Universal Design Is the Key to Aging In Place

Summary

In this conversation, Janet Engel interviews Scott and Sarah Pruitt, co-founders of the UD Project, focusing on the importance of universal design in creating accessible homes.

They discuss their mission to increase the demand for universally accessible housing, the role of education in bridging knowledge gaps between builders and consumers, and the impact of home design on quality of life.

The conversation also highlights the collaborative efforts needed across various disciplines to improve accessibility and the significance of personal stories in understanding the real-life implications of housing design.

Additionally, they share insights about their educational resources and podcast aimed at raising awareness about universal design.

In this conversation, Scott and Sarah discuss the importance of universal design and home modifications to enhance accessibility and functionality for individuals, particularly as they age.

They emphasize the need for planning ahead to create safe and comfortable living environments, addressing consumer needs, and the balance between functionality and aesthetics in design.

The discussion also highlights the challenges of making modifications and the importance of education for both consumers and professionals in the field.

Takeaways

The mission of the UD Project is to increase demand for accessible homes.

Education is crucial for both builders and consumers to understand accessibility needs.

There is a significant gap in knowledge regarding universal design.

Home design impacts not only physical accessibility but also mental health and quality of life.

Collaboration among professionals is essential for effective universal design solutions.

Personal experiences highlight the importance of accessible housing.

The UD Project offers courses that cater to various audiences, including consumers and professionals.

Understanding the whole environment is key to effective universal design.

The podcast serves as a platform for sharing insights and experiences related to universal design.

More universally accessible homes are needed to improve community integration for individuals with disabilities.

Understanding consumer needs is crucial for effective universal design.

Home modifications can significantly enhance accessibility and safety.
Planning for aging in place should start early to avoid last-minute changes.

Assessing the home environment is the first step in making modifications.

Small changes can lead to significant improvements in functionality.

Design should balance aesthetics with accessibility.

Education is key for consumers and professionals in universal design.

There are cost-effective options for home modifications.

Creating a zero-step entrance is essential for aging in place.

Universal design can be both functional and beautiful.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Universal Design and Its Importance

06:08 The Role of Education in Universal Design

11:56 The Impact of Home Design on Quality of Life

18:00 Collaboration Across Disciplines

23:58 Podcast Insights and Community Engagement

33:50 Home Modifications for Accessibility

42:00 Planning for Aging in Place

48:01 Designing for Functionality and Aesthetics

Important Links

Here's the link to our main site:

Transcript

Janet Engel (00:01.152)
Hello everyone and today our guests are Sarah and Scott Pruitt. They are the co-founders of the UD project and I'm very excited to have them on the show today because I've been following them for a while and they have recently created courses in universal design that are also granted CEU credits by AYOTA. So it is a great platform for

occupational therapists and physical therapists alike, interior designers to learn more about universal design and also earn a continuing education. So Sarah and Scott, thank you for being with me today.

Scott & Sarah (00:45.122)
Yeah, we're really glad to be here. Thanks for having us.

Janet Engel (00:48.564)
Yes, and Sarah, I know that you are also an occupational therapist and you're also CAPS certified and you have been working in this aging in place universal design sector for several years. Tell me how the mission and vision for the universal design project got started and how it has evolved since it started.

Scott & Sarah (01:15.326)
Yeah, we've actually been in this space since about 2012 and so we've always had the same vision. It's kind of changed the direction of our work, but we've always been around the same goal for our mission and vision. I'll let Scott explain that a little bit. Sure, so just simply put, our mission is to increase the demand for universally accessible homes. That directly relates to our vision, which is kind of more tangible for people and that's really for

for every community across the United States to have a surplus of universally accessible homes.

Both of those came from just personal experience. So I have a spinal cord injury and I use a wheelchair. so finding housing has always been a struggle for us. Sarah as an OT who's worked with many different clients and patients in clinical settings. And just after getting to know people just throughout the years, we've just seen housing as a major issue. And when it's time for somebody to find some place to live, the options, when it comes to accessible

accessibility and universal design are just very few and far between.

our work has really revolved around like, what can we do that could make a difference in terms of impacting the number of accessible homes that are in our housing stock? And so looking at it kind of big picture, I mean, the ultimate goal would be if somebody is looking for a home to live and they have some level of accessibility needs, it's not a huge burden to find someplace. And so where...

Scott & Sarah (02:52.726)
I mentioned our mission is to increase the demand. That came from many, conversations with builders who they pretty much said, well, we'll build what the people want. Like we'll build what our customers want. If they come to us and they have some sort of need, we'll do it for them.

Which is great. However, that typically occurs only in custom homes or remodels. And it doesn't have kind of a widespread impact that we could see with, say, of spec builders, where we're building more homes just to have extra functionality built in for the people who need it. And so the whole point of increasing the demand is really just to say, like, that's going to be one of the factors that's going to influence the building industry. And so if we can do that by helping educate

people by providing just different levels of support for others in the industry and just getting more interest around it. That's what we're working towards.

