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What Are The Guidelines For Wheelchair Accessible Toilet Stalls In Public Places?

23rd December, 2010 - Posted by health news - No Comments

Most people have been in public restrooms where we’ve seen oversized stalls designed for individuals in wheelchairs. In the United States, new construction must have amenities that can be accessed by the handicapped. As a result specific extra standards have to be used in order to give the safest setting for someone who is disabled. Moreover, a wheelchair accessible toilet stall should be of a size that makes it possible for someone using a wheelchair and perhaps a caregiver to easily use the facilities. Clearly, this is only fair practice.

If you have ever made use of one of these stalls, you know that the toilet is placed at a higher level compared to those in standard stalls. This enables the person to utilize the toilet without having to stoop down low, and then stand up again, a feat which is often outside the capabilities of a wheelchair-bound individual. These toilet stalls are also required to be designed with safety bars that the individual can make use of in order to hoist him- or herself on and off the toilet. The bars are designed both for safety and for ease of use.

The doorways of wheelchair accessible toilet stalls must be wide enough to make adequate room for a chair to pass through them. On the inside there must be enough space, typically about 60” x 60”, allowing the person to move the wheelchair right into a position that allows them optimum access to the toilet. Naturally, most handicapped persons aren’t going to be able to stand and walk across the room to get to the toilet. These are the reasons why most of the handicapped stalls you see are at the end of a line of stalls enabling straight-in access and enough turning radius to move around in.

The same guidelines need to be applie when developing private wheelchair accessible bathroom for the use of a handicapped individual. If you purchase a home that a handicapped person will reside in which has only standard bathrooms, you need to make sure that there is enough space to remodel one of the bathrooms into being handicap accessible. Since bathrooms in many houses tend to be quite small, a larger space is obviously one important thing you need to look for when setting up a home for someone using a wheelchair. So long as there is room, the other accouterments required to make it a wheelchair accessible toilet area can be added in.