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Can you help us design a new home
Can your experience help us design a new home? Our clients have a 10 year old son with cerebral palsy and is incapable of any unassisted physical movement and cannot speak. I haven’t met him yet but the client likened his disabilities to that of a 10 year old Stephen Hawking. His parents want to create a family home and their guiding principle is that ‘he has a right to have access to every corner of the house’ and ‘we want him to feel as integrated into family life as we possibly can’.
We have been told by another client whose niece has MD that this site is extremely good for help and advice. I would like to speak to or communicate with some families with a physically disabled family member and are happy to share their experiences.
I think we could learn a great deal with a hand full of questions such as:
What features of your home work well for you?
What features don’t work so well?
If you had unlimited funds what would you design into the ideal home?
What things have you spent money on in the past that have perhaps proved to be a waste of money?
If you would be happy to chat I would be extremely grateful for any ideas and advice you can offer.
I can be contacted on my email address or my mobile which is 07980 225193
Many thanks
Andy ParkerRe: Can you help us design a new homeHi Andy,
How wonderful to have this as a project, it will be challenging, infuriating but also heart warming and satisfying as well I imagine.
I’ll start with some initial thoughts, just generalisations that come to mind. I get the impression you’re after pet peeves, those little hic cups that become mountains which could have been avoided.
Doors, it seems that the wacky world of disabled adaption never thought to measure a standard door, so hardly anything goes through, this also means that hallways etc have to be wider and you need to think of turning circles of most chairs, unless your client is a 3/5/7 point turning whizz. Exterior doors are also tricky, especially when trying to manage a workable seal while also maintaining a flat smooth junction for a wheelchair to roll over.
I am guessing that your clients little one has little to no arm movement, so things like light switches, socket switches are not going to be an issue to change?
The bathroom, this room is a nightmare, from the non-slip flooring that is always slippery, to the type of toilets and showers available and then put in ‘Health & Safety’ especially if there is a team of carer’s and PA’s and nightmare city.
Is the proposed property a bungalow or a multi storey house? Is there a need for lifts?
Electrical sockets … however many you think are needed, double it. We live in an electric dependant world and practically every item, adaption, equipment in some fashion will require electricity. Many MD people have to recharge their chairs near the bed [can’t exactly get out of them and waddle to bed it is recharges in the garage – believe me, some numpty didn’t get that], some also have NIV’s, which require a power source.
Beware of Occupational Therapists – they are lovely people, they have a difficult job but they do like to go over the top with knocking down walls and rearranging rooms and fabulous ideas then disappear when you ask “How do I do this?” or “Where do I get?” Sadly we people on here have so many bad experiences with experts who truly deeply believe they know best, they don’t, your client does and your client’s little one does.
The toughest area is the next ten years, how will needs change over time.
Space, that is the key to access and integration, having room so the wheelchair does not crowd all the space,become to biggest thing in the room.
Good luck
I'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
Re: Can you help us design a new homenot much to ad to Amgs post.
put windows at a comfortable viewable height for a wheelchair user.
opening doors is hard enough for someone with upper body control. consider putting automatic door opener/closers on doors. some can be remote activated.
Re: Can you help us design a new homeThank you both for your input. We’ve hardly started the process of specifying the house but I had the client talk with another person with CP who’s now in her early twenties and she made a few other suggestions which were a surprise. For example her bedroom was located on the ground floor, obvious idea on the face of it but she really disliked being alone sleeping on the ground floor, she suggested putting a sibling’s bedroom on the same level. This could be more of a girl thing, perhaps a greater sense of vulnerability.
She also said the lift was a waste of money. It was used once a year but they still had to bear the maintenance costs.
We have a great opportunity because we are able to start with a blank sheet of paper. The client obviously has a very good understanding of what they need but there is always that risk that you don’t know what you don’t know and we desperately want to get this absolutely right for them.
If money were no object (it is but I think this might generate ideas) what else should we consider e.g.
• a pool for relaxing muscles – what size, shape, how to access it etc,
• they want to put in a physiotherapy room – what should we consider accommodating in it
• home automation – they want to put in cameras so that they can monitor him easily, any other thoughtsThey anticipate the majority of the house being on a single level but with some first floor if only because it will risk no longer feeling like a home.
Re: Can you help us design a new homeHi Andy,
If the clients are thinking of putting in a first floor, personally I would say it should be accessible to their child, whether or not they expect him to use it, otherwise he’ll probably feel deliberately excluded.
I completely agree with one of the previous comments about windows – having full length windows/French doors/patio doors enables everyone to see the outside world so even on a rainy day, it’s possible to still see and perhaps feel like you are part of life beyond the four walls of home.
It goes without saying [almost] – ramps are an absolute necessity at all exterior doors.
The garden – no steps or awkward cambers. No pond without any kind of wall round it. Plenty of space to move, park a wheelchair at a table/under an umbrella. Paved areas are always accessible whereas grass can be impossible after a lot of rain.
Driveway/garage – leave enough room to manoever a wheelchair into and out of a vehicle with room to spare.
Sybylla
Re: Can you help us design a new homeThanks everyone. If anyone is interested I will post a link to an update as the project procedes
Re: Can you help us design a new home@sybyllascarlett wrote:
The garden – no steps or awkward cambers. No pond without any kind of wall round it. Plenty of space to move, park a wheelchair at a table/under an umbrella. Paved areas are always accessible whereas grass can be impossible after a lot of rain.
I have seen used, and been wheeled over, grassed or gravelled areas where an open waved plastic mat has been laid for the grass to grow through ot stop you sinking into the loose gravel, it was very good.
I'm always the animal, my body's the cage
I blog about nothingness www.amgroves.com
Re: Can you help us design a new home@sybyllascarlett wrote:
Hi Andy,
Driveway/garage – leave enough room to manoever a wheelchair into and out of a vehicle with room to spare.
Sybylla
Yes, important one. I have a carport which allows me to stay dry when getting in the car. I may have a photo…
A learning experience is one of those things that say, “You know that thing you just did? Don’t do that.” - Douglas Adams
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