Show Notes:
Good Fit / Poor Fit: Home Survey
The UD Project Courses and Learning Community – Paid CEU options for OTs, but otherwise FREE!
Transcript:
Sarah: [00:00:00] You’re listening to Good Fit Poor Fit. Our podcast is part of The UD Project, a small business rooted in occupational therapy that looks at how the design of a home environment impacts how well people of different ages and abilities perform everyday activities. We chat about this unique perspective to boost your knowledge and help you consider what can be changed in communities like yours.
Learn more about our work at universaldesign.org.
This episode is part of an ongoing series here on Good Fit Poor Fit. We’re going deep on residential universal design specifications, walking through every major area of the home with an occupational therapy lens. Along the way, you’ll hear stories about real people. Whose lives are shaped by the design choices we discuss.
Whether you are a rehab therapist, a designer, a builder, or someone thinking [00:01:00] ahead about your own home, this series is built for you. Start with episode 107 for the full picture. A good fit doesn’t happen by accident. Let’s get into it.
Sarah: Welcome back to another episode of Good Fit Poor Fit. Rebecca and I are jumping into the second prep episode of our new series. Today we’re going to be discussing how occupational therapists think and the art of doing an activity analysis. Don’t worry. We’re not analyzing research here.
We’re breaking down how a person does different tasks. Are you intrigued? Well, if you’ve never heard of such a thing, we are ready to explain.
Rebecca: Yes, and if you haven’t listened to the previous episode discussing what universal design actually means, please take a listen to that and then jump back in here. That episode has important foundational content that will help this episode make much more sense.
Sarah: It is definitely helpful to have that under your belt as a foundation to what we’ll be talking about. So [00:02:00] today I’m gonna start things off with a question that I want you listeners to sit with for a second. When you walk into a kitchen, what do you see? Most people see counters, appliances, maybe a really good backsplash. A designer sees proportion, materials, flow. A contractor sees load bearing walls and successful cabinet and countertop installation. When I walk into a kitchen. I see someone making breakfast. I see whether they can get to the stove without holding onto the counter or tripping over that throw rug in front of the sink. I see if the microwave is going to be a problem at the end of a long day when hands are tired. I see a sequence of tasks and I see every place that sequence can break down from the beginning to the end.
It’s the way occupational therapists are trained to look at the relationship between a person and the environment in which they’re trying to function. And once you start looking at things that way, you [00:03:00] cannot stop.
Rebecca: Facts. You really cannot turn that off, and I imagine any occupational therapist listening to this right now is nodding along in agreement.
Sarah: Right, Rebecca? Of course, I know you do this too because we’ve talked about it before. You walk up to somebody’s house and you’re already sizing it up for access. You go to a dinner party and you notice that the bathroom door swings inward into the room the size of a closet. You stay at a hotel and you think, no one could actually use this shower. But I want to start here before we get into any specific home feature or design standard, because I think the way we look at homes is actually the thing that makes everything else we are going to talk about in this new series make a lot of sense.
Rebecca: Yeah, I think this is a great place to start. I find myself viewing the world this way all the time. Last weekend, I went to a show in a very old venue in Philadelphia. And we pulled up and parked in a very tall parking [00:04:00] garage with a broken elevator. So we walked down five flights of stairs. Then the venue only accepted mobile tickets, so we had to get our phones out frantically as we were ushered through this giant crowd into a tiny vestibule for security.
Then we looked for signage to find our seats, we had to traverse more stairs, make sense of the seating plan. And ultimately find our seats and sit down. There were a lot of steps and honestly, there were barriers that I saw at each one.
Sarah: That’s such a really good example. that sounds so stressful just as you describe it. I would be the person to sit in my seat and enjoy the show and then pray I didn’t have to get up and find the bathroom.
