Wheelchair users are our friends and relatives, and we need to give them the utmost care. We can start doing this by having a wheelchair accessing home. Below are some ways you can turn your non-accessible wheelchair home into a wheelchair accessible home.
[Wheelchair-Accessible Bathroom Shower]
1. Your Home Entrance
The first piece of the puzzle is to build a wheelchair ramp at the entrance of your home. The ramp should be 35 inches wide to allow easy passing of the wheelchair. There should be handrails on both sides of your ramp that will help anyone in a wheelchair hold on to them as they move.
[Wheelchair-Accessible Home]
2. Work on Your Doorway Size
Many of our modern doorways are not spacious enough to accommodate those using wheelchairs. Standard doorways are 27 inches wide, which does not favor wheelchairs users. To be able to accommodate people on wheelchairs, make your doorways be at least 35 inches wide.
[Wheelchair-Accessible Home Entry]
3. Change Your Floor
Rugs and carpets are entirely unsuitable for people using wheelchairs as they increase their chances of tripping and falling. Additionally, they make it difficult for wheelchairs to roll. Upgrade to wooden floors or tiles to make the floor smooth enough for wheelchairs to roll on.
[Wheelchair-Accessible Floor]
4. Choose Better Door Knobs
You can access standard door knobs easily from a standing position, but not the case from a sitting position. Therefore, your doorknobs should be lowered to medium height to make it accessible for people on wheelchairs. Lever-shaped doorknobs are the best because they suit both people in a wheelchair and those who are not.
[Wheelchair-Friendly Doorknobs]
5. Remove Bathroom Shower Steps
You should remove bathroom shower steps because they are a barrier to wheelchair users. You can add a ramp, but the most suitable way is to replace your shower with a flat walk in completely. Also, you can add grab bars that you can place around bathtubs and toilets.
6. Tweak Your Kitchen
One of the ways to make your kitchen wheelchair user-friendly is to lower your stoves and ovens. You also need to have low accessible refrigerators to enable wheelchair users to access them. It would help if you also changed the countertops and cabinets to suit wheelchair users. If possible, rearrange your kitchen to make it more spacious.
7. Bedroom
You will also need to make some adjustments to your bedroom to suit wheelchair persons. Lower your raised beds to accommodate wheelchair users. This will make it easier for persons in wheelchairs to get to bed without any difficulty. If you find lowering your bed too difficult or time-consuming, go for an automatic bed lifter, such as IKEA capita leg, slipstick, duracasa heavy, and duty.
[Wheelchair-Accessible Bedroom]
