Promoting autonomy through home adaptations. Appropriation of domestic spaces in Italy

While the person-environment relationship is one of the structuring frameworks of daily life in general, for disabled people this relationship is a decisive one. ADA is an action research project which assessed the person-environment relationship of people with severe disabilities and subsequently proposed home adaptations to improve their autonomy, well-being and quality of life. The article introduces the framework of ADA and its strategy to personalise home adaptations while considering participants multifaceted profiles. The impact of ADA on the life of its recipients in a context of fragmented disability policies is then discussed. Space appropriation processes and effects on trust in institutions and agency of participants are assessed. A sociologically informed perspective on habitation is adopted to conduct a reliable and multidimensional ex-post evaluation of the effects of home adaptations. Points of interest The article discusses the strategy and impact of a home adaptation project carried out in a context with insufficient disability policies. Home adaptations affect how disabled people live in their homes in many ways. Home adaptations change what behaviours disabled people can perform, but also how they feel and what their spaces mean to them. Adaptations are more effective when customized on the specific needs of each disabled person. This is challenging and requires experts from different fields. Getting disabled people and their families involved in the assessment of their homes promotes their self-confidence and trust in the process, especially if they had previous disappointing experiences with other disability services and policies. People who had successful adaptations are eager to share their experience. Actively involving them in supporting other participants could have positive effects and should be further investigated.