Life on Wheels (89 page)

Have hardware that can be easily gripped or turned

Require little force to open

Have a low threshold

A door without one of these qualities could rob you of independence and threaten your safety if you need to use the door in an emergency.

When you are thinking of how to modify your home for maximum access, think of the functions of a door. Doors provide safety, privacy, acoustic control, climate control, and aesthetics. The function of safety should not be compromised. However, you can weigh other priorities. Any door that does not provide these functions might not be needed at all. If a door only gets closed when you sweep behind it, why not remove it altogether?

Doors are places where collisions are most likely to happen. Paint gets chipped, or chunks get taken out of door jambs or walls. Sometimes space is just tight, and, no matter how skilled a driver you are, for the number of times you’ll go into and out of the door, odds are really high that you’re going to make contact now and then. Thus this advice from a man with cerebral palsy:

A door must be wide enough for you to fit through. Wider doorways also allow you to carry an occasional wide package on your lap and reduce the chance that you’ll bump into the frame and damage it or the paint—or your hand! Bathroom doors are typically the narrowest in the house. Bedroom doors can be narrow or oriented to the hallway in such a way that you can’t wheel straight through. Although making the door frame wider is not always an option, there are other possibilities to give you more clearance, such as using a different kind of hinge that takes the door out of the way or installing a pocket door.

Wider doors do not add to the cost of a new building. There are many benefits, according to Mace:

Many people report that sliding glass doors are the easiest to operate, but they sometimes have difficulty getting over the metal channels at floor level. Sliding doors are best installed in a recess in the floor to make the surface flush, assuming that water infiltration would not be a problem. Sloped thresholds—or “mini-ramps”—can also be installed to help wheels over the frame. Some sliding-door designs use lower-profile channels.

A pocket door slides into and out of the cavity of the wall, so it takes up no space from the door frame. The door rides on easily gliding tracks that require little exertion to operate the door. When the door is open and fully tucked into the wall, there is usually a small hook on its edge, which you grab with your fingertip to pull the door in order to close it. This can be a dexterity problem for some people. A D-pull handle solves this but then will limit the ability of the pocket door to fully recess into the wall. If enough clear space is not left to pass through the doorway, you can cut a notch in the wall to recess the D-pull so that the door can open all the way (see Figure 7-3).

Installing a pocket door in a wall is a significant construction task—which might also involve redirecting electrical switches or outlets—and some people complain of difficulty with maintenance. If properly built, the door should glide easily and stay on the track. A less costly and simpler approach is to install a surface-mounted pocket door. Such a door can be attractively installed on the outside of the wall, with proper trim and hardware, and without the problem of having to cut a notch for a D-pull. The only drawback is the loss of some wall space (Figure 7-4).

Closets typically use double-leaf or folding doors. These door types don’t impose themselves as far into the room when they are opened. Two smaller doors can provide better access to a closet space. Folding doors are often inexpensive and not of high quality. They tend to jam, fall off their tracks, or require more dexterity to operate.

Door hardware has a large effect on independence. A door with difficult-to-use hardware is also more likely to be damaged as it becomes necessary to push, kick, or use the wheelchair itself to get through it. Lever handles and D-pulls are the easiest to use. A hook latch or handle with a thumb latch require dexterity and strength.

Lever handles should be used on both sides of entry doors. Contractors or installers might think that a person with a disability will only open the door from the inside but be assisted when coming from the outside, which, of course, may not be true. A second door pull, placed closer to the hinges, can help you close a door you’ve passed through. The latch can be too far to reach once you are through, so the additional D-pull allows you to close the door without strain.

Lock hardware also can be inaccessible. Many people are unable to put a key in a lock, grasp it with their fingers, and twist it to turn the lock. Some people tend to install many locks for an increased sense of security, but, instead, these locks can serve to imprison and endanger someone who has difficulty operating them.

Keyless locks are now commonly available; a keypad is used to enter a code with gentle pressure from a fingertip. Generally, you choose the code, so you can change it occasionally for security reasons. You also can never lose your keys—though you can forget the code. Make sure the control is installed at a reachable height. Some of these products come as an integrated system that includes a doorbell, mailing slots, or intercom.

Often a small bathroom is rendered inaccessible simply because the door swings into the room. The door can’t be closed because there is not room to wheel far enough into the room to clear the door. The door might also block your access to the tub, shower, toilet, or sink. This can be solved by reversing the swing of the door. You can remove the door and put the hinges on the other side of the frame so that the door swings out instead— which means you’ll need to take extra care opening the door from the inside into the hallway where someone might be passing by.

The thickness of a standard-hung door occupies one or two inches of the space of the door frame when it is opened. There is a replacement hinge available that pivots so that the thickness of the door is effectively removed from the passageway when it is opened. These hinges are easily installed and inexpensive. Figure 7-5 shows how this type of hinge works.

You may be able to remove a bathroom door altogether. If privacy is an issue after removing a door, hanging a curtain in the doorway can often solve the problem:

Another common obstacle is a screen or storm door at the front door of a house. Having two exterior doors can be solved with automatic door closers or by enclosing the doorway area with a porch. Then you can deal with each door separately.

How easy is it to open the exterior door? Most doors in a home do not have a closer, which applies some spring resistance to the door when you open it. Apartment buildings, however, will likely have closers on the door to the apartment and certainly on the door at the street entrance. The spring tension needs to be adjusted so that it is not difficult for you to open and then pass through comfortably. It is also important that doors open fully to a 90° angle to the opening to provide a clear path that allows you to continue in a straight line. This also makes it easier to hold the door and use the handle to pull yourself through. There might be conflict with building management who want to keep the spring tension tighter at the street for security reasons so that the door will close faster. But it is management’s responsibility to properly maintain the door to close securely without requiring greater spring tension to slam it closed.

Flooring surface has a big effect on how easily and comfortably you are able to use a manual chair at home. Since many quadriplegic, elderly, or weak users switch to a manual chair while at home, floor surface has a significant impact on many people.