[blparent] house shopping

[Star Gazer]

				Sidewalks are also great for when a kid is
learning to ride a bike or anything with wheels. It gives them the
opportunity to learn how to balance and brake without needing to also try to
navigate vehicular traffic.

-----Original Message-----
From: blparent [mailto:blparent-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of dawn
stumpner via blparent
Sent: Monday, July 27, 2015 8:33 AM
To: blparent at nfbnet.org
Cc: dawn stumpner <dawn205120 at gmail.com>
Subject: [blparent] house shopping

Hi, Allison
    Yes, I could totally relate to your comment about blind home shoppers
and sighted friends/ family/ realtors  not always looking at things in the
same way.  Sometimes you can ask the "right" questions but still get the
wrong answers because sighted and non-sighted people have different
perspectives on what accessible, convenient, and other things mean in some
settings.  
I remember buying one house where I found out afterward that there were no
sidewalks to go anywhere.  I had asked about walkability and walking
distances, but I hadn't mentioned sidewalks specifically because I just
assumed there were sidewalks (since all places I'd lived in Madison, WI
before this always had sidewalks).  There was a sidewalk-walkway to enter
the house, so I had the illusion of a sidewalk, and I didn't actually walk
from the house to the park, etc.  before buying the house.  
I ended up having to walk at the edge of the road pulling a stroller or
walking with my then-toddler every time we went to the park, a neighbor's
house, etc.  The street was extremely quiet and nearly always empty of
traffic, but it was the lack of sidewalks and a less convenient than
expected bus route that prompted me to start house-hunting again after only
a year there.  
Another time I lived in Iowa for a while, and I'd learned my lesson to ask
about sidewalks, but although the little town where we lived DID have
sidewalks, no one thought to mention that many of them just ended abruptly.
Sometimes there was an alternate route across the street where the sidewalk
continued, sometimes the sidewalk resumed in 30 feet or so, but I didn't
know where the sidewalk was when it ended, and it was disconcerting in a new
town and with young children.  Each time you move and each time you hear
stories from friends and acquaintances, you hone what types of questions you
need to ask.  Live and learn! I love the house I'm in now, and the sidewalks
are great, too! LOL.

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