Aspects of Living with a Disability - PART ONE - Toileting & Personal Care
In this post i'm going to be talking about the things that impact disabled people when travelling, rather than travel itself. Part two will be posted as a separate blog post, as it will discuss another topic that can affect people with disabilities while travelling, and this topic is carers.
This post will cover the topics of facilities and accessibility.
Accessibility, for me personally, is probably the second biggest thing I consider when organising and going on a holiday.
An able-bodied person may ask, why does this need to be considered? The answer, plain and simple, is because the smallest things, can majorly impact the quality of a holiday, for someone in a wheelchair.
Toilets & Personal Care
When you have a physical disability, you become accustomed to the idea that there is little personal privacy when it comes to personal care. But it may be confronting for the person having to assist you with this task, especially if it's the first time they are doing it with a new participant, or if they don't have much experience.
For me, personally, I am lucky enough to have an NDIS package, which gives me carers that are paid to assist me with all personal care, amongst other things. When you're younger it is usually your parents doing this, so it less uncomfortable, because you know them. Compared to having carers you may not know coming in to help you deal with quite a personal task.
I am fortunate enough to have a group of carers with whom I have good relationships and trust, this makes it a lot less daunting to deal with these tasks. but not all people may be as fortunate as myself.
Trust and a good relationship is important in every aspect of care, but definitely valued when it comes down to having to deal with public toilets and unfamiliar areas when it comes to holidays.
You may be wondering what good relationships have to do with public toilets, but let me explain.
As someone with a disability, you come to rely on these people to assist us in these everyday tasks, and one of those tasks is going to the toilet. Doing this at home is easy enough because i'm fortunate enough to have a good set up, suited to my needs, but this is not the case when it comes to public toilets, as they're usually pretty generic in their set up and aren't always very spacious.
So, I have a tendency to grade public toilets based on a few factors. These are: the rail that is in the toilet, (shape, length and most importantly, what side of the toilet is it on? LEFT or RIGHT?), the amount of space to move around in the toilet, and where they place the toilet roll holder. (As ridiculous as that last thing sounds, believe me, i've had some interesting experiences.)
Keeping in mind, that all of these things are different for each individual person with a disability. But these are the things that affect me the most when it comes to public toilets.
Is there really such a thing as a bad public toilet? Yes, and i've been to enough to know which ones are good, and which ones are just outright bad.
On top of all of this, I have found that, personally, that dealing with public toilets is getting harder.
Why, you may ask? Well, here it is.
I am openly going to admit, that I have put on weight. And I know exactly why.
1. Lack of exercise.
2. I have prosthetic rods in my back, which limits my flexibility.
I have had experiences in the past where my flexibility has been questioned, by able-bodied people, and it's not quite as easy as it may seem. I no longer have the ability to reach forward to touch the top of my knee, whereas before my rods, I could bend all the way down and touch my toes.
This, in turn, affects toilet transfers, because I need extra assistance to get from my chair to the rail, because I don't have that ability to reach forward and grab on to it, which then leads to more pressure being put on the person assisting. (It also doesn't help if there's a toilet roll holder right under the rail... that causes issues when i'm trying to stand up.)
On top of this, if the toilet rail is on the left hand side or a full on 'L' shape, it just makes the job 1000x trickier. (For me, at least.)
Toilet Grading
For me, the WORST toilet you could come across is a toilet that has the 'L' shaped rail. These rails are average when it comes to getting off the toilet, but it does not assist the getting on process, at all.
Getting on is harder, usually due to the fact that the toilet holder is too low, under the rail, or to close to the edges when sitting above the straight rail. This then inhibits the movement of my arm, making it more difficult to have a solid grip and move. The only thing that could be worse than this, is an 'L' shape rail, on the left hand side.
[The reason left hand rails are such an issue for me, is because my dominant hand is my right hand, therefore, it's the side I need the rail on to make the process a lot easier, and less awkward.]
The BEST toilets, are the ones with a 45 degree angle toilet rail. Even better, is if it's on the right hand side. But I still find it easy enough to manage, even if it does happen to be left handed. It makes the whole transfer process a lot easier for both you and the person assisting.
The TRANSFER Process
Since I was young, I have had many different carers, some handle the toilet transfer process better than others. Some panic, which then causes me to panic, which can end in a negative outcome, which unfortunately does happen. The main thing I have learnt is to stay calm, and deal with the issues when I am in a less vulnerable position. Because i've been in too many situations where the panic and stress has lead to me ending up on the ground, or close to it.
So i'm usually fairly concentrated and serious when i'm transferring, unless I feel something is going wrong, then I will speak up. I am well aware that it can be daunting, ask any one of my carers, and they will tell you that it takes a lot of practice and coordination to build up to a good routine.
There is also the process of shower transfers, which are not as difficult as toilet transfers, but can still be a bit intimidating. And as stated earlier, each experience depends on the person who has experienced it. It is quite often not to different to toileting, except I am unable to assist as much as I can when it comes to toileting. Because, I really don't want to slip over on the tiles and hurt myself, or my carer. But thankfully, that is most often avoided, because of the method I have for my shower transfers.
I feel confident that I have covered this topic to the best of my ability and hope you enjoy reading about my experiences.
