to use a disabled toilet if I've got the buggy?

[MrsHelsBels74]

Pretty much as the thread title says, if you're out in public & need to loo but can't fit the buggy into a normal cubicle is it acceptable to take the buggy into the disabled toilet? I'd never use a disabled parking space but did this today in desperation. So, is it ok or still a no-no?

My children are bigger now but when they were little my shopping preferences were:

1. Shop with dh, a friend or family and take turns watching children and going to the toilet.
2. Carrying small un-walking person in a sling, using an umbrella folding buggy with toddler and folding it and bringing it (and child) in with me.
3. Making my shopping trips as quick as possible and having a wee/sort out mooncup before I left the house and holding until I got home (limiting drinks in the hours before).
4. Not go.

The disabled toilets weren't an option, they didn't occur to me as being in any sense available to me.

I was thinking of smaller places Panda - M&S, restaurants etc. Can't remember ever seeing a radar sign somewhere like that but I probably wouldn't notice.
It's down to economics isn't it - shops have to comply with accessibility laws by putting the facilities in. If they also put change stations I they make them accessible (and a positive bonus!) to a wider demographic, so more customers.
I will visit shops where I can fit the twin buggy next to the change station, 90 percent of the time that is in a shared disabled facility. Take that away, lose my (and probably loads if other parents') custom.

Also if the buggy is in the doorway then no-one can see much anyway. My buggy pretty much covers me waist-down(better if there's shopping on it) and i'm tall.

I would if desperate. There is no way I'd leave the kids outside.

My sister is deaf and registered disabled! Can see use the disabled loo's or not?

Its up to her conscience. If "only" deaf I don't see why she should though. Obviously if you dripfeed that she's a triple amputee as well then she can.

depends pippin, does she need to use the disabled loo because of her disability?
ds2 is severly disabled, if we can access the normal loos we use them and leave the disabled loo for those with greater need.

What did people with babies do before disabled toilets?

Probably ask a friendly looking old woman nearby to mind the baby.

exactly, its a child not a flippin disability ffs.

Do people really leave their babies on the pram outside thw cubicle? I'm pretty lax with my parenting, but the thought of doing that makes my heart race.

I go to the end cubicle park pushchair accross door, wee with door open. No shame, me.

JL side by side is PERFECT potty training toddler always manages to splash a wee out then. Also potty training toddler has no or little continence and needs help with clothes etc. whilst baby brother needs watching too. So yes, would use in our circs.

I must ask my mum. She managed 5 children without recourse to a disabled toilet, and none of us were ever abducted, although I did once get lost in the fish market, hence my hatred of fish. Ironically she is now disabled and therefore perfectly entitled to use the disabled loo.

The disabled toilet in John Lewis in Nottingham is locked and accessed by a radar key.

yes, leave the door ajar & leave the pram outside the cubicle.
There really isnt an army of childsnatching, pram stealing baddies lurking outside every cubicle door.
unless you are doing no2's then whats it going to be, a few seconds?

Lisa your disabled DD might have wet herself more than once waiting for abled person to vacate. But my abled DD has wet herself more than once waiting for a vacant toilet too.
Equality should work both ways.

Thanks Elle. I think it's been established that JL is the place to wee of choice for everyone!
(maybe that should be their next Christmas ad..)

I do this. I've done it in our local tesco, m&s, asda. Not BHS because you're not allowed to use their toilets unless you have an instore receipt.

Of course my sister uses the ladies not the disabled ones. But some people on here are saying only disabled people should use the disabled loo's.

In which case my sisters need is more than a mother with a pram and a unsettled baby who may be very upset at being left outside a toilet on its own! My sister thinks not!

Disabled toilet is disabled accessible not disabled exclusive.
If someone who were disabled was needing it, then they get first dibs, otherwise if it's the only one open we go in. Many times I've found it's where the baby change pull down table is located and not only disabled people have babies to change.

• my ds2 simply isnt able to queue. He always has to be at the back as he cannot cope with anyone standing behind him. So we would never reach the front of the queue.

He also has cerbral palsy so uses a wh/chair (although can walk) autism, severe sensory processing disorder, learning difficulties his conditions and muscle tone effect his ability to judge when he needs the loo & his ability to control. There is a big difference in a toddler pee than a very large 10yr old pee & explosive shits as he doesnt know whats coming. Yes equality should work both ways but disability comes in all shapes & sizes

Pippins I totally agree with you. I'm not speaking from personal experience but I think most disabled people prefer to be treated as everyone else.
Only a small minority require wheelchair access or the extra room and only a small minority of them would require a vacant loo immediately.
Which after 2 DCs, 10 lb-ers, I do too!

if we get to the loos & there is no queue i take ds2 in the normal loo.
the disabled loo should be used by those who really cant use the normal loo

By the way my sister will use the disabled loo very quickly if she is out with her baby, as she feels uncomfortable about leaving her outside a loo alone

It's selfish and wrong. It contributes to the confinement of disabled people. Most people do it anyway because most people are selfish and do not give the tiniest shit about people less able than they are. This is the same as with the buses.

Having children is not a disability. But these threads show over and over again that people just don't give a toss and will use them regardless. You can't really make people understand without breaking their arms and legs and giving them some laxatives and apparently that's frowned upon.