How does a wheelchair-bound person get onto a public toilet in a handicapped stall without injury?
Tuesday, September 29th, 2009 at
7:26 am
My brother told me the other day that he had been in a public bathroom when a wheelchair-bound person come in to use the handicapped stall. He didn’t want to offend the man, but was insanely curious how it was possible to get from a wheelchair to the toilet itself without being some crazy double-jointed left handed bodybuilder. In addition, when I looked at the bars and the space for the handicapped stall at my work the next day, I couldn’t really figure it out either! Help assuage our combined curiousity?
Filed under: Wheelchair
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#1 The person is not bound to the wheelchair. If they were they definitely could not use the toilet. They are a wheelchair user.
#2 A proper accessible stall has space to the right or left of the toilet to transfer to the right or left. Some people use sliding boards. They slide themselves over onto the toilet. Some can manage without a transfer board.
#3 A narrow accessible stall without the space to the right or left is more difficult. There are a few ways to do it. You can transfer onto the toilet seat sideways and then turn your body. Some can stand when they hold onto the grab bars just long enough to transfer. Some can take a few steps – and then they might just get up and use the toilet.
Grab bars are essential – to use for balance and to pull yourself.
Having the toilet paper and other recepticles placed in the right places are also essential. I have been injured several times in an accessible stall and it has always been from the same thing – the metal boxes they attach to the walls for "sanitary" products. I have cut myself on the sharp corners of them more than once.
A word about accessible stall etiquette. If there is an another stall to use – use it. If it is the only one available – go ahead – unless there is a chair user waiting. The chair user gets to go to the accessible stall first as soon as it becomes available.
they use the metal bars next to the toilet duh that is what they are there for. just because they cant feel their legs doesnt mean they cant use their legs as leverage to pull up on the bar out of the chair and onto the toilet seat. just the same way one would get from a wheelchair to any seat for that matter.
BTW thats kinda creepy that your brother was trying to spy on that due peeing! lol
People in wheelchairs are in wheelchairs for a reason, but I think some people can still get up and walk a little bit, maybe that was the case?
Good question. It can be difficult. My husband used a wheelchair for several years and I sometimes had to go into the men’s washroom to help out.
More to the point, we often found that although the door to the stall was wide enough, the door to the public washroom itself wasn’t.
Some people in wheelchairs are able to stand and sit on the toilet. Some use the bars to lift and pull themselves onto it. Some men can urinate from the chair and some have a urine collection bag that is strapped to their chair or leg that they can lift up over the toilet and drain.
One big problem for some of us in wheelchairs is that we have only marginal control of our functions and when we feel the need to go we must go immediately. I personally have found this to be a serious problem in public restrooms because able-bodied people will use the accessible stall even when all the others are vacant.
The accessible stall should not be used by an able-bodied person unless all the others are full and they cannot wait. It is very unfair to those of us in wheelchairs to have to struggle with control when the person in there could have used any of a dozen other stalls.
I am paraplegic and a wheelchair user. But that does not mean I am incapable of moving myself off the wheelchair and onto the toilet seat. In fact I have a very strong upper body – I can bench-press double my own weight.
SuzieQ’s paragraph about needing to go immediately is extremely important! Many people in wheelchairs have very weak control – when the need arises it does not allow one to wait. For myself the time between getting the urge and "too late!" can be as short as 3 minutes.
This depends on the person in the wheelchair. If the man was alone, it is likely he has enough ability to stand or scoot. I am in a wheelchair. But, my arms are stronger than average. The bars provide support for pulling up to a standing position. If a person was not able to stand, they would scoot over to the toilet.
I have been in a weaker state in my life. I would scoot to a sideways position. Once I transferred to the toilet, I would turn myself around. An electric wheelchair will not move when it is turned off, so it provides a stable support for transferring. A manual (non-powered wheelchair) has brakes that will lock the chair in place.
Believe it or not, being in a wheelchair is thought to be the major hindrance by walking people. In truth, transferring can be the toughest task. Human resilience is a mighty thing. You learn to adapt to any situation when you face a new challenge. Otherwise you die. I have a quote that I always keep in my mind. A philosophy if you will.
“Empty your mind. Be formless, shapeless, like water. You put water in a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into bottle, it becomes the bottle. Put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash.
Be Water my friend”
Bruce Lee…