Spark the Conversation

I am super excited about the launch of "Spark the Conversation" - a creative contest for students from K-12 in Newfoundland and Labrador to get them thinking about inclusion and accessibility.

"Spark The Conversation” is a creative contest where young people are asked to draw or design a picture of how the concept of inclusion makes them FEEL. The hope is that these efforts will spark a broader conversation on how accessibility in the built environment benefits us all.

Organized by the Universal Design Network Newfoundland and Labrador (UDNNL), in partnership with the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador - Disability Policy Office, The Coalition of Persons with Disabilities, and Boom I.T., we are excited to launch this initiative which we hope is the start of many great conversations on the important topic of accessibility. It is our hope that this campaign drives age-appropriate conversations between parents, students and educators. Young people are often keenly aware of simple solutions that can benefit everyone. Teachers can also feel free to use this resource as a jumping-off point for conversation about accessibility in the built environment and start the creative ball rolling.

Universal Design is about creating environments, from the design stage, that are accessible to everyone and have the most flexibility of use. True accessibility works for everyone!

The contest begins today, September 27th, and submissions will be accepted up to and including October 18th, 2019. Winners will be announced at the Home Show in Mount Pearl on March 28th, 2020. UDNNL intends to post all submissions for public viewing on their website once the contest has concluded.

I am so excited to see what the kids will come up with!!

Find more details HERE or at udnnl.ca

Our New Build

This post is long overdue! I've been threatening to post a home tour on my blog for months now, and I am almost ready to show you guys inside.. almost! While we are still working to complete a couple of interior projects, I have been sharing little sneak peeks on my Instagram recently, if you want to follow me there!

As you probably know, Andrew and I sold our home last year (see THIS post) because we had outgrown it's space and functionality. We knew that we needed more living space inside, but we also wanted more land and space around us outside. We craved privacy. Our previous neighbourhood was lovely, but the houses were so close together you could literally high-five the guy next door through the windows. Not ideal.

We didn't want to venture too far away from the city, and with the needs of our children, we need to be in close proximity to the hospital. We looked at a couple of building lots in different areas, but were drawn to the beautiful big trees and the level of privacy we would have on this spacious lot on a quiet cul-de-sac in Logy Bay.

This photo was taken in May, 2017 when we purchased the land. (We were so excited!)

To create our house plan, we worked closely with home designer and Certified Housing Professional, Andrew Holley of Levis St. Design Group in Bedford, Nova Scotia. Andrew's education is grounded in the fundamentals of building science and universal design. He understood the needs of our family, and worked with us to design a space that is both beautiful and functional with well thought-out access for everyone in our home.

We took photos to document the entire process, and will eventually have them printed in a photo book, like we did for our last house. At the time of construction, it all felt like such a blur, and I was so caught up in the details - picking out lighting and flooring options, counters and cabinets, paint colours and trim designs. It was a busy few months, and admittedly a little overwhelming, but all well worth it in the end. I just love being able to look back at these photos and see how far we have come.

The team at York Construction did an incredible job of bringing our house to life, and we can't thank them enough. From the very start of this project, they worked with us to make every decision as seamless and painless as possible. It was a pleasure to have such a talented and dedicated team on our side! Of course, while I'm at it, I can't forget to thank our awesome realtor - Erica Coultas. Erica was my go-to person throughout this whole process, and she was a dream to work with! We are so happy to call her our friend!

Our house was completed in April of this year (2018), and we moved in on April 5th. It's taken a while to get organized, but we are very proud of the progress we've made in the past seven months. It's been fun and frustrating and everything in between, but it finally feels like we are getting settled and we are slowly but surely making this house our home. She is a beauty!

We are so happy here. I can't wait to show you the inside!

House For Sale

You guys, I can't believe I am writing this post, but here goes..

We are selling our beautiful home!

Andrew and I designed and custom built this house just five years ago, and it was the perfect home for the three of us. We have made so many wonderful memories here. We have worked here, and played here, and hosted friends and family here. While we built this home to be accessible and functional for Brennen's needs, ultimately we wanted our home to be a place where everyone felt safe and loved and where we could spend our days creating beautiful, exhausting, and real life moments that we would treasure for a lifetime - and we have certainly accomplished that.

Shortly after we moved in, our house was featured on Houzz.com (see HERE).

We are still so in love with this house, but the reality for us right now is that we need more space.

We had not ever planned on expanding our family to include two more children (and all of the 'stuff' that comes with them!), but as we well know, life doesn't always go as planned! Opening our home (and our hearts) to our foster babies has changed our lives in the best way possible. We have a busy house, full of so much love and every day is a new adventure. We are loving our life and we wouldn't change a thing, but we need another bedroom, and could really just use some extra space!

