A Passion for Building Accessible Homes in South Florida – Meet Mike Donnelly and Garrett Mayersohn

How do you envision a future where every community prioritizes accessibility and inclusivity in their housing options?

 

Join us as we explore the inspiring story of Michael Donnelly and Garrett Mayersohn, two people working together to provide accessible housing for people with disabilities and seniors. They discuss their plan to market barrier-free housing as well as the Certified Aging in Place (CAP), which helps people understand how to design for accessibility in the home. They also touch on solutions that can help disabled people live more independently and have better access to resources in their community.

 

Tune in to explore the importance of building communities that are accessible for everyone!

 

As the Builder and Retrofitter for Donnelly Construction and Barrier Free Contractors, Mike Donnelly focuses on creating Universal Design/Barrier Free/Aging-in-Place homes, specifically to provide accessibility and independence for persons with disabilities, the aging, and veterans in need.

 

Garrett Mayersohn, born with cerebral palsy, brings valuable first-hand experience of living with a disability. He is passionate about advocating for and helping Barrier Free Contractors build and retrofit as many barrier-free houses as possible.

 

[00:01 - 08:24] Opening Segment

• How Mika and Garrett are changing lives through accessible housing

Working in the housing space to help people with disabilities and seniors have a better life

• How Mike found out nobody was building accessible housing or retrofitting existing homes

He changed people's lives by building accessible, barrier-free homes

 

[08:25 - 16:25] Barrier-Free Housing and Help People Live Better Lives

• Mike is teaching Garrett his methods and helping him market barrier-free housing

Garrett is trying to persuade contractors that it is the right thing to do

• Pushback from contractors is that they don't want to spend money

• Mike has developed a nonprofit, Liberty Access Foundation, to help people in need

 

[16:26 - 24:03] Making Homes Accessible for Everyone

• The need for policy change and education in aging communities

• Realizing the importance of money and how it can change one's life

• Struggles faced by people with disabilities in finding housing due to laws in the Fair Housing Act

• The expensive nature of retrofitting existing homes

 

[24:04 - 30:35] Closing Segment

• The need for education to help society look at housing differently

• Thinking about aging when building housing and communities

• Making sure communities are accessible as individual houses

 

Connect with Mike on YouTube Channel for Barrier-Free Contractors!

 

Connect with Garrett on LinkedIn!

 

Key Quotes:

 

“Everybody should know that they should build a house for a possible problem down the road, and yet it looks just the same, and it looks beautiful.” - Michael Donnelly

 

“When I see a person's life changed, your life changes instantly.” - Michael Donnelly

 

“Find a way to help if possible, or just to spread the word. Whatever you can do to help a person have a better life pays its.” - Michael Donnelly

 

“Accessibility is essential, viable, and profit can be made from it. There it is a good thing for people to be barrier-free and universally designed, and it's just good for everyone.” - Garrett Mayersohn

 

 

Please check out videos of many of the podcast episodes on my YouTube channel: Accessible Housing Matters,

 

To learn more, share feedback, or share guest ideas, please visit my website, or contact me on Facebook and Twitter.

 

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Accessible Housing Matters is dedicated to raising awareness about important issues around accessibility and housing and getting conversations going.

 

I'd love to learn more about what's on your mind and get your feedback about the show.

 

Contact me directly at [email protected] to share your thoughts or arrange a call.