And I think a lot of times people that need the accessibility might not know all that they need to know. And so they're trying to rely on the builders to say, hey, tell me what I need to do. And then we were finding that the consumers didn't know quite what to ask for. And then the builders didn't know exactly what to implement. And so there was kind of this gap in education that we saw that needed to occur.

Janet Engel (04:14.87)
I have experienced the same pushback from builders and general contractors. It's just that lack of knowledge and that assumption that accessibility as long as you have lever handles and 32 inch doorways 36 inch hallways then you're good and it ends there and there's so much more that needs to be done especially because

Scott & Sarah (04:38.638)
Okay.

Janet Engel (04:44.754)
You could have someone like yourself, Scott, that uses a wheelchair, but then you could have another person that has low endurance. They're not in a wheelchair, but they need to sit down for several activities of daily living, or someone with low vision or arthritis, you name it. There are lots of invisible disabilities that people experience and they would benefit from having an environment that is

Scott & Sarah (05:03.671)
Okay.

Janet Engel (05:14.566)
friendlier for their needs. So tell me how about your education? I know that

Scott & Sarah (05:17.368)
Sure. Yeah.

Janet Engel (05:22.654)
You realize as I did years ago that education was the key because there's a lack of knowledge from the builder side But then also from the consumer side, they don't know what to ask for They know that what they have currently doesn't work for them, but they don't know what to ask for So tell me how you guys entered that arena

Scott & Sarah (05:38.316)
Mm-hmm.

Scott & Sarah (05:46.304)
Yeah, it came with quite the journey. yeah, we like like you said, we realized early on that education needed to occur. And when we jumped into this work in 2012, I think we, we, we didn't see all the aspects of this niche of practice. And so we really did see that collaboration needed to be occurring and it wasn't occurring a lot.

And so we were really consulting at that point, helping people in their homes. But again, like you said, they needed a little more education on what was even possible and what was available. But consulting had its own barriers. And so then we actually went into more of a collaboration stage where we did have builders, designers, OTs, and people with disabilities all together to try to create some

designs. But then again, we were still needing to talk to each other and learn about each other's industries. And we were learning from each other, but also trying to work together to create something that was really usable for a wide variety of people. And that

that took time. Like you said, there's a lot more to it than just lever handles, rocker light switches. I mean, as an OT, we're looking at all of those tasks that somebody does throughout the entire home and how we can make people more aware.

of the entire home is like a world of possibility to make more accessible. And so that's kind of where we went to this education realm. Through all of the years of doing all of those different business models and different tasks, we focused in on...

Scott & Sarah (07:30.338)
a wide variety of courses that could meet people where they were. So whether they were living in a home that needed to be made accessible, we wanted to create content that allowed people to change their own home. And if people were looking to build something new or do a major renovation, we wanted to provide them with what the guidelines, pictures, different options of what was possible there. And so we know people are dealing with

a variety of price points and so we felt like education was the way to go. We've educated builders and designers before, but we also knew that consumers and then OTs, helping those consumers before they leave the hospital, was an area that I know I as an OT needed more when I was first starting out. And so we tried to put all of these into our courses just to make it more accessible.

to be able to use it, but we wanted to make it easy to use too. And some of it's really just kind of looking at, not only, mean, everything's based around accessibility and the design of the home, but there's often a lot of focus on the features. And if somebody is saying, okay, what do I need to do to make a home functional? Like just tell me the features to get in there and we can do it. And I think just over the years, we've seen some

Just seeing and experiencing some frustration with that because it's not just all about the features. Like as Sarah mentioned, sure, you can do wide doorways and different light switches and different handles and things like that that sure are helpful. But especially with life with a spinal cord injury, there is the need for me to be able to get a wheelchair in and out of the home independently. Sure, that's obvious. But often when we've had conversations with people,

And we really kind of get into the nitty gritty of what, how, like basically like how spinal cord injury affects life. The wheelchair is one of the easiest parts. And so.

Scott & Sarah (09:37.774)
Just accommodating a chair doesn't account for all of the, you mentioned ADLs, like basically all of the activities that people do within the home. And so once you start kind of getting into the depth of, mean, what are somebody's roles? What are their responsibilities at home? Are they a parent? How did they, do they do something for work? I mean, how do they get ready in the morning? I mean, it just goes on and on and on. And then all of a sudden it's more than just, is there enough space to fit some sort of mobility device here? But it's really,

Janet Engel (09:57.43)
.

Scott & Sarah (10:07.68)
Like how do we wrap our brains around the idea that the design of the home environment can really make a big difference in how well people can live their lives and just participate in the home? And then we've seen, this is something we said very early on, it's just like we've seen that when people are more comfortable and confident taking care of their needs at home, then that translates out into the community. So I mean, if you imagine just, let's say somebody struggles to use the restroom at home,

they going to inherently just feel more comfortable saying, I can just go down the street to a restaurant and use that one fine? Or are they going to think, man, this was hard at home. Maybe it's going to be hard somewhere else where I go. then that just kind of has this ripple effect that can affect somebody's socialization and ultimately their quality of life. Yeah, and it really is kind of like that.

Janet Engel (11:00.02)
And that's a great point that you bring up, Scott. Yeah.

