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Britain’s towns aren’t elderly-friendly

2nd May 2014

A recent study has found that Britain’s elderly are being put off getting outside and visiting their local towns and city centres because of the lack of public toilets and places to sit. With limited mobility the country’s elderly are finding it increasingly difficult to navigate such busy areas that are in serious need of adaption for mobility-restricted individuals.

A team of design, transport experts and engineers at Leeds University have put together a research paper that details the extent to which the nation’s elderly feel uncomfortable visiting their towns and cities for lack of places to sit and even a lack of post boxes deter such residents from getting out and about.

Left behind

A worryingly-increasing number of elderly residents don’ feel as though they can visit their local town or city centre for the lack of facilities put in place with them in mind and feel as though they are being left behind by the rest of society. The survey asked those in their late 60s and 70s what made visiting shops, streets, markets and trips on public transport easier and more difficult and it appears that a lack of consideration for restricted-mobility residents is one of the main worries.

The survey found that seats on buses were ‘uninviting’ to elderly passengers who may need a comfortable stair lift to get around at home and struggle on such forms of transport despite specially-dedicated seating. Seating in shopping centres was another issue where the mobility-restricted and those who suffer from asthma and other such conditions that see them need to sit down at regular intervals, felt that their city centres and towns didn’t cater for them.

While this latest research has brought such concerns to light, the elderly and mobility-restricted can avoid such discomfort in the home by talking to Handicare about their quality mobility aids or walk in bath and shower installation.

Image Credit: Ribena_wrath (flickr.com)

This news article is from Handicare UK. Articles that appear on this website are for information purposes only.