Moncrieff<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cSteps in a lot of buildings and banks – banks can be a bit of a problem because the counters are so high and you don’t really like shouting a financial business around for everybody to hear.<\/p>\n
\u201cATMs, I would always have to go physically into the bank unless I’m with a friend who can get money out.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFor me, about half the country knows my PIN number at this stage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms McEvoy added that she will often go earlier to check out the \u201clie of the land\u201d of a new place and see whether appropriate adaptations can be made.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf I’m going to a building or somewhere I know that I’m familiar with, it’s usually fine,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut sometimes, yes, a bit of forethought is required.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ms McEvoy moved into her current home in late 2000 and rented it for a number of years.\u00a0<\/p>\n
When her landlord got into difficulty during the crash, she realised she was \u201creally happy\u201d there, did not want to move and made him an offer.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sale went through 2015,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, it meant then that I could start planning\u2019 I had an idea of what I wanted to do.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut things then intervened, like pandemics and so on, to throw schedules and programs of work a little bit off kilter.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I really only started planning for it properly in late 2024 and then the work was carried out over three months in 2025.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ultimately, Ms McEvoy enlisted the help of a specialist Occupational Therapist and received specialist advice on how to redesign the apartment.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe HSE has a list of companies or builders that will do work adjustment renovations and so on of that type,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut they can’t be seen to endorse anybody; so, you have to go through the list and see who’s going to be interested.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt became very clear very quickly because it was a short list and some were obviously not interested – but then there was the one company that was.\u201d<\/p>\n
One friend of Ms McEvoy said the workmen had \u201cbuilt [her] a new apartment from the inside out\u201d.<\/p>\n
Lights and door handles were moved down, while other tasks were more difficult to execute.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe sitting room in the bedroom could be used by absolutely anybody, irrespective of height,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the kitchen and the bathroom were always going to be the trickiest.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe plumber, the tiler, said it was the most complex job he’s ever worked on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Main image: Elizabeth McEvoy.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Redesigning an apartment to better suit a three foot tall woman was the \u201cthe most complex job\u201d one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567246,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[307,304,305,306,308,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-567245","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567245","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567245"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567245\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567245"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567245"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567245"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}