DON’T MISS OUT…

A new report into disability(*) maintains that businesses could be missing out on a share of £420million in revenue a week, by failing to meet the demands of disabled people!

 

The same report also says a third of disabled people experience difficulties as a result of their impairment accessing public, commercial and leisure services; 17% of those say that inappropriate bathroom/toilet facilities are a barrier. That equates to at least 3/4million people being prevented from enjoying time out by lack of suitable toilets.

 

The report expands that location, layout and size are the biggest problems for disabled people and bathroom facilities. It’s why there is such a need for ‘bigger and better’ toilets- aka Changing Places. Under the new (2018) British Standard regarding inclusive buildings (BS8300:2018), a Changing Places should be at least 12m², include a ceiling track hoist, privacy screen, adult sized changing bench, and, ideally a wash & dry (shower) toilet in place of a conventional WC.

As I have said before, the Regulatory wheelchair-accessible toilet fails most disabled people. For a start, there are 13million people registered disabled in the UK, of whom “only’ 10% use a wheelchair. It is a Regulatory requirement to address their toilet needs, yet there is not a huge difference between them and the number of people who need the space and extra kit of a Changing Places.

 

We would maintain the figure is actually significantly higher than the report suggests. For example, 6.5million people have continence issues; 9million people suffer from arthritis; 0.5million people have acquired brain injuries; 0.25million people have a disease that affects their muscular control (MS, MD, MND); 1.5million people have a learning disability. All of these issues can impact on a person’s ability to go to the toilet on their own.

 

So why aren’t Changing Places a Regulatory requirement? Under current Regulations, and even under the new British Standard, the phraseology is only that such facilities ‘should be provided’. So if this lack of appropriate toilets has affected you, please ‘take five’ to do something about it: lobby your local MP to get the law changed.

 

Where a toilet is provided, it must address the needs of most, not the needs of the few, and be big enough, with the kit for as many people as possible to use it. That should be the minimum requirement.

ENDS

(*) Papworth Trust Disability in the UK

ACCESS THE VISIBLE AND INVISIBLE MARKETS

We’ve all been ‘caught short’- away from home and for whatever reason needed the toilet urgently. For most of us, it’s meant a dash to the nearest facility.

 

But what if you can’t dash? What if you have a disability- visible or invisible?

 

British Standards in best practice, particularly with regard to access & inclusion (i.e. BS8300:2018) have been updated, and now recognise that many disabilities are not visible, and that many people need urgent access to toilet facilities. For example, 6.5m people have continence issues- be it bladder or bowel- or both!

 

The Standard maintains that disabled people. It says they should be able to find and use suitable toilet accommodation no less easily than an able person. There is much emphasis in daily life on disabled equating to wheelchair. There are over 13million people registered disabled in the UK; there are 1.5million wheelchair users.

 

So the majority of disabled people don’t use a wheelchair. There are 6.5million carers in the UK. Thereoretically therefore, most disabled people, if and when they are away from home, have someone with them to help them.

Does that help extend to the toilet? Probably, even if it’s just to help open the door. It is another reason why there is such a need for a review of the legal requirements in the provision of accessible toilets.

 

Currently, if there is restricted space for any toilet, then the least that should be provided is a unisex wheelchair-accessible facility. In theory, it can be used by everyone. But for anyone who needs help, the venue’s door is still shut to them. There isn’t the space for a carer. There isn’t the privacy of even a screen.

 

We will never please all of the people, all of the time. But a slight change to the legal requirements would make society a lot more accessible to a significant proportion of the population.

THE LONG AND SHORT OF INCLUSION

 

 Social- and wider- media has recently seen a flurry of activity around the fact that wheelchair accessible toilets fail to accommodate huge numbers of users.

 

The issue is that there is an assumption that anyone in the wheelchair can transfer from the wheelchair to the toilet and back on their own.

 

We all know what happens when we ass-u-me something…

 

Analysis of wheelchair use shows that around 30% of the UK’s 1.2million wheelchair users do not have powered chairs, and need a carer to propel them. Many wheelchair users also need assistance to transfer. They need their carer to lift them and support them.

Therefore none of those people can use a conventional Document M toilet. It doesn’t give them space to accommodate their carer. It doesn’t give lifting capability.

