View in browser
Hello Hannah
Welcome to the latest Independent Living news roundup.
02.10.19 Contents:
Healthy Housing Awards
A changing demographic - daily living aids
New guidance on single-handed care
Accessible tourist accommodation survey
First audiocomic for blind readers
Latest - Disabled Facilities Grant
1. Healthy Housing Awards

Foundations, the national body for home improvement agencies (HIAs), has revealed the winners of the first Healthy Housing Awards

The new awards celebrate work across the country by local authorities, social landlords and charitable organisations to support vulnerable people to live independently.

Read more here
 

Back to Top
2. A changing demographic - daily living aids

As a regular reader of Independent Living, I'm sure that you are clued up on the wide variety of people who need aids to assist with mobility and daily living.

But there are still widespread assumptions made about who buys adaptive equipment, which aren't borne out by the facts.

We have an interesting article from expert retailer Manage at Home, looking at the changing demographics.

 

Back to Top
3. New guidance on single-handed care

Single handed care options are widening, with advances in technology playing their part alongside the need for balancing care budgets, outcomes advised by healthcare professionals, and the desires of the client.

With regard to the toilet, technology can not only enable the reduction of care support to one person, it may also allow a person to manage independently, without any support or care intervention.

Toileting expert Closomat has commissioned new, OT-led guidance - Read more here

 

Back to Top
4. Accessible tourist accommodation survey

There are a several accessibility information apps on the market. Do they provide the details and the functions that people with limited mobility require and desire?

That question is being asked by Mobilinq AB, a technology company led by Yariv Trabelsi and Adolf Ratzka.

Yariv is an engineering manager at Intel, Tel Aviv. Adolf is the retired director of the Independent Living Institute, Stockholm.

They have created an in-depth online survey to help them design a mobile app to answer all those accessibility questions which can ruin a trip if not considered beforehand.

Read more and take part here

 

Back to Top
5. First audiocomic for blind readers

Audiobooks have become incredibly popular recently, but I have never come across an audiocomic until now. 

Fans of graphic novels may be scratching their heads at the idea, but Chad Allen, who loved comic books until retinitis pigmentosa took his sight, has created "Unseen", a story whose heroine is a blind assassin, which is narrated and audio described, just as films and TV programmes are for visually impaired viewers. You can stream the first issue free of charge for a limited time.

 

Back to Top
6. Latest - Disabled Facilities Grant

A depressing story has come my way – a woman whose home had been adapted to meet the needs of her disabled daughter wanted to move when a man who had earlier raped her daughter came to live next door. 

The council told her she would have to pay back £10,000 of the Disabled Facilities Grant if she did. In the end, common sense and the ombudsman prevailed, and the family was allowed to make their decision about where to live without this additional financial burden.

But it is a useful reminder that grants to adapt your home are usually repayable if you decide to move within a certain timeframe - generally 10 years.

Look out for more snippets of information about DFGs, following my visit to the DFG Champions Roadshow earlier this week!

 

Don't forget that you can apply to join the Independent Living Facebook group, if you would like to spend more time discussing these themes with other interested people. 

There are various ways you can get in touch with us: email me; visit our Facebook page and leave a message there; or if it's short and sweet, Tweet!

Previous newsletters are archived here.

If you are reading a copy of the Independent Living newsletter that has been passed on to you by a colleague or friend, why not sign up for your own free subscription – it's quick and easy, and won't lead to your inbox being bombarded with other stuff!

Back to Top

Until next time, best wishes,

Frances

Share on:
Frances Leckie
Editor

e: editor @ independentliving.co.uk
t: +44 (0) 208 133 0628
Skype: francesleckie
w: www.independentliving.co.uk
Follow us:
Do not want to see it again? Unsubscribe