Five ways to avoid struggling with stairs without buying a bungalow

As we get older, stairs can begin to become a problem. So what are the alternatives, particularly if you do not want to move?

The most obvious option is a stairlift. Stairlifts nowadays are very flexible – they can be bought (new or reconditioned) or rented, can be installed on straight or curved stairs and come in a choice of fabrics. But despite the manufacturers trying to persuade us otherwise, there still a stigma attached to stairlifts and the current designs are not especially stylish. They can also be expensive.

Another possibility is the installation of a home lift. Up till now, retrofitting a house with a lift has been difficult and very costly. However the new Stilz Duo Home Lift has a unique dual rail structure which does not require load bearing walls. It has a self contained drive mechanism, a small footprint and plugs into a normal 13 amp power socket and can be installed anywhere in the home. The models on the website do look slightly awkward but now that the engineering has been sorted out,  it is not hard to see discrete home lifts becoming a popular choice, particularly in new builds.

If you just need some extra help with the stairs, another simpler, cheaper, option is the Stair Steady. The Stair Steady was first designed by Ruth Amos when she was 16 as part of her GCSE Resistant Material Course. After her teacher’s father’s suffered a stroke, Ruth was set the challenge of designing a product which allowed people to continue using the stairs safely. The Stair Steady is a secure rail with a folding handle which you move with you up and down the stairs and which locks securely when pushed. This is a very simple design and it has to be said that the white powder coated  finish on the economy model is fairly basic but the company does offer classic and premier models which hopefully are more elegant.

It is really good to see some new solutions being introduced into the market and I do hope that the engineers will get together with the designers  to develop really attractive models which will enhance and add value to our homes, in the same way that bathrooms have gone from being very functional environments to aspirational spaces.

Another possibility is to move your bedroom and bathroom downstairs.  Converting a cloakroom to a wet room and moving into the dining room may be feasible but the current fashion for open plan living means that this is impossible in many UK homes.   This is where theiHUS instant annex comes in.

iHUS manufacture prefabricated units offsite and simply winch them into place, either installing them as separate annexes in the garden or connecting them to the existing building.  The iHUS is not as cheap option but it adds instant flexibility to a home’s layout and would be just as useful for boomerang kids or live-in nannies or carers.

However, before you finally decide to banish stairs, don’t forget that they are often the most convenient source of exercise.  So rather than looking for ways to avoid them, another option is to improve your core fitness to make them easier to use.  In her aptly-named DVD, Move It or Lose It!, Julie Robinson takes the class through various exercises which help strengthen the muscles which we need to perform everyday tasks such as  walking up stairs. The DVD at £14 is substantially cheaper than any of the previous options (but does of course require a certain amount of residual strength).

iHUS will be exhibiting one of their modular units at this year’s Naidex

Three ways to get out of an armchair

The launch of the Flo, the innovative “standing and walking stick”, has got me thinking about the way we approach problems in our lives.

As we get older, it often becomes more difficult for us to get out of our armchairs.

The industry solution to this problem has been to re-design the chair, developing the “riser chair”which pushes the user gently to their feet. These chairs are very functional but tend to be pretty pricey, quite bulky and often old fashioned – looking.  Not necessarily something you want dominating your living room.

Another way to help ourselves get out of our armchairs is to employ some sort of assistive device. The Flo wraps around the lower leg, locking it in position whilst employing upper body strength to allow the user to lever themselves out of the chair. The Flo has been designed by “Design for Life winner Ilsa Parry in conjunction with Philippe Starck and is a beautiful, sculptural piece of design (although I am yet to test its functionality). But the problem with an assistive aid is remembering to have it to hand. If I keep forgetting my glasses when I settle down to watch the television, will I always remember to have my Flo to hand to help me get up again? The Flo is also a rather pricey £299. 

The third way to make sure we can always get out of our armchairs is to work on our core strength. In her aptly-named DVD, Move It or Lose It!, Julie Robinson takes the class through various exercises which help strengthen the muscles which we need to perform everyday tasks such as getting out of chairs or walking up stairs. The DVD at £14 is substantially cheaper than either the riser chair of the Flo but does require good health, adherence and effort on our part. 

