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Home For Life Wiki

Home for Life:
Design and Modifications for Barrier-Free Living

http://www.homeforlife.info

The overwhelming majority of seniors wish to continue to live in their own homes for as long as possible. For many older adults, independent living in their own houses or apartments, is an important factor in the quality of their lives. However, many homes are not well designed to meet changing needs as Canadians age.

If you are considering home modifications or advising someone on affordable and sustainable design strategies, this wiki could be helpful to you. It is an on-line resource where people can get started, find resources and share ideas of what went well and what didn't go well.

Resources include:
Finding a Contractor
Getting Started
Funding
Home Modification Ideas
Photos and Video
Resources and Related Information

http://www.homeforlife.info

As we age, we look forward to living independently in the place we've come to call home. For many older adults, independent living, in their own houses or apartments, is an important factor in the quality of their lives. However, many homes are not well designed to meet our changing needs as we get older. This is why, Alberta Health Services (Glenrose Rehabilitation Hospital and Community Care), Faculty of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Alberta and SAGE joined together to develop an on-line resource where people requiring or advising on home modifications can learn how to get started, review funding sources, find lots of specific information and share ideas of what went well and what didn't go well.

Health changes such as a stroke have a significant impact on one's abilities to function and as a result, can impact the way one lives. Home modifications using principles of universal design can help make our homes more accessible and more visitable. Universal Design is the idea of making things comfortable and convenient for as many different people at as many stages of life as possible.
Using Universal Design and applying principles for affordable building techniques results in a product that serves a broad range of people.

This website (Wiki) addresses accessibility and visitability issues and provides planning and construction guidance for modifying existing homes and also how to include a range of accessibility features into new homes. The goal is to provide practical information for the do-it yourself designer as well as contractors, healthcare professionals, builders and architects.

What is a wiki anyway?
A wiki is essentially a website that many people can add to! Wikipedia (2009), the most well-known wiki, defines it as: "a page or collection of web pages designed to enable anyone who accesses it to contribute or modify content". The Home for Life wiki can be accessed by anyone. Feel free to check it out, make comments, or add information.

Housing for the 21st century is changing. More than ever, it is necessary to design living space that meets the needs of all people, young, old, short, tall, disabled and able-bodied. There's an exciting design principle called Universal Design that helps achieve this objective.