Shared disability toilets with baby changing facilities

YANBU and you are right they should be separate. If changing a nappy with poo it is faster if you chat with the baby because otherwise they try to grab things or turn over. If you talk to them it sometimes distracts them and makes it faster. So just because she was chatting doesn’t mean she was going slowly.

But why was that a concern? The baby change has to go somewhere? If it wasn’t in the accessible toilet it would most likely have to go in the men’s or the women’s, which would likely make it inaccessible for many disabled parents or for disabled children requiring it. I appreciate that in an ideal world there would be space to have an accessible toilet plus an accessible baby change facility plus separate men’s and women’s facilities but the reality is most places won’t have room for this. The only issue I can see is if having the baby change facilities in the accessible toilet stops them being accessible, for example if there is a changing table which takes up floor space so doesn’t leave enough room to turn a wheelchair or if the changing table obscures the grab rails etc. Your only issue seems to be that having the baby changing space in there is that it means the facility is busier and so there may be a queue, but it should be expected that sometimes there will be a need to queue for public facilities.

In an ideal world no they should not be combined. Baby changing should have its own room. Sadly not all places have the space or the inclination to do this.
It's not fair as lack of disabled toilets is awful.

I’m sorry this happened to you and as a man who often finds himself in the disabled loo changing a nappy, I always try to be as quick as possible

The answer to the question ‘why do they need to be combined’ is that a lot of places were built when the requirement to provide accessible toilets and space for men to change nappies wasn’t a consideration and so businesses are struggling to add in those facilities with limited space to play with

Not at all. Disabled facilities need proper, disability friendly, changing facilities. These would be perfect r for a parent wanting to change a disabled child and far more appropriate than baby changing facilities for someone with an older child who needs changing.

@AgnesX

Oh don't be obtuse. 🙄

I wasn't, you can't tell. However OP clarified and I posted immediately after the comment you have quoted to acknowledge it.

Oh don't be obtuse. 🙄

Completely agree with you OP. Need more facilities as standard.

She didn't do anything wrong if that's where the only baby changing table was. When my children were babies the only public baby changers were nearly always in the disabled toilets. There was nothing I could do about it.

Why does talking/singing to her baby mean that she was taking longer? It doesn't. I often used to talk/sing to mine when changing them because it kept them calmer and meant I could get the nappy change done faster.

I'm sorry you went through this. I have IBS myself and it can certainly cause accidents. I do understand how you must have felt. I wouldn't say that this was the other woman's fault though. Complain to your local council about the poor provision of proper facilities, and maybe to your MP.

I think there's also a terminology thing here. When I go out they're almost anyways 'accessible toilets' not 'disabled'. To those with disabilities they think they're one and the same. But lots of people need a toilet with a large floor space.

Yes it includes people with wheelchairs etc. It also includes people with pushchairs. They don't fit in a normal stall and you can't exactly leave your baby outside so you have to use the accessible toilet. Same with room for baby change table, pram etc.

Accessible toilets are for people who need space, it's not specifically a queue jumping exercise. Should there be more? Yes. But businesses are reluctant to give up more space for toilets, taking away space they can make money from.

Not necessarily. I chat/coo to my baby while changing her nappy, it keeps her occupied and stops her from trying to roll/crawl away mid-change which actually makes the changing process much quicker than me trying to silently wrestle her into a nappy while she’s trying to escape.

Would it be accessible?

Don’t people talk to their babies whatever speed they’re changing a nappy?

Disabled loos are for disabled people. Having a baby makes no one disabled. 🙄

I'm sorry that happened, op.
It feels very humiliating when it happens.

Yes, baby change facilities should be separate from disabled toilets imo. There's very rarely no space. It may require rejigging spaces but that's not the same as no actual space.

So the person with the disability has easy access to a changing table?

You don't know that.

The people to get annoyed at are the premises for not having adequate facilities, not other people using them.

It's really tricky, as a mum of a small baby and a toddler I need a space where I can toilet us all- this is often a shared disabled baby change- as even if there is a changing table in the ladies it's tricky if I or the toddler need to use the toilet as the pram doesn't fit in a cubicle with us. I am acutely aware that changing a baby and having the toddler and/or myself use the toilet is not quick, but what can we do? Not go out, or never use a toilet when we are? Unfortunately that's not possible and space and facilities are often limited or insufficient. It's not fair on either party.
And if you hear me singing or cooing whilst in there- this means I'll be quicker, as it's much quicker to change a calm happy baby than a distressed one kicking and wriggling that I'm fighting every step of the way!

For practical reasons I think the baby changing facilities and the disabled toilet are lumped together as they both need to be large spaces I.e. fit a changing table and a wheelchair (hence term 'accessible' rather than disabled being used more).

I think there is a real lack of understanding / thought given by both designers and public about why people may need an allocated disabled toilet. There is perhaps a perception that someone not in a wheelchair can just go in any old toilet. Of course sometimes this is the case, but not always.

In some places there are only accessible toilets, to make sure everyone is covered (but as above, this isnt really the answer if there's only one or two and a likely queue).

This is 2024. If changing facilities are to be in the other toilets they need to be in both the male and female ones. Definitely not just in the female one!

Then a parent with a disability wouldn't have anywhere to change their child they'd have to have to do their thing in the accessible loo and then go to a non accessible loo to change their child.

It does annoy me when people use the , oh but that would have happened if another disabled person was using it.
that is not the point of the thread, but it does point out that disabled people already have very limited facilities compared to able bodied. So why make it worse by making it shared with the baby change as well.