Rebecca: Absolutely. I was that person as well, but the way that I just talked through that experience from parking to sitting down in my seat was probably familiar to our listeners who are occupational therapists. In the OT world, we have specific terminology around this kind of thinking, and we call it activity analysis, like Sarah mentioned earlier. We [00:05:00] take an activity, something a person needs or wants to do, and we break it down. What are the steps? What are the physical demands of each step? What does the person need to see, feel, and process to complete each step? Where does the environment support those demands and where might it get in the way?
We’re breaking down every individual step that’s required to participate in an activity or to complete a task. So in my example, attending a concert requires a lot from transportation to the site, navigating the site itself physically and cognitively, and then ultimately enjoying the show. There are a lot of places where people can encounter barriers.
We can apply the same type of thinking to homes and home designs. Sure a kitchen is a kitchen, but it’s the place where we cook, which requires us to grocery shop, which requires us to make a shopping list, which requires us to observe what we do and don’t have in the house and on and on and on. When we apply this type of thinking to designing spaces, we can be more thoughtful about designing them in ways that support all of the things that [00:06:00] we want and need to do in each space that we’re designing.
Sarah: That’s a really great explanation and example, tasks like this are all over our home and are constantly happening throughout our day. So you’re right. Anything we do can be supported by how we do the tasks, the design of the environment, and the products we use. So let’s start simple, Rebecca, what is a simple task that we can take our listeners through as an example that might be familiar to them?
Rebecca: Great question. Let’s think about making a cup of coffee. Something that a lot of people do at the beginning of the day. First, you need to get to the kitchen. You need to access the coffee maker, which is probably on the counter. You need to open the cabinet where the coffee is stored. You need to measure out the right amount of coffee and put it into the machine.
You need to fill the carafe with water, which means you have to get to the sink and back to the coffee maker. You need to pour the water into the machine without spilling it. Operate the buttons to get it started, [00:07:00] and then you need to wait. You need to pour the coffee into a mug, which also means you needed to get the mug.
You need to add the creamer or sugar or whatever else you wanna put in it, which might require a trip to the fridge or to another cabinet. You need to get the mug to wherever you’re gonna drink it. So that’s at least 10 distinct tasks before you even take a sip of your coffee. And each one has demands.
Each one can be easier or harder depending on the environment. If the cabinet is above the coffee machine and requires overhead reaching, that might be a problem for a significant portion of people who might live at that home. If the counter space next to the sink is adequate for a full carafe, that’s great.
That helps, and you can lay the carafe there while you’re filling it. If the floor between the counter and the seating area is a loose area rug, maybe that’s a tripping hazard for someone when they’re walking with their hot cup of coffee to where they’re gonna sit down. So you can see where we can apply this line of thinking to all of these different steps and think about what might be a [00:08:00] challenge, what might be a barrier, and how could we set up the environment to make this task easier.
Sarah: Exactly. And I love how you mentioned not only physical tasks that people are doing, but the cognitive processing that people are going through as well. So this activity analysis covers a lot of different things that our bodies are doing at the same time. And I always think it’s pretty fun to break tasks down like this because it really makes you realize how much is required to do a very seemingly simple task.
Rebecca: Absolutely. Activity analysis lets us name what’s happening in each step, and that’s where this gets powerful for home design because most homes are not designed through this lens, they’re designed for appearance, for square footage, for resale value. The question, what will it actually be like to live here is rarely asked systematically.
Sarah: I mean, many times, ideas look really good on paper, but until you move through a home and actually do tasks in different areas, you [00:09:00] realize some things fall short. Maybe it’s extra space needed in front of appliances. Better laundry room storage or considering how a short and a tall person would use the same kitchen. It impacts the usability of the house. The phrase we use at The UD Project is treating the home as a product, not a collection of rooms, not a square footage number, a product that either works or does not work for the people using it across the full range of what they need to do. When a contractor walks through the home, they’re looking at systems and structure.
