Awhile back I had a houseguest for a few days, an elder to whom I happily offered the bedroom with the nicest bed - to my thinking, anyway.  It's a wide, firm futon on a platform about a foot high.  One morning I noticed my guest was on his hands and knees on the carpet.  It was not a yoga session; he was getting out of bed.  It was too low for his back and knees to confidently maneuver from directly, so each morning he had been crawling to the floor first and tackling the full upright from there.

We had a few laughs about the literal meaning of "rolling out of bed," but it's a serious consideration when designing or remodeling a living space.  Movements and activities we take for granted in our younger years can become difficult and even dangerous as we age.  There's also the possibility at any age that an illness or injury will put us, or a family member, in a wheelchair.  Then, even the entryway can become an insurmountable barrier, thanks to the step or two that most dwellings have, and indoors the too-narrow hallways and doorways literally close in on you.

Creating a living space that allows access to people of all ages and physical abilities, including those using a wheelchair, scooter, or walker, is a strategy that's gaining momentum.  The 70 to 80 million baby boomers in this country are now in their forties and fifties, and looking for ways to extend their years of independent living.  That's one reason that "universal design" is finding increasing application in new homes, and in renovations of existing ones.  Even if you plan to resell, your pool of buyers will be expanded by some simple choices that have everyone's needs in mind.

EVERYBODY IN!
The concept of universal design encompasses materials, products, floorplans, and building features that make a building suitable for all people.  It circumvents or outsmarts the standard features of a home that become barriers to people with limited mobility, balance, or strength.  Its principles are decades old, stemming from the practical experience of wheelchair-bound architect Ronald Mace, who helped found the still-vibrant Center for Universal Design at North Carolina State University.

Universal design strategies include having at least one bathroom with grab bars in the tub/shower, or at least the required reinforcements for them built into the wall for installation later, and a pathway at least 32 inches wide to the toilet, which improves access for anyone but is essential for wheelchairs.  Another universal design "must" is a step-less entrance to the residence - not just for wheelchairs but also for people with arthritis, muscle weakness, Parkinson's, or even just with a lot of luggage or furniture to haul.  Stepless entries are far easier and lovelier to create during initial construction; retrofitting a dwelling can mean adding an unsightly, expensive wheelchair ramp.  Unfortunately, brand new developments are popping up everywhere, with colossal homes that still each sport those standard few steps up to all outside entrances.

A companion concept to universal design is visitability, a term borrowed from Europe, relating to its literal meaning of  "able to be visited."  Visitability promotes three features that are a visitor's bottom-line needs: having at least one entrance with no steps, a width of 32 inches in all hallways and doorways (36 inches is preferred), and a half bath (toilet and sink) on the first floor.  An international movement is afoot to include these in all new construction.  Concrete Change is an organization focused on that goal for single-family homes in the U.S. (Governmental or publicly used buildings already must meet access requirements, thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990; the Fair Housing Amendments Act of 1988 requires the same of multi-family dwellings, though it's rarely enforced.) The woman behind the organization is Eleanor Smith, who has decades of experience with barriers to her wheelchair, like six months residing in a home whose narrow bathroom doorway required that she crawl to get in.

Local visitability ordinances, and thousands of compliant homes and developments, are springing up around the country.  They're attractive and very resalable.  Congress is considering a federal visitability mandate in the form of the Inclusive Home Design Act (HR 2352), introduced in 2003.  (The U.K. is ahead of us on that one, with a Parliamentary mandate in effect since 1999.)

AGING GRACEFULLY
Aging brings to most people a lessening in agility, strength, and balance.  Combine those realities with the features of a typical house and you've got a formula for frustration, social isolation, dependency, and danger.  Architect and professor Harvey Berg of Washingtonville has four decades of design experience and even more experience of living on this green earth, and he's not going to wait for his house to entrap him.  He's designing a new home with gazillions of practical solutions, many of which can be incorporated into an existing home.