Andrew and I want our children to feel a strong sense of 'home', of belonging to this family and being loved by us. We have already begun building our 'Ultimate Dream Home version 2.0' and we are super excited about that! I will try to bring you along for the ride as we work on our new home, but there is so much to do and my brain is still catching up to all that is happening.

It is a bitter-sweet feeling, because we really do love our home here.

We love the open concept. It was important for me to be able to see Brennen at all times from wherever I was, but it has proven to be super functional and practical for many other reasons. The truth is that an accessible or universally-designed home will accommodate everyone and has many conveniences that we hadn't even thought of.

From Universal Design NL:
"Everyone will benefit greatly from a home with universal design features, as it makes life more comfortable and enables ease of access and movement throughout everyday tasks. A home that is constructed with universal design will also be a safer and more welcoming home, easily accommodating your family members and visitors of all ages and abilities. As you grow and age, your housing needs will also change. Planning for these changing needs and abilities helps you better customize your home’s features and can also reduce the need for costly future renovations.
Homebuyers who invest in a universally-designed home will benefit from an open, modern design that will be immensely useful to them in all stages of their lives – from parenthood when frequent in-and-out stroller use and active kids are in play, right through to retirement when mobility issues may become a reality. Consider how everyday scenarios will be much easier with universal design – you’ll have a safer home with the added convenience of layouts that allow easy clearance and access for movers, service personnel and equipment if ever you should need them. Finally, universal design can also make your property more valuable and appealing when re-selling."

The hallways are wide (4 feet), and all doors are 36". The garage is built up to be level with the floor, creating a "no step", level entry into the home. There is a ramp from the driveway to the backyard, which leads to an above ground, walk-out basement and beautifully landscaped yard.

We had a bathroom connect to Brennen's bedroom with a pocket door, and the bathtub was raised to make bathing him so much easier. This tub has certainly saved my back on many occasions!

The playroom gets tons of natural light and has provided countless hours of fun for our little ones. We are so proud of this space, and will certainly miss it when we go.

And this room (the nursery) has to be my favourite. I just love the feeling I get when I'm in this room, knowing that we are providing a safe and loving home to these precious little ones. I get emotional just thinking about it. It's the personal details and the love that goes into making each room as cozy as can be, that really creates the feeling of "home" and brings us so much joy.

I can't even believe that we are selling this house, but it has served us well and now it is time to move on. This little family of mine is everything, and home is wherever we are together!

Want to buy my house?! You can see the MLS listing HERE.

If you are interested in a private viewing, contact Erica at 709-330-0575.

Our City's Most Accessible Hotel

This past weekend, Andrew and Brennen and I had the wonderful opportunity to stay in our city's newest and most modern hotel - The Holiday Inn Express & Suites.

The Holiday Inn Express is a uniquely accessible hotel, and is the Children's Wish NL Chapter's hotel of choice for Wish families, as they go to and from their Wish destinations!

Located directly at the St. John's International Airport, the hotel is easily accessible from the Trans Canada Highway, and is just minutes from Stavanger Drive, or just a short drive away from vibrant downtown St. John's. The convenient location is perfect for anyone with an early morning flight, or a stop-over in the city.

I am always excited to learn about the great things that are happening with accessibility in our community, and I was super excited to take this opportunity to learn about the accessible features of this beautiful new hotel!

Andrew and Brennen and I packed our bags and checked in for the night. We had so much fun, pretending to be tourists in our own city!

This particular Holiday Inn is a global icon with local flair. The hotel lobby is full of local artwork that was custom made for the space.

Our accessible room had a king size bed, and a washroom with a wheel-in shower. Our room connected to another room that also had a king size bed, so it was essentially a two bedroom suite with two washrooms. We had tons of space! I honestly feel like we could have moved into that suite and stayed for a long time!

After settling in to our room, we just chilled and hung out for an hour or so before hitting the pool. The indoor heated pool has an automated wheelchair lift. We all got in for a little swim before dinner!

The hotel also has an on-site health club with state of the art equipment.

As the hotel is brand new, they do not yet have an on-site restaurant, but they are in the planning stages to build a restaurant in the parking lot. They do offer a complimentary hot breakfast buffet each morning, and they have delivery options set up with a number of local restaurants as well.

We ordered dinner entrées from Boston Pizza... so good!

I just love this family of mine. A friend of ours told us recently that we can make an adventure out of anything, and that is the truth! It can be daunting at times. Just the thought of packing up your family when you have a child with special needs, and staying in an unfamiliar place, gives me all kinds of anxiety, but we know now that the Holiday Inn Express is fully accessible and able to meet all of our unique needs.

