When choosing living room furniture for the disabled, you have several options open to you. We are not discussing paraplegics here, but members of the family who through age, infirmity or any other reason, have specific needs with respect to furniture in your living room.
They may be resident in your home or others such as relatives who visit you regularly. They may even neighbors who call round for a talk and drinks now and again, and while you might not feel as compelled to offer disabled facilities for the latter as for your own family, it is still polite and helpful to do so.
There are several forms of living room furniture for the disabled that would suit this scenario, and they are not particularly expensive when compared to regular furniture. Let's check out some of the types of furniture suitable for disabled people before we go any further.
Recliner Chairs and Sofas
Recliners are simple to use and enable disabled people to relax in the most comfortable position for their condition. Most homes where disabled people live tend to provide recliner sofas or chairs for them, and may also use them for themselves. Recliners come in many designs and can generally meet the decorative elements of the rest of your home furniture.
They enable you to extend your legs on the footrest and lie back to any angle you prefer. For many disabled people, the footrest itself is a godsend, because it allows the blood to more easily flow back to the heart from the feet and lower legs. This is particularly important for those suffering varicose veins caused by failure of the bicuspid valves in the veins of the legs.
Being able to extend the legs vertically, or even slightly higher than vertical, improves the circular significantly for such people and also aids in muscle relaxation. However, there are other forms of living room furniture for the disabled, particularly for those with significant weaknesses in the leg and thigh muscles.
Lift Chairs for the Elderly and Disabled
Lift chairs are available in a number of forms, although the most useful enable you to raise the seat and also tilt it forwards. Many people can get down into a living room chair but find it very difficult to stand up again. A lift chair facilitates this, and offers disabled or elderly people more freedom and independence in that they can sit down and stand up again without help.
The fundamental process is simple. On pressing a button, or pulling a lever, the chair rises and also tilts. Once it reaches a certain position, you can stand and walk away from the chair without requiring any pressure on you ankles, knees and leg muscles. You are fundamentally raised and tilted into almost the standing position. Naturally, the same mechanism will permit you to settle into the chair when tilted, when it then levels and drops to your preferred sitting position.
Home Décor and Furniture for the Elderly
Many people think that their home decor might be compromised when they purchase furniture for the disabled or the elderly. That is nonsense, because most good American furniture manufacturers offer the furniture described above as part of their regular ranges, and most furniture collections will include recliners and lift chairs. Not only that, but they also offer a number of items of occasional furniture that are suitable for disabled or elderly members of your family.
The elderly are not disabled: there is a distinction, and just as you have no need to be old to be disabled, the old are not necessarily disabled. Elderly and disabled people want to be able to relax and get their legs up – hence the recliners. They want it made easier for them to sit down and stand up – hence the lift chairs. They also want to relax and watch the world go by, and most American furniture manufacturers offer rockers and sliders to make the elderly feel more comfortable.
We have all seen the old men and women sitting on the porch or verandah on their rocking chairs in the movies, but keep in mind that many young people do this today because they like rocking and watching the world go by. However, the elderly have done their work in the world and feel that they now deserve a rest. What better way than sitting on a rocker or glider and just relaxing.
We are not all the same, but we all like our creature comforts: choosing the appropriate living room furniture for the disabled and the elderly enables them to enjoy their relaxation time just as much as you would like to when you grow old