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 ABILITY
House: Building Homes and Awareness
“Would someone bring the cripples over here, please!” the
volunteer team leader called out. My mouth dropped and my heart began
racing. Cripples? Did he really just say cripples? You
don’t have to be the most politically correct to know that cripples
is about the worst way to refer to people with disabilities. Heck, why
didn’t he just call out for the handicapped folks and gimps
while he was at it! Almost at once, as the call for cripples pierced the
otherwise noisy construction site, the crew leader stopped in embarrassment
as he considered his words. Immediately he stood and approached the closest
person with a disability within earshot, explaining how one of the small
boards used in framing windows is called a cripple—a term
assumed to have originated from the fact that it acts as a crutch, of
sorts, for the other boards. Later, the same volunteer would hand me a
stack of these small boards and wink, asking, “Here—would
you please take these shorties over there?”
Step onto any Habitat for Humanity construction site and the images are
familiar. First time volunteers adorned with tool belts, hammers, hard
hats and safety glasses are working side-by-side with veterans of the
trade as they learn the skills necessary to build a house. How-to lessons
span a wide spectrum, from how to hammer a nail to how to frame an interior
bedroom wall. Beyond the bright red hats that experienced volunteers of
the Anne Arundel County affiliate of Habitat for Humanity wear to identify
them as team leaders, there is little else that visually sets them apart
from those who might be experiencing their first day on a construction
site.
This day was no different. The site was bustling with activity. Energetic
volunteers were hanging siding, pounding in nail after nail. Another group
had lined up to work on the ramp that would make this home accessible
to visitors with disabilities. Up on the roof a few more volunteers worked
feverishly to complete the shingles before the night’s expected
rainfall. Shingle after shingle was placed in line and nailed down with
speed and precision.
Among the ranks on this day, there was a vast differential of experience,
knowledge and ability. Some home builders had been volunteering with Habitat
for Humanity for the better portion of the last decade; others were experiencing
their first opportunity to help build a Habitat home. Some had grown up
working construction with their fathers and were carrying on a tradition
of carpentry; others were learning how to use a drill for the first time
in their lives. Their professional backgrounds ranged from retired PhDs
to assembly-line workers from a local manufacturing plant. Some could
see, others could not.
The project wasn’t a typical Habitat for Humanity construction site,
but the location of the third ABILITY House, a program of the nonprofit
ABILITY Awareness in partnership with Habitat for Humanity and ABILITY
Magazine; this particular ABILITY House was sponsored by UPS, Verizon
and USGA. Likewise, the volunteers on this particular day weren’t
typical Habitat volunteers, but rather associates of Blind Industries
and Services of Maryland (BISM), each with a varying degree of vision
loss, ranging from moderately low vision to legally blind.
The first and most tangible purpose of an ABILITY House is to provide
accessible housing for low-income families where one or more members have
disabilities, and to raise awareness of the need for visitable housing.
The visitability movement asks developers to incorporate into all homes
they build—not just those specifically built accessible for a person
with a disability—three basic features allowing people with limited
mobility to enter and move about the home: at least one no-step entrance;
a bathroom on the first floor big enough that someone can enter it using
a wheelchair and close the door; and doors and hallways on the first floor
wide enough to navigate through (32” and 36” respectively).
In addition to these fundamental features, a number of additional aesthetic
accommodations can be added to make a home more visitable and improve
its value (such as lever door handles and light-switches at a height reachable
by everyone). Constructing visitable homes removes barriers encountered
by our associates, our children’s school-age friends, our parents
and aging grandparents, or anyone who breaks a leg, uses wheeled luggage
or moves into or out of a home—in essence, all of us.
The second and third purposes of an ABILITY House build are intertwined
and directly related to building awareness of the skills and talents of
people with disabilities, first within themselves and then within the
community. During an ABILITY House build, people with all types of disabilities
are recruited as volunteers—sometimes the first time they have been
specifically asked to be the providers and not just the recipients of
assistance. Through this experience, these volunteers often broaden their
own perceptions of what their abilities are, while reaping the intangible
rewards of volunteering and giving back to the community.
After four hours of labor-intensive construction work, the crew was ready
for lunch. Throughout the unfinished interior of the home, small circles
of hungry home builders had formed as the volunteers made the best of
eating lunch while seated on the floor, with stacks of two-by-fours for
their tables. In a corner of the house that would ultimately become a
child’s bedroom, a blind woman picked up her cell phone and placed
a call. “You’ll never guess where I am!” she said eagerly
to the listener on the other end. “Nope, guess again…Still
wrong, try again.” Quite delighted at the knowledge she had stumped
her friend, she said with a grin, “I’m building a Habitat
house!” Getting more excited with each breath, she exclaimed, “I’m
hanging siding. I didn’t know how to when I got here, but they taught
me how! I’m building a house!”
