Ms. Jane A. Hampton This is Me

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1. 1. Accessibility Design | About Us | Founder & Senior Designer

   www.accessibilitydesign.com/ha - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/28/2008   Last Visited: 3/28/2008

   Jane A. Hampton Accessibility Design | About Us | Founder & Senior Designer
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   Jane Hampton
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   Jane A. Hampton President, Founder, and Senior Designer of Accessibility Design
   
   Ms. Hampton has broken new ground with her Minneapolis, Minnesota-based design, consultation, and project management firm, which specializes in residential environments for seniors and individuals with disabilities. Licensed as an Interior Designer by the state of Minnesota, Ms. Hampton has a wide range of experience as an Access Specialist and Project Manager.
   
   Ms. Hampton's expertise lies in her ability to integrate beauty, safety, function, and ease of maintenance into residential access creating user-friendly environments for her clients with disabilities. She has worked in residential design, project management, and product specification since 1992 and understands the process and intricate details required for a successful renovation or new construction project. She has been a part of post-catastrophic injury discharge teams, third party/insurance paid projects, workers compensation projects, and government funded home-access programs, evaluated housing options for personal injury attorneys as well as met the needs of referrals from agencies and associations. She also has conducted real estate assessments for realtors and their clients with disabilities.
   
   Ms. Hampton is known for her thoroughness, eye for detail, and project management skills and has received referrals from hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, agencies, medical case managers, and national and regional networks. She has also spoken at regional and national conventions, colleges and universities, and government policy focus groups on the topic of designing for seniors and those with disabilities.
   
   Ms. Hampton, through her company Accessibility Design, is providing a broad spectrum of services to individuals and families. She has captured the essence of universal design by refining residential access and independent living.

2. 2. Accessibility Design | In the News | Easy Access

   www.accessibilitydesign.com/in - [Cached]

   Published on: 3/16/2006   Last Visited: 3/28/2008

   During the early 1980's, when Jane Hampton was designing luxury home interiors in Florida, she gained a reputation for sumptuous design and elegant details. Less noticed in those homes was the attention Hampton paid to accessibility -- adding features and products to render a home more user-friendly for a disabled person or a person who might become disabled down the road. Hampton, president of St. Louis Park-based Accessibility Design, a firm specializing in residential and commercial design for seniors and the physically challenged, says her "soft-shoe approach" to accessibility was essential in those days because most clients felt uncomfortable confronting the restricted mobility that comes with aging or the lifestyle implications of a disability, temporary or permanent.
   
   But whether consumers care to acknowledge it, trends continue to point to a need for more accessible homes for people of all physical abilities, Hampton says. There is the oft-noted graying of the population, and with it a growing awareness that homes with sweeping staircases and multiple levels pose mobility challenges for aging legs and backs. Then there's the cost and supply of health-care services. Studies indicate that up to 60 percent of residents choose to live in nursing homes primarily for their barrier-free environments, not so much for the medical care.
   
   "What this all leads up to is what we call 'aging in place,'" Hampton says.
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   To hear Hampton and Braun tell it, builders and designers don't just wake up one morning and decide to create an accessible home.
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   If you are now, or soon will be, planning a new home, Hampton suggests considering these five aspects of home design where accessibility-oriented details can be addressed for maximum advantage:
   
   Surface-level changes. Eliminate foot-catching thresholds in doorways. Provide smooth transitions between carpet, wood and linoleum flooring. Avoid steep slopes in landscape design.
   
   Clearance. Allow roomy door and hallway widths, plus access between and around cabinets, furniture, kitchen islands, and the like. "One of the 'pinch points' most often seen is doorways," Hampton says. "What's the point of having an elevated toilet seat if you can't get a wheelchair through the door?" She adds that some newer Florida homes features doors off the bedrooms--doors wide enough for an emergency-rescue gurney--that make at-home surgical procedures feasible.
   
   Reach ranges. How easy will it be for people of all sizes and physical abilities to reach knobs, shelves, racks, railings and switches?
   
   Lighting. As people grow older, depth perception and glare can become problems. Extra lighting in certain areas and indirect lighting in others can reduce glare and make all the difference, Hampton says.
   
   Safety. When was the last time you rehearsed fire-escape plans? When was the last time you did so while dragging a broken leg or propelling a wheelchair? From security and alarm systems to door and window configurations, safety is a prime accessibility concern.
   
   "I'm a strong believer that often it's our home environment that makes us more disabled than our actual age or disability," Hampton says.

3. 3. Accessibility Design | In the News | Corporate Report Minnesota

   www.accessibilitydesign.com/in - [Cached]

   Published on: 7/1/1994   Last Visited: 3/28/2008

   Jane A. Hampton, Accessibility Design:
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   Several members of Jane Hampton's family worked in healthcare, and she can remember holiday meal conversations about the diagnosis and prognosis of family acquaintances.
   
   She regards that familiarity with physical frailties as an important part of her work as founder of St. Louis Park-based Accessibility Design. An interior designer by training, she started three years ago as a consultant to architects on the living space of the aged and disabled. Almost immediately her firm began to directly serve seniors and the disabled, and the list of services continues to grow.
   
   She recently returned from an extended visit to northern Europe full of product ideas and enthusiasm for teaching other designers how to serve this growing part of the population. "It's been uncomfortable for most interior designers to be involved in this market," she says. "People are in pain, or going through a difficult transition."
   
   Hampton began thinking of this niche several years ago while working for a designer in Sarasota, Florida. She tried hard to consider functional needs of the new house for a couple in their 60's, and, in addition to a pleasing appearance, she found that some small touches made it easier for them to get about and cook meals. In their kitchen, for example, the counter tops contained a small notch for a cane, and came in contrasting colors to compensate for failing vision.
   
   The couple was pleased; and referred her new clients. "She told me that they were eating at home a lot more," Hampton says. "She said, 'I can lift my pots and pans, and reach all my items.'"
   
   Back in Minnesota, Hampton worked as a designer for larger firms and made plans to address the disabled persons market full-time. She came up with four principles -- aesthetics, easy maintenance, safety, and accessibility. "It's not just whether a sofa looks great," she says.