Please tell me cheerful things about moving to a disability-friendly home

[Lionessadmirer]

My brother has secondary progressive MS, limited ability to work and financial troubles.
our lovely relative has died and my brother should now inherit £300k-plus within the next year.
he can walk a few feet, further on a flat straightforward surface, and uses furniture too. No wheelchair at this point.
his current house is unsuitable - upstairs bathroom, steps, etc.
the ambition is to use inheritance to buy a bungalow.

he tries to get work but his energy levels are very variable.

so! He is going to have a budget of around £700k (inheritance, value of current house, value of pension pot). Examples of how people in this position have found homes to suit them welcome!

New build regulations mean most home can be made accessibility friendly with a few minor adjustments.

When we were looking for a family member priorities were wide doorways, no steps at all. Bathroom and kitchens with a new build could be specified to be more accommodating. We didn’t bother with the kitchen as it was going to be only carers in the space, but the disability friendly bathroom was a must!

That’s encouraging, thank you.
so focus on the new

Think of low sill doorways - in case he needs a walker of wheelchair in the future.

The same idea for bathroom - a shower that is a wet room or extremely low profile sill (some builders do the low profile shower tray but on a plinth (for the plumbing), so watch for that).

Door handles and cupboard handles that can be reached from sitting. Light switches lower (and pull chords longer) but conversely plug sockets higher than normal. All fully functional now but future proofed in case of needs changing.

Oh, and think about how a wheelchair might navigate into a shower or around a glass pane in future. Is there turning space?

Toilet put in a space with extra space on the walls to put in bars/handles in future if they’re not needed yet. A disabled toilet is higher so that may need some plumbing thinking - you could put in the toilet now if you think it would not be upsetting as it is perfectly functional for everyone but smaller dc’s may need a step for longer than with a normal toilet.

A small step up to the door might seem ok now, but does it work to put a ramp there later? Might be easier to get a path that goes flat to the front door if possible.

Someone already mentioned door widths.

Flooring - rugs can be a trip hazard. If new build, would wood or tiles be an option with underfloor heating? If going with carpet, don’t get one with a big pile.

DH uncle is now in a chair and the already adapted bathroom has just been redone along with his kitchen. I wasn’t terribly involved and a long way away so didn’t see the works getting done, but have had some of these conversations over the years with/about him, and also for my DGran who had very reduced mobility before she moved out of home and who I did see a lot of and do a lot for.

Hi OP - my daughter has congenital physical issues that means she uses a wheelchair full time.
We sold our home with stairs (still so sad about that) and bought a bungalow.
We had council input for adaptations - not mentioning that just for the funding options but rather for their stringent requirements that actually became mostly very useful.

She has hoists installed - ceiling hoists for lifting to and from bed or bath to chair/wheelchair.

Extra wide front door and doors to rooms she will use (for wheelchair) - this is especially helpful.

Wet room for shower rather than shower enclosure, easier to put a shower chair if needed.

Sink without a pedestal so wheelchair can go underneath.

Lower light switches so she could (in theory) reach the light switches from her chair.

Extra sockets- surprising how many extra pieces of equipment require electricity input - suction machine, electric bed, food pump…

Obviously your brother won’t need these adaptations at least immediately but some of them might be helpful to think about.

Could you take a tour of one of those homes in elderly housing and take a look at what they have? My mum lives in one of those and walking around one gives you a great idea for what it feels like and what to look for. Then you just take yourself off their mailing list and ditch their marketing materials.
You asked for positive stories, are you worried that he'll struggle to find somewhere? When looking for my Mum there were quite a few new build bungalows that we considered. If you have a few months to make decisions you should be able to find something.

My OH has MS and while he has pretty good mobility at the mo (excluding relapses) and still works PT, when we moved house we factored this into our final decision.

Remodeling an existing property was our first thought but having been through this before, we just didn't fancy all the disruption again.

Viewing a NB property was a real eye-opener for us.
Lots of floorspace, wide doors, tall ceilings, switches lower & sockets higher than our older properties, spacious master bedroom with large ensuite, almost level thresholds.
During the build, we had the builders reinforce the ensuite shower walls so grab handles can be fitted in future, further adaptations can be carried out as & when necessary.
Room for a lift to be installed in the corner of the living room straight up into the master bedroom which indecently has space for a hoist (although a ceiling mounted track system would be our first choice).
While we have no plans to utilise it, the loft is huge (bigger than any previous house) so if another bedroom had to be used for any reason (physio or pilates etc) we could relocate the office up there.

By keeping to a 2-storey house and providing wheelchair lift access between the floors it means my OH will have more floorspace to roam than in a similar priced bungalow.
Our NB development is better laid out for accessibility than the older roads we used to live on. Wider pavements, wheelchair friendly kerbs, accessable open spaces, no narrow alleyways etc.

If he's happy where he's living he could maybe have a lift fitted?

thank you everyone! it's nice to hear from people who understand the practicalities.

his current house is totallyl unsuitable but where he lives I think he could get a newbuild bungalow for £400k including all costs, leaving £300k to live on for the rest of his life plus benefits.
It's doable I think - I may have to step in for things like private physio/off-NHS drugs, that sort of thing.
I'd better get to work collecting in our lovely uncle's assets!!!!