Handicap Shower Stalls

The idea of handicap shower does have lots of significance. But let’s ask a few basic questions here. Does your bathroom involve potential serious hazards? Did you consider the risks involved with the hard surfaces (e.g. toilet, bathtub, bathroom counter, standard towel racks and so on) that might actually deliver quick blows on your (or someone else’s) way down a fall? Or, did you consider risks associated with wobbly throw rugs making the room cozy...and yet so lethal when someone’s feet gets tangled inside them?

Falls account for almost 6,000 deaths every year and over 5 million injuries. And such accidents just take a fraction of a second. They happen due to a mistaken step, or some drops of water on your floor surface, or a lot of other combinations that cut into such potentially serious events.

Showers (in addition to) the aged or disabled may run into serious injuries if we fail to ensure proper care and safety. One single fall may cause a downhill spiral – posing threats as big as disability or death. For avoiding becoming one of the millions of injured who fall, you need to take prudent precautionary actions. Read more to know what your potential options are…

Tip 1: Water usually sticks around at least for some time in risky places. So, you have to maintain a suitable bath mat – especially on where you step out of the shower. Did you know that safety grids, along with rubber brush mats offer secured traction onto wet surfaces? Even better, they’re stiffer compared to the typical throw rugs and much safer when it comes to walker use.

Tip 2: Glass might turn out to be as lethal as water is. Lots of bathtubs come with sliding glass doors. Get rid of those when you still have time! You should specially get rid of the frames that might catch delicate toes. Try and replace those with a suitable shower curtain. There’re numerous reasons behind this. But most importantly, risks of cuts, severe bleeding or potential demise can happen due to this kind of falling in the seemingly attractive sliding glass doors!

Tip 3: When balance or strength is the issue, you could consider using tub transfer benches, which eliminate step-in and step-out moves and allows simple accessibility from a seated position all the times. This’ll however not work when it comes to typical glass doors or shower-only stalls. But you got to grasp the fact that these benches aren’t shower chairs or tub chairs that fit fully inside a bath tub or shower.

More Handicap Shower Safety Tips

Tip 4: Modern economy poses lots of challenges. So, no matter what your financial condition is… it is better to try save money on every purchase. Same is true when it comes to handicap shower or buying medical equipments. Did you know that the sheer basic shower benches or bathtub chairs are the cheapest? And likewise, prices do climb if you add accessories like back/arm-holds. This might sound too good to be true, but you could actually skin all these expenses if you use a regular plastic patio chair! Most people already have one and that even with nice back/arms too!

Tip 5: Regardless of the kind of bench/chair you use, be sure to get a no-slippery mat too! This type of mat should contain your chair’s or bench’s each and every leg (in the tub). This applies especially when you’re using a typical plastic patio chair. You can’t adjust height on patio chairs, and they do tend to get displaced under additional pressure on the dicey floors. So, it is a good idea to use caution and grab bars.

Tip 6: Diagonally shaped grab bar placement must be avoided. Here’s a rule of thumb. To pull up from your seated position, you need to place that bar horizontally. To get step-in or step-out assistance, put that bar vertically. Actually, diagonal placements might allow weak hands to accidentally slip downhill – right on this very aid, which was in fact meant to help! So take
 steps to ensure smart and safe placement. And surely you understand why the handicap shower is so important these days.

Respecting and enabling disability is not just a legal obligation but also a moral and ethical responsibility. Interest herein tends to be focused on the public side of the matter as regards employment and commuting opportunities. However, it is equally important to create and provide opportunities for comfort and independence for the disabled in the sheltered arena of their homes as well. Handicap showers and bathroom accessories are a step towards that.

The history of handicap showers doesn’t go too far back in time, going back to the late 1980s and the early 1990s. The American Disabilities Act was formalized in 1990 and with it came along a series of regulations and guidelines for the manufacture and use of showers for the physically challenged, especially those with limited mobility and muscular diseases. Today, the handicap shower industry has come into its own a plethora of quality manufacturers and suppliers all across the globe.

Most handicap showers today are designed to be wheelchair compatible and as such incorporate all possible features – textured floors, suction handles and bars, tailor made shower seats – which go a long way in making a shower truly disabled friendly. To get these types of showers installed, having the requisite space is a preliminary must you cannot do without. If your bathroom is not big enough, then you will have to designate a particular space in your house or apartment to have your roll in shower constructed. Further, while getting accessories installed, don’t forget to clearly spell out your specifications and needs for otherwise you can very easily end up with a setup that proves more troublesome than convenient.

This for those who have the required space. For those who do not, and there are many such all over the world, you’ll have to innovate and go for less space occupying accessories. You can simply get a shower seat and grab bars installed in your existing setup and get the plumbing tweaked to make things easier for you. There’re also anti-bacterial, water resistant wheelchairs available so that even those with serious mobility issues can take a bath in relative comfort.

So far, so good. In talking of people with disabilities, we have till now discussed only the mobility impaired. There is, however, another section of the disabled for whom special care and infrastructure is required: the visually impaired.

Much of market strategy today is focused on the mobility impaired, but service providers for the visually impaired are slowly on the rise. Manufacturers like Triton and Redring, for example, are leaders in showers and accessories for the visually impaired, one of the foremost products being electronic showers with audible alerts and extended hand rails.

Now that you know there’re a variety of disabled friendly handicap showers available in the market, the next step is to choose a model that fits your bill and get it installed. Here, you can either scour your local market or, which is more convenient, get onto any one of the numerous online portals and book yourself a shower without much ado. However, if you choose this latter, then beware of fraudulent transactions: never give out your financial information and make purchases only from reputable websites.