to use the disabled toilet in this situation?

[dolldaggabuzzbuzz]

I took mine and my sister's DCs for a nice day out to the cinema. There was just me and 4 kids aged between 3 and 5. After we bought our tickets I took them to the Ladies toilet, they were all engaged and there were a few people waiting.

I decided not to wait and took the DCs out to the disabled toilet as there was no one using or waiting for it. When we had all finished we were washing our hands when someone tried the door, one of the DCs had unlocked it and this woman in a wheelchair came in with her partner, I said I won't be a minute. She glared at me and muttered some things.

I was really embarrassed that I had been caught out using the disabled toilet and I wanted to apologise to the lady for keeping her waiting (for less than a minute!) but she was really, really angry. The DCs ran out in opposite directions and I quickly said sorry to the lady and as I walked off she screamed "Bitch!" at me. I never turned back to look at her. I don't think the DCs noticed anything!

I was so upset I couldn't get it out of my head throughout the film, and it ruined my day. I don't think what I did was that bad. I thought that woman was really horrible. AIBU?

Sorry, could not resist

Oh OK then

i am shocked by this thread. i read all of it on wednesday evening and the selfishness, ignorance, stupidity of some people was upsetting. i didnt post as it was 1am by the time i finished reading and the thread seemed to have ended.
i was busy yesterday so no mn time and was surprised to see this in active list today

i cannot believe that people find it ok to think they know what its like to live with a disability as they have worked with people who are disabled. as for the people who justify using a disabled loo because its nicer, want to breastfeed, have a buggy, want to use loo with child of the opposite sex, cant be bothered to wait

i am a mum and i am shocked that other mums/parents think its ok to bring their children up with such a sense of entitlement and without being considerate to others

i also think the posts against gemsy earlier on in the thread were like playground bullying. when people ask why she is still here, ponder this - it was tenacious people who fought for disabled loos and accessible buildings etc. why dont some of you mums turn your sense of entitlement into campaigning for loos that suit your needs?

Almost always when we take LO out we have to use a disabled toilet at some point because that's where the baby change units are and we have no other choice.

It's also quite often the only toilet large enough to take a pushchair into and so if one of us is out alone with LO and we have to use the loo, those are the cubicles we use, so we don't have to leave LO unattended or sit there with strangers watching us through an open door of a normal cubicle.

How does she know you or one of your party weren't disabled anyway? I have a friend who qualifies for a blue badge and who gets constant abuse because she isn't in a wheelchair, so people think she's not genuine.

Another friend has a disabled child and when she parks in the disabled bay she often gets told she's in the wrong bit, often quite rudely or agressively told to go to the parent and child spaces instead.

If there was no queue and you were as quick as possible then you were not being unreasonable.

That said, I once had to change LO in a restaurant and we had to wait outside for ages while six girls at a hen party did their makeup and made noisy calls on their mobiles from the only disabled/baby change cubicle in the place. They were being unreasonable. In the end I took LO back out to the restaurant area and changed him on some benches right by their table and one of their party asked me what I was playing at.

"I'm sorry. The only baby change cubicle is full of girls making phone calls and he's soaking, I've got no choice."

Just then the girls came out and one said "those are our seats!" and I shrugged and said "that was our cubicle", finished the nappy change and walked off. My DH said I should have left them with the dirty nappy (I think he was joking) but that might have been the step too far lol.