So, three very different ways to address one problem.  What do you think?

Xeni – new label for fashionable women with disabilities

Last month saw the launch of a new fashion label which aims to design, manufacture and retail online couture quality clothing specifically designed for women who use wheelchairs  – as well as clothing and jewellery for women who have difficulty with the manipulation of clasps, buttons and zips. Which will probably be most of us as we get older.

Xeni is the brainchild of Ann Oliver, an architect who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in 1990.  Finding herself needing to use a wheelchair and having difficulties with catches on jewellery, as well as buttons and zips on clothing she decided to put her creativity to good use by designing garments for fashionable disabled women to provide them with wonderful clothes to wear.

This stylish Collection includes dresses and tunics (including evening wear), trousers, coats and jackets. As yet, there is no jewellery but Ann is hoping to put together a stable of jewellery designers who will work with her.

The three main innovations of the Xeni Collection are:

>Dresses, tunics, jackets and coats can be put on independently because they don’t come under the seat. For women who can stand they are also offered complete but are also designed for the seated figure.

>The use of the tunic and trousers look to elongate the body, whilst coping with the “prosthetic plumbing” that some people need. This look removes clutter from the waist, ensuring a much more elegant outline.

>The third for people who have difficulty manipulating buttons and zips, but who may or may not be able to stand, is that Xeni uses the hunting properties that magnets give to induce the two sides of garments to hunt each other out and close without hand intervention

Ann admits that the Xeni Collection is currently quite pricy (the evening dresses are around £220) but she hopes eventually to make the pieces more affordable.

It is fantastic to see designers focussing on fashion in this way and I do hope that this label takes off. It would also be great to see the jewellery industry embracing this area of design too.

For more information, CLICK HERE

“Salvador Dali” standing and walking stick set to launch

A new walking and standing stick is about to be launched into the independent living sector by REthinkthings Ltd, a design led product brand led by Ilsa Parry who originally designed the product whilst being filmed for a BBC reality documentary.

“Flo” moves away from “traditional “medical” aesthetics in its design and actively seeks to introduce a new visual language to the industry”. It was conceived by Ilsa Parry when she took part in (and won) “Design for Life” , a student design competition run with Philippe Starck who dubbed it the “Salvador Dali stick”.

“Flo” strives to offer an alternative tool for transfer and mobility that is multifunctional, super strong, lightweight, elegant and funky all at the same time. The product has an innovative USP as it wraps around the lower leg, locking it in position whilst employing upper body strength to allow the user to lever themselves out of a chair, it can then be used as a walking cane. 

“Flo” will be launched at Naidex international independent living show at Birmingham NEC on the 1^st May 2012. It is available in 6 vibrant colours made from carbon fibre and includes an elegant and replaceable foot bung for grip and a wrist strap, both of which are available in custom colours. The product is designed to support up to 25 stone in weight when transferring from seated to standing and comes with a lifetime guarantee on functionality. The recommended retail price is a rather eye watering £299.

Having watched “Design for Life”, I have eagerly awaited this product and Ilsa Parry is to be congratulated in bringing this product to market in under 3 years. I love the scuptural quality of the design and the range of colours. The independent living market is sorely in need of designers like Ilsa Parry who are keen to rethink how we do things and offering new and interesting solutions. I, for one, will be making a beeline to her stand at Naidex next month to give “Flo” a try.

More details can be found HERE

To what extent do people with dementia have the right to control over their own lives?

To what extent do people with dementia, even advanced dementia, have the right to have control and choice over their own lives?  This is the question raised by a new experimental care facility in the Netherlands.

In Hogeweg, everyone lives in the moment.  As The Times reported on Saturday, the streets and squares of this experimental Dutch community, with its cafes, restaurant and hairdressers, have been carefully designed to reassure, some would say deceive, the 152 residents. Everyone who lives there has severe dementia and few either know or care that their village is a secure nursing home where the supermarket and restaurant are manned by specialists in the care of the elderly.