Scott & Sarah (11:06.162)
like you have to get all of the person, their environment, all the occupations. mean, that's kind of the big thing that we look at too with our work. And yeah, all of those pieces have to fit well together to make it usable and worthwhile for people.

Janet Engel (11:25.782)
can give you the example of my mom where everything that you just mentioned Scott applies to her. My mom is legally blind in one eye because she had a retinal detachment and she is very afraid of going to new places because she doesn't know what the lighting is going to be in that place. She doesn't know if she's going to have to navigate stairs and going down the stairs is harder than going up the stairs for her.

Scott & Sarah (11:55.054)
Hmm.

Janet Engel (11:56.886)
She doesn't know if they're gonna be railings how steep the steps are gonna be and this is especially true when we travel we went to Spain a couple of years ago and we took her and my father-in-law and That was a big reason why she would always ask if we were gonna go out to dinner How far are we going to walk? Are there steps to get there is?

Just is there gonna be lighting all of these things that she's taking into account because literally she is putting her life on the line whenever she travels somewhere and She's risking a fault So very

Scott & Sarah (12:35.054)
you

Scott & Sarah (12:40.526)
Sure. Yeah, there's a lot of unknowns and I think like it just makes people's worlds smaller. So if they don't feel like they can go out and experience life with their family, then they're missing that socialization piece and then they're just missing being able to leave their home. so, yeah, housing, mean, housing plays a huge piece in not only just having a place to live, but your comfort level and being able to go out into the community as well.

Janet Engel (13:11.286)
Also, your energy conservation. I interviewed someone on the show a couple of years ago that she has a spinal cord injury from a bicycle accident.

One thing she said was that when she moved to this other home and had it made accessible for her, including universal design feature and accessibility feature, then she had a lot more energy at the end of the day for her kids, which were still young kids. And she had several kids and her husband. And just like you said,

Scott & Sarah (13:41.504)
Sure.

Scott & Sarah (13:48.066)
Mm-hmm.

Janet Engel (13:50.546)
It's not your ADLs, but also how are you helping other people? Because if you're in a wheelchair, your two year old still isn't going to help you make dinner or do the laundry. You're the one that has to, you still have to be a parent and do all of these caregiving and instrumental activities of daily living, like cooking, laundry, washing dishes. And so she said that that was the main difference that

Scott & Sarah (13:59.905)
Right.

Janet Engel (14:18.078)
when it became easier for her to do her all of the things that she has to do as a person for herself, as a mother, as a wife, then she had more energy at the end of the day for spending time with her family instead of going to bed at six or seven o'clock at night.

Scott & Sarah (14:41.763)
Mm-hmm.

Yeah, no, that's big deal. And I think it's those little pieces, those perspectives that a lot of folks don't see. They look like Scott said, they look at the features and like, if we put that in, they'll be fine. But there's ripple effects for the energy conservation and to be able to participate and have energy to do the things you want to do. Those are things that I feel like we can get from people's perspectives. And having actually experienced a really good

design space.

Janet Engel (15:14.358)
Now Scott and Sarah, tell me how the classes that you have created can be helpful and user friendly for the consumer as well as for a clinician like an occupational therapist or a builder.

Scott & Sarah (15:36.558)
sure.

Let me take that one. We'll go back and forth. Sure. So yeah, consumers, like we said, we really wanted to make sure that consumers had just more knowledge in their toolbox. A lot of times people are going to go on Google and just Google something to see, to try and find that information themselves. And there are lots and lots of pieces of information out there and it's really hard to know, is this right? Is this right? Is this right? And so we just really wanted consumers

to have something that they, like a valued and trusted resource that was all in one place and that hit on various parts of the home and they could go right to that room to look up exactly what they were trying to figure out. And that way, whatever they were working on, they could take that knowledge to advocate for themselves, whether it was talking to their family member who was gonna help them build that ramp or they were gonna go with a contractor to renovate their

bathroom that they had stuff to bring to the table and ideas to bring to the table that worked well with their personal situation. And so that was the big part for the consumers. And for OTs, we just wanted to give them just a knowledge boost on helping share what's possible with their patients. And this is really for OTs, helping people discharge home. And we actually were working with a family recently who the husband had had a stroke and he returned home

this weekend and I was able to go in and just help a little bit with some accessibility pieces. But their minds are so filled with the new change in his status that right in that moment of discharge, they're not thinking about sinks and lighting. They're thinking about how can we make this transition home.

Scott & Sarah (17:32.706)
like easier, like how are gonna manage all these basic ADLs? So when they have the opportunity to go back to that OT's recommendations to look at these options, they'll be in a better place for that and that OT can give them some good guidance so they're not starting fresh. So it's twofold because we know that OT isn't gonna be with them in three months when they're like, okay.

Now that we're settled a little bit, we need to start addressing this in my recovery process. Because recovery can change when you get home. It's not always going to stay the same. And so we really want it to hit both of those bases. And then that OT can be an advocate if they are ever working with the builder. And the consumer can be an advocate as well.

