Quarterly 
Special Edition - Housing Conference - November 2011 
Quarterly 
Special Edition - Housing Conference - November 2011 
Published by the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council to bring disability 
issues and accomplishments to the attention of Ohioans. 

Keys to Housing Conference Prompts Ohioans 
with Disabilities into Action 
The Keys to Housing Options conference 
attracted 200 participants including Ohioans 
with disabilities of all ages, their family 
members, providers and other professionals 
interested in housing issues. The two-day 
event took place Tuesday and Wednesday, 
November 8 and 9 at the Hyatt Regency in 
downtown Columbus. 

Major sponsors of the conference included the 
Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council and 
the Ohio Olmstead Task Force. Cosponsors 
were CareSource, Creative Housing, Inc., 
HOME Choice Program, Ohio Housing Finance 
Agency, Ohio Housing Locator, Ohio Legal 

Rights Service, Ohio Statewide Independent 
Living Council (SILC) and the Southeastern 
Ohio Center for Independent Living (SOCIL). 

This special edition of the DD Quarterly 
summarizes the conference. A recap of the 
conference along with highlights from several 
of the workshops follows. 

The Ohio Legal Rights Service (LRS) 
would like to thank the AXIS Center 
for Public Awareness for contributing 
the pictures and articles for this 
newsletter. The AXIS Center also 
planned and produced the conference. 
No Place Like Home 

Tuesday’s opening keynote speaker, Derrick 
Dufresne, president of Community Resource 
Associates, Inc. reinforced the objective of 
independence for people with disabilities by 
living in the community of their choice. He 
repeatedly asked the audience, “What does 

it take for somebody to find a place called 

home?” His answer: “Thinking differently.” 

Dufresne said advocates and others need to 
think about ‘community’ not just as a place, 
but as the people who make up that place. 

“When I think of what home means to me, first 

and foremost, it is not just my house, but my 
neighborhood. But most of all, what I think 
about is the people. It is unacceptable and 
inexcusable that people with disabilities have 

article continues on page 2 

Derrick Dufrense presents the opening session 
to more than 175 people with disabilities, family 
members, providers and advocates. 


ODDC Mission 

It is the mission of the Ohio Developmental Disabilities Council (ODDC) to create change that improves independence, 
productivity and inclusion in community life for people with disabilities and their families. 


continued from page 1 

to beg for a place to call home. Home is not 

defined just by the place, but by the people 

we know.” 

He recalled his college days of transitioning 

from dormitory living to his first apartment 

by illustrating just how intrusive well-
meaning but over-analyzing, micromanaging 
professionals can become 
as they infringed on his rights and 
preferences. The same happens to people 
with disabilities looking for better housing 
and increased independence. He also 
described an instance of creating a 12-bed 
accessible home for people with disabilities 
after two people with disabilities asked for 
accessible housing. In the end, few people 
wanted to live in such a home, and other 
tenants had to be found. 

Dufresne shared a brief video of an Ohioan 
who was living in a nursing home. Ron, 
the man in the video, who was a U.S. 
Navy veteran, became ill and was placed 
in a nursing home. “This place isn’t bad, 
but it’s locked up 24 hours a day. The VA 
thought I needed someone to take care of 
my medicine.” Ron, Dufresne said, hasn’t 
seen his family, including grandchildren, 
in four years. “I’m a good guy. I’m not a 
trouble-maker,” Ron said. “They just don’t 
want me to 
go into the 
community 
where you 
have more 
freedom and 
go where 
you want to 
go. Freedom 
is a very 
important 
thing.” 

When it 
comes to 
housing for 
people with 
disabilities, 
Dufresne said, 

housing? Who holds the lease? Who holds the 
mortgage?” He noted that in Ohio, providers of 
services for people with disabilities cannot own 
the homes in which the people with disabilities 
live. Some states, he added, do not have that 
law. 

People with disabilities who aren’t living in the 
community in a home of their choice, also do 
not have the opportunity to contribute to that 
community, Dufresne said. Nationally, 453,000 
people with disabilities live in some kind of 
housing other than a home, and 750,000 are 
living with a caregiver older than the age of 61. 

Panel Discusses Housing 
Experiences 

A panel of five Ohioans with disabilities shared 

their personal housing experiences with 
conference attendees on Wednesday afternoon. 
Each provided a different insight into the 
various challenges experienced by people with 
disabilities to live in a home in a community of 
their choice. 

Several year ago, Rick Grace had a seizure 
while driving and the resulting accident was 
not discovered for many hours. “I lost a lot of 

blood. I was life-flighted to the hospital, and 
woke up five days 

later,” he said. “I 
had to re-learn 
how to walk. I had 
to re-learn how to 
talk.” Because of 
his injuries, he was 
sent to a nursing 
home for seven 
months, a place he 
eventually wanted 
to leave so badly 
that he started to 
sneak out to visit 
a nearby store. 
“The nursing home 

didn’t like that,” he 
laughed. 


