Accessibility Ideas

Building an accessible home can be a bit stressful. We tried to plan as far ahead as possible. For example, we have a roll-in shower even though I do not need a shower seat yet. All entrances are wheelchair accessible and barrier free. And we built an elevator shaft for future use. Our home isn't fancy yet it has eliminated so much of my anxiety. I don't have to worry about falling when getting out of the shower. I don't have to stress about how we will do future modifications. I don't have to worry about climbing stairs, or what I will do when I can't climb stairs anymore.

Here is a list of things that helped us along the way.

1. Hallways and doorways at least 3 feet wide. I can't stress this enough. Especially when using a powerchair. On occasion, I have still pumped the door frame, I realize this is inevitable, but having the extra few inches really make a difference.

2. Bathroom. Bathroom. Bathroom. We made sure the turning radius was wide enough and combined the wheelchair space for the toilet and the shower, allowing the room to feel very open. Barrier free is a term used by some builders to describe a roll in shower.


3. Wheelchair accessible entrances are all barrier free.

4. In the wheelchair accessible kitchen, we created open space underneath the sink and the stove. I tease my husband that he made sure I could still wash dishes and cook. I love that we can open and close the doors. Additionally, here are some modifications:

• Raised counters an inch
• Created wheelchair accessible working space
• Used peninsula instead of island.
• Installed pull-out drawers
• Installed pot filer over stove

One thing that we did not realize is that our builder built the cabinets too high. Eventually when I am in a wheelchair cooking, I will have a hard time getting into the cabinets. This is obviously a huge regret and something we did not think of.