Useful moving tips for helping move people with disabilities

August 14, 2017 Care Tips

Empowering the People We Care About

“The world worries about disability more than disabled people do.” – Warwick Davis

Moving house can be a chore for everyone from different ages to different walks of life. But can you imagine how hard it is for people with disabilities to have to move?

Having a person with disabilities in your home makes you more aware in terms of helping out in the right way and in the right amount. If you are close to someone with a disability, you know that most, if not all, place great value on their ability to help themselves.

This doesn’t mean that we just leave them alone and go on with our lives – especially when it comes to moving. It means that you need to find ways to provide assistance which would still allow them to help themselves.

In order to do this, you must be able to find ways to make moving easier for a person with special needs or disabilities in your home. This could mean making preparations or alterations in your home to allow the person with disabilities to adapt easier.

When you think about it, having to adjust to a new home can be taxing for anyone, which means it’s much more stressful for a person with a disability. They may feel apprehensive about the whole experience, especially when they have already gotten used to a certain way of doing things.

The most important thing to do is extend your patience, listen to their concerns, and genuinely try to find ways to help them become independent in your new home. This is not an impossible task, in fact, it can be quite easy especially if you have enough helpful tips to guide you.

Moving with people who have special needs or disabilities

 

  • Moving can be a stressful experience; the mere thought of it can weigh down your mind and your will. That means it’s much more stressful for a person with disabilities or with a severe medical condition. To help clear and ease your mind, and the mind of the person you’re trying to help, talk about the move and discuss all the things involved, whether small or big. Talking about everything concerned will help the both of you feel sound about moving. Doing this will also help you see if you missed anything as you were planning to make the move.
  • Talk about financial issues. Preparing your home to accommodate a person who has special needs or has disability can mean having additional expenses. Learn about any community or government resources that will be able to help when it comes adding special installations to help persons with disabilities.
  • Introduce yourself to your future neighbours and learn about life in the neighbourhood. You might be able to gather useful information such as disability assistance programs. There may also be valuable services or organisations near your home which would be very useful for people with disabilities.
  • Since you’ll probably be hiring a moving company, do your research and ask the different movers whether they have knowledge in helping people with disabilitiesmove. It would be extremely helpful to hire a moving company with movers who have experience with people with disabilities and understand how to handle any specialist medical equipment they might have. Aside from being sensitive to their needs, they could also help out in the whole moving process in general.
  • Aside from hiring a moving company which has experience in dealing with persons with disabilities, it would also be wise to go with movers who will pack up all your things from your old house and unpack it in the new home. Before doing this, make sure you’d have already planned where to put everything in order to help give directions to the movers.
  • However, if you choose to unpack all your belongings yourself, make sure to be organised and smart as you are unpacking.
  • Moving to a new home shouldn’t be a negative experience – you can also see this as an opportunity to reorganise your life and get rid of stuff you neither need nor use. Assist the person with going through his or her belongings. There may be items which are already too old, worn out or even damaged, which would be of no use anymore – making it useless to even bring them along. Be sure to listen and be sensitive when helping to sort other people’s items, gently persuade the person to let go of the things they wouldn’t use anymore and just keep what they really want or need. You never know, at the end of this process, you might have enough to set up a garage sale!
  • It is very important for a disabled person to have their medical records in a safe and easily reachable place. If possible, they should keep all the records with themduring the move so you’re sure that they don’t get misplaced. And in case the unthinkable happens and they need medical care in a new place.
  • Make a note of all the hospitals, pharmacies, and other emergency health care services in your neighbourhood. Make a list of relevant contact numbers and keep it in a place in your new home which is easy to see. If the person with disability’s doctor or specialist is far from your new home, be sure to inform anyone involved in their care and also make a plan on how to go about their regular appointments.
  • Before settling into your new home, make sure all the utilities are working as well as any medical tools the disabled person may need on a daily basis. Well functioning telephone, internet, electricity, water, and gas services are essential.
  • Make sure all the parts of the home are easily manageable by the person with disability. Support should already be installed in the home – such as lifts, bars and ramps. Prepare everything that’s necessary to make sure the transition is as smooth and as easy as possible.

Conclusion – Be Prepared for Any Eventuality

Helping people with disabilities move doesn’t have to be a chore to dread. There are many ways to make the whole moving event go smoothly and without a hitch. As long as you prepare everything and think things through well, you’ll be able to pull off moving to your new home successfully.

Also be mindful of how you assist the person with disability or those who have special needs. Remember that though they might need a lot of help and support, they also like to be able to help themselves out, and they are the expert on what they need. Enrich their lives by making sure that you lift them up and help them become independently functioning individuals.