Wheelchair Accessible Toilet
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wheelchair accessible toilet
Wheelchair Accessible Toilet
Following Guidelines to Create Wheelchair Accessible Toilet Stalls
Most of us have been in public restrooms where we've seen oversized
stalls designed for people in wheelchairs. In the United States, all new
construction is required to have facilities that can be accessed by the
handicapped. This means that certain extra standards must be used in
order to provide the safest environment for someone who is disabled. In
addition, a wheelchair accessible toilet stall must be of a size that
makes it possible for someone using a wheelchair and possibly a
caregiver to comfortably use the facilities. Obviously, this is only
fair practice.
If you've ever used one of these stalls, you know that the toilet is set
at a higher level than those in regular stalls. This allows the person
to use the toilet without having to stoop down low and then stand up
again, a feat that is often beyond the capabilities of a
wheelchair-bound individual. These toilet stalls are also required to be
equipped with safety bars that the person can use in order to hoist him-
or herself on and off the toilet. The bars are intended both for safety
and for ease of use.
The doors of wheelchair accessible toilet stalls need to be wide enough
to allow adequate room for a chair to pass through them. Inside there
should be enough room, usually about 60” x 60”, to allow the person to
turn the wheelchair into a position that allows them optimum access to
the toilet. Obviously, most disabled persons aren't going to be able to
stand up and walk across the room to the toilet. These are the reasons
why many of the handicapped stalls you see are at the end of a row of
stalls allowing for straight-in access and enough turning radius to
maneuver around in.
The same guidelines need to apply when designing private
wheelchair accessible bathroom for the use of a disabled person. If
you purchase a home that a handicapped person will live in which has
only regular bathrooms, you need to make sure that there is enough room
to remodel one of the bathrooms into being handicap accessible. Since
bathrooms in many homes tend to be quite small, a larger space is
definitely one of the things you need to look for when preparing a home
for a wheelchair patient. As long as there's room, the other
accouterments necessary to make it a wheelchair accessible bathroom area
can be added.
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