The emotional cost and economic cost of putting mobility challenged students into magnet schools is too high a cost to pay if those obstacles which prevent these students from mainstreaming can be removed. With mobility impairments, bathrooming is often the most significant obstacle. It is too personal and necessary for casual disregard of this need. ' Without designated assistance, most physically challenged students who are not now mainstreamed, cannot use a restroom. This designated assistance costs school systems significant sums of money. This need of assistance is a detrimental emotional toll on the student requiring such outside help. A design for a new accessible urinal has been developed which will allow a large percentage of mobility disadvantaged students to take care of their bathrooming needs without assistance. The fixture is also designed so that it fits into the existing design and function of school restrooms which would mean that the addition of such urinals would have no negative impact on the facilities or budgets of school buildings. It is proposed that potential users field test working prototypes of this new accessible urinal and that data be collected and analyzed.
Keywords: Handicapped, Accessible, Mainstream, Public, schools, Mobility, Adaptation, Restrooms.
Anticipated Results:Anticipated Results/Potential Commercial Applications. Phase I will focus on user usage and independence. This project will determine the technical feasibility of a new concept accessible urinal fixture for all age persons who are challenged in mobility. If the results of this research determine that such a urinal fixture would be of significant benefit in mainstreaming children with impaired mobility, the Phase II award would be used to determine a commercially feasible manufacturing process to produce such urinals. The potential market for such an accessible urinal would be all public and private school systems, pre-k through college. Additional markets are foreseen in hospitals, nursing homes, private homes, all public buildings providing accessible restrooms.Topic: Development or adaptation of assistive devices to facilitate communication and language development, mobility, and access to mainstream environments by infants, toddlers, preschoolers, children, and youth with disabilities.
