Housing for Disabled Persons: To What Extent Will Today's Homes Accommodate Persons with Physical Limitations?

This article reviews the incidence of disability within the non-institutionalized U.S. resident population, with estimates of gender differences and severe limitations. Estimates of the desire for functional independence among the elderly are presented, and theoretical frameworks related to choice, consumer efficiency, consumer decisions, and housing norms are reviewed. Accommodation of a wheelchair was chosen as the measure to be studied because it is the means of mobility for those with the most severe mobility limitations. Three states, Oregon, Nevada, and Utah collected data on wheelchair accommodation of existing housing, resulting in a sample of 1,549 homeowners. Only 1% of the respondents indicated that their homes would accommodate a wheelchair at the present. However, 77% indicated that their homes could be modified to accommodate a wheelchair, and 22% responded that costs for modifications to their present homes would be prohibitive. Home economics educators have an obligation to educate the public to the needs for accessible and/or adaptable housing and unite architects, designers, home builders, and realtors in an effort to increase the proportion of wheelchair-accessible housing, to accommodate all types of mobility impairment regardless of age.