This report describes my experience of using the wheelchair, pointing out the challenges faced during the journey throughout the residence. It also provides some suggestions about design improvement, which might be made for the convenience of disabled people.
I would start my description from the moment of entering the bathroom. First, I realized that the door is narrow, a problem which afterward would appear throughout the house. Second, the height of washbasin was not optimal for use; the inconvenience was caused by the location of the soap dish, and the configuration of the shower controls. After that, I came to experience another obstacle for my travel as I reached the stairs, so my journey downstairs could not proceed without help. In the end, I realized that the arrangement of the furniture in the house is also inconvenient, and it is hardly possible to move without hitting its pieces.
Therefore, I came to the conclusion that the usual environment seems to be constructed without reference to the experience of disabled people (Page & Thorsteinsson, 2018). Another suggestion of the design adjustment I would make is the change of the shape of the kitchen table so that the table surface would be low enough and located on all sides away from the person in a wheelchair.
Thus, I may suggest some improvements in the design, such as lowering the washbasin and the soap dish, introducing lever-type shower controls. Besides, the doors have to be made wider, and there should be an alternative to the stairs, such as a type of sloping floors. I hope that the necessity of these changes in the future will be considered reasonable, with reference to the experience of disabled people.
References
Page, T., & Thorsteinsson, G. (2018). An inclusive design study of wheelchair users in the built environment. Journal of Engineering and Architecture, 6(1), 1-18.