Disability Bathroom Accessories
While the layout and functionality is the most important aspect of disability bathroom design, the accessories that go into that room are an integral part of that overall design that is meant to put all the finishing touches to one of the most important room in your home.
It's true that there are loads of extras to choose from, yet they all have a multitude of uses while adding their special features to your bathroom for the disabled.
Many of the main features associated with these extras will be explained a little later on in this article, along with their uses and the benefits they bring.
A properly designed disabled bathroom is meant to function adequately without most accessories, although it all comes down to whether you need a bathroom that is merely functional, or you prefer it to be a room that you intend to enjoy using whenever you want.
To be honest, when you think about it the bathroom is most likely the most heavily used room in the whole house!
Handicap Bathroom Accessories That You Can Use
One of the really important accessories that can be installed in your own, personalized disability bathroom design is the many types of support grab rails.
These are real necessities more than accessories, but you can get them from most accessibility stores or assisted living outlets.
In fact grab rails are a heavily used disabled bathroom accessory. Grab rails can be fitted in all the places the user needs to move about, such as transferring from a wheelchair to the toilet, bath or shower stall. They are also really useful for lifting and lowering a person into somewhere like a handicap bathtub.
There are also swing up grab bars which you can flip up or down for ease of use and they can be found in a variety of sizes and designs. All grab bars need to be robust and very strong. They have to be well fitted to a wall securely so that they cannot be pulled out, even by someone who is very heavy.
Handicap Bathtubs
With regards the handicap bath tub, you can obtain a really great accessory in the battery powered bath lift chair.
This will lower you comfortably down to the base of your handicapped bath for submersion into the water. When you're done, the bath lift chair will raise you back up.
This is perfect for avoiding strain on your joints such as shoulders, knees or hips. After all, the main point of one of these easily accessible bath tubs is to make it as easy as possible to enjoy taking a bath fully submersed without any of teh dangers of using a regular tub.
Handicap Shower Accessories
You can obtain a variety of accessories for handicap shower stalls.
These include a handicapped shower chair which is an important addition to your shower stall as you may not be able to comfortably take a shower in the standing position, even with good grab rails.
It's a real advantage having a handicap shower seat but it needs to be comfortable, very robust, resilient and waterproof to avoid corrosion by the water.
Retaining Water
There are collapsible water retainers designed to keep water inside the shower stall rather than flooding out onto the bathroom floor. Handicapped shower water retainers are generally made from neoprene rubber.
This means they are durable and are meant to be easily run over with a wheelchair if necessary.
Handheld Shower Head
For those wanting to take partial showers, a handheld shower head is a useful accessory. There are also pressure mixing valves designed to regulate the water flow while keeping the water temperature constant even if other people turn faucets on or off elsewhere in the house.
Heavy Duty Shower Curtain
Another great way of keeping water inside the shower stall is to fit a heavy duty shower curtain.
This is also a must for providing privacy. For one of these, you'll also need a sturdy curtain rail to support it as they are quite heavy.
When all is said and done you will have to make the decision for yourself as to which accessories you would prefer to include in your own bathroom in order to make it into a much more pleasant and welcoming place to make use of. It must also be fully functional and completely free from any obstacles and other dangers that may present themselves in a room where there is water that can end up on the floor and cause slippery surfaces.
For more information, there is an excellent resource that can be found here: handicapped bathrooms. At the end of the day you have to remember that it is your house and you are the one who gets the final say on what goes into or stays out of your handicap bathroom according to your own personal tastes and needs.
- Terry Didcott
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Posted on Sat, 04 Aug 2012 in Mobility | 0 Comments