Hogeweg occupies a large self-contained, low rise block on the edge of town. There is only one exit, through a hotel-style lobby which prevents residents wandering off. Inside there is a  wide piazza with an ornamental fountain and a restaurant leads to a “high street” and several side roads, all with their own street signs and distinctive living areas. As there are no buses or cars, residents can come and go as they please. They leave their doors open and fill up trolleys with random items in the supermarket. If they get lost or confused, another “villager” (in reality a member of staff or a volunteer) is on hand to guide them home.

Each of Hogeweg’s 23 communal houses is designed in one of seven themed lifestyles based on detailed research into Dutch society: urban, Christian, upper class, homely, Indonesian, cultural and rustic.  Rather hauntingly, The Times reports the story of one person originally allocated an “upper class” house being relocated when it was discovered that she had worked in a cafe in the inner city in her early 30s and that was the part that was “really her”.

The organisers of Hogeweg reject comparisons with The Truman Show, the Hollywood film starring Jim Carrey, in which reality turned out to be an elaborate television set, but acknowledge that they have created an illusion. They prefer to compare it to a theatre. The frontstage is what the residents experience as real. This is their normal life where they can go to the supermarket or the hairdresser’s. “But backstage it is a nursing home.”

So is it acceptable to deceive people in this way?  Jeremy Hughes of the Alzheimers Society thinks not. Whilst he acknowledges that Hogeweg goes out of its way to make people with dementia feel comfortable and at home – and indeed the staff report people needing less medication and being calmer – he argues that “those providing care have a duty not to deceive or lie to the people they are caring for”. What do you think? Would it matter to you that your loved one was being to a certain extent deceived?

When “adapted” does not mean “accessible”

Did you read this week’s “Spinal Column” in The Times magazine? Melanie Reid broke her neck and back falling from a horse in April 2010. In her weekly column she records her long, painful and often frustrating rehabilitation. This week she checked into a hotel and ran into difficulties when the “accessible” hotel accommodation proved to be anything but.

This morning Melanie’s article prompted the following Twitter conversation between us (@thfutureperfect) and Tourism for All (@tourismforalluk)  which I think sums up quite neatly the problems in this area.

Until I read this article I would have assumed like Melanie that: “ When you go to stay in a Hilton hotel, booked into a special room for disabled people, you kind of assume it will your meet your needs”.

@ThFuturePerfect Did u see Melanie Reid’s column abt accessibility at Hilton in Times mag? What did u think?

@tourismforalluk Afraid I didn’t Philippa – can I access it online?

@ThFuturePerfect Possibly. She says that “accessible” hotel rooms doesnt mean they r accessible for wheelchairs – is that right?

@tourismforalluk Sounds ambiguous…  

@ThFuturePerfect do hotels have to meet strict criteria before rooms are deemed accessible or is it up to them? 

@tourismforalluk It depends if they have a rating, like NAS, or not: http://t.co/zNMqj09u. We always advise asking for info before booking.

@ThFuturePerfect Interesting. How widely adopted is the NAS scheme?

@tourismforalluk I wonder if @VisitEngland can tell us?

@tourismforalluk Altho, this very problem is why we came up with OpenBritain: http://www.openbritain.net/openbritain/accommodation/. All properties have to meet criteria.

@ThFuturePerfect Just checked on OB and hotel did not claim to have adapted facilities – is that surprising for an upmarket hotel? 

@tourismforalluk Can you let me know which hotel so I can take a look please?

@ThFuturePerfect In article it says Northampton Hilton

@tourismforallukThe DisabledGo listing on OB says that there is adapted rooms available… 

@ThFuturePerfectGuess that means that “adapted” does not always mean “accessible to you” – must be very frustrating!

@tourismforalluk Indeed, which is why we provide detailed info on the listings with measurements & details of facilities.

I did have one small gripe with Melanie Reid’s article and that was her declaration (hopefully tongue in cheek) that her hotel room had been “designed for someone with disabilities. For the one-legged, maybe..or the very elderly..or the fat ”. I am not sure these sorts of labels are useful in this context when what we should be aiming for is design for all.

And until we have reached the point where every hotel room is inclusively designed, good information about what is available is essential. For some useful links, go to

Tourism for All

Open Britain

National Accessibility Scheme, Visit Britain

Philippa Aldrich becomes RSA fellow

I am absolutely delighted to be nominated to become a fellow of the RSA.

