The Benefits of Universal Design and Barrier Free Living

Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or specialized design.
The intent of the universal concept is simply life for everyone by making more housing usable by more people at little or no extra cost. Universal design is an approach to design that incorporates products as well as building features and elements which, to the greatest extent possible, can be used by everyone. While accessible or adaptable design requirements are specified by codes or standards for only some buildings and are aimed at benefiting only some people (those with mobility limitations), the universal design concept targets all people of all ages, sizes, and abilities and is applied to all buildings.

What is a universal design feature?
Any component of a house that can be used by everyone regardless of their level of ability or disability. Universal features are generally standard building products or features that have been placed differently, selected carefully, or omitted. For example, standard electrical receptacles can be placed higher than usual above the floor, standard but wider doors can be selected, and steps at entrances can be eliminated to make housing more universally usable.
The goal of universal design is to allow individuals to remain in the comforts of their home for as long as possible.  However, the primary reason that elderly and disabled persons leave the comfort of home is both the risk and fear of falling and becoming injured.  The most vulnerable place where falls occur is in the bathroom. As such, the most popular area of universal design is in the bathroom.

Accessible Baths
The primary objective in creating an accessible bath is the safe and secure transfer both to and from the bathing area. Depending upon the specific limitations of the individual, safety may be as simple as strategically installing grab bars for balance, or it may require a complete bathroom modification with features like barrier free showers or walk in bathtubs.  Of course many factors come in to play when structuring features into a given home, and therefore bathroom modifications are best left to professionals.  Milwaukee has several home modification contractors that do accessible bath modifications.