And the Worst Access Issue Is.....

What is the worst access issue a person with a disability can face in their homes?

Ask any three people what they think the worst residential accessibility problem is and you are likely to get three different answers. I did some searching on line and I really didn’t find any valid research where the question was addressed. If you find it, please let me know. I will post it, share it, and learn from it! You can look at the development of Fair Housing Standards and also Visitability standards for Atlanta Georgia and Austin Texas and it seems that access to the house and the bathroom are addressed, with access to the house done first. http://www.wid.org/publications/accessible-housing-database-and-manual

Our records show that our clients usually have us address bathrooms, transfers, and access to the home, in that order. A good number of clients have often already addressed access to the home before calling us. They believe that a regular contractor or a family member had the ability to construct a ramp that would work. Frankly, I’m not always impressed with the quality and safety of what they end up with and I know many have ended up with ramps when low rise, deep tread steps or a lift might have been more functional or longer lasting for them, but I digress. My experience is that people with new disabilities, think about getting into the house first. Once they are there, the bathroom quickly becomes the most problematic room. Finally, transfers become important as they are needed whenever a person wants to move from one area to the other or when safety for both the individual and their caregivers is compromised with inadequate transfer technique or equipment.

Just for fun, we asked Occupational Therapists attending the Nebraska Occupational Therapy Association Fall conference to vote on which of the 3 access issues they thought was the worst. Keep in mind, this was a sample of OTs and OT students who happened to pass our booth and who chose to vote. Twenty nine voted for the bathroom, 8 voted for access to the house, and one voted for transfers. About half of them noted that it really wasn’t a good vote as they needed to ask the person living in the home which was the worst issue for them.

Trust these fine Nebraskan Occupational Therapists to hit the nail on the head or to at least think like I do. I believe that the worst access issue a person can face in their homes is the one that is causing the most problem for them right now. So to paraphrase one of the more practical minded and blunt employees at Home Access Solutions – Who cares about surveys? People know what they want when they call us.

That is one benefit of working with a private residential accessibility planning company like Home Access Solutions, Inc. We have a great deal of practical experience and access to research to help you achieve successful access to your home, but you are the person who has the deciding vote about what the worst access is for you. You are the captain of the access team.

Don't Burn Your Money

Residential accessibility does not always have to be expensive. It doesn’t even always involve structural remodeling. Wow! Isn’t that good news? Who wouldn’t want to save money these days? Spending money you don’t need to or spending it unwisely is almost as bad as simply just putting it in the grill and lighting it on fire! What a waste!

Money is important. At Home Access Solutions we know that, and we respect our customer’s budgets. We save people money because our designs are based on a person’s goals, abilities, and medical condition and we have the experience and knowledge to offer a range of solutions, some of which are really inexpensive.

When it is desirable or necessary to make structural changes, it is important to build in the space you need for your mobility equipment and your transfer style. For example, we recently worked with some people who were planning a bathroom remodel for a person with a progressive medical condition. They had no experience with wheelchairs yet and just weren’t able to imagine how the chairs make corners. They’d received a design from a person skilled in building that would have actually made it more difficult to pass into the bathroom, and they would have paid for a shower base that would be much easier for her to step in now, but would not allow a transition to a roll-in shower. That would have meant another painful decision in the future to either make another modification or do without a real bath. At Home Access Solutions we think spending money on modifications that don’t match your abilities and mobility equipment is like watching your money go up in smoke.

We also believe that there are also too many people who waste money through inaction. Too many people decide that access or access equipment is too expensive before they get the real information they need. They quit before they even begin! If you think about it, not spending money by doing nothing at all when you need to make some changes to make your home safer or easier to use, isn’t really saving money. I challenge you to compare the cost of an accident that might result in a hip fracture or a head injury to the cost of reasonable accessible design. It is a great bet for us when the access design might not even require remodeling.

For example, a bath slider is a useful piece of equipment that can save the cost of a bathroom remodel and doorway widening. The user can get into it in a bedroom or other location where there is room to move around. The slider is 22” inches wide and passes through even those tiny little 24” doors that are still so common on bathrooms. The slider is attached to a stand sitting in the bathtub. The caregiver locks the rolling base and tub base together creating a bridge into the tub and then slides the seat over the bridge. If you have some interest in a bath slider, give us a call. The equipment works, but it is large. You’ll want a professional familiar with the equipment to see your bathroom or view a floor plan of the room to make sure it will work for you.

Just recently we worked with a family who thought they would have to replace the entire tub with a barrier free shower. Unfortunately the cost of that remodel was too much for them to tackle right now. Rather than continue with the dangerous transfers they were doing - literally pulling the man of the family up off the tub floor, we provided them with a tub bather system. Replacing the glass shower door and frame with a curtain rod and curtain, providing a hand held shower and the tub bather system and training was right around $500. That is a low price to pay for privacy and dignity in the tub and removing the daily hazard of one person pulling another off the tub floor!

So don’t burn through your money on un-usable modifications or through doing nothing at all. We urge you to share these stories with people who need to know that there are so many options to solve access and safety problems around the home and that it is possible to do it economically. The key is working with a professional who listens to your goals, knows about equipment and access remodeling, and who is willing to keep your budget in mind.

To see more on these systems check out our flyers on them.