July LIVE Virtual Home Mods/ Inclusive Design Continuing Education

Live Webinar: Inclusive Bathrooms:  July 18, 2:00-3:30pm EST

Live Webinar: Inclusive Kitchens:      July 25, 2:00-3:30pm EST

Live-Virtual 1 and 2 day course:
Inclusive Housing:
Space Planning, Design & Building a Business

July 11: Space Planning & Design
July 12: Building A Business

CLICK HERE to REGISTER AND FOR INFO:
http://empowerability.com/ProfessionalEducation.html

Can’t make the above dates????
Recorded/self-paced courses coming soon!!!!

We all have to go to the bathroom (so I am holding a webinar about it!)

 

After many years of presenting at professional conferences and continuously educating and collaborating with professionals on home and community design projects, I have taken the last 10+ years of content and case studies and developed it into webinars and live virtual continuing education courses on inclusive (person-centered) housing and community design.

What are the benefits of a live webinar and live virtual course?

1. You get expert content from the comfort of your own home.
2. You get access to the content expert, readily available to answer all of your questions.
3. You get the opportunity to interact with colleagues and develop professional connections.
4. You get to participate in interactive work groups on actual case studies (for 1 & 2 day courses).

Only ONE WEEK LEFT until the INCLUSIVE BATHROOMS WEBINAR–REGISTER NOW!

Inclusive Bathrooms: Tuesday July 19, 2016 2:00–3:30pm  CLICK TO REGISTER &FOR INFO

Inclusive Kitchens: Tuesday July 26, 2016 2:00–3:30pm

PLUS:

1 and 2 day course:
August 9-10, 2016:
Inclusive Housing: Space Planning, Design & Building a Business
http://empowerability.com/ProfessionalEducation.html

July/August LIVE Virtual Continuing Education: Inclusive Housing

EmpowerAbility is bringing continuing education to you!  

We are now offering LIVE Virtual continuing education webinars and 1-2 day courses.

See current offerings below: 

WEBINARS:  

INFO & REGISTRATION HERE: http://empowerability.com/ProfessionalEducation.html

Inclusive Bathrooms: Tuesday July 19, 2016 2:00–3:30pm  

Inclusive Kitchens: Tuesday July 26, 2016 2:00–3:30pm  

1 AND 2 DAY COURSES:  

INFO & REGISTRATION HERE: http://empowerability.com/ProfessionalEducation.html

August 9-10, 2016: Inclusive Housing

August 9, 2016 Day 1:   Space Planning & Design
August 10, 2016 Day 2: Building a Business

The course is scheduled as a two-day course; however, attendees can choose to register for just one day or both days of the course.

Discounts for groups of 2+, email dyoung@empowerability.com

LIVE Home Modifications Course!

Inclusive Housing: Space Planning, Design & Building a Business

Dates & Locations:
April 13-14, 2016 Austin, TX
May 16-17, 2016 Hamden, CT
May 19-20, 2016 Philadelphia, PA
June 13-14, 2016 Charlotte, NC
June 16-17, 2016 Virginia Beach, VA
June 20-21, 2016 Arlington, VA

The course is scheduled as a two-day course; however, attendees can choose to register for just one day or both days of the course.

Discounts for groups of 2+, email dyoung@empowerability.com

FOR MORE INFO & to REGISTER: http://www.empowerability.com/ProfessionalEducation.html

April Inclusive Housing/Home Modifications Course in Austin, Texas! See Future Dates & Locations

Discounts for 2+ attendees–see link to brochure for details and pricing.

LIVE COURSE:   April 13-14, 2016  Austin, Texas
Inclusive Housing: Space Planning, Design & Building a Business

The course is scheduled as a two-day course; however, attendees can choose to register for just one day or both days of the course.

