When we started planning the bathroom renovation, we had to arrange to get an Occupational Therapist (OT) report to access the My Aged Care funding to partly cover the costs…. why was this the case, the reason being that they had to ensure the space would meet Shane’s needs. The cost? $1800, once travel expenses were factored in. The value? Well… let’s just say we expected more and we do not think it was a great use of the limited funds we have to work with for Shane’s care.
In our case, we had no choice but to get this OT report in order to access My Aged Care funding to help cover part of the costs (though it doesn’t cover everything, which is why we’ve had to fundraise and pay some costs privately). However, if you’re not accessing NDIS or My Aged Care, you may be able to avoid the OT cost entirely and save yourself some money.
The reality is, most of the plans were already drawn up by our builder and a friend. The accessories recommended were things we could have figured out ourselves. The basin we were told to get had a 16-week lead time and was ridiculously expensive. No consideration was given to urgency or cost. We were assured we would have the report a week after the OT visit, but it was nearly a month later and only because we chased it up and got some help to escalate it (this delay was the biggest contributor to this bathroom not getting done last year). As for the toilet? We were expecting (and promised) a clear recommendation but instead got vague measurements with no specific details. Our builder ended up finding what we needed for us.
We’re sharing our experience, so others in the same situation can hopefully learn from it and if you are not using NDIS & My Aged Care to cover any costs, save yourselves some money in the process. We couldn’t find any plans on line so we really help like we had no option either.
Key takaways:
- Access to the toilet from both sides is beneficial, so try to do this where possible
- Sensor tap to allow washing of hands even if hand weakness stops the ability to turn the tap
- Accessible sink, there was a recommendation for a height adjustable basin form the OT because this is a bathroom for both disabled and abled bodies, however lead time and cost to do this was significant and after further review we settled on a fixed height basin. We figure able bodied people can always sit down on a chair if they need to be in there for a while, otherwise the height is fine for hand washing etc.
- On review the shower didn’t really need the drop down seat as its not really something people with MND will use, but we purchased this on the OT recommendation and didn’t consider this until later, so we have gone ahead and installed it anyway, it was not a significant cost.
- It doesn’t have to be a hospital, there are tiles out there that wont make it feel clinical or you can add elements such as a feature splashback etc. Don’t forget this is your home and its ok to make it feel that way, it doesn’t have to come at alot of extra (if any extra cost).
- The toilet that was in here was very old so this was completely replaced with a toilet with a built in bidet and dryer, you could save a little here by going with a toilet with bidet attachment, but you do have to consider the care needs of the person using it and what their capabilities are likely to be.
- Don’t forget storage, we had to remove a great big vanity for part of this and would have lost alot of storage space, we got creative and had tall cupboards built instead and installing a big wall mounted mirror cabinet, yes we lost some bench space but the storage is important and something you should consider too. The practically of the bathroom is JUST as important as the accessibility.
This bathroom originally