Mary Smithson introduces the panel of people with disabilities: 
Rick Grace, Renee Wood, Chris Hollingsworth, Reuben Turner 
and Christopher Cooley 


“Important questions need to be asked. 

The HOME Choice program helped Grace leave

For instance: Who is in charge of the 

the nursing home for good. He now lives in 
article continues on page 3 

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DD Quarterly Special Edition - Housing Conference - November 2011 


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an assisted living complex and has a visiting nurse. 
Although he is not able to work, he enjoys taking acting 
classes. “I’m independent. I always have been that way, 
but when I need it, the help is there.” 

Renee Wood of Toledo described her various 

experiences and successes with finding housing since 

1979. She emphasized that despite her challenges, she 

has always been able to find housing. “I don’t know why 

I’m so lucky,” she said. She believes that one key to 
securing housing is to “present yourself well.” 

Chris Hollingsworth, of Gibsonburg was originally 
from Detroit when he moved to Ohio to live in a nursing 
home due to a severe medical condition and subsequent 
surgeries that involved complications and a loss of his 
mobility and strength. “I almost gave my life to get my 
life,” he said. “I’ve been through a lot, and by the grace 
of God, I’m still here,” he said. 

Once he stabilized, he wanted to leave the nursing 
home. He needed assistance, though, and credits 
the Ability Center of Greater Toledo and the HOME 
Choice Program for helping him to prepare a plan and 
eventually move into his own place in the community. 
“Get yourself in contact with programs that can help, 
so you can have a fresh start and a new beginning,” he 
advised. 

Reuben Turner of Toledo is the first to tell you he got 

mixed up with the wrong crowd, even after graduating 
from college with two associate degrees. “I got involved 
with drugs, and it took away a lot of the things I had in 
life,” he said. 

Eventually he started having seizures and couldn’t find 

a job. His medical condition progressed to a point that 
he was admitted to a nursing home. “It wasn’t a place 
a person my age should be,” he said. “When I got there, 
I met some of the people, most of whom were old. I 
couldn’t relate to them.” 

A friend who was living at the nursing home with him 
was leaving and it inspired Turner to start seeking 
his own release from the facility. He found assistance 
through the ACCESS Center for Independent Living, 
which helped him navigate the HOME Choice Program. 

“They helped me find a wonderful apartment,” he said. 

“And I had to learn to cook. I got to living the way I 
wanted to live.” 

Christopher Cooley of Grandview began his story to 
the audience by leading them in a cheer of, ‘I can…I 


Improving the lives of Ohioans 
with disabilities 

The Ohio Developmental 
Disabilities Council is a group 
of 35 people, appointed by 
the governor, who plan and 
advocate for Ohioans with 
disabilities. ODDC receives 
federal funds and distributes 
those funds by awarding 
grants for projects and 
activities that create visions, 

influence public policy, pilot 

new approaches, empower 
individuals and families, and 
advocate system change. 

899 East Broad Street 
Suite 203 
Columbus, OH 43205 

Voice: (614) 466-5205 

(800) 766-7426 
(Toll free in Ohio) 
TTY: (614) 644-5530 

Fax: (614) 466-0298 

www.ddc.ohio.gov 

article continues on page 4 

DD Quarterly Special Edition - Housing Conference - November 2011 

3 

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will.’ That, he said, has been his motto 
throughout life. 

Cooley, originally from Portsmouth, moved on 
his own to New 
York City for two 
years, training at 
the Helen Keller 
National Center 
for Deaf-Blind. 
He returned to 
Portsmouth, but 
everyone there, 
he said, told 
him, “You’re an 
accident waiting 
to happen.” He 
decided to move 
to Columbus. 

His social worker 
referred him to 
a place with the 
promise of nearby 
mass transit and a comfortable atmosphere 
of accessibility. What he found, though, was a 
facility where all the residents were older and 
deaf, and there was no bus stop that was close 
by. Cooley became frequently became ill and 
very depressed by his situation. “I would sit 
down and cry, many nights.” 

He chose to take action and contacted Creative 
Housing. That organization, along with several 
other agencies, led him to the apartment where 

he currently lives. He was finally close to bus 

stops and making new friends. “I did it, I’m 
doing it, and I want to do more,” he concluded. 

The Need for Visitability 

A lunchtime conference panel provided insights 
and a call-to-action on the need to support the 
visitability movement in Ohio. 

Visitability Legislation 

Ohio State Senator Charleta Tavares 
(D-Columbus), offered a legislative perspective 
to the Tuesday lunchtime conference panel. 
She discussed the importance of addressing 
housing for people with disabilities through 
legislation, such as a statewide visitability law, 

Conference attendees listen to the inspirational stories given 

by the panel on their experiences with finding housing. 


but pointed out that such an effort takes more 
than one person to become enacted. 

