Working with community partners to promote visit-ability in a rural state

Eleanor Smith developed the concept of visit-ability to describe features of private homes that provide a minimal level of accessibility to allow people with mobility impairments to visit the home of a friend or family member. An estimated 19 million Americans report mobility difficulty. From a public health perspective, visitable homes may eliminate barriers to participation, reduce the rates of anxiety, depression, and social isolation experienced by individuals with disabilities, and promote independence in activities of daily living. There are wide array of partners sharing the common goal of increased availability of visitable homes in Montana, including the state Department of Public Health and Human Services, state centers for independent living (CILs), the Montana Association of Realtors, the Montana Building Industry Association, and the Montana Home Choice Coalition. Working with these partners, we trained four CIL staff as Accessibility Ambassadors to promote visitability in the states four CIL service areas. To date, these Accessibility Ambassadors have met personally with more than 100 builders, architects, realtors, public health professionals, policy makers, and consumers. We will present evaluations of changes in knowledge, awareness, and acceptance of visitability as a viable home design option. Preliminary data indicate that 57.14% of the target audience reported that presentations increased their understanding of visitability; and 60.71% and 87.5% respectively, said they were more likely to consider a visitable home design in their personal and professional lives. We also will discuss suggested next steps for visitability in Montana put forth by the target audience on these evaluations.