University organizing courses for multidisciplinary teams to build accessible homes

The Mahasarakham University in Bangkok developed Home For Life, a three-day training workshop for civil servants, urban developers, and public health practitioners focused on creating accessible indoor and outdoor built environments, especially for persons with physical disabilities.

In 2017 the MSU_UDC in Bangkok, Thailand, developed Home For Life, a three-day training workshop for civil servants, urban developers, and public health practitioners focused on creating accessible indoor and outdoor built environments. The training is targeted specifically for individuals with physical disabilities, and – by working in multidisciplinary teams – significantly improves knowledge and skills. By 2020 training was completed by more than 20 teams and a train-the-trainer programme was launched.

Problems Targeted

Many people and organizations are involved in planning and implementing home modifications for people with physical disabilities, but they often lack the required knowledge of accessibility principles.

Solution, Innovation and Impact

The MSU-UDC developed the three-day Home For Life training curriculum, which gathers people from various sectors and disciplines to learn about designing and planning home modifications, such as to accommodate bathing and dressing and going outdoors. The training strongly encourages that home modification teams be comprised of at least five individuals: a medical doctor or nurse; a physiotherapist; an engineer or architect from a local government organization; a community volunteer (builder) or contracted builder; and a person or persons with disabilities and their family members, who can even allow the teams to be trained ‘on the job’ in their homes. The average cost of home modifications is based on three levels: build a new house €1,582; partly rebuild €1,054; and partly modify such as adding a ramp and handrails €527. These costs can be submitted to the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security to be covered. Between 2017 and 2020 more than 20 teams completed the training and modified 110 homes. In 2020 the MSU-UDC launched a train-the-trainer programme, which has been completed by teams who now provide the training in 42 of the country’s 76 provinces.

Funding, Outlook and Transferability

The training programme is funded by the Thai Health Promotion Foundation, a government agency, at an annual cost of $30,000. The MSU-UDC will seek financial support from the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security both for scaling up the training programme and for home modifications.

Pictures

Training the team: the doctor, the engineer, the volunteer, the builder, the person with disabilities and family

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