Making homes more accessible for people with mobility impairment: A lived experience perspective

Abstract

People with mobility impairment have the right to live in accessible housing that meets their needs. Although the Australian National Construction Code for residential housing will be amended to include minimum accessibility standards in September 2022, some states have chosen not to adopt these standards (New South Wales, Western Australia and South Australia). The inclusion of people with lived experience in decisions surrounding accessible housing design is lacking. This study sought the perspective of people with mobility impairment on the most important modifications they would make to the design of their own homes, and the homes of their friends and family, to make them more accessible. An online survey was completed from February to March 2021 by 145 people living in Australia including 112 people with mobility impairment, and 33 family members. Results indicated that 71 per cent of the participants were living in housing that did not fully meet their accessibility needs. Descriptive qualitative analyses demonstrated that commonly reported modifications included a step‐free entrance, wider internal doors and corridors, and level access throughout the home. These modifications would promote social inclusion, functioning, independence and overall quality of life. These results have policy implications for the implementation of accessibility standards in the National Construction Code.

Accessible independent housing for people with disabilities: A scoping review of promising practices, policies and interventions

“…These studies were conducted over a 20-year period, across 18 countries (i.e., Australia, Canada, China, France, Korea, Ireland, Italy, Japan, New Zealand, Norway, Pakistan, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Taiwan, Thailand, UK, US) (see Table 1 ). Some studies focused on specific types of disabilities such as mobility impairments [ 8 , 15 , 65 ], functional limitations [ 66 ], motor disabilities [ 67 ], spinal cord injury [ 49 , 68 ], physical disabilities [ 43 , 69 ], vision impairments [ 70 , 71 ], multiple sclerosis [ 72 ], while the remainder (and majority) of the studies included other various (unspecified) types of disabilities. Participants included people with disabilities, their families/caregivers, health care providers, architects, home builders, city planners, government decision makers and other key stakeholders involved in providing accessible housing.…”

“…For example, the Center for International Economics [ 7 ] estimates that less than 10% of new housing stock has been built to accessible standards. Consequently, many people with disabilities live in housing that does not meet their needs [ 8 ] and those who do could face barriers in building relationships with those in their surrounding community (e.g., they may be unable to visit the inaccessible homes of neighbors, friends and family). In Canada for example, people with disabilities are more likely to live in conditions of “core housing need” than the rest of the population, indicating that their housing does not meet a minimum standard of adequacy, suitability, or affordability [ 9 ].…”

“…Some research demonstrates that interventions to enhance the accessibility of homes (e.g., home modifications, creating space to accommodate mobility devices and implementing accessible designs) can have positive health and social impacts, such as reduced depression, mortality rates, and falls or injuries, in addition to enhanced social participation [ 2 , 17 ]. Further, having accessibility related home modifications can improve independence, safety, privacy and self-confidence for people with disabilities [ 8 ]. Building or adapting homes to an accessible standard could help to reduce costs for health services by decreasing household accidents, the need for institutional care and reliance on other government resources [ 18 ].…”

“…This scoping review is timely and significant because many nations, including Canada, where the authors are located, are experiencing a housing crisis, which is expected to worsen with rising rental and development costs, increased interest rates and an ongoing shortage of accessible and affordable housing [ 8 ]. People with disabilities are particularly vulnerable to missing out on acquiring affordable and accessible housing and deserve solutions that enhance their access to appropriate housing.…”

“…By doing so, this could help to enhance the social inclusion of people with disabilities, while aiming to shift the dynamics of privilege and marginalization. There remains a concerning lack of knowledge synthesis about accessible independent housing solutions for people with disabilities [ 8 ]. Focusing on independent housing is critical because most people with disabilities would prefer to live independently [ 55 ].…”