Barrier Free Architecturals
September 3, 2010

Welcoming Seniors into Friend & Family Games Nights

Family game nights are not a new concept. Americans have been enjoying family game night for decades, and for good reason. Welcoming seniors into friend and family games nights may seem like a no brainer at first. Of course you want your senior relatives and family friends to join in the fun so all you have to do is invite them, right? Well, it may not be that easy.

Playing along with the family may be a frustrating experience for senior citizens if proper considerations have not been made beforehand.  For example, consider how small the print is on some game cards and game boards. For the visually impaired, small print can be a nightmare.  Also consider how difficult it can be for some mobility impaired guests to grasp annoyingly undersized game markers and pieces. This frustration can be doubled if the topic of the game is, say, Hannah Montana or Justin Bieber.

If you want Grandma Mayor and Great-uncle Maxwell to not only join in family game nights, but also have a good time and feel completely welcome while playing along, it is important to do a little bit of planning beforehand.  You can purchase low vision card decks or easy to grasp bingo markers, for example, that are catered towards the visually impaired or seniors.

A Barrier Free family games-night is a wonderful idea that will help create fun memories and bring everyone closer together. Do you have any ideas to make your family games night barrier free? If so, please leave your suggestions and stories in the comments box below.

Filed under Uncategorized
Tags: , , ,
September 2, 2010

Planning Your Dream Home? Think Accessibility.

Whether you’re fortunate enough to be building a new home for yourself, or you’re providing an extension or alteration to your existing home, it really pays to think through accessibility and, ideally, to talk diligently discuss the matter with your architect. Make accessibility a part of your dream home; we promise you’ll thank yourself for it.

If you’re investing in your home, chances are you want to stay there for some time longer. As you get older, the demand for increased accessibility will grow amongst your family and friends, so why not make the extra effort to plan long term? As we discussed in last week’s post, a living space will always benefit from universal design in its initial stages, rather than a more expensive retrofit.

First things first, talk to an expert. If you’re building a whole new home, your architect is the best point to start at because he or she is aware of the latest requirements: these will offer inspiration for what comes next… for example, the kitchen is often overlooked as a shared living space. In fact, it’s the most important shared space in a house (Kitchen Is King).  Accessible shelves, worktops and equipment are simple features you can seamlessly integrate into your new space to make it a place for anyone to comfortably contribute to the longevity of the household.

If you’re pursuing a DIY project and, for example, find yourself re-tiling the bathroom, take a moment to consider how easy it would be to increase the accessibility of the space a hundredfold. Grab bars are a terrific, and increasingly appreciated option for those on a low budget, and, if you’re feeling more adventurous, why not invest in an accessible shower?  Again, we guarantee that you’ll thank yourself down the road, if not also immediately.

[If this post has caught your imagination, here are a few places you can do some more research online:

Creating Accessible Homes - Cooperative Extension Service, Kansas State University (PDF File).

Fair Housing Act Design Module - provides clear guidance about ways to design and construct housing that complies with the Fair Housing Act.

Centre for Inclusive Design and Environmental Access - The IDeA Center practices human-centered design through research, development, service, dissemination and educational activities.]

Filed under Home Safety Tips, Home safety tips for the elderly
Tags: , , , ,
September 1, 2010

Shaw Communications Confronted by Accessibility Needs

An article was recently published that accused Shaw Communications Inc., a huge communications company in Canada, of neglecting accessibility in its takeover plans for Canwest Global, one of the main TV broadcasters in the country. This follows Canwest’s move to protected bankruptcy in late 2009 and the selling off of various parts of the company.

A collection of groups and individuals in support of Canadians with disabilities expressed their concern with Shaw’s plans, drawing attention to the lack of coverage of accessibility issues in their bid of approximately $2 billion. Beverley Milligan, President and CEO of a group that advocates on behalf of Canadians with disabilities, Media Access Canada, had this to say: “Frankly, we were shocked that in applying for control of so many TV stations and specialty services Shaw didn’t even mention issues like closed captioning and descriptive video.”

The group has entered an intervention to the CRTC (Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission), in which it lists ten features that would improve Shaw’s bid in terms of accessibility.

As it stands, closed caption television (i.e., where text is displayed on a television screen to provide information to viewers who wish to access it) is now required across the whole TV schedule, but as Milligan points out, this has taken 20 years to establish. Concern for a similarly slow introduction of descriptive video is at the top of Milligan’s agenda: “how long [are] Canadians who rely on descriptive video… supposed to wait before they can access television like everyone else? The year 2030?”

