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As the saying goes, the home is where the heart is, which is why it's important your house is a place where people feel happy and content. If you have a wheelchair user in the household, it's important that they can move around as independently as possible. To help you increase your home's accessibility for wheelchair users, here is a useful guide that will help you decide what could be implemented to make a wheelchair user's life easier.
Add ramps to your home
Ramps are a brilliant way to make your home more accessible for wheelchair users, as they enable users to be independent when entering and leaving the property. If a ramp is fitted outside the house, a wheelchair user will be able to move inside and outside of the house at their own accord, potentially without the need for assistance, depending on the individual's needs.
It's also important to note that ramps don't have to be permanent and made from cement; they can be portable too, which would be ideal for those who are renting a property.
Install a lift
One of the most practical ways a home can be made more accessible for a wheelchair user is through installing a Terry Lifts platform lift. If a wheelchair user can independently transfer themselves from floor to floor within a property, it would massively enhance their freedom purely because of how simple it would make their life, just by being able to switch floors without assistance or having to get in and out of their wheelchair.
However, if this is out of your price budget, a good alternative would be to install a chair lift on the stairs so that a wheelchair user can freely move up and down floors on their own.
Widen doorways
Understandably, it can be quite frustrating for a wheelchair user to go through the process of being taken in and out of their chair through every doorway in the house. Widening key doorways in the household would be a fantastic way for wheelchair users to be more catered to, as they will be able to have the ease of entering and leaving key rooms such as the kitchen or living room without having to be taken out of their chair as they go through the door.
Add a ground floor bathroom
If your house doesn't have a lift and there is a wheelchair user living at the property, it would make sense to install a ground floor bathroom so that they can always have quick access to the toilet, regardless of what floor they are on. When considering adding a ground floor bathroom to accommodate the needs of a wheelchair user, adding hardware for stability next to features such as the toilet and adjusting the height of the sink is favorable for the wheelchair user.
If you have enough space for a bigger ground floor bathroom, a good option would be to add a roll-in shower for the wheelchair user to access with more independence.
