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Accessibility, decor key in offices of elder-law attorneys
Posted under office furnitureby Lawyers USA
(This article originally appeared in Lawyers USA, another Dolan Media publication).
It took elder-law attorney Stuart Zimring four months to find what he calls the “Goldilocks chairs” for his conference room. The chairs – not too high, not too low, not too soft, with sturdy arm rests – are “just right” for his aging clients.
After an earthquake 10 years ago damaged his office building in North Hollywood, Calif., Zimring rebuilt and redecorated with his elderly clients in mind.
That meant creating a small conference room that is less intimidating than the large one he used to have, installing a carpet with pile that is firm enough to accommodate his clients’ walkers and wheelchairs and buying chairs that provide enough support for his clients to raise themselves out of them.
If clients are visually impaired, Zimring’s office prepares wills, health care proxies and other documents in large type – up to 84 points.
Milton W. Zwicker, an elder-law attorney in suburban Toronto, also revamped his office for elderly clients. Because there is no elevator in his two-story building, he moved the conference room to the first floor and had a ramp installed to make the building accessible to wheelchairs and walkers from the parking lot.
“I have a huge elder-law practice,” he said. “And just because of age, people were running into a lot of difficulties getting to my office.”
Zwicker also put in sliding doors to make it easier for clients to open doors. He keeps the conference room well-lit. And he always has several magnifying glasses handy, in case anyone has trouble reading the fine print in documents.
Speaking at the American Bar Association Convention in Hawaii last month, Michael Cheang, a gerontologist at the University of Hawaii’s Center on Aging, said that it’s important for attorneys who work with older clients to make their offices accessible.
With an estimated 35 million people over age 65 as of 2000, and the older population expected to double by 2030, attorneys face a significant loss of clients if they fail to adapt their offices.
Cheang told Lawyers USA that offices that are not designed for older adults can limit access or affect the quality of communication.
For example, he said, older adults report significant impairments in their daily activities, such as reading small print, adjusting to dimly lit environments and locating a sign in a cluttered background.
Older adults may also have reduced color sensitivity and an inability to discriminate among colors in the blue-green range. Because of changes to the cornea, they may be more sensitive to glare.
“If lawyers are not cognizant and sensitive to these challenges,” Cheang said, “older adults may be more reluctant to visit law offices.”
Zwicker suggested that all attorneys – not just those who specialize in elder law – should make sure their offices are accessible to elderly and disabled clients.
“A lot of solo practitioners are located on the second story of a building,” he said. “If there’s no elevator, they are literally excluding themselves from that [elderly and disabled] clientele.”
Elder-friendly design ideas
Cheang offered some tips for designing elder-friendly offices:
* Locate signs prominently in front of buildings and near elevators. Avoid cursive print, which can be difficult to read. Use dark backgrounds with contrasting colors on signage.
* Use contrasting colors for floors and furniture.
* Avoid pastel shades and monochromatic colors such as white and beige, which can make it hard for older people to distinguish the furniture from the floor or wall.
* Define edges and corners, such as stairs and floor changes, with color and texture.
* Replace super-bright lighting with ambient lighting.
* Use chairs and sofas that are firm and have sturdy arms.
* Locate seating so that older clients face away from windows to reduce glare.
* Use flat paint instead of glossy finishes for walls and floors.
* When meeting with hard-of-hearing clients, Cheang advised, sit face-to-face while speaking in a normal tone of voice. Because older people may need more time to process information, give them documents to review ahead of time.
Elder-friendly courtroom
Rebecca Morgan, director of the elder-law center at Stetson University College of Law in Gulfport, Fla., has authored articles and lectured on how to make law offices more elder-friendly.
So when Stetson University said it was going to build a courtroom on campus, Morgan and colleague Roberta Flowers, director of the law school’s advocacy center, worked with the architects to make the courtroom barrier-free and elder-friendly.
“We did some research on colors. We sat in different chairs. We used sensitivity training kits that simulate certain conditions associated with aging to see what work best,” Morgan recalled.
They also encouraged the architects to install glare-free lighting and quiet air-conditioning in the courtroom, which opened in September 2005.
Morgan said she hopes the courtroom will serve as a model for other courtrooms in the nation. Features include:
* Contrasting colors to enhance elders’ vision.
* Carpeting designed to give visual clues for those with visual impairments – a border along the edge in a color different from the carpet and diamond insets marking each row of seats.
* Rounded corners on all tables and desks.
* Sturdy chairs with locking wheels and firm arms.
* A witness box at floor level rather than up steps.
* A ramp to the judge’s bench that begins inside chambers, so a judge in a wheelchair can ascend the bench without being observed.
* A podium that is electronically height-adjustable, with electronic side shelves or wings for those in a wheelchair.
* Technology aimed at enhancing accessibility for participants – including flat-panel video monitors in the gallery, hearing amplification devices and software to convert conversations into typed words.
* Non-glare, non-buzz lighting.
So far, the law school has used the courtroom for classes, mock trials, meetings and consumer presentations. The school is hoping to obtain funding to install the security and screening equipment needed in a real courtroom.
“We are hoping to use it for real trials, so we can see if our theories work,” Morgan said.
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