In 2008 and 2009, the CRTC undertook a large overview of accessibility policy (in which, by the way, Shaw acknowledged the importance of accessibility in communications). This extended across a huge range of accessibility issues, including for example, the necessity for cell phone companies to provide at least one model that caters to the requirements of people with disabilities (not excluding mobility problems).

At Barrier Free Living, we recognise the rights of everyone to live an accessible lifestyle, and so we proudly promote universal design through our provision of innovative architectural products, such as handicap showers and accessible education furnishings.

Filed under Barrier Free News
Tags: , , ,
August 29, 2010

Alzheimer’s and Barrier Free Dwelling

We’ve got good news for those millions of people (roughly 5.3 million) suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease.  A recent article at Networx provides insight into a number of home modifications that make living with Alzheimer’s more manageable.

Depth-perception is something most of us take for granted, but much of our daily actions involve this function; a function that people with Alzheimer’s notably lack.  This lack makes many commonplace activities a serious challenge for those with Alzheimer’s disease.  According to Rosemary Bakker, MS, a Research Associate in Gerontologic Design in Medicine at Weill Cornell Medical College, being devoid of depth-perception is problematic for those with Alzheimer’s in that they “may not notice a glass door and try to walk right through it.  If there’s a low cocktail table, particularly if it’s glass, they may not even see it and walk right into it.  Climbing stairs can be a really big issue because if the riser and the tread are the same color, the person may not know how high to lift one’s feet, and therefore falls can occur and can be terrifying to try to walk the stairs.”  Fortunately, home-changes can be made to help.

Where people with Alzheimer’s cannot distinguish between obstacles on the basis of different depths, Bakker recommends highlighting the change in platform in other ways.  For example, contrasting colors can be used for the tread and riser of your stairs.  This simple modification not only makes stair-climbing safe again for everyone, this previously boring event becomes pleasantly colorful.

In addition to helpful color contrasting schemes, proper lighting arrangements can make living with Alzheimer’s less difficult.  Since glare and sharp changes in light levels are big problems for those living with Alzheimer’s, a home sensitive to these conditions will be furnished with consistent lighting levels and matte-finished furniture (especially large tables, which tend to be shiny).  Bakker indentifies polished floors as particularly troublesome: first its shininess disorients those with Alzheimer’s, and coupled with its slipperiness, the polished floor poses a double-threat.

Another important, and relatively easy home modification concerns bathrooms. Bakker said, “Bathing is really a big issue.  If you’re planning on renovating your house, or you’re planning on renovating a bathroom, why don’t you think about taking out a nearby closet and getting two or three feet of space from the adjacent room and put in a walk-in, wheel-in shower.  It will make a huge difference later on, and it’s also helpful for everyone.”

At Barrier Free, we’ve made possible numerous bathroom accessibility projects, and in addition to walk-in bathtubs, we’ve noticed that the presence of shower seats is central to the accessible bathroom.  While Bakker importantly points out the helpfulness of handrails for those with Alzheimer’s, we would add that the installation grab bars is perhaps the simplest high-benefit addition one can make to their home.  Of particular benefit to people with Alzheimer’s our Design Line Grab Bars come in a variety of vibrant colors, allowing for bold contrast against every wall in your (increasingly) accessible home.

Filed under Home Safety Tips
Tags: , , ,
August 27, 2010

Getting Clear on Universal Design

We touched on the subject of ‘universal design’ in our recent post on Barrier-Free Living in Ontario, and thought it might be interesting to go into the principal with greater depth. So, what exactly is ‘universal design’?

To use the definition provided by The Institute for Human Centred Design, universal, or inclusive, design can be defined as “the design of products, environments, and communication to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without adaptation or specialized design”. This simple definition houses a simple, yet incredibly important idea. The adoption of universal design signifies more than an acceptance of equality across all members of society; it recognises the importance of equitable living, without the need for distinction or paternalism.

Two key factors contributed to the growth in popularity of universal design. Firstly, more and more people are living with a greater range of disabilities. Secondly, we are living in an ageing population, and it’s not getting any younger! Making accessible design the norm rather than the exception makes a lot of sense given these two facts.

The Institute of Human Centred Design lists the seven principals of universal design as the following:

  1. Equitable Use – the design does not single out a group or groups of individuals in any particular way.
  2. Flexibility in Use – lots of different people can use the design in lots of different ways, according to their needs and wants.
  3. Simple, Intuitive Use – the design shouldn’t take any expertise or particular skills to use to optimum performance.
  4. Perceptible Information – the lines of communication between the design and the user are as clear as possible,
  • Tolerance For Error – if something goes wrong, the design will not break easily or become dangerous to use.
  1. Low Physical Effort – the design can be used by anyone, despite their current energy or strength levels.
  2. Size and Space for Approach & Use – the design is accessible and usable for anyone, regardless of their size, posture or mobility.

