Accessible Art Provides Blueprint for Inclusivity

An innovative concept for creating and exhibiting art equally accessed by disabled and non-disabled people has taken inclusivity to new levels, even to the detail of toileting!

The Art House, a unique project based in Wakefield, Yorks, but serving the whole country, has opened its doors to provide 12 studios for resident artists, two studios for short term let, a three-bedroomed flat for visiting artists, community studio, quiet room, meetings rooms and offices. Key features of the facilities are extra-wide corridors, an innovative ‘guide rail’ to help visually impaired people navigate the building, and a Changing Places facility including Clos-o-Mat ‘wash and dry’ toilet.

Art House Director Liz Whitehouse is so convinced the National Lottery-funded building encompasses optimum accessibility, she has produced a guide, The Art House- Creating Inclusive Access, to facilitate other organisations’ creation of an accessible building without having to start from scratch. The guide can be downloaded from The Art House website-www.the-arthouse.org.uk.

She says, “Since its inception, the main aim of the organisation was to construct purpose-built, accessible studios where disabled artists would be given any support they might need, without having the ‘institutional’ feel that is common in many buildings that aspire to a high level of access. We don’t even have ‘toilets for disabled people’: we have large and small unisex lavatories, so people can choose! The Changing Places facility, with its ceiling hoist, shower, and Clos-o-Mat shower toilet, ensures everyone’s needs are met, in a contemporary and aesthetically pleasing way.”

Total Hygiene’s Clos-o-Mat Palma toilet- manufactured in the UK, looks like a modern WC, but includes integral douche and drier. Pressure on the flush pad triggers the flushing, and, if pressure is maintained, the douching and drying. Thus is can be used as a traditional toilet, or without the need to ‘wipe clean’, if manual dexterity, mobility or balance are compromised, whilst optimising hygiene and independence. It is the only unit of its kind to carry WRAS approval, enabling legal connection to the mains water supply.

In addition to the Clos-o-Mat, Total Hygiene- www.clos-o-mat.com- supplies what it claims is a unique range of toileting equipment for disabled people from one source, including height adjustable changing tables, wash basins and toilets, plus accessories embracing grab rails, ceiling hoists and toilet lifts. The product range is supported by the company’s in-house comprehensive, national installation, commissioning and service. To date, some 40,000 Clos-o-Mat toilets have been installed nationwide, be it in individual’s homes, hospitals, care homes, shopping centres, leisure facilities and even on a narrowboat!