FUNCTIONAL INTERIORS FOR SPECIAL NEEDS 4(2+2)

Lesson 27 : Functional Interior Options - Independent Living / Retirement Homes

Spatial Arrangements

Along with specific color choices and lighting, spatial arrangement can improve the living environment in nursing homes for the residents. Age-related vision problems can affect more than color vision or illumination levels. There are several diseases that can also affect peripheral vision, depth perception, and object size. For example, cataracts are caused by clouding in the variable lens and this influences how well the eye is able to measure depths in the environment. Cataracts occur in people over 65 almost 75 percent of the time. Another example could be senile macular degeneration. This occurs when the macular area of the retina (contains the focusing element used in direct line of sight) begins to degenerate and your central vision is seriously impaired. This means that anything that you looked at in your direct line of sight would not be there when you focused on it and could dramatically affect object size and depth perception. Because of these changes in vision it is important to arrange a room, especially the private rooms, in a way that is most comfortable and suitable for the specific needs of the individual. Also because of visual problems, daily tasks may become more difficult, so the room should be arranged to make these tasks easier. By making these difficult tasks more manageable, it could give residents their feelings of independence back and help to curb emotions stemming from their inability to be self-sufficient that might cause depression . Gerontechnology is an area of science aimed at managing these types of problems. By developing technological devices that are specifically designed for the home environment of an elderly person, they hope to provide a safer and more comfortable environment for the elderly.