Although the phrase ‘universal design’ has been around for about 50 years, it has only become mainstream recently, so do look out for it! We promote these principals in our company through, for example, in our holistic handicap shower designs.

Filed under Barrier Free News
Tags: , ,

Celebrating the ADA’s Positive Impact

This year is the 20th Anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so it’s a perfect opportunity to either learn about or remember where the legislation first came from, and what it has achieved over the twenty years of its existence. Accessibility is integral across all levels of our society, but it wasn’t always so…

The disability rights movement was around long before the ADA came into being in 1990; the act’s very existence is due to the thousands of people involved in protests, lobbying, administration, recruitment and awareness raising that took place for years before any legally enforced changes took place. In terms of legal advances, the most significant precursor to the ADA was probably Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, which made it illegal to discriminate on grounds of disability.

The first version of the ADA was introduced in 1988, and went through many rounds of changes and redrafts over the next two years. During those two years, those involved in the disability rights movement orchestrated a massive publicity campaign to raise awareness of the high levels of discrimination and to persuade the general public that these discriminations represented injustice on a massive scale. One of the ways this was achieved was by publicising some of the thousands of first-hand accounts of discrimination submitted by individuals around the country.

So what did the ADA actually achieve? Arlene Mayerson wrote an excellent history of the Act in 1992, and has this to say on the question: “The ADA is based on a basic presumption that people with disabilities want to work and are capable of working, want to be members of their communities and are capable of being members of their communities and that exclusion and segregation cannot be tolerated.”

Presently, the ADA affects every facet of life in the US. Perhaps most significantly, in the marketplace, anything with the ADA compliance stamp can be bought in the highest confidence.  This includes a lot of the products offered through our store; for example, our entire range of accessible shower chairs, products by virtue of which we join in celebrating two decades of the ADA and its positive impact on civil rights.

Filed under Barrier Free News
Tags: , , , ,
August 25, 2010

Lemon Laws Provide Protection in Sour Times

Here is an interesting item of news straight from Disabled World that involves the well known Lemon Law in the United States.  Lemon Laws are so named because of the sour pucker one gets from biting into a lemon (the fruit) or meeting a ‘lemon’ (a jerky person), the embodied equivalent  to the jolting  taste left in your mouth; one that follows from being on the receiving end of a bitter deal.

The Lemon Law is designed to protect the public from unscrupulous dealers and /or plain bad luck, and covers motorized vehicles that undergo problem after problem, or suffer continuous repetition of the same problem. Actual Lemon Laws can vary from state to state, but the basic premise remains constant: if a person purchases a car, truck, SUV, RV, or other motorized vehicle that proves to be a dud, it can be exchanged or perhaps returned for full refund. Yay!

If the Lemon Law was not practical and positive enough, according to an article in Disabled World entitled Lemon Laws for Motor Vehicles and Disability Products, US lemon laws can also cover motorized wheelchairs, scooters and other motorized equipment designed to serve the disabled. So if you have recently purchased a motorised vehicle or device and believe you may have a ‘lemonesque’ piece of machinery on your hands, it may be a good (and refreshing) idea to check the parameters of the Lemon Laws in your state. Depending on where you live, you will likely find you have some form of protection. This may be true even if you have purchased used disability equipment.

At Barrier Free, we consider the quality of our accessibility and handicap equipment to be of utmost importance. Whether you are purchasing a swing door opener, roll in shower, or even any one of our clearance items, you can take comfort in the fact that you can safely and conveniently operate our equipment, every time.

Filed under Barrier Free News
Tags: , , , , ,
August 20, 2010

Ontario Committed to Barrie-Free Living

The Canadian government takes barrier free living very seriously. The Ontarians with Disabilities Act (ODA), established in 2001, seeks to improve opportunities for people with disabilities, chiefly by getting them involved in the identification, removal and/or prevention of barriers. This creates circumstances where they can participate in everyday activities to the fullest degree. This Act applies to the following areas of public living: Customer service, Transportation, Information and communications, Built environment and Employment.