And as we were putting them together, there was a little bit of conversation of, how do we create this so it's useful for the consumer or the everyday person, as well as useful for occupational therapists and other professionals? And I think where we landed, I don't remember if we actually had a solid conversation about this, but our approach has always been collaborative. And it's mostly because, I mean, Sarah, as an OT, she knows human function pretty well.

But her area of expertise, if you will, is more on adults and physical impairment and not in the realm of a lot of other different conditions that people may have. And so we've always kind of had the sense of like, everybody knows what they know. And going beyond that,

there's just other people with a wealth of knowledge in other areas. And so if we need to figure out, what design elements are really useful for somebody with vision loss or with hearing loss or for different health conditions that we're not as familiar with or that Sarah's not as familiar with, we would say, okay, let's find somebody and lean on them because they've got more experience and more knowledge in those areas. And then that extends beyond the OT realm as well into the building profession and just

Scott & Sarah (19:44.404)
other people's life experiences. I we can talk about our life until we're blue in the face, but I mean, we can share as much as possible. And somebody is like, cool, it's good to know, but my life is completely different. I use my home differently than you use yours. And that's okay. And so as we were putting together the content, we were like, okay, well, let's just make it useful for...

Janet Engel (19:57.59)
Mm-hmm.

Scott & Sarah (20:09.496)
for everybody to some capacity. There's nothing that, there's nothing, well, I'll say this and then I'll correct myself. There's nothing specific to OTs in our main courses that the general consumers or the general population wouldn't benefit from.

Some of it is OT specific where we talk about like the PEO model and using some language that may be foreign to people who haven't been in this profession at all or just have had experience in a hospital. But we do have a separate course that helps OTs use this content in treatment sessions and that's a little bit separate. But really, I mean, if somebody is...

going through rehab or they're working with an OT in their home already. I mean, there's a level of rapport that's being built where they're trying to understand each other already. And so if we're talking about the design of the home environment, everybody needs to be on the same page anyway. And so we just kind of approached it that way to just share the content and say, this is going to be helpful for everybody.

Janet Engel (21:23.536)
And the reality is that most people will not be working with an OT directly because unless they experience some type of traumatic injury or they have a progressive condition. So the majority of people are just going to be aging and trying to figure out how they can function in their homes more comfortably. So it's great that

Scott & Sarah (21:29.102)
Sure.

Scott & Sarah (21:43.843)
Yeah.

Scott & Sarah (21:47.937)
Well, as you know, as, yeah, I gonna say, as you know, and as many of your listeners know, mean, OT is one of those fields that you either know about it or it's just this weird nebulous thing that's out there and then somebody has to learn all about OT anyway before they figure out what in the world you all do. Uh-huh.

Janet Engel (22:03.934)
We help people find jobs. I've had patients say that to me many times. Well, I don't need you because I'm retired.

Scott & Sarah (22:14.308)
Yeah, we're like, we're talking about different jobs, but that's okay. We'll go with it.

Janet Engel (22:17.448)
Yeah. Tell me about your first course in this series, The State of Accessible Housing. It includes personal experiences and how important is storytelling in conveying the impact of universal design?

Scott & Sarah (22:37.624)
Sure, yeah. So this first course was mainly built to kind of help people understand the reality of accessible housing in the United States. And we went through and we found a lot of stats from a of different places to really show true need and the need for the demand for accessible housing. so within that, we actually were able to, like you said, get a lot of personal experiences for when housing is a poor fit.

So when they don't live in an accessible home and how that impacts them personally, and then what happens when the home is a good fit. And so it was really valuable to hear those different opinions. we were kind of expecting to hear like, physically, physical was the most prevalent thing that was the hardest part about living in an inaccessible home. But there was a lot of mental health impacts that people were saying.

Like for example, one woman was saying that it was causing her, well one, physical strain to try to reach for things up high when she was seated and she would have things fall on her. But then in that she also said that she was stressed out because her significant other was having to help her with things that...

they that she normally would do, or they had to spend extra money to hire someone to come in to help her for things that she couldn't do. So it's there's so many different pieces that housing how housing impacts people. And I think those personal stories really helped kind of shine a light on the

what people are really dealing with in homes that are not a good fit for them. And that's one of my favorite pieces about that course. And I think it really helps show people what really happens in a home that is not a good fit and how a really good fit home impacts somebody in a positive way and that we just need more homes out there.

Janet Engel (24:44.626)
Mm-hmm and tell us about your podcast a good poor fit good fit I know you guys are about to celebrate your 100th episode congratulations and Tell us about what that podcast content is about

Scott & Sarah (24:57.23)
you

Scott & Sarah (25:06.702)
Go for it. my turn. Sarah's the main host on this one. So yeah, so we actually started this podcast during COVID. We had an OTD student, a doctoral student getting her OT degree, and this was one of her projects, and it's still continued, which is really great. But yeah, a lot of the content was just us really talking about different elements of the home that people can consider. Collaboration was a big part of that as well. And then we have our student

Janet Engel (25:10.792)
Okay.

