Marisa, 76 years old. Autonomy in daily life for a person with an outcome of cerebral ischemia

Marisa is 76 years old, she is retired, widow and lived alone before the disease. After an ischemic brain injury affecting the right middle cerebral artery area, she has an emisyndrome with an important impairment of the left upper limb. Son and grandchildren do not understand her need of autonomy as they are willing to take the full burden of care , thus not letting Marisa return to her beloved house on the hills where she would like to live alone. Despite this situation, Marisa decided to recover her independence, demonstrating she can live alone. Actually the solutions adopted were aimed at organising her living environment, personal care and daily life activities that require manual manipulations. In particular, replacement strategies have been adopted, as well as low-tech aids (ergonomic comb, nail file with fitted handle...). Moreover a partial adaptation of the house was carried out by changing the kitchen equipment (to create an environment as ergonomic as possible) and making minor changes to the bathroom. The project also aims to highlight how fundamental the psychological individual motivation is during rehabilitation.