Over a quarter of a million severely disabled people in the UK don’t have access to public facilities that meet their needs: Something needs to change! Enter Changing Places.
Read on for our introduction to Changing Places, which explains everything you need to know about a solution that allows people to meet their basic human rights with dignity.
A Changing Places toilet is a dignified and sanitary solution for people with severe disabilities or complex care needs. Changing Places are bathroom facilities for people whose needs aren’t met by a common, or even standard access toilet. In many cases, these people rely on at least one, sometimes two care givers to assist them.
The absence of appropriate facilities for severely disabled people means that some people are very limited in the activities they can participate in or locations they’re able to visit, which can obviously impact on a person’s quality of life. Disabled people shouldn’t have to compromise their health and dignity either. A better solution is available, and it all started with one charity…
The Changing Places Consortium launched a campaign back in 2006 on behalf of everyone who can’t use standard accessible toilets. Working at a local and national level, they lobby businesses, attractions and councils to provide better facilities for severely disabled people.
To date, there are around 1,500 facilities across the UK – not nearly enough for the quarter of a million people who need them!
Without suitable equipment, such as an adult changing bench or ceiling track hoist, many disabled people must be laid on the floor of public toilets to be changed. It’s undignified, unhygienic and puts care givers at risk of injury – particularly if they’re forced to manually transfer a disabled person between a wheelchair and a toilet.
For many organisations, the decision whether or not to install a Changing Places will be taken out of their hands. From January 2021 onwards, it Changing Places will be a mandatory requirement in English building regulations in new buildings of a certain size.
A standard accessible (‘disabled’) toilet is designed to be use by people who are disabled but are still able to transfer themselves to the toilet, clean themselves and go about their business in relative comfort.
Accessible toilets are fantastic, but some folks have much more intensive needs than others, and more facilities are needed to help such people enjoy their lives.
A severely disabled person with complex needs may not have the ability to use a toilet, and will require space and equipment for them to be changed. This simply isn’t available from a standard accessible toilet.
You can read more about changing places Vs disabled toilets here.
Call 07729 224 738 or email hello@riseadapt.co.uk
We’re open Monday to Friday, 08:00-18:00.
To learn more about Changing Places, why not download our brochure or attend one of our monthly online seminars.
Call: 07729 224 738
email: hello@riseadapt.co.uk
08:00-18:00, Mon-Fri
To learn more about Changing Places, why not download our brochure or attend one of our monthly online seminars.
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