This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hi everyone,

My name is Ellie Crawshaw and I am researching adaptations to the homes of disabled people, in the UK for my third year dissertation at the University of Leeds. In particular, I am researching disabled people’s input into the design of their adaptations, and their input into the planning process, and so looking at the role of occupational therapists and contractors within this. The aim of my research is to highlight the level of input disabled people have when it comes to the design of adaptations within the home, by collecting primary data of individual experiences of home adaptation. To do so I have created a questionnaire to find out in more depth about disabled people's experiences and to collect data.

I would be extremely grateful and would really appreciate it if any of you could spare a little of your time and complete the following questionnaire regarding your own experience of adaptations in the home.
http://www.smart-survey.co.uk/...

All answers you give me will be confidential, in that all names will be changed in my research and it will not be published, all answers will solely be used to assist me with my dissertation. All questions are optional, please do not answer anything you feel uncomfortable disclosing. Should you wish to find out further information about my research, or wish to contact me at any time, I can be contacted at ss06erc@leeds.ac.uk. My research finishes in April 2009, if you wish to withdraw your answers from my work at any time, please send me an email. I would also appreciate any feedback you wish to give me regarding this questionnaire. The questionnaire should take around 25 minutes or less to complete.

Thank you in advance for your time and kindness, it is extremely appreciated.

Ellie Crawshaw


On a personal note, my Uncle and Aunt are both in different stages of MS and have had their bungalow in Wales adapted to meet their different needs, which was the inspiration for my research. I would be happy to share their experience with you, share photographs of the work carried out, or answer any questions you may have about how their work was carried out, and their happiness with the work, please do not hesitate to ask me over the forum or by email. Once again, many thanks for taking the time to read my post and I do hope that you will participate in my questionnaire.

Could you please refer to us as people with a disability? We are people first, the disability is a part of us but does not define us. Thanks!

The most daunting thing about any of it is thinking about the cost. Maybe going at it by helping people with different avenues of funding may be the best place to start if your intent is to get people to understand the huge impact that aids have on us. Every aid that I have devised is something I absolutely cherish as they help me use less effort to conserve it for things I want to do. Neat dissertation subject, I'll take the survey after this post.

That being said the biggie for me is the bathroom. I had always thought the biggest thing that made showering so miserable was the warm water. It's not, for me anyways. It's all the twisting and turning while standing in a tight area and also having no shoes on. So, for me anyway, if I had a shower where I could just step out of my shoes into a seated position and almost shower completely from a seated postition, I think I'd definitely have a head start on the day. Now it takes like 90 minutes to do it because a great deal of that time is spent trying to make the room stop spinning and to get my vision back.

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http://myhopefuljourneyintoactualmsreco ... ogspot.com