Scott & Sarah (25:36.796)
join us. And actually a lot of people find us there. First thing, they're looking for podcasts on universal design and Good Fit Poor Fit pops up. so really we wanted to kind of show people that we kind of knew what we were talking about. That's why we started the podcast. But it was also a really great way for the students who are doing their doctor project with us to showcase some of the research that they were doing. And so we most recently we had Anisha Carr, she did some really great

research on collaboration and she interviewed 16 different professionals, more than just design and OT. she even went, yeah, she like interior designers, industrial designers, like there was a really great group of folks and just trying to figure out those pain points for collaboration. so her

Her research on that we showcase there if anyone's interested in that. then we had Grant, our last student, actually had an opportunity to renovate his, an OT house on his campus and kind of use these universal design elements and accessible.

Janet Engel (26:38.282)
Bye.

Scott & Sarah (26:49.294)
modification into this home to change the house. So he reported on that. But really we wanted people to learn more about UD through the project and just learn more about collaboration in general too. yeah. Yeah, I mean, and it's, it covers a wide range of topics as well. I for better or for worse, that that podcast doesn't have a solid structure to it. And so when, when new episodes are released, sometimes they

Janet Engel (27:15.903)
Mm-hmm.

Scott & Sarah (27:19.328)
They may be completely different than the one before. It may be an interview with somebody. It may be a student talking about their work.

or it may be something topical that has just been coming up in conversation and we decided to put something together for it. But it is interesting just because the whole concept of home accessibility and universal design covers just so much stuff. And so it was more or less just a way to explore some of those in a less text focused way than like writing a blog post or sharing an article or something like that. Yeah, we even had a man

comment on one of our posts, they were actually trying to decide if they wanted a one of those deep tubs for their bathroom. Like he and his wife were older and they were trying to trying to decide if this was a good decision for like the freestanding. Yeah, the freestanding like soaking tubs. And he was like, thank you for your podcast. You helped us make our decision to not buy one of those. Because my, because my wife tried one out in the store and she couldn't get out of it. I'm like, yes.

Janet Engel (28:04.276)
Mm.

Janet Engel (28:24.63)
And save a lot of money.

Scott & Sarah (28:25.536)
Yes, yes. So yeah, so it's interesting, know, what people are searching for. Maybe they're trying to make a decision. Maybe they're trying to learn about OT. Maybe, you know, someone's trying to figure out what could collaboration look like? Who can I collaborate with? So like Scott said, there's a variety of topics. But yeah, that one was really neat to hear back from them. We're like, good, I'm glad that we helped you. Yeah.

save money and save your save you from falling so

Janet Engel (28:58.134)
and save space in your bathroom as well. In your course, Modifications for Non-Accessible Homes, you provide suggestions about doing universal design for different or at different price points. How does a consumer do that?

Scott & Sarah (29:01.716)
No, right, exactly.

Scott & Sarah (29:21.324)
That one's tough, just because every situation is different. what we wanted to do, so let me back up a little bit. We have three core courses that are focused on more or less design and how it relates to occupation. And so the first of those three is the design guidelines for universally accessible homes.

That one is really looking at the idea of if somebody has a blank slate, like if they're going to start from scratch and they're going to build something new, then they have the opportunity to slow down during the design process and really think through what are all the elements that we could include that could make this as functional as possible for as many people as possible.

We know that not everybody is going to have that opportunity nor the budget to just go out and build something that is either universally accessible or is either completely customized for their situation. Just life has so many different variables in it. And so what we did is we kind of took some of the core ideas of what can make a home.

functional for a wide range of people and then just broke that down into the idea of home modification. So if somebody is going through or they've just gone through a major health event, then like what do they do if they can't function well in the kitchen anymore? What do they do if they can't function well in the bathroom anymore? And so...

The whole idea of trying to address, okay, maybe you can't build something from scratch at this point in time, or maybe that's several years down the road. But what is it that we can do to help increase your functionality at home by optimizing the usability of the home environment?

Scott & Sarah (31:17.514)
And so when we talk about kind of different price points and different budgets, it's really hard to just kind of nail that down for somebody to say, OK, you live in a home that was built in the mid 1980s and it's a two story home and you have a U shaped kitchen. So you can expect to spend X number of thousand dollars. Like that's just that's not as as realistic just because there's so many so many different interconnecting pieces to.

to looking at what's going to help somebody function throughout the entire home.

but at the same time, there are some changes that can be made to a home that are much less costly. Like if you're not making any major structural changes where you have to say to widen a door frame where you have to rip out some drywall and you have to rip out a door frame and put a different one in there. And then maybe electrical electrical or plumbing is affected. And like, it kind of just goes on and on, but if there are some, some changes that somebody could do, like relocating storage, like maybe, maybe

a storage cabinet is a little too high or maybe a microwave is too high. What are the other options for potentially moving some of those things that could all of sudden just change the way that somebody uses a space because they can reach something easier? And so it's more looking at like, what are the, like, what are the...

