Disability Unfiltered: The Best Accessibility Feature in My Home Is...Good Design

Welcome to my series, Disability Unfiltered, where I’ll be highlighting other disabled voices on Substack.

My goal for this series is to publish guest posts from others with disabilities to build community, raise awareness about what it’s truly like to live with various disabilities, and increase authentic disability representation across Substack.

I hope you’ll join me in highlighting the love, loss, pain, fear, beauty, strength, and perseverance of the disabled experience.

“The Best Accessibility Feature in My Home Is... Good Design” by Gourmet Spoonie (he/him)

Why the most useful accommodations are often hiding in plain sight.

Foodie, recipe developer, food photographer, writer. And disabled. That begs the question, ‘How do you manage to cook so much?’

The honest answer?

I don’t cook nearly as much as I’d like to. Fatigue, pain, and brain fog can make the best-laid plans go awry, and there are plenty of days when I don’t cook at all.

Yet, I still need to eat. And my allergies mean I can’t just order take-away. In fact, whenever I want something really nice, chances are I won’t be able to buy it in any shop. So I make most of my food from scratch.

That means my kitchen has to work harder than me. It needs to support all my culinary ambitions. Even if on some days that’s just chucking something in the microwave and calling it dinner.

If I were to invite you into my kitchen, the first thing you’d see would be the roll-under worktop. That’s it. No other special accommodations. No pull-down shelves. No grab rails. Just the roll-under worktop at the right height for me.

And it works.

What I do have, are ‘luxury’ tools and appliances anyone with enough money can buy: an induction hob, a microwave with air fryer function, an Instant pot, two slow cookers, a bread machine, and, of course, a good food processor and stick blender.

To me, these are not luxury items. They are necessary tools in my kitchen. And, because I’m not exactly wealthy, I acquired them over time. First came the induction hob. Then the slow cooker. Next? Well, honestly, I can’t remember what was next. Just that I bought appliances when I needed them and had enough money.

The induction hob helps because it allows me to slide pans on and off the hob—meaning I won’t be reduced to using flimsy cookware that doesn’t heat evenly, is unstable, and wears out at the drop of a hat. Apart from that, an induction hob is also extremely easy to clean, which matters a lot.

Slow cookers are, in my experience, true lifesavers. They allow me to just dump ingredients in the pot when I’m still functional, and then it’s set and forget. The bread machine ensures I can still eat bread—gluten-free, rice-free, protein-rich, and full of fibre.

The microwave, the food processor, the stick blender, the Instant Pot… each of these take care of specific tasks that are physically impossible for me to perform, might cause considerable pain, or would simply gobble up all my spoons.

Even though my kitchen doesn’t look like the average adaptive kitchen (what is that anyway?), it is almost perfectly adapted to my personal needs.

The same philosophy applies to the rest of my home: while I have an automatic door opener (which was already there when I moved in) the only other special accommodations are drop-down support arms by the toilet, and a roll-under bathroom sink. Nothing else.

Again, I designed my rooms around my needs: laminate flooring throughout, and plenty of white space for easy wheelchair navigation. A dining table at the exact right height for me. Those are not minor details. They turn my flat into a home made for living.

About the Author

Spoonie Chef Daan is a recipe developer, food photographer, and the creative mind behind Gourmet Spoonie. He creates allergy-friendly recipes and writes about accessible cooking, thoughtful design, and living well with disability on his Substack and website Gourmet Spoonie.

He lives in the Netherlands with his three cats Thalia, Rafaela, and Mozart. In his free time he likes to play the piano and sing. Fun fact: he also writes literary speculative fiction featuring disabled main characters, and poetry as Daan Katz.

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