Ideal Aids for Making Bathrooms a Safer Place for the Handicapped

For a person with any kind of handicap, whether caused by age, illness, or an accident, even the most basic tasks in daily life can become a challenge. And using the bathroom represents perhaps the biggest challenge of all. The wet, slippery floor, rough edges, marble surfaces, and the generally private nature of the bathroom makes it the most dangerous place in the home. A place where falls and injuries tend to occur the most, unless you do something about it.

While you might think the bathroom has to undergo expensive renovations in order to become more handicap-friendly, usually it’s the simple tweaks that make the biggest difference. Let’s take a look at the most useful handicap aids for bathroom that help people stay safe and independent while using the bathroom.

Grab Rails

As the name suggests, grab rails give you something to hold on to for support while navigating through the bathroom. They are most commonly installed at key areas to provide people with greater stability when entering and exiting the tub, or while using the shower or the toilet. Being the simplest and least expensive handicap aids for bathroom, today grab rails come in a range of designs for creating a coordinated look for the bathroom.

Bathing Chairs and Commodes

A chair you can place in a tub or a commode you can roll to the shower can be very helpful aids for people who find it necessary or more convenient to sit down while bathing. This way, bathing is a lot easier and safer both for the individual as well as for the care taker. Look for a shower chair or a shower commode with non-slip legs that will provide 100% stability and won’t scratch the tub. Most chairs are adjustable and can fit a variety of bathtubs. And finally, make sure that the seat is padded to provide more comfort and reduce the risk of pressure sores forming.

Raised Toilet Seat

The standard toilet seat is awkward and too low for a person in a wheelchair to transport himself to. Therefore, a raised seat that goes on top of the existing one can make it much easier for the person to use the toilet. The seat can offer an additional 5 – 15 centimetres of height, and also include features like a plastic lid to hide odours and mounting brackets that can be adjusted to fit different toilet sizes. Similar to the shower chairs and commodes, when buying a raised toilet seat look for one with an ergonomic design which won’t cause much pressure for people who have bedsores or are at risk of developing ones.

Non-Slip Mats

The bathroom is already a dangerous place for people without any handicap due to its mostly wet and slippery floor. For people with reduced mobility, the risk of injury due to slipping and falling is even higher. But with the help of a non-slip mat placed around the most risky areas in the bathroom, such as the shower or tub, the sink, and toilet, the risk of falls can be significantly reduced.