I guess from a financial standpoint, like what are the financially easier things to do versus like what are the financially more difficult things to do? Yeah. And then you said three core courses. That last course is kind of an adaptations course. So that's kind of like the exciting things us OTs love with all the gadgets and techniques and things like that. And so that would be, how can you bring a product in, use a different product to do some of those tasks? If you can't do some of those higher

Scott & Sarah (33:10.064)
or priced ideas, what is possible by maybe using a different product, maybe you're installing a different type of shelving that pops up or.

or comes down, or yeah, you're using something different to transport your laundry. So yeah, we tried to kind of hit all of those options in all of these courses. And especially in the modifications one, we tried to capture some of those hot topic or hot areas of the home that normally need to be modified and to give some additional options for what's possible. that helps an OT help a consumer

or a consumer say, I never thought we could do this. We don't have to replace it. We can change this. it just provides some additional options in those different areas. And just for your audience's sake and just for clarity, we do because we know the terms modification and adaptation can be.

kind of interchanged, but we really focus on the idea of modification being a change to the environment and then adaptations being some sort of product or technique that's used to change the way that somebody performs a task. And so that's the differentiation between those two. And we know there is still a little bit of kind of gray area between that, but one's talking about the occupations or the tasks, one's talking about the environment.

Janet Engel (34:39.754)
Well, that's a great way to separate the two. Tell me what in your opinion for someone who doesn't have urgent needs, which are the majority of baby boomers out there, they're healthy, they're active yet.

the majority of people want to age in place, what would you suggest that they do to prepare their homes? Initially, they're not thinking about making a, let's say, total remodel, but they want to put some things in place that are going to help them function better, make their home more comfortable, prevent falls. What would you guys suggest as first steps to make that happen?

Scott & Sarah (35:28.491)
I think it's really just assessing.

the space that they're in and what are the major areas that they use frequently? And could all of the tasks that they participate in throughout the day, could it all be in a one level option? Or can they plan for moving something into that one level in the future if needed? And so taking those steps, just kind of thinking ahead of what that might look like. And I know my parents moved into

a townhome and they were thankful that everything they might need would be on one level, but they did have steps to get in. Their bathroom might not be easily accessible by a wheelchair if they needed it, but knowing that if that situation were to occur, what could they change or what might need to occur to make that more functional for them? I think by planning ahead and thinking about

Yeah, the entrance, can you make that step free? What about the bathroom? Can you actually get into a shower if you have to sit down on a seat? Can you get to the toilet? What changes would have to be made? I think thinking through that, making some steps here and there, each couple of months, looking at your budget and saying, okay, in our budget, we can make these renovations and do small changes at once.

And I think that would be a good way to look at it. But making sure you can still do what is meaningful for you and needed within your daily life if something were to occur. Because most of the time people don't think of it until after the fact and then it's just too late.

Scott & Sarah (37:17.63)
so, that's part of the challenge too, is without having a crystal ball, if you will, being able to know like, here's what we're going to deal with in the future. Yes, we, we are all getting older and our bodies are all going to wear out, but the different ways that that impacts our lives is lives are going to be different. And so, it's kind of hard to say, well, here's what you need to prioritize. I we can look at like statistically, what are the, what are the issues that people have the most struggle with at home?

or what are the largest safety issues? And I mean, there's a lot of research out there about fall prevention and just kind of keeping people safe so they don't say fall and break a hip or something like that, which is obviously important.

But there's a lot of little things that can impact that. mean, if you just focus on fall prevention in itself, I mean, some of it could be like you were talking about your mother, Janet. She was just like, I need someplace with handrails and with good lighting and things like that. But people can slip and fall in the bathtub. mean, there are all sorts of little variables that...

we can help people learn as much about, but until they get to the point where they're like, yeah, we really need to do this, it's kind of a, it's a challenge because it's not a priority until it needs to be. And so.

And I I understand that because I think, you know, my parents obviously have known what we do for work, but not until they've seen some of their friends fall or seen some of these things happen. I think they saw a greater need for that because, we can easily get into that mentality. It's not going to happen. But yeah, think trying to take those steps to make it as safe as possible. yeah, I mean, there's a lot of variables too.

Scott & Sarah (39:14.896)
And people are like, change is hard. Like, and it's hard for us, it's hard for a lot of people. There's another story that we have with another family member who, she had foot surgery, lives in a three story house. I guess to tell the whole story, this is my mom, it's the house I grew up in. And so,

After my spinal cord injury, which happened when I was 18, we did some work to modify the main floor of the home to make it functional for me. I was in college at the time and just wasn't able to get into the home. And so the main floor, we took a formal living room and we turned it into an accessible bedroom and put a bathroom in there just to make it functional for myself. So my mom had, she had

foot surgery. This was several years ago. Well after I had I had moved out. But her bedroom is upstairs on the third floor. And she was just like, Well, I guess I'm gonna have to like bump up on the stairs and just kind of figure out how to how to make it work as I'm recovering because she was non weight bearing for the recovery phase.

