Barrier-Free Home Project from Bahçeşehir University Vocational School

With the "Barrier-Free Home" Project designed by the Küpkökarge unit within the Technical Departments of the Vocational School, Bahçeşehir University aims to provide visually impaired individuals with a better quality of life and to remove many of the barriers they face at home.

The project, designed by Bahçeşehir University Vocational School Lecturer İnci Zaim Gökbay and Vocational School Technical Department students, aims to achieve a practical and cost-efficient technological barrier-free home standard in which individuals with disabilities can live comfortably in their homes.

The prototype of the project, to be exhibited at Beşiktaş Ortaköy Square between 3-23 July 2010, has been visually enriched with the contributions of Hekim Holding, Somfy, Mimteks, GPD and Schneider Electric.

The Biggest Barrier Is at Home

There are approximately nine million people with disabilities in Türkiye, seven hundred thousand of whom are visually impaired. Although many R&D studies have been carried out so far to make life easier for visually impaired people, no concrete projects have been produced to help them meet their basic needs at home. Although various organizations try to ensure that people with disabilities benefit sufficiently from opportunities outside the home such as transportation, education, participation in cultural activities and communication, there are still no technological developments that enable them to meet their own needs on their own at home. Research shows that when visually impaired people are left alone at home, they cannot meet many of their needs on their own in homes not built with architecture compliant with accessibility standards. For people with disabilities who cannot meet their basic needs on their own even in their own homes, participation in social life is just as difficult. With the Barrier-Free Home Project, Bahçeşehir University Vocational School aims to provide the comfort of electronic equipment from the very first step into the home and to meet disability-specific wishes and needs.

What Is in the Barrier-Free Home?

The Barrier-Free Home Project was shaped by the problems identified in a survey of people registered with the Association for the Visually Impaired and the technological solutions found. The features of the Barrier-Free Home are as follows:

- Keyless entry: A special system with security features such as fingerprint recognition and voice recognition.

- Voice-enabled cabinet and library systems: Special systems that make life easier in kitchen and room cabinets and in the library.

- Rounded-edge furniture design: A special design to prevent injuries caused by collisions.

- Recycling water systems and special electrical systems to prevent unnecessary water and electricity consumption made unknowingly by the individual with a disability.

- Voice alert system for sockets: A voice alert system will be installed on sockets so that users can check whether power is reaching the electrical sockets.

With its academic staff and students, Bahçeşehir University Vocational School will continue its activities to enable people with disabilities living in Türkiye to receive vocational education, to provide the best conditions for the education of students with disabilities admitted to its programs, and, by designing products for people with disabilities that are not manufactured in Türkiye, to help them meet their personal needs easily and enjoy life.

The Barrier-Free Home will be exhibited at Beşiktaş Ortaköy Square between 3 July 2010 and 23 July 2010, at Kadıköy Square between 20 August 2010 and 27 August 2010, and in Taksim and Şişli on dates to be announced later.