there was a lot of discussion and press around universal design, which I think is such an underused idea.
Totally. It can never be completely achieved (mainly because people with different impairments need different things - so crutch-users slip over on the raised bumps that are useful for blind people, in a small example). But it's a great concept that should be attempted more.
If The Girl and I can ever afford a place of our own, we want to install regular-height kitchen units that move down to wheelchair-user-height with a button-push. We've seen some, so we know this is possible. They weren't overwhelmingly affordable, but they weren't priced just for millionaire disabled people either.
regular-height kitchen units that move down to wheelchair-user-height with a button-push.
Wow, that sounds really neat! And it would be great for households with kids, too.
Seska, do you have Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in the UK? I've found it interesting to watch as I've been reading about the various models of disability and thoughts around it. (Basic premise of the show: they find families who have gone through some kind of trouble and, as a result, their house just isn't working for them anymore. The family gets sent on a vacation -- usually Disney World -- while the EM:HE team tears down the house and builds a new one that fits with the family's needs. They always hire a local contractor and other local building-business people, and get a few hundred volunteers from the local area to do the construction stuff that doesn't require as much specialized skill, and a lot of the furniture and appliances are donated by companies that get advertising by the camera taking a few dozen closeups of the labels.)
There have been several episodes featuring either police officers or soldiers who were injured in duty and now had to use a wheelchair, but were still living in a house with the bedrooms up a flight of stairs and hallways too narrow to maneuver in a wheelchair. The last episode I watched, the father had been paralyzed from the waist down, and at the beginning, he was talking about how much he wanted to play with his kids and put the baby to bed and stuff like that. The show put in a playground set in their backyard that was arranged so that he could roll his wheelchair around it and really interact with the kids while they were running around and playing, and a crib for the baby with doors that opened on the side so that he could put the baby in and out of the crib without having to reach over the side rail.
Oh man, this discussion is reminding me that I have to write a scathing email to the folks that run the shuttle bus I take from the train station to work.
I have a friend who's both a full-time wheelie and a serious cook; she designed her own house and her kitchen is TO DIE FOR. (Varying heights, moveable countertops and appliances, varied depths of things. Every time I visit, I reset my brain about how the standardized sizes really aren't so much ideal as just average. Plus, awesome for parties.)
I have trouble with a regular-height kitchen counter just from being too short. "Average height" for design purposes generally starts at about four inches taller than me.
"Average height" for design purposes generally starts at about four inches taller than me.
Nodnod. And not as easy to alter as pants.
I have a friend who's both a full-time wheelie and a serious cook; she designed her own house and her kitchen is TO DIE FOR.
Her kitchen sounds so cool! I am in no way a cook. But if I had a really good kitchen, I might at least try to scramble eggs occasionally.
Hil, I don't know the Extreme Makeover show, but I might look it up. It sounds interesting.
Happy Birthday, Jilli!
Ginger, how is your back feeling today? I hope you haven't stiffened up so much that you can't move.
Congratulations, Nora!
Every time I visit, I reset my brain about how the standardized sizes really aren't so much ideal as just average.
yeah, and sometimes the heights don't change for a while. The "standard" bathtub size hasn't changed since the early 1900s.