Age UK Agenda for Later Life – live longer healthier

On Thursday, I was delighted to be asked to speak at the Age UK national policy conference, Agenda for Later Life 2012.

This annual policy conference looks at how public policy is meeting the challenges of later life and the accompanying  report (see below) is a useful stocktake of where things stand now, as well as a recognition that the issues involved require not just action from Government but also third sector bodies, businesses and older people themselves.  Age UK are focussed on a a vision of “active ageing” which allows people to participate in society and realise their potential for physical, social and mental wellbeing while providing adequate care and security.

I was part of the panel talking about inclusive design, together with Professor Jeremy Myerson from the Helen Hamlyn Centre for Design  and Tony Noakes, the Operations Director for the BBC’s Switchover Help Scheme  – which has evidently been doing a fantastic job in making sure older and disabled people are ready for the digital switchover.

Professor Jeremy Myerson (who featured in last’s week’s The Culture Show) opened proceedings with the 10 myths about inclusive design including that it is boring and expensive to implement. I talked about my experiences of setting up The Future Perfect Company and running the Designing for the Future competition with the University of Brighton.

I am pleased to report that we had a capacity audience and there seemed to be a good deal of interest in inclusive design and design for older people. It was also a good opportunity to share information about what was happening in this field.

Two new initiatives are in the off-ing. Age UK are about to launch their Trusted by Engage accreditation scheme designed to raise awareness of Engage, its business network which, it is fair to say, has had a quiet couple of years but has now apparently been reinvigorated. Also last week saw the UK launch of the European Year for Active Ageing and Solidarity between Generations.

Mary Sinfield from the New Dynamics of Ageing  told me about a fashion research project which is looking at how our bodies change as we get older – something I am definitely going to follow up.

The stand out presentation of this year’s Conference for me was given by Professor Alan Walker, Professor of Social Policy and Social Gerentology at the University of Sheffield who had an unusually upbeat approach to our ageing demographic.  He made the observation that the people who we are predicting will be inhabiting costly care homes in 2030/40 are alive now and if they were to take action to reduce environmental risk factors, for example by eating well and taking exercise, they would be more likely to be able to maintain their independence longer and less likely to need substantial care. Ageing, he said should be looked at from a life course perspective and we should all aim to “live longer healthier and die faster”. Food for thought.

You can download HERE Age UK’s Agenda for Later Life 2012 policy report

Launch of “Designing for the Future” 2012 at University of Brighton

Yesterday was the launch of the “Designing for the Future” Competition at the University of Brighton. This is the third year of this Competition which follows hot on the heels of the successful student design competition at Collyers’ sixth form college. All part of our mission to encourage designers to consider the challenges of getting older.

Nick Gant (Principal Lecturer) and Gareth Neal(Senior Lecturer) are leading the project at  the University which is open to students from the BA (Hons) 3D Design/MDes 3D Design courses at the Faculty of Art.

We are delighted that Age UK  consumer policy advisor Gretel Jones has agreed to be a judge again. And this year we are also joined by Richard Child from Hymid R&D. Richard recently graduated from University College Falmouth with a first class honours degree in 3D design and has since set up Hymid R&D as an ideas hub for the independent living sector.

Anne Boddington, Dean of the Faculty of Arts at University of Brighton and Philippa Aldrich from The Future Perfect Company complete the judging panel.

This year the prizes will include product development advice and social media and business mentoring – which hopefully will help the students to take their ideas one stage further as well as help them market themselves. 

Last year’s Competition provoked a lot of discussion, interest and press coverage. We had showcases at the Mobility Roadshow, The BSRA Science of Ageing conference and also a public expo. With the launching of initiatives such as the Technology Strategy Board’s Tomorrow Together and with an invitation to talk about the Competition at this year’s Age UK annual policy conference, this year looks set to be even more exciting for inclusive design.

We return to Brighton in March for a “Dragons Den” to assess progress and give feedback. The judging will take place in May with the results announced in June.

Image : Supermarket navigator by Jessica Hung, Designing for the Future 2011

The Future Perfect Company featured on Hugmail blog

Nice write up here from our friends at Hugmail