Mobility Corner Archive - Accessibility Category
Here you will find our archive of information regaring wheelchair accessible ramps, homes, vehicles and more.
Please check back regularly - we will continue to add content to this page as we archive news and features from our front page.
February 21, 2009
Builders, remodeling contractors plan for an aging population
Categories:Seniors, Accessibility
The baby boom generation has made a big impact on everything, from changing morals to changing attitudes to changing the environment.
Boomers have long said they weren't going to grow old, or at least would age at a slower rate. Yet, the first wave has begun to enter retirement age, and while this generation is more active and healthier than the one that preceded it, time does take its toll on aging bodies. Eyes don't work as well, bodies tire more easily or maybe arthritis or a neurological problem have set in, decreasing mobility. It's time to make everyday life a bit easier by taking a look at the place where you spend the most time: your home. (...)
Click Here to read the entire article (off-site)
January 23, 2009
High-tech sensors help seniors live independently
Categories:Seniors, Accessibility
After back-to-back hospital visits for congestive heart failure, Eva Olweean figured her health was back to normal. But the nurses at her retirement home knew better: Motion sensors in the 86-year-old's bed detected too many restless nights.
Tiny sensors hover unobtrusively over the toilet, shower and doorways to detect Olweean's movements inside her apartment. Pneumatic tubes tucked in the mattress and beneath her easy chair measure weight shifts. Caregivers and researchers at the University of Missouri-Columbia study the data, noting changes in behavior that could signal medical problems. (...)
Click Here to read the entire article (off-site)
December 5, 2008
Boomers boosting universal design
Categories:Seniors, Accessibility
When her husband Arthur underwent several spinal surgeries last year and was recuperating in the hospital, Mariam Eisenberg knew she had to make some design changes to her Jericho, N.Y., home before he returned.
Her wheelchair-bound husband wouldn't be able to navigate the two sets of stairs in her house, so he would need to live on the first floor, which only offered a small half-bathroom. (...)
Click Here to read the entire article (off-site)
October 04, 2008
Gadgets help older folks stay in their homes
Categories:Seniors, Accessibility
To stay in your home, or to give it up in favour of a retirement residence? It's a question people 55 and older must deal with at some point.
"Quite often making the decision is a question of safety, even for people in their 50's and 60's,'' says Andrée Lafleur, a salesperson at Conval-Aid Health Care Specialists in Ottawa. "They'd like to stay in their homes but they need that extra little bit of assistance to do it.'' (...)
Click Here to read the entire article (off-site)
"If Life is a Highway, This Home has Potholes - Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Universal Design, But were Afraid to Ask"
Presented by Erin Hilgendorf
This month we are proud to bring you this exciting and informative presentation from the Canadian Seating & Mobility Conference 2008.
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Erin's objectives in this presentation are:
- Facilitate clients to make informed decisions regarding the remodeling of an existing dwelling or building of a new home to meet their individual needs.
- Learn to utilize tools such as the Home Adaptability Checklist that can be sent home with your client as well as the Guide to Vertical Lift and Stairlifts for Health Care Professionals.
- Recognize the basic elements of barrier free bathroom, kitchen, and general home design
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Categories: Disability, Accessibility
We are very proud to be the exclusive online host of this document for Erin. It is our sincere hope that you will find it to be just as helpful and informative as her audience at the conference did!
Additionally, we will be further expanding some areas of our site with content from this presentation to make it easier than ever to make informed decisions about enhancing your mobility and independence.
Click here to read "If Life is a Highway, This Home has Potholes"
You can also visit the website of the Canadian Seating & Mobility Conference here
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September 15, 2008
New homes focus on senior-friendly features
Categories:Seniors, Accessibility
States and cities worried about where the growing number of senior citizens will live when they're older are starting to ask that all new homes be built to accommodate the elderly.
Almost 60 state and local governments have passed initiatives — some mandatory but most voluntary — asking all builders to include at least three features in new houses to help seniors and the disabled: no steps at the entrance, a bathroom on the ground floor and wider doorways. (...)
Click Here to read the entire article (off-site)
September 3, 2008
Renovations allow teenager to enter bigger, brighter world
Categories:Disability, Accessibility
Ben Thorne recently went downstairs to his family's rec room for the first time in six years. What the 15-year-old discovered was like a dream.
Ben, who is confined to a wheelchair with cerebral palsy, had become too heavy for his parents and sister to manage. Carrying him down the stairs at their northeast Calgary home was an impossibility. Ben's world was limited to his bedroom and the other hallways of the family's older bungalow, with its small kitchen and living room.
Click Here to read the entire article (off-site)
July 1, 2008
Design balances style with accessibility in this Seattle home
Categories:Accessibility
Link:http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1024&dept_id=
550712&newsid=19810404&PAG=461&rfi=9
June 15, 2008
Added access: Demand grows for homes that meet mobility challenges
Categories:Accessibility
Link: http://www.oregonlive.com/realestate/oregonian/index.ssf?/base/
homes_real_estate/1213381530208530.xml&coll=7
May 9, 2008
Barrier Removal Program promotes independence
Categories:Accessibility
Link: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19675635&BRD=
2703&PAG=461&dept_id=555106&rfi=6
May 03, 2008
Homeowners can't afford to avoid aging
Categories:Seniors, Accessibility
Link: http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/news/newhomes/
story.html?id=e2a220cd-ab99-474b-bc7e-e501a3977bab
March 9, 2008
Accessibility often carries price
Categories: Accessibility
Link: http://www.pe.com/business/realestate/stories/
PE_Biz_D_affordable10.2b33c15.html
February 11, 2008
Slow Motion Wake-Up Call for Web Accessibility
Categories: Accessibility
Link: http://www.networkworld.com/columnists/2008/021108bradner.html
February 1, 2008
Nonprofit Launched to Bring Free Accessibility Worldwide
Categories: Accessibility
Link: http://www.sunherald.com/447/story/338517.html
January 2008
"Simple Tips for Making a Home Senior-Friendly"
Jim Miller is a contributor to the NBC Today show and author of “The Savvy Senior” books and website. Savvy Senior is an information/resource service devoted to meeting the needs of older Americans and the families who support them. |
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Visit the Savvy Senior website at: http://www.savvysenior.org/
Categories: Accessibility, Seniors
Dear Savvy Senior,
Can you give me some tips to make our house more senior-friendly. My wife and I are in our 70’s and don’t have much of a budget for big projects (nor do we want the construction mess), but we would like to do what we can to stay in our house as long as possible.
Read the entire article at "Simple Tips for Making a Home Senior-Friendly"
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January 30, 2008
Upward mobility - Local contractors give time to build ramps for disabled
Categories: Wheelchairs, Accessibility
Link: http://www.thetimesherald.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/
20080130/NEWS01/801300307/1002
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