Did you hear the story of differently abled Madurai government officials who staged a protest to get disability accessible toilets in government offices? So dire was the need that some would have to wait till evening when they went home to relieve themselves.
“Every day I have to wait till I reach home to attend nature’s call,” said one of them.
Fortunately, their cries were heard and addressed though not fully according to this Hindu article.
Another student at the American Society for Engineering Education wrote an entire study on height of toilets, space in toilet stalls, space between the toilet and the sink. You will see in their write-up that the hand dryer was not any good for the disabled person since they would find that they were spraying their faces instead of the hands.
After a hip or knee replacement surgery, elderly people are going to find it hard to use the standard toilet. And this is why the ADA has come up with guidelines that toilets used by disabled people should be at least3 inches higher than the standard toilet height. So, while your standard toilet is going to be 14 inches, a toilet for senior people could go as much as 20 inches high from the ground.
While one could go with buying toilet seat risers to be attached to the standard toilet, there is always the danger that a loose fixture could land you in trouble. No one wants to fall off a raised toilet seat after a screw poorly done comes loose, do they?
You would also incur an extra cost of buying the toilet seat riser as well as have to invite a plumber come over to your house to come fix the toilet seat riser for you. To avoid all those complications and hustles, how about buying a tall toilet that is high enough right from its manufacture design.
Comfort height toilets, as that is what these tall toilets are called, are ideal for people suffering from arthritis, excessively tall people or those people on wheelchairs. The cool thing about them is that they are comfy, ADA compliant and are within the normal chair height so that you do not have to strain squatting so much.
Without further ado, let’s look at what to consider when buying comfort height toilets for seniors.
- Comfortable height
You want a toilet whose height is high enough for a person on a wheelchair to comfortably move from the wheelchair to the toilet seat without so much struggle or adjustment of their body frame. Those extra 3 to 4 inches are good and could mean a lot for a person who just had a hip replacement surgery. Why?
Because if the toilet seat height is low, a hip replacement patient could have their discs getting dislocated and that would call for another operation to reinstall the disc.
You do not want that, do you?
At the same time, the toilet seat should not be so high as to cause you raise your feet when using the toilet.
- Water consumption
Water consumption is a no-brainer. You want a toilet design that consumes as little water as possible.
The standard toilet uses about 3 gallons of water per flush. Now that is not very economical and yet our intention here at the hospice is going green. So we had to look for a comfort height toilet solution that would flush really well at a third of that water capacity. So when we were hunting for one, we put this into consideration.
Low water flush quantity though is not that good because it might not really remove all the solid waste from your toilet. Now you do not want this, do you?
You have to therefore check the quality of the flush valve.
- Ease of cleaning
You want a toilet that will be easy to clean so that there are no hiding places for pathogens and other disease-causing organisms, right?
Yes, go out for a toilet that will be easy to clean and disinfect.
You should be able to scour through all the nooks and crannies so that nothing hides in there.
- Enough room in the toilet
According to the life of the quadriplegic blog, a good toilet should have enough space so that your wheelchair can easily do a 360 degrees turn without any struggles. And once you set up the toilet, do not put in rugs, mops and all those things simply because there is enough space. No, just let it be.
The toilet should also accomodate a caregiver just in case the patient relieving themselves need a caregiver around when they are relieving themselves.
Abled differently people need that space to turn, twist and even throw a party there if they care to!
- Removable arms
You need to look out for a disabled toilet seat that has removable arms so that you can easily rest as you do your business. The arms should however be easy to remove just incase the patient in question does not want them at all.
- Installation
You want a toilet that is easy to install that you do not have to incur the cost of installing it by calling in some technical person to help you out.
Check our recommended portable toilets for seniors
The 21 inches Bradenton Toilet for Tall people
With a bowl height of 21” the Signature Hardware Bradenton two-piece elongated toilet has to be the tallest toilet that disabled people can boast about. It gets even better if one goes for a bidet toilet seat installation that will add about 1” to your toilet design. This makes it easily accessible to disabled people on wheelchairs, those who have had hip replacement surgeries or just senior people looking to have a great handicap toileting experience.
Made of quality vitreous china, I like the fact that it was easy to install this floor mounted toilet without so much hassle.
It has a soft closing mechanism such that your toileting experience is seamless and noiseless. With a 1.28 gallons per flush, you are assured of water economics while flushing down your toilet.
Toilevator Toilet Riser at 20 inches for Elderly
Standing at 20 inches, the Toilevator is the second tallest toilet that you can get out there. Best suited for elderly or extra tall people who find it strenous to bend on the standard toilets, the Toilevator is actually not a toilet seat in itself but just an elevator that add those much needed extra inches for your standard toilet seat.
