Reality Challenged

The key to an accessible design for you is to become involved with the design process as much as possible. If you are having a new home built, tour the model home and, if possible review the floor plans to see how you can improve accessibility for you. New construction, even with production homes, is easier and significantly less expensive to adapt before building starts than during a remodel. Most builders are more than happy to adapt a design to accommodate your needs and, frequently, with minimal cost impact. Regardless of new construction or a remodel, you will need to become involved with the design.

It is likely that you will hire people to perform the work. There are countless resources on the web for selecting a contractor (designer, architect, etc. as appropriate for your situation) to insure quality work. In my case, I used a friend’s friend, a general contractor – big mistake, it was a nightmare that could fill volumes. I knew better to shop around, check references, etc., and the one time I didn’t, I got inducted into the contractor hell experience club! However, from that experience, I did learn enough to play the role of general contractor when I remodel my other bathroom as well as other home projects. In short, select professionals that you can work with and check references. You can be involved in the actual construction any degree you want but, it is your involvement with the design that is critical to the bathroom being accessible to you.

Start a Wish List

Start a list of features you want. Don’t worry about cost or practicality, it is a wish list! Have fun with it. Also, make a list of items that dislike about the current bathroom. You’ll find that in noting what you don’t like, you’ll think of things you wish you had. In some cases, items on your wish list will not significantly add to the cost of the project. It is important not to try to determine a solution to all you wishes because a better and less expensive solution may exist. Regardless of how expensive, impractical or silly you think a wish is, add it to the list.

My list started out long before I became disabled. I, more than once, pulled a towel bar out of the wall. Not a hard thing to do, they’re just set into place with plaster. I repeatedly said that I wanted to make all towel bars, grab bars regardless where they were in the room. It was the first item on my list – towel bars - all grab bars that could be used as a grab bar or towel bar! I’ll discuss more about grab bars later and how I determined placement.

My Wish List started something like the below:

     Grab bars, lots of them!
     Bidet
     Shower light
     Vent fan
     Change door swing
     Accessible electrical outlets and more of them
     Non-slip flooring

My Hate List which help create items for the wish list looked something like:

     Door swing
     Medicine chest (the common wall mounted variety)
     Toilet paper dispenser location
     Only one electrical outlet
     Very slippery floor when wet
     Cabinets not as accessible as I wanted (more on this later)

My actual lists were much longer and yours may be as well. In creating your lists, also consider items that would improve the design apart from accessibility considerations. In my case, adding a vent fan and light in the shower area were on my list. You should review your list many times. It will continue to evolve as you further yourself into the design process and actual construction.

Stay tuned for my next installment!

In a series of articles, I will discuss how I remodeled my bathroom to be more accessible. The reality is that most designers know very little about accessible design. Most will argue this point until they realize that ADA compliance does not equate to accessible design for you. In many situations, it may not even come close. This is the difference between an ADA compliant design and an accessible one. In the series, I will explain why I did chose approaches to accessibility and hopefully give you some background in developing your own design or modifications. When done well, accessible design need not look of the sterile institutional look that is rampant in most of what you’ve seen in the past. In fact, much of it can increase the value of your home and be tax deductible as a medical expense!

This is the original design of my master bathroom. It was sooo boring that one ran the risk of falling asleep while looking at it. Wasted space and awkward placement of items in the room make it a poor design even for the most able bodied person. You can click on the images for a larger view. They are computer renderings of the original. I procrastinated in taking “before” pictures until far into the remodel. The computer images closely approximate the original.

The bathroom door was the most unfriendly element of the design. The door couldn’t be completely opened because of the towel bar. Also, one had to open the door as far as possible to get to the toilet or shower. In a wheelchair, this made for fun navigation for getting around the door.

The shower had sliding glass doors with a lip that one had to step over to enter. Add to this that the floor of the shower as well as the entire bathroom was tiled in non-wet rated tile. This means that when it got wet, it became extremely slippery. A hazard for the most able bodied but a death wish for someone with a disability.

There are numerous other problems with the design even for the able bodied. To make it accessible to me would require the bathroom to be gutted. Because of the extent of remodeling that would be required, the cost of adding accessibility elements other than the obvious such as grab-bars became a possibility.

In my situation, my disability slowly progressed over time. This allowed me to carefully consider different approaches to making a design both functional and esthetically pleasing. Of course, I did make mistakes and would have done things differently if I had to do them again but, my hope is that it will help you have more and make smarter choices.

Stay tuned for my next installment!

The last polling location I visited was at a church with sandy dirt for a parking lot. Trudging through the sand wasn’t that bad except that had ants, got into my shoes and into my car. I wondered what it would be like if it were raining. I never went out to vote again – that was 1988. However, I have voted in every presidential election since then via absentee ballot.

It used to be that one needed to justify voting absentee. Today, no justification is needed but most fail to even consider it as an option. Originally, I did it out of laziness not wanting to take off from work and drive to the polling station. I quickly realized that voting absentee is the best way to perform my civic duty. Besides, in 1992, it was raining on election day and that parking lot would have been a deterrent to many with its now muddy sand.

With a disability, voting absentee can make life significantly easier. For some disabilities, travelling outside is a major event. Travelling to an unfamiliar location such as a polling station can be a high source of anxiety not knowing if they can accomodate your specific needs even though advertised as handicap accessible. Each election season, the local media brings attention to the lack of accessible voting locations yet fail to emphasize or even mention that absentee voting is even an option.

Absentee registration is easy. In my county, you can register for absentee ballots online on the county’s website and have it for just the upcoming election or for all the elections of the year. In my county, even the return envelope is postage-paid. If not online, a quick call to your area’s supervisor of elections will get you registered for a ballot.

Even without having a disability, voting absentee makes the whole process painless. All one needs to do is register far enough in advance to election day.

Come this election season, I’ve vote like I always do… in front of the TV with one of those drinks with a tiny umbrella in it – Cheers!