The volunteers from BISM had done something many of them never thought
they could do—they helped build a house. At the close of the day,
they would take away with them more than just a commemorative t-shirt—they
would leave with the sense of contentment that comes from a hard day’s
work and a job well done, new skills and a profound realization of the
satisfaction gained from joining their community in helping others. They
would demonstrate that each one of them possesses an array of skills and
abilities that are simply waiting to be developed.
One particularly memorable image was of Tom, an associate of BISM who
had volunteered to assist with roofing. As the hours went by, the Habitat
crew took turns being surprised by Tom and the ease with which he maneuvered
across the roof, as if he’d done it all his life. Never mind that
Tom’s precision and accuracy with a hammer far surpassed my own
sorry attempts at connecting hammer and nail; more often than not my efforts
resulted in sore knuckles and broken fingernails. Within a short period
of time, he’d developed a rhythm all his own as he worked to stay
one step ahead of the team behind him. While the sighted volunteers next
to him meticulously followed a chalk line on the tar paper, Tom used his
sense of touch to line each shingle up with the one before it; the result
was perfect.
These images of a blind man working comfortably on the roof—and
his associates handily building the ramp and hanging siding—illustrated
the third purpose of the ABILITY House program: to raise awareness within
the community of the true skills and talents of people with disabilities,
and the benefit of reaching out to them when recruiting for volunteer
opportunities. For those on site who did not have disabilities, the day
offered a profound learning experience. “Hearing there would be
12 volunteers on site who were blind, we didn’t know what we were
going to do with them. We couldn’t envision how they were going
to be able to help build this home,” shared one of the more experienced
Red Hats about the anxiety and apprehension the site leaders had felt
at the start of the day. But it was this honesty, combined with open minds,
willing hearts and positive attitudes, that created an environment where
everyone succeeded as a team.
Participation in an ABILITY House build also serves as an opportunity
for sponsoring companies to demonstrate their commitment both to their
community and to those issues that impact people with disabilities. Over
the years, UPS has established itself as a strong corporate member of
the community through its support of the Points of Light Foundation, Habitat
for Humanity and many other worthy organizations. When UPS received the
call to sponsor the ABILITY House project, it offered only one stipulation:
that in exchange for sponsorship, its employees be invited to volunteer.
“The UPS Foundation often defers to the wisdom of UPSers in the
community to determine whether projects or organizations qualify for UPS
help, financial or otherwise. Our involvement with the ABILITY House project
in Baltimore was a no-brainer,” noted Matthew Webb, UPS’ Metro
DC community affairs manager. “The opportunity to contribute physically
and financially made this a good fit for UPS participation. However, the
x factor—the thing that made this a great fit—was
the uniqueness of the project. This project allowed UPS to contribute
to the delivery of the American dream to this great homeowner. Not many
projects have the potential to render so great an impact. This one did.”
As another primary sponsor of the ABILITY House, Verizon demonstrated
its continued support of people with disabilities. “Verizon has
a long standing commitment to our customers with disabilities. This is
evidenced by our involvement with the ABILITY House as well as the recent
expansion of our Verizon Center for Customers with Disabilities to service
customers in Maryland, Virginia, DC and West Virginia,” noted Lisa
Harrison Burke, marketing director for Verizon.
“I have been a part of the Grumpy Old Men’s Wednesday Construction
Crew here in Anne Arundel County for more than five years and have participated
in three previous blitz builds—two with Millard Fuller and one a
Jimmy Carter Work Project—but I have never had a more rewarding
experience than spending the day [on the ABILITY House build],”
shared Bill Schummer, an Arundel Habitat board member and regular volunteer.
“Over and over again, I heard the construction staff and Red Hats,
many of whom are longtime Habitat volunteers, state that this was by far
the best day at a Habitat worksite they had ever experienced. Their eyes
are now open to the many abilities that these volunteers with disabilities
possess,” said Linda Grey, Arundel Habitat for Humanity’s
executive director. “Looking back on this ABILITY House blitz week,
I am reminded that God makes each of us with different strengths and weaknesses.
Disability doesn’t mean a lack of capability. We have heard that
many of the volunteers want to return and help finish the house. Arundel
Habitat will welcome them back with gratitude, as we do all our volunteers
who give of themselves to help families in need of a decent place to live.”
by Romney Snyder
Related Information
www.ABILITYhouse.com
www.habitat.org
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