Petula Bone's #ForAccessibleHomes story | Tenant stories blog

Petula Bone, a keen gardener who has moved into Habinteg’s latest scheme in Rawcliffe Grove, Hull, is now able to use her green fingers for the first time in ten years thanks to her brand new wheelchair accessible home. Steps at her previous home meant Mrs Bone, a wheelchair user, could not get to her garden. Her new home, which she shares with her husband, is a wheelchair accessible bungalow fit for her mobility needs. 

As well as level access to the garden, the home features storage space for her wheelchair, wider doorways so she can move around with ease and a bathroom and kitchen specifically designed with a wheelchair user’s needs in mind. Her home is one of three new properties developed by Habinteg, a leading provider of accessible homes, in partnership with Hull City Council that are suitable for the needs of disabled people.

(Credit: Hull Daily Mail)

Petula, who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis over 30 years ago, said her condition made her “terrified” to walk around her previous home, as she's had several falls, with one so serious that she broke her ankle and needed carers in her home for four months. But now thanks to her new specially-designed property, Mrs Bone can now travel more freely through her home.

Mrs Bone says “I found it to be an absolute miracle that anything like this would happen to us. My new property is more suitable for me as it’s one level and there are no stairs to go up. I can also access my garden easily as the doors are wide enough for my wheelchair to go through. In my previous house, as there was stairs leading into my garden, I hadn’t been able to access it for years. Now, not only will I have no anxiety travelling around my house, but I can undertake basic tasks like watering the plants in my garden and cooking a meal for my husband. I can finally feel normal again.”