 

It also doesn’t address the needs of the carer: if they need the loo when away from home, supporting their wheelchair-using caree, what do they do? Abandon them outside?

 

Both of these issues are rarely considered, yet demonstrate yet another reason why the regulations on accessible toilet provision need to be amended. The Changing Places campaign calls for venues to prove an assisted accessible toilet facility with a ceiling track hoist, adult sized changing bench, privacy screen. It says almost1/4million people need ALL of those additional fixtures.

But what about the people you only need one of those additional elements? My point above relating to space the carers and lifting demonstrates instantly that there are a further 360,000 people you need to facilities. That figure doesn’t include their carers. Nor does it include the tens of thousands of people who suffer from incontinence. Nor does it include tall wheelchair users, who may be able to self propel, but once on the loo, because of their height and disability, they can’t transfer back!

 

I am sure if you ask the wider disabled community, they would site numerous other potential uses of one or two of the extra benefits included in a Changing Places toilet.

 

In this age of inclusion, where there is even the provision of facilities for transgender, shouldn’t we first be accommodating the majority? The simple solution is to start with the majority, a toilet facility that accommodates most, and work backwards.

 

The basic provision should be a 12m², unisex, wheelchair-accessible toilet with adult sized changing bench, ceiling hoist and screen. That covers everyone. There is no reason why you can’t provide several of these in place of all the usual, separate, female, male, baby change, and wheelchair-accessible facilities. And it addresses the more “niche” sectors- ambulant disabled, transgender.

 

So by providing g one, genuinely “all inclusive” toilet facility, you open your doors to true inclusion, accessibility.

 

http://www.clos-o-mat.com

OPENING THE DOOR ON ‘AWAY FROM HOME’ TOILETING

It’s reasonable, isn’t it, when you’re doing the weekly shop, out for a meal, that you can go to the toilet, ‘ on site’ if you need?

 

Yet for up to 14million people*, it’s not something they can take for granted. Closomat, Britain’s leader in away from home assisted accessible toilets, reports that one campaigner for these facilities has recently been told that, as there are suitable conveniences within a mile of her local supermarket, it won’t put in those special toilets. So potentially, she has to abandon her shop and leave the store should her son need intimate care attention.

 

Under the Equality Act (which replaced the Disability Discrimination Act), service providers are required to make reasonable changes- including to the built environment- where a disabled customer or potential customer would otherwise be at a substantial disadvantage. Is the situation above acceptable, or does it leave that family at a substantial disadvantage…?

 

That family above is not alone. Estimates indicate conventional wheelchair-accessible (Document M) toilets fail to meet the requirements of up to 14 million people^(*). They may need help to get on, off, clean themselves. They may need to be lifted. They may need changing. That is all equipment provided by assisted accessible toilets, be they Changing Places or their counterpart Space to Change toilets.

 

The Changing Places campaign states 230,000 people in the UK need these toilets. That figure is based on the number of people who need the support of up to two carers, and need a hoist, and need a changing table, and need a privacy screen.

There are millions of others who need only one or two of those extra facilities and fixtures – for example, a third of wheelchair users rely on a carer to propel them; if you are a carer, the chances are you struggle to lift the person you care for from the wheelchair onto the toilet- you need a hoist. According to the Bladder & Bowel Foundation, more people in Britain suffer from faecal incontinence than suffer from asthma or diabetes, so may need changing facilities. And what about the carer of a disabled person? Are they supposed to abandon them outside the loo when they need to ’go’?

 

Changing Places & Space to Change

Under current Building Regulations, a Changing Places is desirable in buildings to which numbers of the pubic have access. It refers to the British Standard BS8300 for the definition, which, at its core, is:

• A toilet facility in addition to a conventional wheelchair-accessible toilet
• 3m x 4m with a ceiling height of 2.4m
• ceiling track hoist
• adult-sized changing bench
• privacy screen

 

Campaigners for Changing Places have found that many venues say they cannot install the facility because of the required space, and/or the cost of all the additional equipment. Thus, with the support of Closomat, the Space to Change campaign was born.

