Home Improvement Projects for Disabled Persons or Senior Citizens There are many millions of Americans who live full lives while simultaneously living with a disability or people whose age has prevented them from living how they used to. Just as these individuals have adapted life to fit around their physical abilities, so too can they adapt their homes to be accommodating to their needs rather than debilitating. Persons with disabilities and those who have grown older can alter the functionality of their homes to meet their personal abilities and limitations. By so doing, a person can use their home as what it is meant to be—a refuge. Some of the main issues that older people and people with disabilities face is issues with limited mobility. Living can be made extremely difficult when a person has a hard time getting around their own home.
Modifying the Home for the Hard of Hearing To make a home more accessible to the owner and to those who live within it who have mobility disabilities, a few in-house home improvements can be made to adjust for the needs of the disabled. Some of the more common and effective home improvements that people can make to ensure that their home is accommodating to their limited mobility are the instillation of ramps in the home. Ramps placed around a home can turn a boundary into a gate way for many individuals with mobility limitations. Even those individuals who do not need the help of a wheelchair to move around the home will often become more mobile with the assistance of well-placed ramps both outside and within the home. Ramps can be installed in outer entryways to allow easy access to the doors of the home as well as installed within the home were there may be level shifts on the same floor of the home. For example, there may be just one step that divides the kitchen area from the living room, in which case a small ramp can be constructed to allow for easier access by individuals with disabilities to both rooms. More extreme home modifications that can be made to accommodate an individual or individuals with mobility problems include remodels that will expand the doorways within the home and hallways that span lengths of the home. While these improvements to the home will allow for much needed access to
specific rooms like the bathroom or bedroom, the physical reconstruction of both doorways and hallways can be expensive.
Resources for the Impaired For those who are in need of additional funds in order complete home modifications for individuals with disabilities, there are several resources that can be contacted to help with such financial aid. Both government agencies and private organizations exist which can help a homeowner to receive grants and special loans to make needed improvements to the home for the accommodation of those persons with disabilities. Beyond physical modifications to the home there are other ways that a person can add to their home to accommodate their limitations such as the installation of a captioned telephone. A captioned telephone is a phone designed to assist those with hearing loss or hearing disabilities and is one example of products that are designed to make a home more user-friendly for those with disabilities.