When it comes to aiding disabled people in need, there are a number of tools that can be installed as a major help. If someone lives in a multi-story home and cannot use stairs, home elevators and stairlifts are excellent additions to a residence that allow for mobility between floors effortlessly. However, in a lot of cases, financial restrictions restrict a person’s ability to afford the help they need.

This isn’t a problem in Bedford, England, where funding has been allotted to disabled residents who need financial assistance. According to Bedfordshire on Sunday, the £400,000 (about $630,000) came from additional savings made in the area over the year:

“Disabled Facilities Grants are used to help meet the cost of providing adaptations and facilities to enable people with disabilities to stay in their homes. They fund improvements which provide people with better access to their habitat, to move around it more freely or to use the essential facilities within the home.”

The article says that a major part of making this funding available is predicated on allowing elderly residents to stay in their homes. This is a big portion of health and wellbeing later in life. Furthermore, town officials say that the funding will prevent accidents in the future. The 65 people who will be helped by this money will have a number of projects completed to aid in mobility around the home:

“Examples of Modifications which are funded through Disabled Facilities Grants include installing a stair lift or providing a downstairs bathroom; installing ramps or widening doorways for easier wheelchair access; or adapting heating and lighting controls to make them easier to use.”

Products like stairlifts, wheelchair lifts and home elevators are usually an essential part of a disabled person’s residence. With the ability to move freely around their own home, elderly citizens get a boost in self-esteem and well-being. Luckily, there are areas like Bedford helping out with the cause.

There are plenty of construction projects going on at any given time in the U.S. In fact, you probably passed one or two on your way to work today. However, most of these projects aren’t always new buildings or projects, but instead are set up as improvements to existing structures. In a number of these scenarios, things are added to bring older buildings and homes up to newer building codes and other restrictions that have been written over the years.

When it comes to homes, it is relatively easy to have a home elevator installed – most don’t need a shaft or any major construction, they can be added into your home quickly and simply. On the other end of things – big construction projects – it isn’t always as straightforward. According to an article in Sign On San Diego, the Grossmont Transit Center has been waiting for the completion of a tower which enables easy travel for bus and trolley passengers. It has taken more than 20 years:

“…construction on a 72-foot-tall tower housing two elevators and an adjacent 110-foot-long pedestrian skybridge has finally been completed at the station that boasts more than one million boardings per year. A total of $7.9 million in improvements were made over the past year to the station housed between Trolley Court and Bus Court, underneath Grossmont Center Drive and next to new housing developments Alterra and The Pravada.”

The elevators in the project, the article says, have been installed within compliance of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which enforces non-discrimination towards all people including those needing mobility assistance. It was difficult for handicapped passengers to make it to the buses, etc. before. The elevators have helped with those problems.

The project, which was pitched back in 1989, was funded by several different public and private organizations and companies.

As we all know, apartments in major cities like Los Angeles and New York City can be incredibly expensive. That’s why only people with high salaries and disposable income usually live in them. The amenities that can be found in these types of buildings are amazing – just consider the post I wrote a few weeks ago talking about the vehicular elevator being installed inside of a new skyscraper at Florida’s Sunny Isle Beach. Little did I know these types of elevators are being developed in various areas.

According to Business Insider, an apartment in New York’s Chelsea area has its own car elevator, upping the overall value of the apartment itself:

“The three-bedroom apartment, on 11th Avenue, is currently on the market for $7 million. At that price, the 300-square-foot “en suite sky garage” would be valued at more than $800,000, making it one of the most expensive places to park a car.”

The process works very much like the Sunny Isle Beach elevator, minus the robotic arm. An electronic garage opens with the swipe of a pass and the driver pulls insider. Take a quick left towards the opening elevator gate. Then the technology kicks in:

“Once the car is inside the elevator, a flat-panel display on the wall reminds the driver to shut off the engine. Infrared sensors monitor the car’s position and, when needed, the driver is prodded to back up or pull forward. The elevator automatically goes to the owner’s floor, where the driver backs the car into the garage space.”

Elevator safety is always a prime concern, even when it comes to car elevators. The article says that this NYC lift has a number of safety features, including fire-resistant walls, sprinkler systems and carbon monoxide detectors. Would you like to have a car elevator in your residence?

The role of accessibility is a major part of new buildings and projects that spring up across the country. While many older buildings are allowed to remain without certain handicapped accessible elements, new buildings must have ramps, elevators and/or wheelchair lifts to be in compliance with federal and local zoning law. These tools are essential to the livelihood of people who must use wheelchairs, scooters or other aid to move around. Although some areas in your community may not be totally accessible, there is grant money available to help with appropriate renovations.

One group that recently received grant money is the Lincoln Elks Lodge located in Indiana, according to Greene County Daily World. The funding – $10,000 a year – has been given by the Elks National Foundation, the article says. The money will go towards much needed accessibility in Lincoln city parks:

“The initial $30,000 grant money, utilized for the city’s “Lifted Spirits” program, will be administered in three stages, said grant author LuAnn Shonk. The initial $30,000 grant money, utilized for the city’s “Lifted Spirits” program, will be administered in three stages, said Shonk.”

Part of this process will include the installation of wheelchair lift in 2012 at a local pool, in conjunction with a law that will require all public pools to be handicap accessible by the end of that year. Also, one park playground will be much friendlier for children in wheelchairs, the article says:

“One key area the city and Elks will focus upon is the development of an accessible play area on Humphreys Park’s west side…[t]hat area is easier for children in wheelchairs and those requiring assistance to reach…[a]mong the planned improvements is the installation of specialized swings, which will allow children to roll their wheelchairs onto a platform, lock in, and then swing.”

These projects and more are all slated to be totally completed by the time the grant needs renewal in 2013.

The amount of technology development that goes into the world around us is astounding. You can’t drive down the street without seeing something as simple as a home addition happening with precision computer software guiding contractors. This is definitely true of major cities, which always have new skyscrapers and other types of high-end work going. In the world of elevators, technology guides the way that home elevators and commercial elevators fit into our everyday lives.

Like I mentioned a few weeks ago, one company is working on making the fastest elevator in the world. Other companies are looking for ways to use elevators in space. While these projects show how technology can improve these lift systems, why not consider the luxury side of elevator technology? According to the Miami Herald, one design group is taking elevators into high rises in a new way:

“The $560 million Jetsonesque tower will rise in Sunny Isles Beach as part of a collaboration between Germany-based Porsche Design Group and a local developer, Gil Dezer. It likely will be the world’s first condominium complex with elevators that will take residents directly to their units while they are sitting in their cars.”

Hold on a second. You mean that tower residents won’t even need to park their car before they get in the elevator? That’s what I call the lap of luxury. The article details the way this system works and it’s pretty ingenious:

“After the resident pulls over and switches off the engine, a robotic arm that works much like an automatic plank will scoop up the car and put it into the elevator. Once at the desired floor, the same robotic arm will park the car, leaving the resident nearly in front of his front door. Voila, home!”

What’s next in the world of elevators? I’m not sure. The only thing I’m sure of is how much I want one of these apartments!