From Smart Wheelchairs to Smart Homes: Updating Your Home Assessments for New Mobility Tech

This episode is an audio version of our blog, “From Smart Wheelchairs to Smart Homes: Updating Your Home Assessments for New Mobility Technology.” Sue Doyle, PhD, OTR/L walks through how rapidly evolving mobility and smart home technologies are reshaping real-world function so you can update your home assessment process to look beyond “does it fit?” and truly evaluate compatibility, safety, and daily routines.

In this episode, we cover:

• What’s changing in mobility technology—from smart wheelchairs with obstacle detection and app-based controls to more complex charging needs and environmental control systems—and why traditional tape-measure assessments are no longer enough.
• How to apply a compatibility lens in your home visits, including what to observe with smart wheelchairs (sensor behavior, mirrors and glass, lighting, tight turns), how to document technology–environment mismatches, and the specific questions to add to your assessments.
• Practical ways to assess batteries, charging routines, and smart home systems (Wi‑Fi, apps, voice assistants, backup options, client cognitive/tech capacity), so you can recommend sustainable layouts, safer charging setups, and realistic automation that truly supports independence and reduces fall and caregiver burden.

Read the full blog and see visuals:

• Read the article: https://thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.blog/2026/02/17/integrating-mobility-technology-trends-into-home-assessments/
• View any photos, diagrams, or checklists mentioned in this episode on the blog.
  FREE Assessment Checklist Mobility Technology Home Assessment Checklist

Related trainings and courses:

• Certified Home Accessibility Therapist (CHAT): https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/CHAT
• All Courses: https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/courses

Stay connected:

• Website: https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/
• Blog: https://thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.blog/
• Join the newsletter: https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/Newsletter
• Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/homeaccessibilitysafety
• Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-doyle-38bba3178

Evidence-Based Fall Prevention Through Home Modifications for OTs

This episode is an audio version of our blog, “Evidence-Based Fall Prevention Through Home Modifications for OTs.” Sue Doyle, PhD, OTR/L walks through the latest evidence on fall prevention, showing you how to combine structured assessments with targeted, room-by-room home modifications so you can meaningfully reduce fall risk and clearly demonstrate the impact of your interventions.

In this episode, we cover:

• Why falls among community-dwelling older adults are so life-altering, how often they occur, and what current research says about the potential of home modifications—within a multifactorial plan—to reduce falls and healthcare costs.

• The key evidence-based components of fall prevention for OTs, including validated screening tools, exercise and medication considerations, environmental safety modifications, and a minimum two-visit home modification model that aligns with AOTA’s Vision 2025.
  
  
• Practical, evidence-informed strategies for room-by-room home modification—especially in bathrooms, entrances, stairs, and living areas—focused on observing real occupational performance and tailoring grab bars, layout, lighting, flooring, and equipment to each client’s specific risks and routines.

Read the full blog and see visuals:

• Read the article: https://thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.blog/2025/10/22/evidence-based-fall-prevention-through-home-modifications-what-occupational-therapists-need-to-know/
• View any photos, diagrams, or checklists mentioned in this episode on the blog.

Related trainings and courses:

• Certified Home Accessibility Therapist (CHAT): https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/CHAT
• All Courses: https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/courses

Stay connected:

• Website: https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/
• Blog: https://thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.blog/
• Join the newsletter: https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/Newsletter
• Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/homeaccessibilitysafety
• Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-doyle-38bba3178

In this Therapist Thursday episode, Sue Doyle, PhD, OTR/L talks with Cathron Sterling, an occupational therapist and home safety specialist from San Antonio, about building a mission-driven home modifications and DME practice after decades in traditional clinical roles. Cathron shares how her experiences in pediatric home health, care coordination, and caring for her mother after multiple strokes shaped a business focused on access, safety, and dignity at home.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How Cathron’s 27-year OT journey—from acute care and inpatient rehab to pediatric and adult home health, liaison work, and caring for her mother after strokes—led her to start a home safety, accessibility, and wheelchair/DME-focused company in 2020 and go full-time by 2023.
• Practical ways she blends an OT lens, public administration training, and lived family experience to assess home safety, navigate limited resources, coordinate services, and creatively modify spaces (like converting a garage into an accessible apartment).
• Business and career insights on channeling grief into meaningful work, using community connections and care-coordination networks to build a referral base, and creating a home mods/private practice path that offers more autonomy and a sustainable alternative to burnout in traditional healthcare roles.

Guest details and links:

• Cathron Sterling
• Website: WWW.EDCHomeSolutions.com
• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/cathron-sterling-6620191a4

Resources mentioned:

• Certified Home Accessibility Therapist (CHAT): https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/CHAT
• All Courses: https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/courses

Connect with The Home Accessibility Therapist:

• Website: https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/
• Blog: https://thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.blog/
• Join the newsletter: https://www.thehomeaccessibilitytherapist.com/Newsletter
• Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/homeaccessibilitysafety
• Follow on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/susan-doyle-38bba3178