Wheelchair Accessibility: A Few Ways to Transform Your Home

Becoming a caregiver for someone in a wheelchair is both challenging and rewarding. You are showing support for a loved one, but may be finding yourself with a laundry list of questions you’d never considered before. A lot goes into preparing your home and your life for accommodating a wheelchair, so over the next few weeks we want to pull together some helpful tips for you.

People who require wheelchair accessibility often find frustration at things that make it difficult to get around a house that able-bodied people may not realize. Are your door frames wide enough? Are all the plates in high cabinets? Is the furniture too close together. Minor modifications can make life much easier to deal with, so here are the first three “I never thought of that!” tips of our series.  We hope these will make your life, and the life of your mobility impaired loved one a touch easier.

1. When it comes to carpets and rugs, it is very easy for the carpet to get caught in the wheels of a wheelchair so simply remove any loose rugs or carpet pieces and replace them with ones that won’t move. Wall to wall carpeting or smooth flooring are the most comprehensive ways to do this, but rugs that lie flat, have smooth edges and are secured to the floor can be an alternative as well.
2. Have you ever noticed that there are no door knobs in a hospital room? This is because door knobs are challenging for someone that is restricted to a wheelchair. Door knobs should be replaced with levers because it is easier for someone in a wheelchair to push on the door than having to turn the knob.
3. Having the ability to enter and move around inside of a home without needing assistance is a way to allow individuals in a wheelchair to maintain their independent lives while also sustaining an active lifestyle. Installing ramps in the necessary areas is effortless and affordable.We discussed building a ramp in your home in another one of our wheelchair accessibility at home blogs.

What has been your biggest challenge in making your home wheelchair accessible? Do you have any questions you’d like us to answer in one of our upcoming blogs? What tricks have you found that make maneuvering a wheelchair through a home easier?

Your home may already be wheelchair ready, so let us know if you need to rent a wheelchair van or are trying to decide whether a new or used wheelchair van may be what you need to make travel and life outside the home possible. We’d love to hear from you, get in touch today!