The Quality of Life (QOL)

After doing much research on the Quality of Life, I believe the link below best defines how it varies from individual to individual.

Here’s just one excerpt from the link:

WHAT IS QOL? QOL may be defined as subjective well-being. Recognizing the subjectivity of QOL is a key to understanding this construct. QOL reflects the difference, the gap, between the hopes and expectations of a person and their present experience. Human adaptation is such that life expectations are usually adjusted so as to lie within the realm of what the individual perceives to be possible. This enables people who have difficult life circumstances to maintain a reasonable QOL.
- Janssen Quality-of-life Studies
http://www.gdrc.org/uem/qol-define.html


What will determine the QOL for individuals will be different year after year since factors in life will deviate often. So, how do we insure the QOL for all? What are some of the roadblocks and how do we clear them? Whose responsibility is it?
This is one of the reasons why the ADA – Americans with Disabilities Act was created.

Please feel free to share how you feel about the Quality of Life and how it affects you, your family, and others. If you have a story to tell, here’s your chance to share it worldwide.

Welcome to Accessibility Northwest

Accessibility Northwest (ANW) became a business in 1993. In the beginning, the company sold and installed patient transfer lift systems. Over time, it expanded and sold a variety of lines of durable medical equipment. By the third year it became a resource of information and products for many clients. Some clients were directed to ANW through L&I, medicaid, and medicare. Medicaid and Medicare were very difficult to work with as many of the products ANW carried were not covered by either agency. Some products were deemed "luxury" and therefore were not covered. While working with L&I, ANW was requested to give a safety and need report for a local client's home. In that process, ANW came to the conclussion that for the client's safety, an exterior exit was needed from the client's bedroom since there was no other way to escape safely if there were a fire. ANW was informed that it would be too costly and the claim was rejected. Unfortunately, ANW was correct in it's safety inspection, and the house did burn to the ground several months later. The client did not survive the fire. For this reason as well as a few other reasons, Accessibility Northwest closed for reorganization. Many years have passed and now technology provides a new opportunity. It's time for ANW to reawaken - not as a sales company but as a resource firm.
In the coming months, this blog will provide articles, product recommendations, travel tips, and a critique, just to name a few subjects. Please feel free to leave comments, stories, product suggestions, or questions. The first topic will be about the quality of life. Please do let us hear from you so that we all can learn more about persons with disabilities and the challenges faced each day. How can we all help to insure the quality of life for our loved ones, the elderly, the veterans, the children with disabilities if we don't get the word out? It's time for the world to hear the voices of millions.