And we were just like, mom, you've got a bedroom downstairs that doesn't require any steps. It's right near the front door, which also doesn't have any, doesn't have any steps to, get in and out of. Just stay there as you're getting better. And there's something like psychologically.

where there was just a level of comfort of like, well, I like my stuff. Like I like where everything is. I like my bed. I know like that's just my space. And so there's still a bit of a challenge on that level too. And it's not just unique to this situation, but many people's situation where they may be thinking, I mean, it might be wiser to spend some money on this or it might be wiser to look at moving in the next five or 10 years, but we're doing okay.

Scott & Sarah (41:18.212)
at work. And I think a lot of people just kind of get stuck in that mindset. And honestly, like we've found ourselves in that mindset as well sometimes. it's not an easy hurdle just because the home is typically what people spend the most amount of their money that they earn throughout their life on. And so

If in an ideal world, we just had a bunch of different options where somebody would be like, yeah, this home probably won't work well for me, but I know down the street, there's like two or three that I could choose from. I mean, people don't exchange homes like they do cars these days. And so it's, it's one of those, one of those products, if you will, that

It just requires some intentionality and some really, some really thinking through like, how is this going to impact my life? And if I can't do it a whole lot right now, like what's going to be best for the future, especially if the future is unknown. And sometimes that's just a tough question to answer.

Janet Engel (42:20.298)
Yeah, I think that's important. So I would summarize it as planning for aging in place. Keywords is plan like you guys have a young child, you planned for your child, make that home safer for your child. So if he's a furniture doesn't fall on your child, or they don't acquire a burn, something like that. But

Scott & Sarah (42:27.623)
Sure, sorry, I kind of went off onto a tangent there.

Scott & Sarah (42:41.837)
Hmm.

Janet Engel (42:48.04)
I think your mother is very fortunate in that she had a house with a full bathroom on the ground floor as well as a full bedroom. And that is what I would suggest to people is if you are looking to move and your home doesn't currently have these features is you can buy a two story home. Just buy a home that has a bedroom. It not be the primary bedroom.

but has a bedroom on the ground floor as well as a full bathroom. And another feature that is crucial for planning for aging in place is a zero step entrance to your home. Because if anything happens where you're using a cane or you had foot surgery like your mom did and she's non weight bearing, you can get into that home.

Scott & Sarah (43:29.134)
Thank

Janet Engel (43:41.076)
without having to navigate stairs and that's crucial. And then the bathroom, because the bathroom, we use the bathroom every day several times a day, right? So that has to be a functional space and with your activities of daily living, if you need assistance, well, now either that's gonna cost you money, it's going to take time away from...

Scott & Sarah (43:53.25)
Mm-hmm.

Janet Engel (44:08.596)
family member and it's definitely going to lower your quality of life because most people don't want assistance with toileting and bathing. Right?

Scott & Sarah (44:19.032)
Sure.

I would also, I would also add, I think what if you're starting from a accessible, an easily modifiable space, let's say, or that one level, there's going to be less compromises when something actually does happen. And so if you're living in that split level, you know, financially, you might only have, you know, money to help get yourself inside. But if you're starting with a very, you know, good, good bones per se of

of one level living, then you're gonna be able to kind of bypass those things that are typically inaccessible, because they already work well, and then you're gonna be able to focus on other areas that you might kind of came up after you had this experience. And so I feel like there'll be less compromising on time and finances if you really kind of plan ahead for those functional features to be there. And we often say,

If not for yourself at this point, think about the people you want to visit. Whether it's a family member or whether it's maybe a friend of yours that had foot surgery and wants to come over and visit, they don't have to worry about bringing their metal ramps to your house to get inside or you have to hang out in the garage. You can easily welcome in other people even if you yourself don't need it yet. Yeah, there's a lot of benefit, I think,

to planning and thinking ahead when, yeah, you just know that it'll happen at some point, but you can at least make it easier on yourself when it does.

Janet Engel (46:00.208)
And another benefit of the planning is that it ensures that you're going to have a more attractive modification instead of something that looks hospital-like.

Scott & Sarah (46:09.581)
Yeah.

Janet Engel (46:12.606)
It looks institutional because you plan for it. I have an example. My back porch has two steps to get into the house and I've already planned that that's going to be the entrance that becomes a zero step entrance. And because I am planning it ahead of time, I can create a path that winds and it's not going to look like a ramp because it's going to be a very low grade incline.

Scott & Sarah (46:12.91)
Mm-hmm.

Janet Engel (46:40.694)
and it's going to be attractive. I'm going to use decking so that it is low maintenance and non-skid and all of those things. It's going to increase the value of my home and then at the same time create a zero step entrance.

Scott & Sarah (47:00.376)
Yeah.

And I think, I think that's an excellent point. And I don't, think a lot of people don't realize that there are options when you're planning ahead to make it look really great. Like, like you said, a lot of times people's perspective of this, and we always say it's, it's hard because Scott's in a wheelchair. so people's perception is, they put ramps on people's homes or they put, you know, lifts on people's homes. And I mean, yeah, that's an option, but if you were to start fresh and if you were to plan for it,

then you can add in features so it is accessible, but it doesn't even look like it's accessible. Like it just kind of blends in with the other houses on the block and people just like, you know, the delivery people come in to bring in your new dishwasher. like, wow, this is really nice. This is really easy. Uh-huh. Yeah. And so, but yeah, I think that's a really great point. And especially like in our courses, we wanted to show those different options because it is

Janet Engel (47:48.82)
This is great.

