Access To The Environment

Accessing the environment can be very challenging to individuals with a medical, physical or mental health condition. This may be due to a number of reason such as, inaccessible environments, social anxiety, inaccessible transport and difficulties accessing facilities.

Our Occupational Therapists can make suitableenvironmental adaptations to meet the needs of each individual and improve their independence when accessing the environment. This can involve changes to the individuals own home, their workplace or studying environment. Adaptations come in a variety of forms and can include one or more of the following:

• Ramps
• Stair lifts
• Hoists
• Grab rails
• Raised toilet seat
• Bath lift or shower seat
• Reorganising cupboards
• Visual cues
• Textured flooring

Our Occupational Therapists carry out assessments and create treatment plans for both physical and psychiatric conditions. Through the useof specific activities our Occupational Therapists can prevent disability and promote independence. Disabling environments cause great difficulty to those who require assistance. Our Occupational Therapists have both the skills and knowledge needed to provide practical solutions, making environments accessible to all.

Associated difficulties regarding accessing the environment include:

Having a disability, medical condition or illness can make it extremely difficult to accessenvironments such as:

• Home environment
• External
• Internal
• The community
• Facilities
• Flats
• Toilets
• Transport
• Trains
• Buses
• Taxi
• Mobility transport services.

Accessing the home environment

Having easy access to the home environment is essential when increasing an individual's independence. Those who require assistance to access their own home environment can often experience feelings of frustration, isolation and exclusion.

Our Occupational Therapistsare extremely skilled in providing appropriate aids and adaptations. These aim to not only increase an individual's level independence but their overall life satisfaction.

Accessing the community

Inaccessible environmentsin the community can also lead to an individual feeling extremely rejected. Barriers encountered when going to the shops or staying at a hotel can lead to an individualbecoming segregated and can prevent them from becoming a fully inclusive member of society.

Internal structures of buildingsimpact enormously on an individual's involvement in society.Individuals with a visual, hearing or physical impairment are often faced with a number of challenges when accessing environments within the community, some of which have been highlighted in the list below:

Physical disabilities

• No disable toilets
• Not enough manoeuvring space
• Narrow doorways and corridors
• Uneven floor surfaces

Vision impairment or total blindness

• Confusing layouts
• Obstructions and hazards
• Poor lighting
• Lack of signage

Hearing loss

• Noisy environments
• Lack of visual information
• Poor acoustics

Our Occupational Therapists are skilled professionals and can carry out assessments on both home and societal environments. It is through completing these assessment whereby our Occupational Therapists can offer new andcreative ways to make accessing the environments much more inclusive for all.

Accessing transport

Getting from A to B is essential in order to function independently. Individuals with a physical or psychiatric impairment will often encounter challenges when accessing transportation within the community. There are many reason for this for example, lack of ramped access, or over crowed vehicles, busy stations, lack of knowledge regarding mobility services and many more.

Our specially trained occupational therapists can complete comprehensive assessments and determine an individual's level of need. Following these assessments, appropriate interventionswill developedin order to optimise an individual's level of independence when accessing transportation within the community.

Occupational Therapy Assessments for accessing the environment

Our Occupational Therapists are highly skilled professionals and through carrying out assessment are able to pin point areas of difficulty. Following an initial assessment our Occupational Therapists will work together with each and every individual and create a unique treatment programme to best meet the needs of each individual and promote their overall independence. Assessments allow our Occupational Therapists to:

• Identify the challenging areas and how this is impacting on day to day life
• Prioritise therapy goals in order of importance
• Monitor progress
• Develop individualised treatment plans

Occupational Therapy assessments are always carried out by a fully trained and experienced therapist and can be completed in the individuals own home or here in one of our clinics.

Suitable assessment for accessing the environment:

• Functional Assessment
• Workplace Assessment
• Aids And Adaptations
• Seating assessment
• Wheelchair assessment
• Risk Assessment

Occupational Therapy Treatment for accessing the environment

Our Occupational Therapy treatments aim to improvethe overall quality of life for individual's experiencing difficulties accessing the environment.Suitable treatment for individuals with accessing the environment difficulties:

• Aids and adaptations
• One on one treatment
• Home visits

Aids and adaptations
Inaccessible environments can be very disabling to individuals who require assistance. Our Occupational Therapists can provide a range of aids and adaptations, making accessing environments more inclusive. Our Occupational Therapy aids and adaptations can come in variety of forms and may include one or more of the following: ramps, grab rails, visual cues, texture flooring and many more. All of which aim to improve an individual's independence when accessing the environments.

One on one treatment
One to one treatment sessions are very beneficial and allow for open communication between therapists and individuals to flow freely. This enables our Occupational Therapists gain a deeper insight into the difficulties an individual is experiencing in relation to accessing the environment. An additional benefit to receiving one to one therapy sessions is that they feel a lot personal and aid in tailoring an individual's therapy sessions to meet their needs appropriately.

Home visits
Home visits are extremely helpful and allow our Occupational Therapists to ascertain the level of help an individual requires when accessing their home or community environments. Home visits involve observational assessments and require the individual to complete a set of daily activities in and around the household or community environment. It is through completing this our Occupational Therapists can make accurate recommendations for appropriate adaptations.

Our Occupational Therapy is a client-centred health profession concerned with promoting the health and well-being of all individuals through occupation. Enabling individuals to participate in everyday activities is priority withall our Occupational Therapists. In order to achieve this outcome our Occupational Therapists will work together with both the individuals and communities and offer way's tomodify the environment in order to better support an individual's engagement.

Summary

Our Occupational Therapists provide a variety of interventions which enable individuals to live their lives to the fullest. Enabling individuals to engage in activities that are meaningful and purposeful to them is of high importance to all our Occupational Therapists. The main goal of our Occupational Therapy is to increase an individual's independence in everyday life regardless of their disability, condition, illness or injury.

What to do next:

Please feel free to contact one of our experienced therapists if you feel you or a relative would benefit from our Occupational Therapy input, at email office@londonot.co.uk or call us on 02033 937 332