Tried three places for lunch today and none cater for women

It’s you who needs to try harder not the OP, you’ve completely missed the point.

Glad I read all Ops updates. Certainly isn't clear from the opening post. You need to re-word and try again, I'm afraid.

Sorry this has happened

Im not in a wheelchair but when looked after baby niece a few weeks back it dawned on me quite how many cafes were inaccessible for a pushchair !
No ramps and steps up - no escalators / lifts in shops with upstairs areas .
Very poor !

OP your point was very clear, it was an excellent analogy. You even wrote at the end of your post, “a day in the life of disabled people”. Clearly really poor comprehension skills on display.

Sorry you have to deal with this.

It wasn't. Try harder next time.

Weird

Oh you were being silly. Sorry, didn’t get it!

I was so confused at first! But totally get your point, it’s really not on! Sorry you have to deal with this.

From the amount of negative answers you’ve received it’s clear that the point was badly made and most of us didn’t have a clue what you were talking about. Now you’re being argumentative with anyone that disagrees! I’d have been full of sympathy and outrage for you, had it been more obvious what you were complaining about. Now I just find you annoying!

There are some idiots on here. I understood your post OP, and understood the analogy.

Oddly relatable... I was in Selfridge's and followed the sign for the disabled toilet. It turns out that it was along a corridor marked as the Men's toilet. And indeed, just before the open doorway of the Gents was a toilet facility for disabled folk. I did wonder if I needed a penis to use it, but some kindly menfolk assured me that it wasn't actually in the Gents itself. I felt very strange walking back surrounded by men who were still drying hands or doing up their flies though!

If Accessibility means having to go through a kitchen or have to do some undignified action — it's not Accessible. I suspect those dining destinations were happy to serve you outside in the freezing cold to be "accessible".

I’ve never been anywhere that didn’t have toilet facilities for both sexes!

Are you an architect who has experience and knowledge of adaptations for listed buildings?
You could make an absolute fortune for all the advice you can give about the 'plenty things' that can be done. I'm sure you could do so even just from the businesses in Edinburgh Old Town!

Exactly. They don’t have to be a listed building for any alterations to be difficult/impossible/not financially viable. They may rent the premises and not be allowed to make alterations. They may open direct onto a pavement and not have space to put a ramp in. It may not be structurally safe to knock a bigger doorway out. 🤷‍♀️

I am sorry and I agree it must be bad always having to think about stuff like this. Dd has coeliac disease and from an eating out pov it is comparable in that there are places we can’t go to. Sometimes we don’t know till we get there. Normally we have to plan ahead. Any trip to a new town involves much searching of trip advisor or coeliac fb groups for advice.

Because many, many buildings that are not new were built in such a way that it’s impossible to add a disabled toilet, or their only facilities are upstairs. I can’t do stairs as my knees are knackered. If I were going somewhere new, I would check in advance the stair situation to avoid a futile journey. Similarly, my DH would check the menu for food he can eat - he’s a very fussy eater, coeliacs might check, vegans etc.
What do you suggest for such establishments?

I'm so confused too
I didn't even know there's restaurants cafes around where just men are permitted ✨🤔🙏

I haven’t RTFT and I’m sorry you had access problems.

But I don’t think your analogy quite works.

Women are half the population and there would be no justifiable reason to deny them access.
People who use wheelchairs, on the other hand, while of course having the same rights as everyone else, have a unique set of needs that can’t always be catered for, especially in old buildings.

Are you suggesting old buildings should never be used as cafes or restaurants? Or that everyone not accessible should be knocked down and rebuilt?

If I went into my local town I would find many old buildings that could not cater for disabled access. It’s often not their fault.

It took me a bit to twig but once I got it I realised YANBU.

I really hope the Deputy Prime Minister doesn't read this! 🦖

OP, I found it confusing because there are plenty of venues in the world where you'd be denied entry for being female and on the internet no one knows where you're located. YANBU to point out the problem of lack of accessibility (and lack of transparency where there is insufficient accessibility).

Wow, @Mrsmunchofmunchington you have wildly overestimated that we would immediately think ah yes this isn’t about men but disabled access. This is a cunning poster indeed.

I’m really sorry you’ve had a shit day and the access you needed wasn’t in place; I agree in an ideal world you wouldn’t have to phone ahead. But we live in a country where there are a lot of things that still need to be put right. Calling ahead would have been the way to go to ensure you could get inside to eat.

Yep, the "you are unreasonable for expecting parity" types are alive and kicking.

Missing the point entirely.

Yes my gran and her gaggle of ladies likes spoons

It would seem not. Generally most don't actually even think of disabled people.

lol best description mn ever

No, it wasn’t a magic bullet to ensure everyone read it. People read and respond to all sorts of guff on here!