Scott & Sarah (48:01.36)
possible to make it functional and beautiful at the same time. And it doesn't have to be what our minds typically go to. And I think that's where that education piece is important for consumers and OTs and designers alike. It's kind of a creative process too. Yeah. I mean, and that's kind of the core of design. mean, design is solving problems, whether it's functional, whether it's aesthetic. And there's lots of examples of just bad design that's out there in housing anyway.

even if we're not talking about accessibility. mean, people may have that idea that, okay, accessibility is going to be ugly. And the counterpoint to that is you can look around and see lots of places that are not accessible or not designed universally, and they're just as ugly. So it's a design thing. So, I mean, you can certainly...

Certainly have ugly design wherever you look. It just takes some effort to figure out.

Janet Engel (48:58.454)
That's a great point. Yeah, that's a great point. Scott and Sarah, we've learned so much. Thank you. It was so enjoyable to speak to both of you and gain insight from your knowledge as an OT, Sarah, and then your personal experience, Scott, which really just brings so much value. How can people...

access your courses and learn more about the UD project.

Scott & Sarah (49:34.83)
Sure. Well, yeah, our website is universaldesign.org. And on there, we have information on if you're an OT, where you can click to learn more about how to get the continuing education credits through AOTA. And then if you're a consumer, there's information on there for you as well. There's a big button on the right, top right, that says homeowners. And that's the best place to click if you're a consumer. Yeah. And you can purchase the

the courses in a bundle, so that'll save you a little bit money, but if you're really just focused on learning more about collaboration, you can just buy our collaboration course, or if you know that you wanna learn about universal design specifically, you can just buy that. And it's video-based, and so you can kind of take it at your own time, and it also keeps...

Track of your progress so you don't have to sit and watch the whole thing all at once that you can just click a little checkbox and log back in and I'll Show you where you were but all that information is on our website and we're also on Facebook and LinkedIn and all the social places

Janet Engel (50:44.564)
All the things. And for occupational therapists like myself, and I want to tell our listeners that I purchased your course bundle a few weeks ago. I haven't had a chance to look at it yet because it's conference season and I've been traveling, but I'm going to carve out some time in December.

Scott & Sarah (50:54.744)
Thank

Janet Engel (51:06.126)
to take those classes and I'm really excited because I I teach universal design for the NIHB but that class is going away at the end of the year and there really aren't any other classes that professionals like myself can go to to learn different aspects that

about universal design and think about it in different ways. I was really excited about your courses when you created that post on LinkedIn. And also I wanted to ask you when you purchase the course bundle, if you're an occupational therapist, how many continuing education credits does the professional earn?

Scott & Sarah (51:50.637)
Yes, it's

Definitely, it's 10 credits total. Well, 10 contact hours. I know, all the little algorithms or whatever, but like 10 contact hours, but it's 1.0 CEUs. Did get that right? Yeah. So yeah, so it is 10 hours total worth of content. But like I said, you don't have to take it all at once. that's a big chunk of your state license or renewal for registration through us.

Janet Engel (51:58.837)
Mm-hmm.

Janet Engel (52:21.908)
Yeah, it could be nearly half of the CEUs you need. And are they considered live credit hours?

Scott & Sarah (52:28.205)
Yeah.

Scott & Sarah (52:33.015)
live.

It's a good question. What do you mean by live credit hours?

Janet Engel (52:37.27)
Well, maybe you can get that information because only a certain amount of CEUs can be non-live credit hours. So that's why I'm asking the question. They only allow so many and then the rest have to be considered live.

Scott & Sarah (52:50.948)
got, I got you. Gotcha.

Scott & Sarah (53:01.196)
Yeah, I wouldn't think these are considered live and that may be.

Janet Engel (53:02.504)
Even if it's recorded, it, yeah.

Scott & Sarah (53:06.7)
Right. So I don't have that answer. can look into it. don't think that's something that Sarah's had to pay attention to for Virginia's requirements. But we can get that answer and provide it to you and share it in the sharing. Yeah.

Janet Engel (53:16.603)
Okay.

Janet Engel (53:21.96)
Okay, great. I will be providing, well Scott and Sarah will give me all of the links to your website and your LinkedIn profile. So whether you're a consumer or you are a professional that wants to take these universal design courses, you can find them easily.

Scott & Sarah (53:44.14)
Yeah, definitely. And we can even share a discount code for your listeners as well, just to save a little bit. Yeah.

Janet Engel (53:48.972)
that'd be wonderful. Well, thank you so much, Scott and Sarah. It was so nice speaking with both of you and getting to know a little bit more about your personal lives. And it's I love that it's a husband and wife team. You never see that.

Scott & Sarah (54:02.572)
Yeah, you as well. thanks so much for having me. Yeah, yeah, we make it work. So yeah, you're welcome. Thank you.

Janet Engel (54:11.624)
Okay. Well, thank you so much.