By Sheila Brady
Nancy Edwards and Kyla MacGinnis are gurus transforming homes into safe havens for aging owners. The highly accomplished Nancy is a nurse, an author, a distinguished professor and professor emerita at the University of Ottawa, an avid cyclist and an opinionated advocate of smart design.
In the 90s, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation promoted universal design as the answer for aging in place, while creating communities without barriers. In a recent CBC radio interview, Nancy rebranded universal design with “visitable design”—
basically design that allows grandparents in wheelchairs to easily access their grandchildren’s homes, even to spend the night in an accessible home.
“We need our homes to be accessible to all ages,” says Nancy, who serves on building code committees pushing for changes to the National Building Code. Specifically, she aims to make universal backings to support grab bars mandatory in all new builds.
This small technical change, hidden behind drywall and fancy tiles, would make it easy to
secure grab bars in showers, preventing falls.
Nancy is laser focused on the need for grab bars in all bathrooms because that is where most falls happen. She wants solid, good looking grab bars. The cost would be recovered within six years because many falls would be prevented. It’s a tough slog because the vast majority of shops and builder model homes show off sexy, hard-to-get-into tubs, not practical grab bars, says Nancy. “They are selling gloss, not practical design.”
Kyla, a retired nurse and accessible housing advocate, vividly remembers watching older patients, released from hospital, returning with injuries after a fall. She and Sean MacGinnis own BuildABLE Design + Renovations and promote accessible design.
And now Kyla is organizing Adapt EXPO Ottawa, a free event at Carleton University’s Fieldhouse Saturday, May 31, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. It’s focus is on accessibility, inclusion and adaptive living solutions, borrowing inspiration from American author and blind activist Helen Keller: “Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.”
BuildABLE, Abilities Ottawa and Spinal Cord Injury Ontario will take over the fieldhouse, offering workshops, presentations, demonstrations and interactive activities. Attendees will also discover a variety of exhibitors, artists, authors, products, services, resources and contacts that showcase what’s possible. AdaptExpo.ca