FOR MORE INFORMATION AND TO REGISTER CLICK HERE!
http://www.empowerability.com/ProfessionalEducation.html

Future Dates & Locations: 
May 16-17, 2016 Hamden, CT
May 19-20, 2016 Philadelphia, PA
June 13-14, 2016 Charlotte, NC
June 16-17, 2016 Virginia Beach, VA
June 20-21, 2016 Arlington, VA

Are you Comfort-Able on your toilet?

I have a strange habit of always going into the ADA stall in community bathrooms to do a quick visual check of the space, as I have yet to find one that does not have something ‘wrong’ 🙂

On this last occasion I was checking out a bathroom and noticing the typical errors—flush control not mounted on the wide side of the toilet area, door hook installed too high—and I noticed a woman near the sink area with an inquisitive look.  We engaged in conversation about the ADA stall and she proceeded to tell me that her husband was a remodeler and ‘everyone wants a comfort height toilet’ so he recommends them to all of his clients.  Hoping that I did not have a look of horror on my face, I politely let her know about my passion for space planning  and that not all people benefit from comfort height toilets. She quickly interrupted me and said, “now I am talking about comfort height toilets, not ADA height”.  I assured her that I knew the difference, and gave credit where credit was due regarding having the knowledge that there are different height toilets on the market, but continued our conversation with regard to feature-matching fixtures to meet the needs of the client.

A standard toilet measures 14 ½” above the finished floor to the top of the porcelain bowl.  This does not include the toilet seat, which can be different thicknesses and change the overall total height.  Federal law dictates that an ADA height toilet is to fall between 17”-19” above the finished floor.  This leaves the comfort height toilet.  A comfort height toilet is approximately 2” taller than a standard height toilet, measuring ~16.5” above the finished floor to the rim (not including toilet seat).  At 16.5” above the finished floor, this toilet height is not ADA-compliant as it is ½” lower (however, there are toilets on the market that are called ‘comfort height’ and do fall within the 17”-19” ADA height range).

I discussed that not all persons benefit from a comfort height toilet, as this is due to each person having different ergonomic needs based on their own body measurements.  It is also about the physiological position that one’s body must be in to maximize the ability to evacuate the bowels (yes, I am an Occupational Therapist by background, so I went there).  Look at the toilet systems of some other cultures; you will frequently find a bathroom stall with nothing else but a hole in the floor that requires one to squat to get the job done.  Obviously this scenario does not work for someone who has difficulty with sit-to-stand from a surface that puts their hips at a level below their knees, but these are the variables that need to be considered when choosing a toilet; especially since this is something that we as humans need to use multiple times a day.

I am 5’3” and have a longer torso and shorter legs; a comfort height toilet is currently too high for me.  At this time, a comfort height toilet is also too high for my husband, who happens to have a spinal C5-C6 incomplete spinal cord injury.  Most people would have a knee-jerk reaction and say, he should have an ADA height toilet, or at least a comfort height toilet, when in fact, that is too high……for him.  Will we benefit from a higher toilet in the future?  Perhaps, but it is not the right choice for us right now.

There are many variables when choosing a toilet, height being one of them.  Determining height also has many factors to consider including anthropometrics, transfer status (how one gets on/off the toilet), as well as how many different users will have access to this toilet.  A comfort height toilet is a great option; operative word here being ‘option’.  We have choices because we all have different needs.  Feature-matching fixtures to meet a person’s (or household’s) needs is key.

Hotel accessibility is like a box of chocolates……

Even with the ADA in place, providing a minimum requirement for accessibility, it still never ceases to amaze me that each ‘ADA’ hotel room we encounter, is so very different.  My husband Bill, who uses a manual wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury, is a travel agent and knows this issue all to well.  Our last three hotel stays truly exemplify the fact that you just never know what you are going to get.  Thus, the inspiration for this blog post.

