Aging in Place: Breaking the Barriers - InformeDesign

Implications
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issues of aging to the design community, medical
research is investigated, and simplified to impactful
elements, while maintaining its integrity. The goal
is to understand how aging impacts the daily life
and activities of the elderly, and to design spaces
accordingly.
In consultation with Julie Masters, University of
Nebraska, Omaha Gerontology Department, research
reveals nine specific, age-related ailments that affect
the built environment in various ways for those who
would prefer to “age in place.” These ailments are
most commonly associated with aging. Sometimes
they occur singly and sometimes they occur in
combination. It is therefore important to understand
not only the characteristics of each, but their impact
on aging individuals in the built environment. The
most common ailments consist of:
Arthritis
Muscular Loss
Cardiovascular Diseases
Neurological Diseases
Diabetes
Osteoporosis
Hearing Impairment
Vision Impairment
Mental Disorders
Prevalent Occurrences
The range of ailments and disorders is broad, and
variable in terms of effects. Here are a few of the most
common ones afflicting our aging population. The
statistics are sobering. Most people age 75+ have at
least one joint affected by arthritis. From 2003-2005,
50% of adults 65 years or older reported an arthritis
diagnosis (MMWR, 2006). Women are impacted 2-3
times more than men by rheumatoid arthritis. Most
hearing loss begins between 40-50 years of age. Over
28% of individuals age 65 and older have a measurable
hearing impairment. By age 85, 50% of individuals
have a hearing impairment. Static acuity (sharpness
of a stationary visual image) declines about age 40;
and by the 70s, it has decreased by 30% compared
to people in their 20s. Depth perception begins to
decline during the 50s and a 60-year-old person may
require 2 to 3 times as much light to see as a 20-yearold;
with the amount of light required doubling for
each 13 years after the age of 20 (Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, 2009). One in two women
and one in eight men over 50 years of age will have an
osteoporosis-related fracture (National Osteoporosis
Foundation, 2009). The physical limitations of aging
do cause problems in some general areas, potentially
affecting people’s ability to live effectively on their own.
These general limitations are briefly itemized below.
Physical Limitations
In general, aging-related ailments may cause some
degree of problem in the following areas:
• gripping, pinching, twisting and squeezing
(hands)
• bending or reaching for objects
• lifting objects above shoulders or from below
knees
• getting into and out of furniture and fixtures (e.g.,
shower, toilet)
• getting up or down into a squat or floor position
• climbing and descending stairs
• general mobility and flexibility
• the need to rest even while doing stationary tasks
• slippery surfaces (inherent or due to water)
• lifting feet when walking versus shuffling
• requiring more light to see
• requiring more time to adapt to decreases or
increases in light
• losing ability to discern between shadows
• losing ability to see details
Vision and Color
Color plays a major role in visual perception of the
elderly. According to Lighthouse International, the
lens in the eye is a clear, layered structure attached
to eye muscles that contract or relax to focus in
response to light (a loss of focusing ability is the
reason many adults over 40 need reading glasses).
Yellowing of the aging lens decreases color perception,
and is noticeable at age 50. It becomes an increasing
challenge to designers to consider “aging eyes” when
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