Definitely something to bear in mind as we all age (as disgracefully as possible, perhaps) & surely we can manage to learn from other countries. Even if it is Australia...
House design guidelines for disabled living do exist here. I discovered this when I talked to a designer before building my retirement home. In my work as a district nurse I had witnessed many of the issues around access, so wanted to incorporate what I had learned in order to minimize the necessity of moving on should my health/mobility fail. The designer responded immediately, citing those guidelines. Anyway, my wee house has wide doors - most are sliding, those with handles are not the knob sort which for some, is harder to grasp. There is sufficient space to swing around in a wheel chair beside bed and in bathroom. and lots of other features I hadn't even thought of - power points that are not on the skirting board but are higher so you can reach them, etc. etc. As was mentioned in your interview - it is cheaper to sort these things during the construction rather than leaving it for later.
Definitely something to bear in mind as we all age (as disgracefully as possible, perhaps) & surely we can manage to learn from other countries. Even if it is Australia...
House design guidelines for disabled living do exist here. I discovered this when I talked to a designer before building my retirement home. In my work as a district nurse I had witnessed many of the issues around access, so wanted to incorporate what I had learned in order to minimize the necessity of moving on should my health/mobility fail. The designer responded immediately, citing those guidelines. Anyway, my wee house has wide doors - most are sliding, those with handles are not the knob sort which for some, is harder to grasp. There is sufficient space to swing around in a wheel chair beside bed and in bathroom. and lots of other features I hadn't even thought of - power points that are not on the skirting board but are higher so you can reach them, etc. etc. As was mentioned in your interview - it is cheaper to sort these things during the construction rather than leaving it for later.