The owners of the Holiday Inn Express & Suites have gone above and beyond the minimum requirements to ensure that their hotel is fully accessible for all of its guests. Not only is it "wheelchair friendly", but they have incorporated many special features to meet the needs of people with disabilities other than just mobility limitations.

We were pleased to see a good number of accessible parking spaces with priority location in the parking lot, and step-free access to the main entrance of the building.

The hotel has six accessible rooms, two of which have wheel-in showers with wall-mounted shower seats, and grab bars in the washrooms. The bathroom in our room had a sink that you can wheel under (see photo of Brennen above!), and a beautiful sliding door with a large handle to accommodate people of varying heights.

Our room had plenty of space to maneuver Brennen's wheelchair, with lots of extra space on either side of the bed. There were mid-height light switches and power outlets, and a visual door knock indicator in both the main room and the bathroom. A doorbell outside of the room made a sound and flashed inside, to accommodate both hearing and visually impaired individuals.

Each person with a disability will have unique needs, but any building or room that is accessible to persons with disabilities will be accessible to ALL users. Providing full and equal access is essential when trying to make an inclusive society a reality, and The Holiday Inn Express has considered the needs of most everyone in seeking to create a hotel that is usable by the greatest number of people, regardless of ability.

Our overnight stay exceeded our expectations. The friendly staff were super helpful, and we couldn't have asked for better treatment. We are so grateful for this fun opportunity to stay in this beautiful new hotel. Thank you to Holiday Inn for hosting our family. We had such a great time!

Universal Design - Building for Everyone

The Independent Living Resource Centre recently hosted an information session on Universal Design.

Betty Dion, of Betty Dion Enterprises Limited was in town to share her 35 years of experience and expertise in universal and accessible design. She presented on the principles of universal design and how they can be incorporated into the built environment. "Incorporating universal design and accessibility is integral to good design as it ensures the usability of the built environment for all people, including persons with disabilities."

Dion has authored a book investigating how to create more accessible built environments for people with disabilities and older persons around the world. International Best Practices for Universal Design: A Global Review compares international codes and practices from 16 international jurisdictions, in order to determine the "best practice" for common accessibility issues. Some issues covered in the book include: doorways, ramps, washrooms, turning radius, communications, and the use of colour and texture in way-finding cues. 

At the Bally Haly Country Club in St. John's this week, Dion addressed a group of over 100 attendees, including politicians, architects, engineers, health care professionals, and members of local disability-related organizations.

The number of people worldwide living with at least one disability is exponentially increasing, and something needs to be done on a large scale to accommodate this growing number of individuals. In order to make an inclusive society a reality, it is necessary to identify and remove barriers to access. Universal Design and Inclusive Design provide guiding principles that consider the needs of everyone and seek to create an environment that is usable by the greatest number of people, regardless of ability.

The seven principles of Universal Design are:
1. Equitable Use: The design is useful and marketable to people with diverse abilities.
2. Flexibility in Use: The design accommodates a wide range of individual preferences and abilities.
3. Simple and Intuitive Use: Use of the design is easy to understand, regardless of the user's experience, knowledge, language skills, or current concentration level.
4. Perceptible Information: The design communicates necessary information effectively to the user, regardless of ambient conditions or the user's sensory abilities.
5. Tolerance for Error: The design minimizes hazards and the adverse consequences of accidental or unintended actions.
6. Low Physical Effort: The design can be used efficiently and comfortably with minimum fatigue.
7. Size and Space for Approach and Use: Appropriate size and space is provided for approach, reach, manipulation, and use regardless of user's body size, posture, or mobility.

A barrier-free environment is one that benefits everyone, not only people with recognized disabilities. Making buildings and other public spaces accessible to people with disabilities is about more than just building ramps. From bathrooms to classrooms, airports to workplaces, Universal Design takes into account the reality of these different environments and whether or not people with disabilities are fully able to benefit from them, as well as addressing any barriers that may be preventing full and equal access.

Betty Dion won the 'Accessibility by Design' Award for her work on the Ottawa McDonald-Cartier International Airport. After touring the airport, Dion had someone comment to her that they "didn't see anything for people with disabilities in there". That is exactly the point. Universal Design is not meant to be obvious or to single anybody out. It is meant to include all people, without segregation. Universal Design is just good design.

A couple of years ago, we built our beautiful new family home. We incorporated many elements of Universal Design when designing our home, and we created an accessible space that meets the needs of our family.

You can see our home featured on Houzz.com here -
My Houzz: Universal Design Helps an 8-Year-Old Feel at Home

For more information on Betty Dion and Betty Dion Enterprises Limited, visit www.bdel.ca