Assignment 2.3 - Access and Intimate Neccessaties

Bathrooms are a necessity in every body’s lives, and thus having accessible bathrooms is a requirement. For this assignment I decided to evaluate the unisex ‘handicapped accessible’ bathroom in my dorm. As shown in the picture below the sign on the outside says that the bathroom is handicapped accessible, but when you enter it one might question the accessibility. The bathroom itself contains of a toilet, a sink and a shower area. Fortunately the door has a width of 35.8 inches which is ADA approved, but the door itself is relatively heavy and might be hard for a disabled person to actually open it. The sink is too high for someone in a wheel chair to access. It would be very hard for them to actually reach up and wash their hands. The napkins are also not very easy to get if a wheelchair user is using the bathroom. The toilet is certainly accessible, as it is low and has hand railings on the side that would provide support for a disabled person if they were using it. This particular bathroom also has a shower area, which is a tub. In my opinion it would not be convenient for a wheelchair user or even someone with eyesight problems to enter a tub and shower. There are railings that would provide support, but entering the tub itself would be difficult. Another problem is that the distance between the toilet and the tub is relatively big, and someone who might have leg problems may find it inconvenient to use this bathroom, but the bathroom does have a lot of empty space, which would be very helpful to wheelchair users. This bathroom proves to be accessible but also inaccessible, but overall it seems as though there are more problems with it to be labeled a ‘handicapped accessible’ bathroom.