What’s really interesting is how this Act conceives of ‘barriers’. All too often, a ‘barrier’ is simply seen as some kind of physical impediment that prevents the movement or positioning of a person with disabilities. In contrast, the ODA refers to all of the following when it talks about barriers:

- physical barriers – such as inaccessible stairs or doors without a swing door operator or public showers that do not include ada showers;

- communication barriers – for example, a publication that is not available in large print;

- attitudinal barriers – an attitude held by anyone in the municipality that withholds the possibility of an ‘all access’ lifestyle for people with disabilities;

- technological barriers – a situation where a technological system isn’t compatible with an accessible experience for people with disabilities, for example, an office desk that doesn’t allow a person in a wheelchair access;

- policy or practices – a situation where policy makes it difficult for people with disabilities to complete the task or requirement; for example, long queues to renew a passport.

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing posits the solution of ‘Universal Design’ to combat all the potential or existent barriers described above, positioning it as “an evolution from accessible or barrier-free design to one that is even more inclusive”.

A sizable chunk of Ontario’s population is made up of people with disabilities and this number is obviously set to increase as the population ages. Therefore, it makes perfect sense for any new builds to take this vision of ‘Universal Design’ into account right from the start, therefore avoiding the costly process of retrofitting or even, in extreme cases, having to completely rebuild inaccessible places.

Filed under Barrier Free News
Tags: , , ,

North Americans Fear Disability

A recent survey called the “Eye on Eyesight” found that Americans fear blindness more than heart disease, even though the latter is the biggest single killer of both men and women in the United States. This news was covered in Earth Times.

Choice Magazine Listening commissioned the survey, which was conducted by Surge Research Incorporated. Choice Magazine Listening is a non-profit organisation that records and distributes audio recordings of reading materials (including anything from magazine articles to poetry) to anyone who struggles to read because of disability.

The results of the survey are particularly surprising when you learn that the group questioned were those with the highest risk of serious heart disease (men and women between the ages of 50 and 64), and that they were nearly twice as scared of blindness than of heart disease!

Furthermore, the survey found that 79% of Americans consider losing one’s sight to be the “worst thing that could happen to me,” other than their own death or the death of a loved one.

Whence cometh this fear? Although the Americans that took this survey answered that death is their greatest fear, why are they more afraid of a non-fatal disability than of a sudden, often fatal, attack of the heart? As Sondra Mochson, Editor-in-Chief of Choice Magazine Listening, puts it: “Many of us take our vision for granted. The thought of losing abilities that are basic to us, including important day-to-day functions like reading, creates tremendous fear.”

All this goes to confirm the importance of the implementation of accessible design for the American lifestyle; if visual impairment came to be less of an issue in day-to-day life, perhaps it would become less feared. This means building barrier free living into the infrastructure across public and private living, making accessible kitchens, handicap showers and accessible offices the status quo, rather than the exception. The knock on effect of reducing the fear around something like blindness might even go as far as to increase awareness of heart disease and the steps that can be taken by individuals to lower their risk levels.

Filed under Barrier Free News
Tags: , , , , ,
August 15, 2010

Disability Hate Crimes

The Australian Broadcasting Association recently reported on some new research that reveals thousands of Australians with disabilities are suffering at the hands of increasingly potent hate crimes. Unfortunately, because the legislation in Australia is unclear, these crimes are often passed off as straightforward Abuse crimes, which result in much smaller charges.

Dr Sherry, a local expert on the problem, says that a lack of awareness is the biggest problem; for example, the Australian statutory appointee who is meant to oversee the affairs of adults with disabilities claims not to have heard of any hate crimes, despite multiple examples that suggest otherwise. Dr Sherry argues that the only way to deal with this problem is to include physical disability into hate crime legislation, as is done in the US, Canada, and many other countries around the world.

The Canadian Criminal Code states that sentences should be increased according to whether the crime was motivated by “hate based on race, national or ethnic origin, language, colour, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, sexual orientation, or any other similar factor”. Source. This clarity makes appropriate charges very accessible to law enforcers in this country.

Disability hate crime has been in the international news a lot over the last few months. For example, in June, the UK changed its legislation in order to increase the sentences associated with disability hate crime following some high profile cases.

On June 16th, Statistics Canada reported the numbers of hate crimes committed in 2008, showing a really alarming increase of 35% between 2007 and 2008. However, very few of these hate crimes are targeted towards Canadians with disabilities (racial and religious crime is much more common).

Making such statistics accessible to the general public is a really important step in raising awareness about just how prevalent hate crime is, and what steps can be taken to reduce it. One of the best things you can do to raise awareness specifically about disability hate crime is to make sure you cater for all levels of disability in your home and work environment, whether that means providing ramps, handicap showers and bathrooms, better lighting or greater wheelchair access to your yard.

Filed under Mobility Issues and News
Tags: , , , ,
© 2009 Barrier Free Architecturals Inc.