Lesson 2:
MEETING LIFESPAN HOUSING NEEDS WITH UD

LEARNING OBJECTIVES: When you've finished Mission 2, you will:

1. Explain how human and social changes over the FAMILY LIFE CYCLE result in changing housing needs over the same family's RESIDENTIAL CYCLE.

2. Evaluate new and existing dwellings for UD features and home modifica-tions that can help older adults age in place.

WORD BANK:

CONTENT HEADINGS:
My Life as a House (Changes over the Family Life and Residential Cycles)
          Young Single Adults: Having My Own Place!
          Childless Young Couples: Adult-Oriented Housing...for Now
          Nuclear Families with Pre-school Children: Safety First!
          Elementary and Teen Years: A Home's PEAK Years....
          Single-Parent Families: Same Housing Needs,
Sweet Homes for our Old, Older, and Oldest Generations
          Pre-Retirement Empty-Nesters (The AYoung-Old@)
          The Middle- and Old-Old: Living Together or Alone
Successful Aging in Place with Universal Design
          Activities of Daily Living, Functional Status, and Independent Living
          Assistive Devices and Technologies = Preventive Medicine
Future Shock: Technogenarians!

IMAGES:
Young girl graduate with diploma and a GREAT need for her OWN space
Cartoon: Do-it-yourself humor related to couples, babies, homebuying, and UD
Three babies from Lands End.com
Lead-based Paint Poster from U. S. EPA
Boy on stool brushing teeth
Car with DVD in back seat
Kids playing sidewalk hockey
Girl toddler with Musini
50-Something empty-nester couple
Lauren Hutton at 70-Something modeling motorcycle gear
Multi-cultural ethnic elderly quartet
Transfer aids to get up and out
Card shuffler and various @robotic@ arm extenders

LINKS: Senior Safe Homes booklet
www.reversemortgage.org

Research centers on hi-tech assistive devices
http://www.technologyreview.com/articles/wo_harney081202.asp?p=0

Aware Home at Georgia Tech
http://www.cc.gatech.edu/fec/ahri/index.html

The TRACE Center researches Information Technology & Telecommunications
http://trace.wisc.edu/

Third Age Suit simulates effects of aging (look under design/development)
www.fordvehicles.com

QUOTABLE QUOTES:

1. Universal, lifespan, and inclusive designs not only provide minimum basic access, but...approach products broadly from a HOLISTIC VIEWPOINT...for everyone, not just the elderly and disabled (Mace).
2. American homes are not...age-friendly... Yet they need to accommodate ALL family members as they age (Novelli)
3. We know we can't stop aging, but we CAN...We may not... prevent a disabling accident or illness, but we CAN... (Mueller).

LESSON 2 LEARNING ACTIVITY CHOICES:

1. SMALL GROUP BRAINSTORMING: Using newsprint tablet sheets to list all the responses, teen partners will first share/briefly describe (on sheet):
   1. Any lifespan-related changes already made to their homes;
   2. UD features present in their house or yard;
   3. Home modifications and UD features that are likely to be needed later if their parent(s) want to age in place OR if frail, 85-yr-old Great Grandma moves in when your widowed, retired mother is 65 years old; AND
   4. How they might convince their families to adopt UD and home modifications as positive, preventive medicine (assuming the features were either affordable or could be added as do-it-yourself projects).

   Bring the entire class or group together to report, then discuss the most common similarities and differences among lifeSPAN AND lifeSTYLE-related housing changes.

2. FUTURISTIC PROBLEM-SOLVING: Given Americans' tendencies to think that the Technology Bailout will solve society's great problems, brainstorm both positive AND negative responses to the following question:

   By the year 3000 (your lifetime plus part of YOUR children's), will health advances and high gero-technology make UD products for older adults unnecessary or obsolete? Why/not? If so, how?

   It's NOT a trick questionBit could happen! We suggest that you NOT try to wing it on this answer. Surf up some ideas by starting with LINKS from this lesson, which hopefully lead to useful others.

OUTCOME-BASED ASSESSMENT OPTIONS:

1. ANALYZE HOME PLAN FOR LIFETIME LIVING: Evaluate the single-family floor plan below, area by area (living, sleeping, and service zones), including specific UD features that could make the aging process easier as a composite case study household moves through the life cycle from newlyweds to a 70-Something widow OR widower living there alone.

   Since the YoYos used their own families to complete LA #1, using hypothetical extended families of various sizes here will avoid repetition, and put all group members on the Asame page. Assign each group's home to a different state, plus rural, suburban, central city, or Aactive adult community setting. Guides can Adesign@ the families in advance and groups can draw from a hat..

   We chose a huge plan since many home buyers feel that Bigger is Better. Decide whether you think that 'B is B' is true for THIS home, from a book of ALL-accessible floor plans by Charles Schwab (2005).

   
   
   
   
   

2. Drawing on the lesson information, plus shared family experiences, have small groups create and present (e.g., at an all-school assembly) several original skits that raise youth awareness of changing housing needs and solutions (home modifications and UD features) that result from family life-span changes. Emphasize examples that teens' families can apply at home.