We stayed in Washington, DC for a quick get-away over Thanksgiving and had the opportunity to stay in two separate hotels.  The first accessible hotel room boasted large amounts of space, both in the room and the bathroom.  The room we received had a tub with tub seat and plethora of grab bars.  Bill, who could access the controls to turn on the water, and could transfer onto the flip-down tub seat, had difficulty with reaching across the tub to pull the tub seat down and, our favorite, could not reach the hand-held shower on the opposite short shower wall.  We find that this is a typical scenario in many ‘ADA’ hotel rooms.  Even though it is on a slide, Bill is at the mercy of someone placing the handheld closer to him in the shower, and then hoping that housekeeping won’t put it back on the slide at the top after cleaning the room.
In this second hotel room, we encountered a roll-in shower with flip-down seat and once again, a plethora of grab bars.  Bill was once again able to easily transfer from his wheelchair to the bench, but this required that he roll his manual wheelchair into the shower area, and then try to push his chair outside of the shower area once he was seated on the shower bench.  Bill sustained a C5-C6 incomplete spinal cord injury, which resulted in quadriplegia.  Pushing his chair outside of the shower area and then attempting to retrieve it was challenging for his balance, as it required that he hold the front grab bar with his left hand (which only has tenodesis grasp) and rotate his trunk to the right while reaching to the side and behind him with his right arm, which is challenging for his sitting balance, and almost caused him to fall off the shower seat.   Even if he were to be able to do this independently, he now has his front wheelchair wheels within the wet shower area.  Adding another layer of challenge is the handheld shower unthinkingly placed at the top of the slide bar.
For our recent trip to the International Builders Show in Las Vegas, we once again encountered an ‘ADA’ room with a tub.  We were given the option of a tub with a stand-alone shower seat, or a roll-in shower with a stand-alone shower seat.   Things that make you go hmmm……    Bill made the choice of a tub with stand-alone tub seat, as this was the lesser of two evils.  A roll-in shower sounds great, but using a roll-in shower with a stand alone shower seat is dangerous for Bill as the seat may slide when he is attempting to transfer to/from his wheelchair and it may tip over in the shower if he were to have a muscle spasm.  His thoughts—less area for the stand-alone shower seat to move in a tub than in a large roll-in shower.  Neither was ideal, but we are used to ‘making-do’ in hotels.  Upon making this decision, the hotel changed their mind on the choices and stated that by law we are supposed to be in the room with the roll-in shower.  As I educated the staff about ADA, and the areas of concern with both of their ‘ADA’ rooms, miraculously the ‘hotel engineers’ located a tub bench that can be fastened to the tub!  Ok, so this is a bit better, still no chocolate covered cherry, but better.  As they arrive to the room and we all convene in the bathroom, the first engineer says to the second engineer, “where does it go?”  I politely take over and educate the engineers about the placement of the tub bench to best meet Bill’s needs.  Even though the tub bench allows for increased ease of transfer and increased safety versus a stand along shower seat, the tub seat is very hard and uncomfortable to transfer onto (Bill has sensation below the level of his injury) and he still is at the mercy of the handheld shower being lowered from the top of the slide bar.

Please note:  tub bench was height adjusted and was positioned to accommodate Bill’s long legs swinging over the tub.   The picture actually makes the tub look longer than it is; Handheld in picture is 20” in front of tub seat, which allows Bill to access it when it is in a lowered position.  Also note in the picture that the plumbing under the lav is not covered/insulated.

This blog is a look at how these specific ‘ADA’ hotel bathrooms did not meet Bill’s needs; but what about the many other patrons that will use these spaces?  These bathrooms will be utilized by a number of people of different ages and different ability levels.  A universal design approach would allow for meeting the needs of the majority of patrons that stay within these hotels.  This would not only create a better user experience, it would provide for an added layer of safety and potentially less liability overall for the hotel.

Perhaps we can be very forward thinking and progressive and say, why shouldn’t all guest rooms in a hotel be universally designed? This way it won’t be a matter of saying “we need an accessible room” and hope to get one that we can ‘make-do’ in.  Perhaps…….

