FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 1, 2007

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Accessible and Green!

Chicago’s Access Living Headquarters Wins 2007 Paralyzed Veterans of America Barrier-Free America Award

Marca Bristo, Access Living’s President and CEO, and John H. Catlin, FAIA, Partner in LCM Architects to be Honored

Chicago, Illinois—Chicago’s Access Living Headquarters and the two leaders who helped make it possible are to receive Paralyzed Veterans of America’s 2007 Barrier-Free America Award.

“All access is good for all people, and Access Living Headquarters is an inspiring example of this principle in practice,” said Paralyzed Veterans’ National President Randy L. Pleva, Sr. “Through their work, architects and designers can play an extremely important role in removing the barriers that people with disabilities face everywhere, everyday—an advance that improves everyone’s quality of life,” Mr. Pleva said.

Paralyzed Veterans’ Barrier-Free America Award honors and promotes leadership, innovation and action in the architectural and design communities in advancing accessibility. This year’s winners, Marca Bristo, President and CEO of Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, and John H. Catlin, FAIA, Partner in LCM Architects, are leaders in combining Universal Accessible Design and Green Design. So their work is good for people and the planet. For example, Access Living Headquarters enjoys accessible features such as:

Green Design features include: reducing the solar heat the building reflects back into the atmosphere through parking that’s underground, along with at least 50% of the roof area as an accessible vegetative roof system.

Marca Bristo is a nationally and internationally acclaimed leader in the disability rights movement. “Our new permanent Access Living Headquarters will enable us to build our services and activities as we continue working to create an inclusive, integrated and independent disability community in Chicago and the nation,” Ms. Bristo said. “We are honored to accept Paralyzed Veteran’s Barrier-Free America Award. Through our efforts, and through PVA’s efforts to recognize accessibility in design, we hope to impact the construction of more fully-accessible designs.”

John H. Catlin specializes in the interpretation of the architectural requirements of federal accessibility laws as well as state and local accessibility codes: “With Access Living’s new building, everything from the lighting to the surface of the floors was deliberately chosen to effectively accommodate the widest range of disabilities in ways that are not noticeable and work for everyone,” Mr. Catlin said. “Accessible design is good for everyone. Not just the people who use Access Living’s building everyday. Through this new building, and through the Barrier-Free America Award, we will deliver the message that accessibility benefits everybody from wheelchair users, to parents with strollers, to shoppers returning home with groceries.”

Everyone has a role to play in creating a barrier-free America: “Encourage the architects and designers in your community to imagine how a person with disabilities will experience the buildings and spaces they have in mind. This heightened sense of awareness and empathy will not only improve the quality of buildings and spaces for people with disabilities, but for everyone,” Mr. Pleva stressed.

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More on Paralyzed Veterans of America
Founded in 1946, Paralyzed Veterans of America is the only congressionally chartered veterans service organization dedicated solely for the benefit and representation of individuals with spinal cord injury or disease.  Paralyzed Veterans is a dynamic, broad-based organization with more than 19,000 members in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.  To learn more about Paralyzed Veterans, visit its website at www.pva.org.

More on the 2007 Recipients
This year’s Paralyzed Veterans’ Barrier-Free America Award recipients for Access Living Headquarters are Marca Bristo, President and CEO of Access Living of Metropolitan Chicago, and John H. Catlin, FAIA, Partner in LCM Architects.

Marca Bristo is a nationally and internationally acclaimed leader in the disability rights movement. She has served as chair of the National Council on Disability—an independent federal agency that provides policy guidance to the President and Congress, is the birthplace of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and has statutory authority to monitor the implementation, effectiveness and enforcement of the ADA and other disability rights laws. Marca also provided leadership within the international disability community on efforts to create the first-ever United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, which was approved in December of 2006.

John H. Catlin specializes in the interpretation of the architectural requirements of federal accessibility laws as well as state and local accessibility codes. With over thirty years of personal and professional experience with disability-related issues, he brings a uniquely balanced approach to accessibility law compliance. Jack is the first practicing architect to serve as chair of the United States Access Board. During his tenure, he chaired the Board’s subcommittee on the revision of the ADA Accessibility Guidelines. This expertise has led to his involvement in the development of accessibility codes and standards for city, state and federal agencies; national and international speaking engagements on accessibility compliance issues; and the development of accessibility compliance plans and consultation for many private and public entities.