Best Practices in the Design of Toileting and Bathing Facilities for Assisted Transfers

Attachment: Interview Questions

Best Practices in the Design of Toilet and Bathing Facilities for Assisted Transfers

1. a) Are there any facilities that your firm has designed where you have incorporated accessible bathroom designs that you believe were alternatives to or went beyond the minimum specifications in the ADA Accessibility Guidelines?

b) If so, can you describe exactly what you did that was different than what is specified in ADAAG?

2. ADA Accessibility Guidelines for bathroom design are primarily intended for people to toilet and bathe independently. Have you done anything in the design of the bathroom to accommodate people receiving personal assistance to transfer to the:

a) Toilet?

b) Shower?

c) Bathtub?

3. Describe how you expect each of the designs to accommodate people receiving assistance to be used by older people and their caregivers (i.e., describe how the designs are better than ADAAG in facilitating getting on/off the toilet or in/out of a tub or shower):

a) Toilet?

b) Shower?

c) Bathtub?

4. For each of these design alternatives:

a) What population groups were these designs intended for (e.g., people with Arthritis, wheelchair uses, post-stroke, etc.)?

b) Do you expect these designs to be useful for people with other types of disabilities?

c)What was the rationale behind using a certain design? In other words, what problems were you trying to solve?

5. Did the designs that you used for toilet or bathing transfers create a need for a different overall design for the bathroom than you would have used if you followed ADAAG? For example:

a) Was the layout of the bathroom affected?

b) Was the amount of space required affected?

c) Was there a need for additional space for caregiver assistance or storage for wheelchairs and other mobility aids?

d) Were other changes necessary? 

6. In the facilities you have designed, have you made accommodations for lifts, lift tracks, transfer and roll-in showers, shower chairs, bathtubs, movable grab bars, and other assistive technologies (such as placement of doorways, and location of fixtures)? If so, what were they?

7. Can you identify specific facilities in which these designs have been used? Can we obtain plans/drawings of the bathrooms in these facilities?