I’ve always wondered about the metal handrails in handicapped toilet stalls. I can see that they would help someone with limited agility, perhaps someone who needed a cane to walk, to support herself as she sat down and stood up. But the universal symbol for handicapped is a person in a wheelchair. Can someone who needs a wheelchair to get around actually maneuver onto a toilet using the handrails?
Some people in wheelchairs can sand and take some steps so I’d think those could. I’m pretty sure that even some who have no use of their legs probably can. I’ve seen people who have no use of their legs lift themselves with just their arms.
I believe you, of course, it’s just that the arrangement of the handrails seems impossibly difficult. For example, a typical layout seems to be one long rail parallel to the side of the toilet (possibly useful!) and another at right angles behind the toilet (how do you even reach that from a wheelchair?).
You surely don’t believe that because the glyph of a person in a wheelchair is universal that all disabled people are in wheelchairs? Even those that do can often get up on their feet to turn round and sit on a WC. Many of them lack the strength to stand up afterwards, and this is where the handrails are useful. It is by no means a perfect solution, and the designers of such facilities should be compelled to spend a day in a wheelchair to discover all the small mistakes.
We have found toilets labelled as ‘disabled’ where there is no room to close the door with a chair inside.
There is usually a cord to pull for assistance, but I have seen it placed well out of reach for someone on the WC.
Doors often have tough springs that are impossible to open and/or, once open won’t stay open.
Thanks for the detailed answer, Bob, and of course I don’t think all disable people are in wheelchairs–but the symbol was what prompted me to wonder just how wheelchair-friendly these facilities really are.
There’s some better arrangements for people with different disabilities, such as having another rail on the opposite side of the toilet from the wall. It would basically be sticking out into empty space, allowing for someone to have both hands on a rail while standing or getting up from sitting. The problem however is that now it’s in the way for someone trying to swing out of a wheelchair, or someone who’s severely overweight might get stuck. Anything movable runs the risk of breakage or possibly trapping someone, especially if it needs to be able to support so much weight. So the current accessible stall design is along the lines of the best compromise to serve the most people, even if it’s not ideal.
The symbol is just the international symbol for “handicapped,” like a “woman” is a woman in a dress though a woman in slacks can still use the ladies room, and in an elevator the <||> and >||< buttons are for “door open” and “door close.” And *1 tells you that the first floor is the “egress floor,” so you don’t need PT Barnum to show you the way out.
As for how wheelchair friendly they are, the Americans With Disabilities Act provides guidelines for the minimum space, but at the smallest acceptable they look like you’d need to be a wheelchair basketball player to be that maneuverable.
AS I SAID IN WHAT YOU QUOTED, I understand that the symbol is just a symbol.
Let me make this clearer by restating my question more simply:
“I’ve always wondered about the metal handrails in handicapped toilet stalls. Can someone who needs a wheelchair to get around actually maneuver onto a toilet using the handrails?”
You are forgetting the upper body strength someone in a manual chair can develop. But yeah, a lot of people in chairs would find it difficult to impossible to do it. OTOH, I use a cane because of bad knees and those bars are a godsend.
You’re certainly right about upper body strength, especially in younger people.
I guess I was thinking of people more in my father in law’s situation; unfortunately he is pretty near to needing a wheelchair/scooter full time, and he doesn’t have a lot of upper body strength, being 91. However, he can make it up from a couch to his walker, and there are bars in his home bathroom, so I guess I can see how the bars might be more useful than I thought, though as others have pointed out they are not an ideal solution.
The handrails have some value; it’s better to have them than not, but they can’t work magic. They are more for balancing and anchoring than for support.
Hell, yeah. My greatest fear is falling down and not being able to stand. One time I was fresh out of the hospital for falling and breaking five ribs. I fell and a strong guy I didn’t know put his arms around my torso and lifted me up. Not fun. But anyway I can get oriented is a blessing, and those bars help.
Thanks again for the replies. I’m rather glad to know that the rails in handicapped-equipped bathrooms do provide some help. I was thinking they were more a well-meaning gesture. I imagine that there are better solutions, but at least we do have something now that provides some assistance vs. the older days of regular stalls.
This thread sort of reminds of the complaint(?) by a visually handicapped person that not all “blind” people are completely blind, many have some (very) limited ability to see shapes and light.
We tend to forget there are various levels of disability (Except when we see someone driving the handicapped scooters al Wal-Mart and think "Maybe they’d not need that scooter if they got up and walked more and got some exercise…)
The handrails aren’t linked to the wheelchair-usage. Depending on why someone uses a wheelchair, yes, the handrails will be helpful, but they aren’t placed there for people in wheelchairs - they’re placed there for whomever finds them helpful, and foldable out of the way for those who do not.
I wore a full cast on my arm for five weeks, with my arm bent at the elbow. I had to use the handicapped stalls simply to get up off the toilet.
I believe someone who uses a chair can lock the wheels and lean on that as well.
If they can’t get out of the chair at all, they will need help to get onto the toilet, but if they can otherwise use their arms, the rails help. I used to train with a guy who did wheelchair marathons, and I saw him once in the rest room. IIRC he backed the chair up next to the toilet, took the arm off the chair closest to the toilet, and then put one hand down on the rim of the toilet and one hand on his chair and swing himself onto the toilet. He did it in a few seconds - obviously practice makes perfect.
But he was quite strong in the upper body - I sometimes gave him a spot on lat pulldowns, and he could do almost the whole stack.
Regards,
Shodan
My aunt has been in a wheelchair for a few years now, but not because she can’t walk at all…but she can only walk for very short distances (congestive heart failure). She uses the handicapped stall & uses the locked wheelchair as well as the metal handrails in the stall in order to maneuver herself to the toilet.
So to answer your question, Yes, some (not all) who use a wheelchair can successfully maneuver onto a toilet by using the metal handrails.
Some people sit facing the rear of the toilet. I would think if I were in a wheelchair I’d at least give that a try, using the bar behind the toilet to lift myself up with two arms.
I used a wheeled knee scooter for a while with a broken ankle. It was not a wheelchair, but it was definitely harder to maneuver in and out of stalls than using a cane, or walking. I was also non-weight bearing on that leg for several weeks. Some stalls were tight or impossible, no surprise. I did have to back into at least a few of them. The handrails were not always in the right place, but they were always better than nothing.
I can’t speak for anyone in a wheelchair. If Ambivalid’s around, maybe he can.