“We really wanted to focus in on the needs 
of everyone,” 
she said of the 
Ohio Visitability 
Strategy Work 
Group, which 
studies and 
advocates for 
new homes 
built with 

entry, first floor 

and bathroom 
access, enabling 
people with 
disabilities to 
visit family 
and friends. 
“I am anxious 

to introduce 

visitability 
legislation as the committee members decide 
how best to go about it,” she added. 

However, on a statewide level, Tavares 
recognizes that more work must be done by 
all to educate the home-building profession 
and legislators, to make people more aware of 
the need for visitable homes. “What I see as a 
state senator is a lack of advocacy. People are 
threatened in some cases if they stand up for 
what they believe is right or stand up for the 
needs of their constituents,” she said. 

“I need your strong advocacy with me,” she 
told the audience of people with disabilities, 
their family members and professionals. “I 
can’t do it myself. I need my colleagues on 
both sides of the aisle to understand the 
importance of visitability. Meet with your 
state representatives, your state senators, and 
advocate for the needs of all of the people in 
Ohio.” 

Inaccessible Homes a Public Health 
Problem 

Since 1946, when she became disabled due to 
polio, Eleanor Smith has known challenges. 
When her condition worsened in the 1980s, 
she became a disability rights advocate and 

article continues on page 5 

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DD Quarterly Special Edition - Housing Conference - November 2011 


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founded Concrete Change in Atlanta, GA, 
which works to ensure universal visitability 

in new homes. During her talk she clarified 

the difference between visitable and universal 
design, saying that universal design includes 

nearly 30 specific design features. Smith 

showed and described photos of easily 
accessed homes and some with barriers. “Even 
one step is a problem,” she said. Smith also 
spoke about the visitability movement and 
asked each person to “press 
for basic access in every new 
house.” 

“God isn’t building those 
buildings, people are. God’s not 
drawing those house plans… 
people are,” she said. “We can’t 

go back and fix every old house 

in the USA and make it with 
basic access. But, we can stop 
building the same barriers in 
every new home,” she added. 
In fact, she called the lack of 
access to homes a public health 
problem. 

“There are public health 
implications from building 
barriers,” she said. “Lack of 
access is a public health problem, not 
just a personal problem.” 

For example, falls on steps brings 
injuries to individuals with disabilities 
and even their caregivers who assist them in 
and out of their homes. 

Another health threat due to access barriers 
results when people with disabilities stop 
drinking as much water as they should 
because they can’t get to the bathroom or 
kitchen easily. “You do that years on end, and 
it takes a toll on your kidneys and bladder,” 
Smith said. 

Additionally, barriers to getting in and out of 
a home create isolation and depression — a 

significant health issue. “This impacts visiting,” 

she said. “You can’t go next door. You can’t go 
to the family Thanksgiving Dinner. There is a 
tremendous amount of isolation that goes on. 
The only conversations might take place on the 

Eleanor Smith explains that 
visitability is more than a 
movement to create houses 
people can visit - it also 
deters health problems. 


porch.” Barriers to visiting keep generations of 
families and friends apart, she added. 

Often builders say that it isn’t feasible to 
build with access in mind. But incorporating 
visitable access while building the homes is the 
key to low cost, she said. “It’s super hard to rip 

out, and it’s expensive to retrofit.” The cost to 

renovate is 20 to 30 times the cost of doing the 

project right the first time with access in mind, 

she said. 

She said that two 
ingredients for creating 
visitable communities 
are advocates and strong 

public officials. “With those 

two things, visitability can 
occur.” 

Promoting visitability 

Sara Lahman, the first 

architect hired a year 
ago by the Ohio Housing 
Finance Agency, explained 
that visitability standards 
can easily be incorporated 
in construction when 
homes are being rehabbed. 
She said that so far, there 

have been nearly 4,000 visitable 
projects funded throughout 
the state. “It’s an entire 
community of houses that are 
visitable,” she said. Lahman 

added that her expertise as an architect comes 
in handy for being a part of the visitability 
solution in Ohio. “I can read the blueprints 
that the architects bring in and provide 
recommendations,” she said. 

Brent Simonds, advocacy coordinator at 
MOBILE in Columbus, and a member of the 
Ohio Visitability Strategy Work Group, said 
that the larger picture of visitable homes 
includes a matter of safety. Simonds, who uses 
a wheelchair, described having to be carried 
into inaccessible homes. “I felt unsafe, and it 
was unsafe for the people helping me. More 
advocacy needs to be done.” 

