Friday Furnishings: Compliant, Not Complacent

At Goodwill, as you might guess, there are many people whose disabilities were a product of circumstance. These people had to make major adjustments in their home and work lives nearly overnight. Adding a ramp to the front steps, adapting a bathroom to accommodate a wheelchair, lowering lighting fixtures on the wall: each is but one of the many ways to create an ADA Compliant environment in which people with disabilities can live productively and independently.

The only problem? The environments are often completely bereft of any style. Think about it: lots of white, lots of chrome, lots of blah. Concepts like Universal Design have emerged to create workspaces that are functional and compliant for people of all abilities, but they often still lack that something special that sets apart truly great design from the everyday. The National Children's Museum - scheduled to open in 2012 in D.C. - is striving to change that, though, with universal design incorporated by renowned architect Cesar Pelli. There's hope still.

In fact, sites like allmodern.com now specifically state which items are ADA Compliant on their thumbnail lists. Like the George Kovacs by Minka Brushed Nickel Wall Sconce at right? You're in luck! It's both complaint and Energy Star approved. Fantastic! What makes a light ADA complaint, you ask? Well, it has to be less than 4" in depth, for starters. And compliant lighting must be used in all large-scale commercial and residential buildings. The thing is, these lights are designed exclusively for handicapped-accessible spaces. They'll look good anywhere!

As will the Hansgrohe Axor Starck Lav Mixer, an award-winning faucet that requires just one hand to operate, and has an anti-scald function built in. Sure, it's ultra-modern style isn't for every decor, and at $564, it's most definitely an investment piece for the bathroom. But if it's high-end design with ADA compliance that you're looking for, this is the Pièce de résistance.

Personally, I love the simplicity of this design and - paired with a tiled, wheelchair-friendly, low-slung sink - would make for a smashing addition to any accessible bathroom. Add one of those amazing bathtubs with the side doors (even some of those are looking a little less geriatric these days) and that's quite a room to behold. No longer does one have to be a prisoner to sterile white and chrome! It's about time...

If the great outdoors are calling, the Eureka! Freedom Tent (their exclamation point, not mine), is right on point. Designed in 1994, it's the first truly accessible tent that allows for a wheelchair to be wheeled straight in the zippered door. It can easily be fully assembled from a seated position in a wheelchair! That's awesome.

It sleeps two (and stores two wheelchairs) and features easy-open inner compartments for those with limited mobility. What a great way to get away from it all! Oh, and at $455, the tent costs over $100 less than the faucet. Ha.

Finally, I would be remiss if I didn't show you, my dear readers, one of the coolest pieces of technology out there right now designed to break down the barriers between those with disabilities and those without. I'm sure you've all heard of the Segway. Well, the designer of that, Dean Kamen, has used that gyroscope technology to create the iBot Mobility System, an out -of-this-world - um, wheelchair isn't the right word! - piece of technology that will blow your mind.

Yes, that's it at right, balancing on two legs. Yes, it can climb stairs. Yes, it can travel over grass and gravel and just about anything else put before it. And yes, it costs nearly $30,000. But maybe, like so much other technology, the price will come down over time. After watching this video, you'll certainly hope that it will.

I'd like to say that it was easy to find a bunch of cool products for today's blog, but the truth is that I had to look long and hard for these products. Designers still aren't acknowledging the needs of a variety people. I'm not saying design exclusively for those with disabilities. That doesn't make since. But how about adding a category, for example, to the National Design Awards? One that acknowledges "Accessible Design?" As you can see, accessible design is really design for everybody.


Any purchase made at a Goodwill Retail Store or on shopgoodwill.com funds Goodwill's mission of training and employment programs for people with disadvantages or disabilities.