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At Home Home Modifications

Car Battery Disconnect Switch for Drivers with Dementia

batswitch.gifIn the United States, there is probably no greater rite of passage into adulthood, and the independence it represents, than acquiring a driver’s license. Losing that privilege through disability can be incredibly devastating. When Alzheimer’s or other dementias are involved, explaining why driving is no longer safe may not be sufficient to keep a loved one off the road.

One non-confrontational solution is this battery disconnect switch. It’s easy to install on the battery terminal; turning the knob disconnects the battery, making it impossible to start the car. When the car must be driven, the knob is screwed back down, and the battery functions again.

It’s much easier, emotionally, to accept that the car just isn’t working today than it is to accept that a lifetime of independence is gone. A mechanical solution like this may minimize conflicts, while, at the same time, keeping the roads safer for everyone.

“No Start” Car Battery Disconnect Switch, $19.95 (USD) at The Alzheimer’s Store

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DIY Home Modifications

Tools for Planning Accessibility

Image of a Blue Plastic Figure in a Wheelchair with a Handle AttachedThe Visualizer is a clever tool for checking wheelchair access on blueprints. A clear disk is attached to a moulded figure that is, in turn, attached to a wand. The figure — a representation of a person in a wheelchair — and the disk depict a wheelchair “footprint” of 30 by 48 inches, and a turning radius of 60 inches, in 1/8 inch, 1/4 inch and 1/2 inch scale. Running the tool along your building plans gives you a visual check — will the wheelchair fit or not?

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At Home Home Modifications

A Kinder, Gentler (Rubber) Wheelchair Ramp

We used portable metal wheelchair ramps for my dad‘s visits to the house, and they’ve worked well for us. We needed a rather long ramp, so our options were limited. In other situations, I’d have much preferred a rubber threshold ramp instead — every time we moved our portable ramps I worried that the metal edges would catch and maul a door, the side of the house, or our hardwood floors. Rubber ramps would be kinder to anything they accidentally encountered — and, I suspect, hose off more easily as well.

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At Home DIY Everyday Gear Home Modifications Wheelchairs

Building a Skinner Air Crib

Image of a Baby Sleeping in a Skinner Air CribI recently wrote about my experiences with B.F. Skinner’s Air Crib (or if you prefer, Baby Boxes). In this post, I’ll share what I remember about how the cribs my daughter and siblings and I used were made.

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DIY Home Modifications Wheelchairs

Offset Hinges to Widen Doorways for Walker or Wheelchair Access

Image of Offset HingeThe smallest of my dad’s wheelchairs isn’t especially wide, but it just barely makes it through the kitchen door in our 50 year-old-home. My dad visits us, but if he lived here, the narrow clearance would be a daily inconvenience. Because our walls are lathe-and-plaster, it would be painful, costwise and aesthetically, to widen the doorways by tearing them down.

A less-invasive, easier, and far less expensive alternative is to install offset door hinges. These z-shaped hinges allow the door to swing free of the frame, widening it by approximately 2 inches. They’ll usually replace existing hinges without modification; a little bit of chiseling may be necessary if the plates don’t match perfectly.

You can buy them at Dynamic Living (where you can also read some helpful comments) — local hardware stores may have them in stock as well.

Categories
At Home DIY Everyday Gear Home Modifications Wheelchairs

A Better Baby Crib for Parents Who Use Wheelchairs

Sitting in a Skinner Air CribMaking life better and easier sometimes requires looking at things you accept as perfectly ordinary parts of life and considering them from a completely different perspective. This post is about one of those things — the baby crib you may have slept in when you were little, and the one you may be considering using for your own child.

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At Home Home Modifications Nursing Home

Anti-Slip Traction Strips to Prevent Falls

Commercial Traction StripsMy dad has a serious problem with falling, and a worse one with recognizing how much danger this represents to him. Because he doesn’t acknowledge his physical difficulties in this area, working around this limitation is a high priority for everyone who cares for him.

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At Home DIY Home Modifications Nursing Home

Keeping Cords and Phone Lines Off the Floor

3M Mini ClipsThere’s a fair amount of wheeled or semi-wheeled gear in my dad’s room at his nursing home, along with an extra chair that is generally used by guests. Most of this stuff is kept on the far side of the room, so that Dad doesn’t have to fight the gear he’s not using. It’s always a little tricky swapping out the pieces when they’re needed, but I really complicated things when I moved Dad’s phone and ran a line around that part of the room, creating lots of opportunities to get the equipment tangled up with the cord.

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At Home Home Modifications Wheelchairs

Collapsible Wheelchair Showers

Every now and then I see a product that just screams “DIY” — not at all, presumably, the response an entrepreneur is looking for. At a recent WCDExpo, one booth featured a wheelchair shower system. Cool, potentially, since it was meant to use an existing sink (probably in a kitchen), and could be collapsed and put away when not in use.

Categories
At Home DIY Everyday Gear Home Modifications

Lever Door Handles

Round door knobs are a bane on the face of the earth. Face it, people, they’re just not user-friendly. Wet hands, mittens, gloves, an armful of groceries . . . everyday something makes turning that knob a pain, even if nothing else is going on with your arms or hands. Add arthritis, grasp impairment, carpal tunnel syndrome or whatever and whooeeee . . . standard doorknobs aren’t really very user-friendly.