Stirring Through Challenges in the Kitchen: Strategies for People with Disabilities

When Sharon McLennon Wier cooks, bakes and boils, teapots whistle, timers ring and a kitchen scale talks. Buzzers sound when water reaches its boiling point and as it hits the tip of her coffee cup.

A Magna Wonder knife works wonders, its scalloped edges prevent her from cutting her fingers. She uses an oven rack puller to push and pull hot racks out of the stove. She presses buttons on a dishwasher and feels for bump dots affixed to appliances that tell her what they are. Siri reads recipes from her iPhone.

"I walk into stuff. I break stuff. Being blind is not easy," McLennon Wier says. She uses an orientation mobility cane. "I've been hit by a car three times. I fell onto the subway tracks."

For people with physical disabilities, aging in place or temporarily disabled due to illness or injury, navigating through home kitchens can be a daunting experience. Some houses and apartments are specifically designed or remodeled for the needs of their users while adaptive appliances and technology help create more independent living.

According to the 2022 United States Census, 44.1 million or 13.4% of the population live with a disability. In New York state where McLennon Wier lives, 3,984,636 adults — or one in four adults — have a disability.

McLennon Wier, 53, serves as the executive director of the Center for Independence of the Disabled, New York, a non-profit group that's part of a national network of grassroots and community-based organizations providing services for people with disabilities. McLennon Wier is a counseling psychologist and licensed mental health counselor and holds a Ph.D., MSEd., CRC and LMHC.

McLennon Wier's favorite color is pink, the last color she saw before she lost her vision at the age of 6. When she cooks, she listens for the click of the gas coming on and feels the heat of flames against her hand. She pulls on elbow length oven mitts to avoid burning her arms.

Her kitchen, designed for simplicity, includes built-ins: a wall oven, dishwasher and refrigerator with an ice maker and cabinets. She walks barefoot to feel dust and crumbs under her feet. Clutter is avoided to avoid trips and falls in the customized home in Dutchess County where she and her husband live. "Nothing moves," she says.

While a new home or renovation may not be within everyone's budget, rental agreement or space limitations, disability advocate Emily Ladau recommends improvisation.

"I'm not a huge proponent of universal design," says Ladau, 33, editor of Able News and author of "Demystifying Disability," "because I don't think there is such a thing as universality in design. I'm more a proponent of adaptable design or flexible design and recognizing everyone's individual needs."

Her parents remodeled the kitchen in their 1950s West Babylon, Long Island, home specifically for her. Emily and her mother, Ellen, have Larsen syndrome, a rare genetic disorder that affects the development of muscles and bones. Both use power wheelchairs.

Ellen, 63, and her husband hired Vita and Jerry Burdi of DJ's Home Improvements to bring down the height of cabinets, add deep pull-out drawers, move a sink away from the wall and remove under-sink cabinets so that wheelchairs could slide underneath. They added an induction cooktop and built a bridge between two cabinets by covering them with wood paneling for more countertop space.

For Vita Burdi, wall ovens and microwaves above stoves are to be avoided.

"The wall oven door comes down. People are reaching over their stove, over flames, to take something out," she explains. "That's an accident waiting to happen. A jacket could get caught. And try to lift out a casserole and get it down to the stove top. It's really dangerous."

The Burdis worked closely with the Ladaus, asking questions, taking notes and revising diagrams and materials as they collaborated on their kitchen design.

"It was a really empowering process because they gave me the autonomy and the decision-making power, and then they said, 'Here's what we think will work based on what you're telling us'," Emily says.

And when her mother's health changed, the kitchen fit her needs as well.

"At one time I was fully ambulatory. As years have gone by, a combination of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis has taken its toll," says Ellen, a retired health care office manager.  "I gradually transitioned from walking to walking with a walker to walking with leg braces, then a walker and then a wheelchair."

The Ladaus sold their home in 2024 and followed their daughter to New Jersey when she moved to be closer to her fiancé. They live in the same 5-year-old apartment building, one that is ADA compliant that requires new housing to include elevators and accessible entryways.

Ellen regrets viewing her apartment's floor plan but not visiting before moving in.

"I hadn't physically been in the kitchen, which was really pretty dumb," she says, discovering that the kitchen island is too large for her wheelchair..

"I cannot do a 360-degree turn by the kitchen sink," Ellen says. "I have to access the sink sideways or by getting out of my chair, standing for however long I can and getting back in the wheelchair."

With a pair of long kitchen tongs, she picks up stray blueberries and other items and moves a damp rag with the tongs to clean spills.

"My mom is the queen of gadgets," Emily says.

They often purchase gadgets from the Container Store and browse Amazon for product ideas. Oxo Good Grips,  MaxiAids, Wal-mart's line of accessible tableware, and Independent Living Aids offer adaptable kitchen aids.

Ellen's husband lifts heavy pots and pans. After being burned by the oven door, she purchased an Oster countertop oven with French doors.

"I don't make a pot of pasta when I'm by myself," she says. "But if I want to throw together banana bread or muffins, I can manage. The biggest thing for me is not so much adapted equipment, but maximizing functionality and minimizing effort."

Her kitchen includes a refrigerator with a freezer on the bottom. "You don't want a block of meat to fall on you," she warns.

Ellen reaches for silverware, break resistant cups and dishes stored in lower cabinets for easier accessibility and slow cooks in a beloved crock pot. But she misses the induction cooktop from her old kitchen.

"Here we have gas. I keep a fire extinguisher, blanket and fire spray. If you're looking for safety, induction is the way to go," she advises.

Kathy Collins's refrigerator is practically empty and her stove is dusty in her Manhattan co-op apartment. Her boyfriend, who lives two blocks away, does most of the cooking so the microwave sitting on a low table doesn't get used very often.

"I cook pancakes. I cook eggs," Collins, 67, a retired attorney for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, says. "You can cook anything in a microwave these days."

Collins, born without arms below her elbows and without legs below her knees, keeps bags and boxes close to floor level for easy reach.

Vegetables, fruits and other foodstuffs are inserted into small plastic bags on lower shelves of her refrigerator for easier reach, soups with pull tops are a favorite, opened by inserting a long metal spoon under the lid.

But her kitchen sink is too high for her to reach. For water, she connects a hose from the bathroom shower, spraying water into a plastic box to wash fruits and vegetables and to fill plastic bottles with water.

She's considering removing the stove and replacing it with a larger refrigerator. But right now, Collins prepares for another disability advocacy meeting.

"That's for another time," she says of renovating her kitchen.

McLennon Weir recommends connecting with state and local organizations, including the National Council for Independent Living and senior centers for information about services including selecting home appliances and flashing smoke detectors, alarms and doorbells.

Ellen Ladau points to nonprofits that focus on a specific disability, contractors like the Burdis with a track record of remodeling for people with disabilities and posting on social media.

"Post a message that says, 'Hey, I'm renovating my kitchen. Any tips?' Because these are people that have your same disability," Ellen says. "In reality, anybody could become disabled at any time."

"Since we were born this way, this is nothing new to us," Collins says. "[But] life can change in a second."

Arlene Schulman is a writer, photographer and filmmaker living in Manhattan. She is the author of several books, including the critically acclaimed "The Prizefighters: An Intimate Look at Champions and Contenders" and "23rd Precinct: The Job." Visit her at www.arlenesscratchpaper.com She's also on Instagram: @arlenesbodega Read More