Promoting Autonomy Through Home Adaptations. Appropriation of Domestic Spaces in Italy

While the person-environment relationship is one of the structuring frameworks of daily life, for disabled people this relationship is even more crucial. ADA is an action research project which assessed the person-environment relationship of people with severe disabilities and subsequently proposed home adaptations to improve their autonomy, well-being and quality of life. The article introduces the framework of ADA and its strategy to personalise home adaptations while considering participants multifaceted profiles. The impact of ADA on the life of its recipients in a context of fragmented disability policies is then discussed. Space appropriation processes and effects on trust in institutions and agency of participants are assessed. A sociologically and multidimensional perspective on habitation is adopted to structure a reliable ex-post evaluation of the effectiveness of the project.