How would you feel if you wanted to utilize a restroom yet were unable to get in the door? This is the problem wheelchair patients find themselves in more often than not. Rent an apartment. The bathroom is going to be too small and the door too narrow for entry. Purchase a house. Even then, the bathroom will most likely have to be made over and modified for wheelchair use. Bathrooms just are not fashioned with the disabled in mind. Stop and consider what you might desire in a wheelchair accessible bathroom if you or even a family member should become wheelchair bound, the things that would give you self-reliance, mobility, and the independence to take care of your individual needs.
First, you are going to require room to maneuver. Although wheelchairs are being constructed with smaller turning radius’ often, they still require space to move. Get a few measurements. You’ll need at least 30” x 48” of space for one wheelchair. Several of this area can be beneath the sink so long as there’s lots of clearance for the chair’s foot rest. For comfortable turns, there must be an area with a minimum of a 60” radius. A lot of bathrooms do not have this kind of area, so before you are able to remodel the room making it wheelchair accessible, you’re going to have to find more area somewhere. You may be able to take away a closet in the bathroom or a nearby room, or perhaps you might just take a portion of a different room and combine it with the bath.
Fixtures in a handicapped washroom have to be well planned in order to meet the needs of space and function. Toilet seats need to be 17” to 19” from the floor and have grab bars on both sides whenever possible. Although sinks have to be placed lower than in a typical washroom, there still needs to be a minimum of 29” of clearance between the lip of the sink and the floor so that the disabled person can get nearby the sink in a wheelchair. Wheelchair accessible showers have to be big enough for the person to enter easily and turn around as needed. Hardware must be at a level that allows the person to use it without assistance.
It’s easy to feel low self-esteem when a person is not able to take care of their own needs. By changing a bathroom for use by a wheelchair patient, you will provide them with the self confidence and self-reliance they need in allowing them to take care of themselves.