LAST week’s article discussed the requirements for pedestrian crossings; signage that indicates the location of lobbies, emergency exits and toilets in buildings that are readable even by persons with visual impairments; and accessible parking slots reserved for the use of vehicles of persons with disabilities or vehicles with passengers with disabilities as stated in the current Implementing Rules and Regulations (IRR) of Batas Pambansa Bilang 344 (BP344) or the Accessibility Law. This week’s article will discuss the requirements for Washrooms and Toilets.

Accessible toilets

The requirements for accessible washrooms and toilets are found on pages 48, 49 and 50 in part C. Inside Buildings and Structures of Appendix A, Minimum Requirements for Accessibility, under Rule II of BP 344.

According to BP 344:

1. “Accessible water closet [toilet bowls] stalls shall have a minimum area of 1.70 x 1.80 meters (m). One moveable grab bar and one fixed to the adjacent wall shall be installed at the accessible water closet stall.”

Persons with disabilities who use wheelchairs have different ways of transferring from their wheelchair to the toilet bowl — depending on the nature of their disability. The most common wheelchair transfers are side transfers, front transfers, and diagonal transfers. Still, other people who use wheelchairs may do so differently. This is the reason why accessible water closet stalls provide “generous” room for persons with different types of disabilities who use wheelchairs to maneuver inside the water closet stall or toilet cubicle.

No illustration is provided in BP 344 for the “moveable grab bar.” The illustration below shows the location of the moveable grab bar.

Providing a lavatory inside the water closet stall should be located beyond the 1.70 x 1.80-meter minimum required clear space around the water closet to allow persons who use wheelchairs to maneuver freely. This means that accessible water closet stalls with lavatories should be larger than 1.70 x 1.80 m.

Grab bars are essential for persons who use wheelchairs to be able to safely transfer from the wheelchair to the water closet or toilet bowl. Unless aided by a personal assistant, it is very dangerous for a person who uses a wheelchair to transfer to the water closet by themselves without grab bars. Each length of grab bars should be 0.90 m long. Care should be taken to ensure that the moveable grab bar or flip-up grab bar should lock firmly in place when in the upright position because some persons with disabilities and even some older persons grab on to it when standing up from the toilet seat.

BP 344 requires the center of the water closet to be 0.40 m away from the face of the adjacent wall. This is the convenient distance that would allow persons with disabilities to support themselves using the fixed grab bars at the adjacent wall. It would be difficult to use the water closet if it were too close or too far from the wall or side wall.

Doors open outwards because it will be difficult to close a door that opens inwards especially when the person who uses a wheelchair is already inside the accessible water closet stall.

2. “A turning space of 2.25 square meters with a minimum dimension of 1.50 m for wheelchairs shall be provided outside water closet stalls.”

1.50 m is the turning radius of most wheelchairs. Hallways, corridors, and passageways that are less than 1.50 m in width will make it difficult if not impossible for persons who use wheelchairs to make a U-turn because of the length of the wheelchair.

3. “The minimum number of accessible water closets on each floor level or in that part of a floor level accessible to the disabled shall be one where the total number of water closets per sex on that level is 20, and two where

the total number of water closets exceed 20.”

4. “The maximum height of lavatories should be 0.80 m with a knee recess of 0.60–0.70 m vertical clearance and 0.50 m depth.”

For a person who uses a wheelchair to comfortably reach the faucet of a lavatory to wash hands there must be enough clear space underneath the lavatory or lavatory counter to allow the legs to pass — hence the required 0.60 to 0.70 m high vertical clearance with a clear depth of 0.50 m.

5. It is important that accessible water closet stalls be identified as such by providing signage using the international symbol of access. It is also just as important to provide directional signs along hallways, and other common areas to help persons with disabilities locate accessible toilets.

About the Author:

Arch. Armand Michael R. Eustaquio’s commitment to accessibility spans almost three decades. He was a member of the UAP Task Force Infrastructure Accessibility that crafted the current implementing rules and regulations of BP 344 in 1993. He was deputy chairman of the UAP Committee on Accessibility under the Commission on Government and External Affairs from the year 2000 to 2010. He has served under the administration of six past UAP National Presidents and incumbent UAP National President Armando Eugene C. De Guzman, in his capacity as Chairman of the Accessibility Assessment Project, the Committee on Accessibility Audit, and the Committee on Accessibility Audits for Private Buildings. To this day, he is the first and the only Filipino member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals (IAAP) based in the US.