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Staying In Your Home
Making Your Home Accessible
As we age certain normal age-related
changes take place that often make it difficult for us
to remain in our homes.
These normal aging changes affect not only our five senses,
but also our mobility and strength. While a handful of
houses being built today take into account changing needs,
the majority of people still live in houses that they must
adapt to. However there are some things that you can do
to help your house accommodate your changing needs. Some
are simple, such as installing a lever door handle and
others are more complex & costly, such as adding a
bathroom to the first floor. The following suggestions
are just a few of the many things you can do.
Door Handles
and Doorways
Door locks that are easy to operate,
keyless locks with a remote control or keypad
Lever style door handles vs. round ball type handles
Doorways that are 36 inches wide (if making the doorway
wider is not an option, clear swing hinges can help you
gain a couple of inches)
Kitchens and Laundry
Easy access to kitchen
storage; pull out shelves, lazy susans in corners
Appliances with controls that are large, easy to read & ones
that have large push pads
Microwave placed on counter, never above stove
A side-by-side refrigerator/freezer combination gives the
user easy access
Stove with controls in the front
Good lighting over stove, sink & other work areas,
under cabinet lighting
Raised dishwasher & oven
Lowered kitchen cabinets & adjustable shelves in closets
Spring-loaded switch for the garbage disposal, so that
it must be held in the on position to operate
Increase overall illumination; good lighting over stove,
sink & other work areas, under cabinet lighting
Laundry on main floor, front loading washer & dryer
Bathrooms
Use anti-scald faucets (sometimes
called even flow) to make water temperatures even
Turn water temperature down to 120 degrees
Use single lever faucets in sinks, tubs, & showers
Adjustable-height, handheld showerhead
Reinforced grab bars in the bath & shower & reinforced
walls to allow grab bars near the toilet
Accessible toilet – seat is higher than regular toilet
seat
Telephone jack in the bathroom & one near the bed
Lighting
Use fluorescent lighting to
spread light evenly & minimize
glare
Light switches that are easy to reach & can be turned
on before you enter the room or lights that come on when
you enter the room
Lighted switch plates
Well lit stairways with a light switch at the top & one
at the bottom
Use colors that contrast (never use blue & green together)
Equipment;
Phones, Alarms, Televisions, and Stereos
Phones with large
numbers; some phones have pictures of the person that you
are calling
Doorbells, smoke alarms, & telephones that blink & sound
simultaneously giving 2 signals or cues (double cueing)
Purchase stereos & televisions where the bass can be
turned up & the treble down (people lose the ability
to hear higher frequency sounds)
Flooring and Stairs
Use of sheet vinyl
or low pile carpeting on floors
Eliminate throw rugs
Eliminate open risers on stairs & stairs that have
nosings
Anti-slip strips on the front edge of steps in a contrasting
material
Sturdy handrails on both sides of stairs
Eliminate thresholds or minimize them by adding a piece
to the threshold so that the foot will glide over it
For more information on accessibility:
Center for Universal Design, 800-647-6777,
www.design.ncsu.edu/cud
AARP, 888-687-2277, www.aarp.org/universalhome
National
Advisory Council for Aging In Place,
www.seniorsafehome.com
Lifease, Inc., 763-277-5206, www.lifease.com special software to assess your needs, abilities and home;
personalized
suggestions to make you home more accessible, fee.
National
Resource Center on Supportive Housing & Home
Modification, 213-740-1364, www.homemods.org
Dynamic
Living, 1-888-940-0605, www.dynamic-living.com |
