For most of United Kingdom’s history, bathrooms were designed and built to simply be functional and they were built the same way. This was not an issue for the majority of the United Kingdom’s population, but for people with special needs, the “standard” in bathroom designs and fixtures proved difficult and frustrating. The truth is that people who have special needs often have a difficult time in bathrooms that have been built for people who do not have special needs.

Designers understand this and this is why many have endeavoured to design bathrooms and create fixtures that are built with the needs of a special person in mind. Special needs people need to have fixtures that are sturdier and better able to hold weight. People with special needs require elements that are at a different height than those built for people who do not have special needs.

Usually a bathroom that is constructed for a client with special needs will feature a stand alone sink, a toilet that has a wider seat and is either higher than usual or lower than usual (depending on the client’s needs) to accommodate people who are shorter or people who have trouble bending or people who need to transfer from a wheel chair to the toilet (or another fixture).

The bathroom that has been designed for a person with special needs will be equipped with a shower stall that has a bench or seat installed. If the bathroom has a bath tub, that bath tub will usually have jets to work a person’s muscles and might be raised up off of the floor to help people who have trouble transferring from a standing position to a sitting position.

Lastly, the bathroom that has been constructed for a person with special needs will be built with additional support beams and bars located around and throughout the bathroom. These bars are usually bolted to the walls around the individual bathroom features. These bars are built to aid in the transfer of the person with special needs from one location to another. The bars are usually installed next to the toilet, the sinks and the bathtub and shower areas. These bars are sturdy and are meant to hold a person’s entire body weight.

Designing a bathroom for special needs people often poses a challenge because contractors want to accommodate the needs of their clients but they also realize that the client has regular contact with people who do not have special needs. Designing a bathroom that works just as well for people with special needs as those without can be difficult.

When designing a bathroom for a person with special needs a good rule of thumb for the designer is to follow is “function before form.