When an interior designer walks through, they’re looking at proportion and finish. Both of these perspectives matter, and neither of them is wrong, but it’s not as common to see a collaboration with those professionals and an occupational therapist who is asking how can someone with a rollator walker easily get into that tiny laundry area, and manage all of the steps of cleaning clothes. Can someone who is three days [00:10:00] out of a knee surgery get on and off the toilet independently? Can someone who has lost most of their central vision prep and cook and clean up after a meal safely? Occupational therapists ask these questions because that’s our training. We are the profession that looks at the relationship between a person’s functional capacity and the demands of their environment, not the person in isolation, not the environment in isolation, the fit between them, and that is the OT lens and that theme runs consistently in our podcast episodes.
Rebecca: That’s right, and I love the way that you put that, Sarah. We’re trying to find the fit and how we can adapt or learn new skills or shift things around in the environment to make the person and the environment fit better together so the person can do what they need to and what they want to.
So what else can you as listeners expect in these upcoming episodes? Well, we aren’t gonna give you a checklist of features for [00:11:00] a air quotes, universally designed home. Rather, we’re gonna try to get your gears turning about why each feature in the home matters, and who’s affected when certain features are missing or certain needs are not taken into consideration.
Sarah: I think that why piece is really exciting here. That’s the kind of perspective on a home that really actually gets me excited to share about. It’s unique. It matters for how people use the home easily or with compromise. Starting the next episode, and through most of the series, we’re gonna be dropping in on real life situations, people in their homes, dealing with the exact things we’re going to be talking about. We’re gonna walk through what is working and what is not. So you’re gonna meet a woman named Margaret. She’s 58 and she has multiple sclerosis or MS. She is still working and driving a modified van. And lives in a home that she and her husband built 20 years ago before either of them had thought about much of any of this. You’ll meet [00:12:00] Walter who is 72 and is at the early stages of Parkinson’s and his wife Carol, who has noticed him slowing down on the flagstone walk outside of their front door, even though Walter has not yet said anything about it. You’ll meet Dominic who is 45. He had a stroke four years ago and enters his home through the garage every single day because the front entry has two steps. You’ll also meet Matthew and Katie, who are building a new home and who have thought carefully about almost everything except this. These situations are not unusual. Every one of them an OT sees regularly and builders and designers come across when renovating or building new. The details change, but the underlying picture is the same. A person trying to do something and a home making it harder than it needs to be.
Rebecca: And that framing is the whole point of the OT lens. We’re dropping in to assess [00:13:00] what is the person trying to do? What is the home asking of them, and where’s the mismatch? That’s a question that drives activity analysis, and it’s the question that drives everything we’re gonna cover in this series.
So in our previous episode, What Universal Design Actually Means, we discussed a three tier system in which we’ll explain possible solutions for different situations. Every episode will walk through all three because every listener’s in a different situation and we wanna help meet people where they are.
Some people are about to break ground on a new home. Some people are renting and some are thinking about what they can do this weekend with little to no budget. All of them deserve a useful answer. So the three tiers are focused around the topic of no to low cost, mid-range changes and structural changes.
And I’m gonna get into a little bit more detail about each of these. So tier one no to low cost in a general sense for this episode is like the activity analysis. You can walk through your home right now or a family member’s [00:14:00] home and ask the question, what do I actually do here in this space, and what does the environment make easier or harder?
That questioning is free. Start with the tasks that happen every day. Getting in and out of the house, going to the bathroom, preparing a meal. You don’t need a specific document. You just need to pay attention differently. Notice where you grab the wall or the counter notice where you slow down to make sure you don’t fall.
Notice where you need a free hand and you don’t have one. Notice what you would do on a day when things were a little bit harder or maybe you were tired or sick.
Sarah: OTs, this is like an informal home observation before a formal assessment, or for builders and designers, just asking questions to gather information about routines and preferences. Homeowners, you may already be doing this without even knowing it has a name, observation, it’s free, and for some things, solutions in this category could be as easy as a purchase on Amazon.
Rebecca: Right. So [00:15:00] then tier two is mid-range changes. So here we’ll be sharing some ideas that can easily be adjusted in the home on a budget. Some targeted repairs, products or modifications that may involve some labor or product costs, but fall short of structural work. So we’re talking roughly 200 to $2,500 depending on the scope.
