying day was a good one.
A day of
having everything you loved dearly -- including trinkets your beloved late
grandfather gave you on his deathbed when you were nine – torn from your arms,
broken then burned in a ceremony of anger and draconian punishment, those were
the hard ones. And they sometimes outnumbered the “simply” torturous days of
chaos and agony.
When my mom
would come out of her fit of fear, anger and rage – she’d run to get her little
boy a big pizza.
When she
snapped out of it -- and realized she should not have told me I would be an
orphan because she was either fated to die within a year or would take her life
in front of me – she would bake a pie and feed me half of it.
After a
round where my mom, nearly psychotic, would attack me, pummel me – then lie and
tell my dad that I raised my hand to her, so he would beat me black and blue
when he got home from work – she would order a 4-piece fried chicken dinner
with huge breaded jo jo potatoes to some how make up for it.
When I went
years without seeing a museum, park, zoo, or play on a school field trip –
because her messed up mind felt I would be exposed to imagined death-causing
germs for leaving the classroom – she compensated my weeping (because of being
left out) with half bags of chips, pretzels and sugary sodas.
When I
became isolated from all friends – I was the only kid who never was allowed to host
sleep overs, or have visitors, or join a sports team – and considered a leper
to be made fun of, mom would feed me a half dozen big donuts from the in-store
bakery at the new super market.
From about
second grade on, you can see it in my school pictures. As my tummy outgrew its
little body, my eyes looked vacant, sad, mournful, hopeless.
Part 4, the final chapter, published in this blog on Sunday March 14
NAPLES, ITALY
The market's namesake is medieval city gate Porta Nolana, which stands at the head of Via Sopramuro.
Its two cylindrical towers, optimistically named Faith and Hope,
support an arch decorated with a bas-relief of Ferdinand I of Aragon on
horseback.
--Lonely Planet
NAPLES, ITALY
It is a heady, gritty street market where bellowing fishmongers and greengrocers collide with fragrant delis and bakeries, contraband cigarette vendors and Bangladeshi takeaways and grocery stores.
--Lonely Planet
NAPLES, ITALY
Diverse
locals meet daily, from morning to mid-afternoon, to stock up on fresh meat and
produce at Mercato di Porta Nolana, near the port and within walking distance
of the main train station.
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
The program, along with rehabilitation courses, prepares
students to become professionals in the fields of disability studies,
rehabilitation counseling, case management, human services, as well as allied
health fields such as occupational and physical therapy.
AUBURN UNIVERSITY
 |
Taylor and Donald are quick to point out that the team is far from a feel-good program, but rather is a recruiting tool that brings the best and brightest student athletes who are able to meet Auburn’s high academic standards.