While life is full of surprises, one thing that we know for sure is that we all will age and become elderly one day. Since more people prefer to remain at home for as long as possible there are several adjustments that has to be made in order to be able to adapt age with the home environment. Therefore, it is crucial to have knowledge about universal design.
The main idea behind universal design is to embrace accessibility and exclude as few concerned groups as possible through clever innovations and broad-spectrum thinking. By excluding the smallest amount of people possible regardless of potential limitations, whether it would be abilities connected to a particular impairment, or age, one has good conditions to develop society and services in a way that is adapted to the population as a whole.
When designing for elderly, there is an extremely important factor to keep in mind: there exist no such thing as a “mean senior” citizen. Just like with various impairments, seniors all have different capacities and needs. Does this make it more difficult when designing in a more universal manner? Partially yes, because developing a supportive tool or making a home adjustment might fit elderly with specific age-related impairments and/or diseases, but might be an obstacle for others. Imagine two such persons living together, and we have identified why universal design is so important. Stated above that there is no mean senior with identical needs there is, however, a common opinion among elderly in wanting to be able to live independently.
An important step when adapting and designing homes to fit elderly is to make sure that some essential requirements such as reliability, safety, usability and supportiveness are fulfilled and processed. Additionally, closely related to universal design comes the importance of avoiding design that could cause stigmatization, i.e., that elderly people do not want products that make them look old.
Focusing on the concrete needs when adapting the home, one thing to keep in mind is that small things really matter in everyday life. For instance, many houses and apartments use thresholds to “connect” the lower corner of doors with the floor. For a relatively young person, living without certain impairments that obstruct their ability to walk, these steps are not a big issue. For elderly, on the other hand, it can be very troublesome and even dangerous, especially if the entire home is covered with them. In addition, doors should all be wide enough to be able to pass through with supportive tools such as wheelchairs, walkers and strollers.
Tripping is one of the most common accidents that occur among elderly and should, of course, be given much attention. A useful way to prevent this is to avoid using slippery surfaces wherever possible, especially in environments that tend to get wet such as kitchens and bathrooms. Today, there exist many different kinds of anti slip floors and solutions that will still provide friction even though the surfaces may be covered in (a reasonable amount of) water.
Anti slip floor to avoid slippery surfaces
Bathrooms, as mentioned, are high-risk areas in peoples homes since slippery floors along with hard bathroom accessories could cause severe injuries. A place that is particularly insecure is, of course, showers and bathtubs. Since many elderly might have difficulties moving parts of their body and will not be stand up for a very long time, which will cause issues when using this kind of equipment. To reduce these risks, bathtubs and showers could be supplied with anti slip mats and foldable seats.
Design ideas like the one’s proposed in this report are just a small selection of a more universal type of thinking that certainly could help elderly in their everyday life. What makes these solutions exceptionally applicable and universal is the fact they apply to a wider user diversity and could easily become new “standards” in society. This is an important aspect since supportive tools, if designed with an institutional look, most likely will cause stigmatization among their users, which is very closely related to usability and user experience. While tools might be usable, what is the point of providing them if users do not feel comfortable using them?
To conclude, by providing solutions that appeal to a broader audience that assist anybody regardless of age along with being both usable and appealing to utilize, elderly will hopefully be more secure in their home and feel much better about them aging.
/Marcus Enderskog
Non-excluding Design 
I found especially interesting that you consider not only one user, but also the people this person may be living with. That’s something important to reflect on, as sometimes we assume that the user lives alone. Thanks for sharing!