Kelly Vincent – Vision Australia Interview on Accessible Homes and Universal Design
27/04/2016
On Wednesday 27th April 2016, Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent was interviewed on Vision Australia radio station to discuss Dignity for Disability’s views on accessible homes and universal design principles. Here is the transcript and audio from the interview.
Hans Reimer: And it’s time to welcome, Kelly Vincent Dignity for Disability MLC to question time once again. Good evening Kelly.
Kelly Vincent: Hi Hans.
Hans Reimer: Now, you’re jetting off to Canberra for the Home Modifications Australia or MOD.A conference. Can you tell us a bit about MOD.A?
Kelly Vincent: Sure. So MOD.A of course as you’ve pointed out stands for Home Modifications Australia and it’s the peak body and industry body, which represents home modification providers for elderly people and also people with disabilities. So they are all about representing providers of home modifications and trying to encourage more people to modify their homes to become accessible.
Hans Reimer: And I understand you will be speaking at the conference?
Kelly Vincent: That’s right and I’ll be using the opportunity to talk a little about Dignity for Disability’s amendments to the planning bill earlier this year that puts universal design into legislation for the first time in Australia. And a resulting law that will hopefully increase accessibility for everyone because that’s what accessibility is about being universal. Not only for people with disabilities but elderly people, parents with prams and so on. So it’s an Australian first, requiring South Australian developers to consider universal design principles in all of their proposals in the future. And hopefully the MODA team are keen to hear more about it and look at what we can do at a more national level as well to make sure universal design becomes more and more frequent moving forward.
Hans Reimer: In modifying homes for accessibility what sort of features are we talking about?
Kelly Vincent: Well as I’m sure you and many of your listeners would be aware, Hans unfortunately modifying tends to be done on a case by case basis. And it really only happens when the person living in that home develops those particular needs whether they’re ageing or acquire a disability for example and so on. So we really need to create a society where we actually invest in these things so that we have them available when, because it’s not really if, it’s when the person develops those needs either through an accident or the ageing process and so on. So depending on the individual person, of course, retrofitting is never as good as incorporating accessibility from the get go. Simple features that we can put in from the get go such as wider doorways and flat entrance ways. At least one entry that is step free. A toilet on the ground floor and in particular bathroom walls that are reinforced, so that even if you don’t have handrails from the beginning you can retrofit them if you need to. All simple adaptions that Dignity for Disability have certainly been pushing for in public housing and we’d certainly like to see more people taking it up in private housing as well. To ensure that their homes can be lived in for longer as the residents age but also if their renting the property out that the rental property can be available to a wider range of people and that has of course some financial benefits as well.
Hans Reimer: So does it mean that accessible homes are in fact safer?
Kelly Vincent: I think we can say quite safely, if you pardon the pun, that accessible homes are safer. Because we know that the cost saving over the life time of the dwelling can be accounted for in terms of the guaranteed reduction in falls and the general accessibility of the home, which makes it easier to do certain tasks at home and be safe and reduce the risks of events like falls. So again with ageing comes an increase in disability and the sooner we wake up to this reality and start changing our environment to accommodate this, the better.
Hans Reimer: Dignity for Disability MLC Kelly Vincent, thanks once again for your time.
Kelly Vincent: Thanks Hans.
