As the years pile up, so do the odds of dealing with arthritis, accidents, disease, and just generally
diminished mobility, dexterity and eyesight.
At the same time, virtually all of us would prefer to remain in our own homes as long as possible.
These days, there are creative ways to achieve that goal, as area residents learned during a public
program, "Aging at Home," sponsored Thursday night by the League of Women Voters of Bowling
Green.
Dr. Joy Potthoff, interior design professor at Bowling Green State University, opened the program by
asking audience members if they have given up doing things in the home due to disability.
Several mentioned they no longer go down into their basements or up into their attics due to difficulty
with stairs.
Interior design students from past classes taught by Potthoff surveyed grandparents and family friends
age 60 and over about some of the biggest in-home challenges they face during a typical day.
More than half named physical problems including asthma, arthritis, walking, getting out of a chair,
trying to grab or reach things that are too high or too low, and getting out of bed.
Other responses to the "hardest struggles" survey question:
• 36 percent said cleaning the house and doing laundry;
• 21 percent said getting up and down stairs;
• 20 percent said using the bathroom – including getting in and out of the tub;
• 20 percent said using their kitchens.
The survey also asked the 60-plus respondents if they have given up doing something in the home because
of disabilities.
Among the activities listed: Doing laundry or carrying laundry baskets, preparing large holiday meals,
washing dishes, getting into the kitchen cabinets, filling the dishwasher, and using the top shelf of
the closet.
Stephanie Shook, one of several design-student presenters, listed changes people can make in their home
to address above issues.
These include "installing higher toilet seats, more lighting, getting rid of slippery wooden
floors" and thick pile carpet, "locating the washer and dryer on the first floor" and
choosing front-load models, lowering the kitchen sink, and elevating the height of the oven and
dishwasher.
"I’ve replaced a lot of towel bars with grab bars" in local homes, noted Bowling Green
carpenter Bill Abbott, one of several commercial vendors who spoke during the evening.
"A lot of people try to use the towel bar as a grab bar and rip it off the wall," Abbott
warned. "You grab a towel bar, you go down and you get hurt."
Instead, he recommended replacing them with elegant-looking grab bars now available on the market.
"More and more people are thinking about simple things like that."
Abbott also gets called on for bigger modifications.
"I’ve put a few ramps in, and I’ve done quite a few zero-threshold showers which cover the entire
bathroom floor."

There’s no curb to retain the water, or trip up the resident. Instead, "there’s a very gentle
slope" so all the water heads toward the drain.
"Most people’s bathrooms aren’t big, so that’s realistic," Abbott said.
For other people he has adjusted cabinet heights or widened doorways to a wheelchair-friendly 36 inches
instead of the standard 30-inch width.
Shook also recommended installing handrails throughout the house, and putting in a bathtub with a seat
and grab bars.
"As our eyes age, we need more light. Almost double as much is needed at age 70" as at 30,
noted a commercial vendor. At the same time, "glare becomes more of an issue."
He recommended installing downward-directed lighting, and "for kitchens and bathrooms we use a white
cone, which allows a little more brightness."
In the bedroom, opt for wall lights so there are no cords to trip over.
For the living room Shook suggested a conversational grouping with enough room for a wheelchair, and
comfortable back-supporting chairs and sofas with arms. "Keep some open floor space," she
advised.
Megan Rossi, interior designer with Samsen Furniture in Genoa, said she works every day "with people
who are downsizing, and what I find is a lot of the time, motorized recliners are a big help. That takes
a lot of the stress off," but is still short a full power-lift chair.
If people can no longer get upstairs to their bedroom, she recommends the American Leather brand sofa bed
which has a Temper-Pedic mattress, or installing a Murphy bed in one’s living room or office.
The gold standard is a home elevator, but they are still expensive although likely to fall in price
eventually.
"What people are doing now is when building new, they put in an elevator shaft and use the space for
storage." That leaves the option to install an elevator at some future time, Potthoff said. The
cost of an elevator is $50,000 for a low-end model, up to $70,000.
While it’s a huge amount of money, compared to a couple years in a nursing home it suddenly doesn’t sound
so bad, she pointed out.
A budget option is a staircase chair-lift, for about $3,500, "and you can find used ones," she
added.
"Not all these changes have to take place at once," Potthoff noted. The best approach: plan
ahead before one gets disabled.
Shook said interior designers today like the concept of "universal design," a term first coined
in 1985 to describe incorporating products and design features that can be used by everyone – older,
young, disabled and non-disabled alike.
"No one is ‘average,’ that’s a mythical concept," Potthoff pointed out. "We’re all
different heights, sizes, with different issues."
One reason senior- and disability-friendly home modifications are in vogue is that there are so many more
customers for these products.
"In 1900, life expectancy was 44. People had few physical limitations associated with old age,"
Shook said. Now, people live into their 80s, on average.
In addition, "survival rates are higher for previously fatal injuries and disabilities."