How to make your home more accessible for someone with mobility issues

There are thousands of people in the UK with mobility issues of varying degrees. Some disabilities make mobility near impossible and other’s make mobility difficult and painful. Not all disabilities are visible and if you live with someone who has a disability, it’s important to help that person live as full and independent a life as possible. There are a number of things you can do to make life a little bit easier for family members who have mobility issues.

Adapted Vehicles

There are a number of mobility vehicle experts and schemes in the UK, which help a disabled person to lease or buy car. Dependant on the severity of the disability, you may also need the car to be adapted. Vehicle adaptations can include anything from non slip flooring or an automatic gearbox, to full wheelchair accessibility with lifts and ramps. You may also be able to apply for a disabled parking badge.

Install hand rails

Hand rails are often needed in bathrooms, toilets and up the stairs in homes to help people who find mobility difficult or painful.

Mobility Aids

There are endless mobility aids to help people with disabilities, including everything from shower seats to walking sticks. You can often browse the different types of mobility aids available in large pharmacies and mobility shops. There are mobility aids to help every kind of disability and it’s well worth asking an expert for advice on the types of things that might be useful to the person you are trying to help.

Wheelchair accessibility

If wheelchair access is needed around the home, it’s important to make sure that all the doors in your home are wide enough to fit a wheelchair through. You’d also need ramps where any surfaces are not level, for example, if there is a step from the front door into the house. It’s also important to make sure that there is sufficient space for a wheelchair user to turn around in any given room and to have access to facilities such as toilets, bathroom, dining table, kitchen appliances etc.

Lifts

If there is room in your home, you could have a lift or stair lift installed, to make upstairs floors of your home more accessible.

Extension

If there is not enough room in your home to fit a lift and a stair lift is not appropriate, you could consider having an extension built. This would ensure you have a bedroom, washing facilities or storage space for medical equipment.

Cost of adapting your home

If you live in social housing, you could consider applying for a disabled facilities grant from your local council, to help with the costs of adapting your home, to make it more accessible for a family member who has mobility issues.

*3