Type of Disabilities

FUNCTIONAL INTERIORS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS 4(2+2)
Lesson 3:Housing Environment for Special Purposes - Needs , Types and Definitions

Type of Disabilities

  • Types of Disabilities and their fundamental needs
  • Definitions of Interiors for Special Needs
  • Accessible

{"An accessible house includes features that meet the needs of a person with less ability. Most accessible houses feature open turning spaces within rooms, wheel-in shower stalls and kitchen work surfaces with knee space below.

Accessible housing is generally a purpose built dwelling for a person or persons with a disability. This may be a new dwelling or one that is modified to suit the user. Adaptations made during home modifications are not to be confused with "adaptable housing".

Accessible house is that design which accommodates everyone, including people with disabilities. Accessible housing includes houses that are minimally accessible, houses that can easily be made accessible at a later date, and houses that are completely accessible with power door openers, large bathrooms and so on.

Adaptable

An adaptable house is designed to be adapted at a later date to accommodate someone with a disability. Features include removable cupboards in a kitchen or bathroom to create knee space for a wheelchair user, or a knock-out floor panel in a closet to allow installation of an elevator.

Adaptable housing refers to dwellings with design features that are easily adapted at a later date to flex with the changing needs of the occupants. A simple example is tiling the kitchen floor before fitting cupboards, so that if a cupboard needs to be removed to provide knee-space under a bench later on, the floor remains intact. This means the adaptations require less work at less cost.

Adjustable features refer to fittings within the home, such as an adjustable height bench that can be moved up and down, manually or electronically, to suit the height of each user in the home."}

Universal

Universal house design recognizes that everyone who uses a house is different and comes with different abilities that change over time. Features include lever door handles that everyone can use, enhanced lighting levels to make it as easy as possible to see, stairways that feature handrails that are easy to grasp, and easy-to-use appliances.

There are another two terms frequently used related to this subject area, Universal Design and Barrier-free Design, which have similar meanings. The terms used to signify a move away from the traditional approach to design and disability to, that of designing for the disabled. This concept has until recently been the international approach towards disabled people. .

Certain environmental features are barriers to disabled people, who require adaptations or specialised equipment in order to access that environment. A new term Architectural Apartheid has been coined which amply illustrates the separative nature that is caused by such design philosophy.

Inclusive Environments

The term Inclusive Environments refers to environments that account for the needs of users, including people who are physically disabled, people with sensory disabilities: both hearing and sight, people with learning disabilities, people with mental illnesses, elderly people, young children, people with dexterity problems, people with neurological problems, woman who are pregnant, people who are in a hurry and not looking where they are going, people who have had an accident and are temporarily disabled, people who are not wearing their glasses that day, people who are distracted or concentrating on something else. In fact, all of us require an inclusive environment. Inclusive Design is design that accounts for all of the above users. Product design forms part of environmental design.

Inclusive Environments and Inclusive Design are terms, which are both, used in the present days to describe user-friendly products, internal and external environments, and transport systems. They form part of the means by which people should expect to be able to access employment, goods and services. Although disabled people are not the sole group of people affected by environmental design, they are an identified group of people who have been significantly impeded from using the environment. In order to recreate an environment that works for all users, their experiences have to be accounted for. A visitable house includes basic accessibility features that allow most people to visit, even if they have limitations such as impaired mobility. Basic features of a visitable house include a level entry, wider doors throughout the entrance level and a washroom on the main floor.

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Last modified: Friday, 6 July 2012, 8:37 AM