And for the third and final tier, we’ll target structural changes. This would be contract level work that may require permits and could involve a meaningful budget. So if you’re building a home, renovating a home, or advising someone who is, the single most impactful thing you can do with the OT lens is apply it early.
Every specification we’re gonna cover in this series is easier and less expensive to implement during design than after construction. Some of them are essentially free at the design stage and genuinely costly as a retrofit.
Sarah: We are going to be specific about that throughout the series, when we [00:16:00] get to a spec that cost almost nothing to build, but 3000 to 8,000 to retrofit, we’re gonna tell you when we get to a feature that cannot be meaningfully added after the fact, we’re gonna share that too. If you’re listening and you’re a builder, architect, or designer, you are our best lever for change at scale. I often get asked, who is actually asking for this stuff in their homes? Who is the client coming in and requesting these features? And the answers which will make the case for throughout this series is the client who is going to live in that home for the next 30 years. The client’s parent who is going to visit and not be able to get up the front steps, the client after a car accident who comes home to a house that doesn’t work for them anymore. The client who uses a wheelchair part-time and an inward swinging bathroom door is a genuine problem for privacy, and ability to reach the entire bathroom. The client who turns 55 and notices that the [00:17:00] kitchen they loved at 35 requires more for them than it used to.
Rebecca: And additionally, by committing to add accessible and functional features into each of your projects, you can help add more homes to the market that are easier to use by the current and future buyers and renters. Once you see the connections, you’ll be able to make better recommendations to every client you work with across every project.
Plus, if a homeowner knows this information and asks you to implement it, you’re prepared.
Sarah: Great point. I had a local designer comment on one of our previous podcasts that she was so thankful to have some questions to think through and ask her clients about their roles and routines and sticking points in their homes so that they could make meaningful changes in the design. That is when you know the concept has clicked, and I loved that she made those connections.
Rebecca: For sure and not to be too repetitive already on episode two. But universal design is not a niche request. It’s the specification for a [00:18:00] home that works for a wide range of human experiences. That’s what we’re gonna spend the next 70 plus episodes making the case for.
Sarah: So as we’re finishing up this episode, let’s do a little takeaway. The next time you walk into a room, any room, try to stay with the question, what activities would someone actually do here? Not what this room is for in general, but what is the sequence of tasks that happens in this space, and what does the environment require of the person. You do not have to have an OT degree to ask that question. You don’t even need a checklist. You need to slow down enough to think about a space through the lens of function rather than appearance. Maybe you decide to switch out that tall kitchen table and chairs for a set that’s lower because your aunt and uncle have a difficult time scooting in the chairs when they come over for Sunday brunch. It’s a simple yet powerful observation. And if you want a more structured version of that question, the home survey at [00:19:00] universaldesign.org slash survey is a good place to start. It will help you identify which areas of your home need a closer look. If you wanna go deeper from there. We also have courses that get into the detail behind each area, and you can find those at universaldesign.org slash learn, and even better OTs, you can get CEUs for all of those courses as well.
Rebecca: That’s right. And in our next episode, which is our last prep episode, before we dive in, we’re gonna get into the numbers, the actual scale of the accessible housing problem in this country, and why it’s bigger and more structural than most people realize. If you have a contractor or builder in your life, that’ll be a good episode to send to them.
But we’ll get to that next. Thank you for being here, listeners, and we’ll see you next week for Good Fit Poor Fit.
Sarah: Thanks for listening to Good Fit Poor Fit. If you want to learn more… first, find more episodes with transcripts and show notes at goodfitpoorfit.com. Don’t forget to subscribe! Second, check out our courses [00:20:00] at universaldesign.org.
We cover housing topics like advocacy, collaboration, home modification, universal design and task adaptations. Lastly, if you have questions or topics you’d like us to discuss, email us at [email protected]. Thanks for fitting us into your day.
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