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A Roof Over Our Head (Building Better Homes)

 I have been advocating for better accessibility in the community professionally since 2004. So I was very happy to help spread the petition that the Building Better Homes Campaign developed. The campaign called for mandatory accessibility standards to be legislated in the National Building and Construction Code. 

The current accessibility guidelines are voluntary and recommended in the code. 

This has led to inconsistency in building practices across Australia despite the construction industry claiming that the voluntary guidelines work and to change them would place unnecessary burden on the industry. 

From a business point of view I understand the economics of their statement but as a person with a lived experience I know how much the real world is inaccessible to me. 

When I have delivered lectures on Universal Design and accessibility to architecture students, the disconnect between the Disability Discrimination Act and the building code causes confusion. Confusion that will be cleared up once the proposed changes are legislated. 

After years of fighting from advocates and the Building Better Homes Campaign, the vote to change the building code was successful on the 5th of May. Which means minimum mandatory accessibility standards could come into effect as soon as 10th of May 2022.

This is a great victory for all people with disabilities because it now means we too can have access to the great Australian dream and start building better homes. 



A Roof Over Our Head


Doctor Maslow once said; in the human hierarchy we all need a roof over our head.

To take part in the housing market is the great Australian dream,

A place with a picket fence and a lawn full of garden gnomes,

Is out of reach for people with disabilities unless we start building better homes.


An accessible house must not be cramped and absolutely must be ramped.

First rule of Universal Design and accessibility is that you must consider the front entry.

Before I set wheel or foot in the door, there cannot even be just one step or the smallest lip

Because it can make my wheelchair tip.


I have to knock out a wall just so my wheelchair can drive down the hall,

So I can share a master bedroom with my wife, a private space for our love to bloom.

I dream of building my family a home with my own two hands 

But my cerebral palsy means I cannot even build a house of cards

That will not be demolished by the disabled foundation on which it stands.


It's time to change the building code, so we can lighten the load.

Of bricks made from discrimination and start building accessible houses instead of just accommodation.

I long for a nice warm shelter instead of an ancient castle made of stones.

If we start thinking of accessibility automatically, we all begin building better homes. 


© Chris Van Ingen | 30 May 2021

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