Accessibility project grant will improve three Unity House sites in Auburn

At Unity House, we are dedicated to empowering people with disabilities so that they can live their lives to the fullest. That means maximizing their personal autonomy – helping them build or maintain self-care skills and control their own physical mobility.

Among those who have joined our programs in recent years, we have seen a higher percentage of people with mobility needs. Mobility tends to decrease with age, and the age of the people we support has also trended up over the past decade.

Thanks to a recent grant from New York State Senator Rachel May’s office, we can provide greater autonomy and dignity for people with disabilities through an accessibility improvement project that focuses on three of our sites in Auburn.

This project’s goal is to foster greater independence for people with disabilities – particularly those experiencing decreased mobility as they age – while also preventing work-related injuries among our workforce.

1) We will reconstruct the main entrance to our residence for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities on North Street Road, just north of Auburn. The group home’s current entrance requires two steps up for our residents to enter. The new entrance will feature a landscaped berm topped with a concrete sidewalk, sloping gently up from the driveway to the level of the first floor. This improvement will enable current and future residents to remain in the home they love as they age.

2) We will install a ceiling-mounted track system at our day habilitation site for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities on Market Street in Auburn. This track system will enable our DSPs, with minimal effort, to help people with severe mobility limitations move about. With a sling attachment, it will allow some people who have used a wheelchair their entire lives to have the sensation of walking, unassisted, for the first time.

3) We will renovate the first-floor bathroom at GRACE House, our congregate residential reintegration program for people in recovery from substance use disorder, to make it accessible. The new bathroom will feature a wider door frame, a zero-threshold shower, a roll-under sink and a new tile floor with a drain system.