This A11yOn-edited Accessibility Corner article looks at home mobility, aging, arthritis, stair safety, and the emotional side of adapting a familiar home.
Mobility challenges can come at us rapidly or they can be a slow, inevitable creeping up on us. If they're the later, there's often a moment of realization that the one you're caring for will have when they are forced to realize they no longer have full use of the home they've loved for many years. A stair lift or similar home access change may help, but we'll get to that later. For now, I just wanted you to know there's a solution for accessible apartment living.
(skip to a helpful article on how a stair lift can keep your loved one safe in the winter months)
A major cause of mobility issues is falls. These often result in hip injuries, the most common kind of injury in the elderly as that particular bone structure is both fragile and exposed, and so it's often the point of impact in a fall. In these cases, the moment you realize you'll have a mobility issue is very clear, very sudden. There's not eventual dawning of realization. You simply know you'll need solutions like a stair lift, walk-in shower and other essential equipment.
But the slow creeping attack of arthritis and other aging issues can drag on to the point where a loved one simply spends less and less time on the stairway. One day the decision to sleep on the couch with a comforter over them is simply easier. Then, perhaps they do the same thing the next night. Eventually, they've moved a few articles of clothing downstairs into the home office, more blankets for the couch.
This is the sort of issue my aging parents are now going through. They're in their 70s, living in a split level home, and they have to go up and down two small sets of stairs at least 10 times a day. I keep asking, but they keep saying a stair lift is simply not necessary. But my arthritic mom is definitely ready for a chair lift, if for no other reason than to make her life more convenient. For her, I think it's a matter of not wanting to admit she's reaching that point. She's caught in that slow decline I'm talking about, and we're all watching it and waiting.
When you see a photo of a person on a stair lift, they're often smiling because they're in a marketing photo. But when you see someone on their very own stair lift in their home, they may have an even bigger grin on their face; and it's not because they're zooming up and down the stairway - they don't go that fast. It's because they get the full use of their home again. The slow creep of arthritis won't stop, but it also won't completely change every aspect of their life either. Better access at home can lift their spirits, and that optimism has the power to make daily life feel more manageable.
If you're caring for someone who is living with the slow advance of age or arthritis-related mobility issues, consider whether a stair lift, ramp, first-floor sleeping setup, bathroom update, or other home access change would make daily routines safer and easier.
For related context, our wheelchair independence article looks at mobility equipment as freedom rather than failure, and the CDC has practical information on preventing falls and hip fractures.