“I’m not a policy expert, or a housing expert,” 

article continues on page 6 

DD Quarterly Special Edition - Housing Conference - November 2011 

5 

The visitability panel 
included Brent Simonds 
who pointed out that 
visitability includes safety 
features. 


continued from page 5 

Simonds said. “I’m just a person with a 

disability who has experienced (inaccessibility). 
I’m a social worker, 
and I have worked 
with people who 
have needed 
accessibility.” He 
pointed out that 
when people are 
sick and in the 
hospital, they 
sometimes can’t 
return to their 
homes because 
their homes are 
not accessible 
and it is much 

more difficult, if 

not impossible, to 
navigate inside the 
house. In addition, 

home modification 

programs are 

difficult to access 
because of the high demand for modifications 

that commits the funds dedicated for that 
purpose. “We need more grassroots help,” he 
said. 

Workshops 

Conference participants chose from a variety 
of workshops. Beginning, intermediate and 
advanced sessions were offered to cover the 
different levels of knowledge and needs of those 
attending. The following are some examples. 

Becoming a Local Advocate 

Local housing advocacy networking was the 
topic given by Kat Lyons, advocacy coordinator 
at the Center for Independent Living Options in 
Cincinnati. She said it is in the best interest of 
people with disabilities to link up with groups 
that advocate for housing concerns. “Belonging 
to a variety of housing advocacy groups can 
increase your power to get anything done,” 
Lyons said. Lyons outlined strategies people 
with disabilities and their families can put into 
action in order to make a greater impact on 
policy and other decisions within housing. 

Ohio HOME Choice Program 

Another workshop covered the Ohio HOME 
Choice program and how it works to bring 
people out of nursing 
homes and into homes 
in the community. 
Leslie J. Sawyer, HOME 
Choice from the Ohio 
Department of Job 
and Family Services 
provided information 
about the program and 
Thomas Robertson 
of Dayton shared his 

personal story of finding 

independence through the 
program. 

Know Your Rights 

Disability rights and compliance in housing 
was presented by Joyce Hill of the Ohio 

Department of Development’s Office of 

Community Development and Francis Smith, 
HUD Enforcement Branch Chief. They covered 
different types of discrimination that people 
often experience and stressed that equipping 
yourself with the facts about fair housing laws 
and individual rights helps you to recognize 
when someone discriminates against you and 
what you can do. 

Home Modifications 

Making your home accessible was presented by 
Patrick Rafter and Christie Stouffer of Creative 
Housing/Creative Renovations presented with 
Cory Grywalski, of the Delaware County Board 
of Developmental Disabilities. The three talked 
about improving access throughout the home 
by assessing your needs, thinking outside the 
box, exploring new products and asking the 
right questions when hiring contractors. 

Legal Questions Answered 

In addition to the workshops, information 
booths were available, including a Q&A room, 
hosted by the Ohio Legal Rights Service (LRS), 
where people asked legal experts housing 
questions on topics such as discrimination, 
accommodations requests and services to 
support independent living. 

Conference 
participants 
chose from a 
wide variety of 
workshops. 


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DD Quarterly Special Edition - Housing Conference - November 2011 


What Attendees Had to Say About 
the Keys to Housing Options 
Conference 
What Attendees Had to Say About 
the Keys to Housing Options 
Conference 
Improving the lives of 
Ohioans with disabilities 


DD Quarterly is produced by 
the Ohio Legal Rights Service 
(LRS). 

DD Quarterly can be viewed 
at www.ddc.ohio.gov or at 
www.olrs.ohio.gov . 

To share your comments or 
suggestions, contact Kim 
McConnell at LRS: 

Voice: (614) 466-7264 

(800) 282-9181 
(Toll free in Ohio) 
TTY: (614) 728-2553 
(800) 858-3542 
(Toll free in Ohio) 
Fax: (614) 644-1888 

Email: newsletter@olrs. 
state.oh.us 

Copyright © 2011 

Content may be reprinted 
upon request. 

“People with disabilities have rights just 
like anyone else. Our voices and opinions 
matter just as much as a person without 
disabilities. I learned that not only in the 
housing advocacy networking workshop, 
but in all the workshops. It was the basic 
message of this conference.” 

~ Gregory Stuart, Cleveland 

“I’m at the conference because I’m looking 
at some of the programs like HOME 
Choice, and OHFA Home Ownership, to 
hear what they have to offer because my 
daughter Elizabeth will be moving out 
within a year.” 

~ Nancy Beu, Columbus 

“I learned about housing at the 
conference, how to set up your own home 
and how homes are built.” 

~ Elizabeth Beu, Columbus 

“The workshop I liked the most is the one 
about safe, affordable accessible housing. 
That workshop helped me to let advocates 
I work with know what’s going on.” 
~ Donna Prease, Cleveland 
DD Quarterly Special Edition - Housing Conference - November 2011 

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