The importance of customer listening: GreatGrabz® responds with a stylish safety grab bar

There are many grab bars on the market today, but I wanted to write this blog post about a company that not only offers an innovative product, but was created from the will and determination to make grab bars better. Compelled to create a stylish grab bar product after a client exclaimed, “I would rather fall than have my friends think I have a grab bar!” GreatGrabz® was born.

Abbie Sladick, President of GreatGrabz®, started the company six years ago. After spending many years remodeling bathrooms, this client comment inspired Abbie to design a grab bar that would not only be functional, but aesthetically pleasing. The stylish Wave Bar is GreatGrabz® signature product. The signature line of bars also has the follows features:

• Adjustable wall attachments for flexibility in installation and usage.
• Ability to mix and match finishes on one bar.
• Weight capacity of 500lbs on all bars and the 24″ wave is 1100lbs.
• Innovative mounting plate to ensure an easy and precise installation.
• Wave design allows for flexibility in use; many of GreatGrabz® clients feel it is easier to use.
• Abbie says, “There is TLC packed with every bar!!!”

GreatGrabz® is a reminder of the importance of customer listening.
As an Occupational Therapist/Accessibility specialist and a home owner with grab bars, I am ecstatic about products that are being made for both function and aesthetics. When we built our home, eight years ago, there were not many options on the market that allowed for the creation of a beautiful accessible bathroom. GreatGrabz® gives the choice of beauty and safety, all in one.

Check out the product line and tell me what you think!

Universal Design: Public Bathrooms Part II

It is amazing to me that you can still find a public restroom that does not have adequate signage for the blind and visually impaired.  In Dwell’s Universal Design: Public Bathrooms Part II video, the building is very old but could easily be retrofitted with correct signage.  Having the word “men” carved into the cement block that is above the bathroom door is barely enough signage for an able-bodied person, let alone anyone else.  Although it is an old building, it’s main use is for the public as a restroom, but I cannot imagine that the doorway, with the door opening in and to the right partially obstructing the entrance, is wide enough to allow for a person using a mobility device to enter easily.

As for the Automatic Public Toilet in Madison Square Park, I really like the idea that it will be sprayed between each use. Although, if one was not aware of this feature, they might be concerned why the floor was wet.  Perhaps signage within the bathroom denoting this feature might be helpful.  I was unable to determine from the video itself, but my assumption is that the door was at least 36” wide when it opens to allow a wheelchair user enough clearance.  The wall-hung toilet within the bathroom does allow for more clear floor space and there appears to be enough space next to the toilet for transfers.  Also noted are the grab bars around the toilet itself, but what I do not see is where the toilet paper dispenser is located.

 Going back to signage, the outside of the toilet facility does appear to have some signage with Braille under the words “Automatic Toilet”, but I did not see any Braille to denote if the bathroom was vacant, occupied, night closure or out of order.  Instead, print and a visual cue are given.  I also could not determine if Braille was available for all of the functions for both the sink and the door within the bathroom itself. Perhaps the use of some other audible alert might be helpful as well.

What are your thoughts on the Automatic Public Toilet?  Would you use it?

Universal Design versus Accessible Design in a bathroom

This is a gorgeous example of a contemporary style bathroom that incorporates some Universal Design elements.  The room boasts a large amount of space, a curbless shower with handheld shower head, a wheelchair-friendly sink with lever handle faucet and lots of light.  

Keeping in mind that Universal Design attempts to meet the needs of most users, bathroom spaces may need to be customized to meet the needs of specific users.  For instance, in order for a user in a wheelchair to utilize this bathroom, the height of the sink may be a concern.  I also wonder about the space around the toilet and bidet for transfers as well as the potential need for a shower bench/seat versus a roll-in shower chair.  Also, I do not see any grab bars or space for storage and would have some concern for a person with a visual impairment, as this design does not incorporate much contrast.  All of these concerns would need to be configured into the design of the bathroom, depending on the specific current and potential future needs of the client. 

What do you think of this bathroom setup? 

Porcher Epic Collection