Please feel free to comment or send a message, I am always happy to hear about other people's experiences or hear their feedback!
Thankyou for reading,
Stephanie :)
This post will cover the topics of facilities and accessibility.
Accessibility, for me personally, is probably the second biggest thing I consider when organising and going on a holiday.
An able-bodied person may ask, why does this need to be considered? The answer, plain and simple, is because the smallest things, can majorly impact the quality of a holiday, for someone in a wheelchair.
Toilets & Personal Care
When you have a physical disability, you become accustomed to the idea that there is little personal privacy when it comes to personal care. But it may be confronting for the person having to assist you with this task, especially if it's the first time they are doing it with a new participant, or if they don't have much experience.
For me, personally, I am lucky enough to have an NDIS package, which gives me carers that are paid to assist me with all personal care, amongst other things. When you're younger it is usually your parents doing this, so it less uncomfortable, because you know them. Compared to having carers you may not know coming in to help you deal with quite a personal task.
I am fortunate enough to have a group of carers with whom I have good relationships and trust, this makes it a lot less daunting to deal with these tasks. but not all people may be as fortunate as myself.
Trust and a good relationship is important in every aspect of care, but definitely valued when it comes down to having to deal with public toilets and unfamiliar areas when it comes to holidays.
You may be wondering what good relationships have to do with public toilets, but let me explain.
As someone with a disability, you come to rely on these people to assist us in these everyday tasks, and one of those tasks is going to the toilet. Doing this at home is easy enough because i'm fortunate enough to have a good set up, suited to my needs, but this is not the case when it comes to public toilets, as they're usually pretty generic in their set up and aren't always very spacious.
So, I have a tendency to grade public toilets based on a few factors. These are: the rail that is in the toilet, (shape, length and most importantly, what side of the toilet is it on? LEFT or RIGHT?), the amount of space to move around in the toilet, and where they place the toilet roll holder. (As ridiculous as that last thing sounds, believe me, i've had some interesting experiences.)
Keeping in mind, that all of these things are different for each individual person with a disability. But these are the things that affect me the most when it comes to public toilets.
Is there really such a thing as a bad public toilet? Yes, and i've been to enough to know which ones are good, and which ones are just outright bad.
On top of all of this, I have found that, personally, that dealing with public toilets is getting harder.
Why, you may ask? Well, here it is.
I am openly going to admit, that I have put on weight. And I know exactly why.
1. Lack of exercise.
2. I have prosthetic rods in my back, which limits my flexibility.
I have had experiences in the past where my flexibility has been questioned, by able-bodied people, and it's not quite as easy as it may seem. I no longer have the ability to reach forward to touch the top of my knee, whereas before my rods, I could bend all the way down and touch my toes.
This, in turn, affects toilet transfers, because I need extra assistance to get from my chair to the rail, because I don't have that ability to reach forward and grab on to it, which then leads to more pressure being put on the person assisting. (It also doesn't help if there's a toilet roll holder right under the rail... that causes issues when i'm trying to stand up.)
On top of this, if the toilet rail is on the left hand side or a full on 'L' shape, it just makes the job 1000x trickier. (For me, at least.)
Toilet Grading
For me, the WORST toilet you could come across is a toilet that has the 'L' shaped rail. These rails are average when it comes to getting off the toilet, but it does not assist the getting on process, at all.
Getting on is harder, usually due to the fact that the toilet holder is too low, under the rail, or to close to the edges when sitting above the straight rail. This then inhibits the movement of my arm, making it more difficult to have a solid grip and move. The only thing that could be worse than this, is an 'L' shape rail, on the left hand side.
[The reason left hand rails are such an issue for me, is because my dominant hand is my right hand, therefore, it's the side I need the rail on to make the process a lot easier, and less awkward.]
The BEST toilets, are the ones with a 45 degree angle toilet rail. Even better, is if it's on the right hand side. But I still find it easy enough to manage, even if it does happen to be left handed. It makes the whole transfer process a lot easier for both you and the person assisting.
The TRANSFER Process
Since I was young, I have had many different carers, some handle the toilet transfer process better than others. Some panic, which then causes me to panic, which can end in a negative outcome, which unfortunately does happen. The main thing I have learnt is to stay calm, and deal with the issues when I am in a less vulnerable position. Because i've been in too many situations where the panic and stress has lead to me ending up on the ground, or close to it.
So i'm usually fairly concentrated and serious when i'm transferring, unless I feel something is going wrong, then I will speak up. I am well aware that it can be daunting, ask any one of my carers, and they will tell you that it takes a lot of practice and coordination to build up to a good routine.
There is also the process of shower transfers, which are not as difficult as toilet transfers, but can still be a bit intimidating. And as stated earlier, each experience depends on the person who has experienced it. It is quite often not to different to toileting, except I am unable to assist as much as I can when it comes to toileting. Because, I really don't want to slip over on the tiles and hurt myself, or my carer. But thankfully, that is most often avoided, because of the method I have for my shower transfers.
I feel confident that I have covered this topic to the best of my ability and hope you enjoy reading about my experiences.
Please feel free to comment or send a message, I am always happy to hear about other people's experiences or hear their feedback!
Thankyou for reading,
Stephanie :)
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