Renovated home now within a disabled vet's reach

The Philadelphia Inquirer (MCT) - Clues that this is one extremely wheelchair-accessible house are built into nearly every inch of the 1,040-square-foot rancher in the Poconos.

The first thing you notice about the single-story structure is that while its neighbors are built on hills set higher and farther back from the road, with steep stairs leading to the front door, this house is on lower, flat ground, with a wide driveway and entrances at street level.

And there is no grass to mow _ just landscaping with wood chips and planters.

What isn't so obvious is that the house's owner, a nonprofit group, wants to sell it to a military veteran severely injured in the line of duty sometime since April 18, 1983, the day a suicide bomber drove an explosives-laden truck into the U.S. embassy in Beirut, killing 63.

Such veterans are the latest demographic that Respond With Love America, founded by Richard McDonough in the 1980s, wants to serve _ for pragmatic as well as patriotic reasons.

"We believe it's important to honor those who have served our country, but it isn't just that issue itself," says McDonough, a Plymouth Township, Pa., native.

"When you look at the population of those who are standing in line (for help obtaining housing) who are being overlooked, handicapped veterans are among that group," he says. "In our view, those who served our country do step to the front of the line of those needing assistance."

The intent is not to separate out "who is better than whom," he says. It's just that "a lot of positive aspects of why people join the military _ the pride, the dignity and the independence _ become obstacles when they're coming home."

Situated in Foster Township, Pa., on land donated by a couple who retired to North Carolina instead of the Poconos, the house that Respond With Love America built has an asking price of $120,000. A good buy, but no giveaway _ that wouldn't be sustainable for McDonough's group, given that the total cost of producing and outfitting the dwelling was $180,000, including in-kind donations and assistance from 75 businesses and organizations.

Plus, McDonough says, giving the place away would rob the veteran of the pride that comes with contributing to the purchase of one's home.

(He'd like to build more accessible houses for disabled individuals, even nonveterans, particularly in Philadelphia. But McDonough says he needs someone to donate the land for that to happen.)

Different disabilities require different accommodations, of course, so this house serves as a prototype of sorts, packed with features that allow someone in a wheelchair to move about and do household chores more easily.

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The driveway is 25 by 25 feet, big enough for a handicapped-accessible van, with space for passengers to get in and out. Walkways are 5 feet wide, so a wheelchair has enough room to turn around.

The front door has two peepholes, one at standing eye level, another low enough so someone seated can look through it. The entrance leads into the living room.

Vacuuming isn't an issue: Every room has easy-to-traverse, easy-to-clean linoleum floors.

Construction hewed closely to design guidelines from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' specially adaptive housing program, McDonough says.

Doorways are wide enough _ the guidelines call for a minimum width of 3 feet _ to allow for someone in a wheelchair to maneuver up to and through them. Doors open with handles that simply need to be pulled _ or, like the door in the master bathroom, they slide.

"We designed the master bedroom basically as a hotel suite," McDonough says. Except this suite has a door to the outside that serves as a required emergency exit.

There is plenty of room for the future homeowner to move from the bed to the dresser. Temperature controls and a carbon-monoxide detector are low on a wall near the bed; electrical outlets are higher throughout the house.

Next to the master bathroom is a utility room with a washer and dryer, with controls on the front for easy access.

It's a very strategic layout: Imagine being in the utility room, rolling a few feet to get dirty clothes from the bathroom, moving back to the washer and dryer, and then hanging them up on the low closet rod a foot or two away.

The bathroom has a roll-in shower that is 3 feet by 5 feet. On an adjoining wall is a sink that a wheelchair can maneuver under. The medicine cabinet is positioned low and to the side of the sink. Grab bars are on the walls by the shower and the toilet.

"This is more spacious than a normal bathroom," McDonough says.

Equipping the kitchen presented a special challenge: finding appliances with front controls that were also small enough to fit under counters two inches lower than the traditional 36 inches.

No single company made everything, so the result is a diversity of brands _ a GE dishwasher, a Frigidaire electric stove, a Whirlpool refrigerator. There are switches for the stove light not only on the range hood above it, but also lower on a wall. A built-in table sits between the fridge and the stove.

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Businesses, many of them local, donated toiletries, cleaning supplies and other goods. Tradespeople provided free services, such as installing sewers and gutters.

Since 1982, America Responds With Love has provided shelter and goods for those with emergency needs _ it worked with victims of Hurricane Katrina, for instance. But it is one of many groups around the country tending to veterans' specialized housing needs, says Brian Bixler, chief of the specially adapted housing program at the Department of Veterans Affairs.

Such efforts have increased since 2001, as wounded veterans have returned from battlefields to smaller towns without sufficient savings to rebuild their lives, or firm ideas about what to do next.

"I think there's an awful lot more people who are stepping up to the plate as private individuals and entities to assist these disabled vets from Iraq and Afghanistan," says Dave Autry, deputy national director of communication for the Disabled American Veterans. "More so than we've seen in the past."

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For more information on this house, call America Responds with Love at 321-263-7422 or visit www.bobhay.com for the real estate listing.

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© 2008, The Philadelphia Inquirer.