 

Space to Change bridges the gap between conventional wheelchair accessible toilets and the supplementary Changing Places. Space to Change builds on the Regulatory requirement that says even when only one WC is provided, it should be a wheelchair-accessible toilet. Space to Change asks that just 5m² is added to that standard wheelchair-accessible facility (to give a total 7.5m²), to enable inclusion of an adult-sized changing bench and hoist. Already it is being positively received from retail brands and leading supermarkets, as a viable solution to their ability to accommodate specific customer needs without majorly altering existing outlets.

 

Size Matters

There are specific reasons why those dimensions are chosen. There is a trend towards conceding on the dimensions to ensure the facility is provided, but reduce it too far, and the room becomes unuseable!

Campaigners say anything less than 7.5m² means that whilst they can get themselves and their loved one into the room, it becomes almost impossible to manoeuvre the wheelchair and safely execute a transfer to the WC or changing bench.

 

There have also been instances where the ceiling is lower. That has meant there isn’t the necessary clearance to use the hoist to lift the person from the wheelchair onto the toilet or bench.

 

It is therefore sensible to utilise the skillset of away from home toilet providers who can properly assess the potential space, advise on considerations (down to whether the structure is strong enough to load bear the hoist and bench), and ensure the completed installation and compliant in every way- and useable!

 

 

Shout About It!

So often, venues install a Changing Places or Space to Change and leave it at that. Then they wonder why it’s not used.

 

Closomat has developed a package of measures to help venues optimise the facility. In addition to officially registering the toilet, it can provide in-depth staff training, and various signs to help users maximise the facility’s potential.

 

Closomat also suggests it’s sensible to do much more than just put a sign on the door. It proposes:

– Extend signage throughout your premises- perhaps even put something in the window

– Promote it on your website

– Promote it on your social media

– Tell your local media

– Promote it to local wheelchair user groups and other local disability charities- maybe even run special events, discounts for potential users…

 

“If people don’t know about it, how can they use it?” asks Ian Tomlinson, Closomat director responsible for away from home toileting. “Because of lack of appropriate toilets, people who need these facilities either cut their trip short, only go somewhere they know they can ‘go’, or don’t go out at all. The more providers publicise the facilities, the more they will be used.”

 

Toilet provision pays

Regardless of the social/ corporate responsibility aspects of providing such facilities, there are financial benefits too.

 

Disabled people spend up to £249billion a year. Parties with a disabled member spend £12.4billion a year on travel and tourism- a figure that would only increase if they knew they could expect appropriate toilet facilities.

 

Provision of Closomat Changing Places and Space to Change is proven to pay. Alton Towers opened its Changing Places and Space to Change at the start of the 2017 season, and is seeing the facilities used on average 20 times/day, every day.

 

Cornwall Services on the busy A30 trunk road opened its facility a year ago, and is seeing it used on average 10 times/ day, with visitors reporting stopping there specifically because of the toilet.

“We are so pleased with the positive response we continue to have: one of the best projects I think I’ve been involved with in terms of the effect it has directly had on guests,” says Justine Locker, Resort Excellence Manager at Alton Towers.

 

Clos-o-Mat is the only UK company with the in-house capability to advice on, help design, supply, install, commission and then service & maintain all the equipment required to create either a Changing Places or Space to Change facility. Its website www.clos-o-mat.com is now the ‘go to’ resource for away from home toilet provision guidance; it contains typical layouts, details of regulatory and best practice compliance, CAD blocks, videos, and white papers.

ENDS

^(*)Potential users of a wheelchair-accessible toilet with space, bench and hoist include:

– 1.5m wheelchair users

– 6.5 million people who have either bladder or bowel incontinence

-1.5million people with a learning disability

– 1.2million people living with stroke

– 62,000 amputees

– 30,000 people with cerebral palsy

– 13,000 people with acquired brain injuries

– 8,500 people with multiple sclerosis

– 100,000 [people with muscular dystrophies

– 5000 people with motor neurone disease

– 8,000 people with spina bifida

– 40,000 people with spinal injuries

– 120,000 people with a stoma

– 3.8million adults morbidly obese

– 0.8million disabled children

– 8.7million people with osteoarthritis

– 400,000 people with rheumatoid arthritis