By Saada Branker
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It takes one fall in the house to make us side-eye our own home. My father once slipped down a flight of stairs at home, landing in the basement and hurting his shoulder. Afterwards, he and my mother placed a larger mat near the first step for better traction. Handrails were installed. Before that, nothing was there.
Not just seniors can suffer impairment or lose their mobility. Anyone who has ever broken a bone or had surgery remembers that sobering experience of being disabled. There is a profound mindfulness that comes with being less able to do for ourselves because of a condition or circumstance, short- or long-term. These cases of disability are being documented. In 2022, Stats Can reported that 8 million Canadians, amounting to 27 per cent of people aged 15 and older, were living with a disability that affected their daily activities.
It’s a sprawling number that asks: how do they manage at home over time? This type of consideration is the basis for solutions that go beyond aesthetics, even beyond disability, to planning and preparation. How will they manage at home? Answering this question calls for a shift in mentality about home design and renovations.
What it means to be client-driven in focus
Kyla MacGinnis calls it the psychosocial impact. She’s a registered nurse and co-founder of BuildAble which specializes in accessible home design and custom renovations. An Ottawa resident, Kyla originally worked at Public Health in communicable disease and infection control. With her husband and partner Sean MacGinnis, an elevating device mechanic (EDM), they secured small projects in home renovations. Their business is the only, if not first, nurse-led accessibility contractor in Canada that focuses on client-driven design rather than a nursing-first perspective.
KYLA MACGINNIS: “We had a few requests from friends, one for a grandfather that just needed a stair lift to his basement. That’s where his woodworking facility was, and he wasn’t able to get down the stairs anymore … So, we helped out a friend, and we didn’t really think much of it, but we spoke with his family after. They had apparently been looking at long-term care because he’d become so depressed. He wasn’t able to access that one space where he was still fiddling with his tools. That was really the: Oh my gosh, there’s a whole psychosocial aspect to this that we’re not thinking about.”
In a master’s program at the time, Kyla changed her focus to accessible design. She also noted the growing demand for the services that help people with mobility-altering diseases, like MS, manage and stay at home. Founded in 2013, BuildAble initially focused on aging in place. Now it serves a diverse clientele, including younger individuals with disabilities. To support the rethinking of aesthetics and accessibility in the home, Kyla and Sean train their staff to learn and understand the shift that happens for clients—between independence and safety, control and surrender—as they age, recover from injury, or care for loved ones through illness.
KYLA: “We do deal or work with a lot of clients that have ALS, which is really challenging for some people, because they may need the greatest amount of changes, but ones that are not going to be there for long. There may be some temporary things we can put in place for someone, and it’s hard to talk about. It’s emotional when we have cases like that.”
Kyla says that small things like handrails or bilateral handrails or grab bars are probably the easiest things to start with. The impact of having them versus not having them is apparent. For example, handrails getting in and out of the house, handrails to help get up from a seat, or an adequately spaced threshold in the home for people with mobility challenges.
KYLA: “Then you can start to see: ‘Okay, this is really making a difference. I feel safer going up and down these stairs, or I feel safer getting in and out of this tub,’ which can often help people be more open to changes that could be more significant. Then they do go for the bigger pieces. If they’re not doing a full home, the two areas that I would most recommend starting with are your stairs and bathroom. Stairs are self-explanatory, I think, in terms of fall risk. Same with the bathrooms. It’s our place where we’re naked, we’re wet, we’re slippery. We want our independence in there as much as possible. Changes there are really key in terms of the mentality about independence.”
Dignity and independence go together
The difference comes down to reactive and proactive situations. They each can transform a home or living space; also, the way people cope with life-transforming changes in their ability. Proactive planning, however, allows for futureproofing living spaces that can become hazardous in time. A common example is changing the tub and shower combo to a barrier-free, walk-in shower with foldable seating, grab bars, and non-slip tiles.
SEAN MACGINNIS: “This is something that we talk about constantly. Reactive is reacting to a situation. Reactive is always when it’s too late, and proactive is making sure we’ve got a plan in place and or have done the modification before it’s needed. It doesn’t necessarily mean having all the work done at once. It might just mean having a plan and executing that plan as a person’s living situation changes, as they age, as their ability level changes, and actually making that plan move forward, tailored to them. To me, it’s one of the most important parts of it, because obviously the number one thing is keeping somebody safe. We wouldn’t want to wait till it’s too late. Renovations obviously also take time, so by the time it becomes a reactive situation, it might be months before the renovation is complete. And then you might have to make other sacrifices, or you might be forced into a move when it’s reactive.”
As our population tries stay at home as long as possible, custom-built renovations become key for clients. Their desire to maintain dignity and independence forges a meaningful path for contractors, people living with disabilities, and caregivers. As BuildAble advocates, together they can apply adaptive solutions for home accessibility through a personalized style that looks as beautiful as it feels mentally and emotionally.
SEAN: “That’s really what we think accessible design is. It’s just better planning.”
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