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?

Ok so in Costa for example, there is one toilet with a wheelchair sign with a baby changer and no other loos. Where does mn stand on that?

Don't be obtuse.

Just use a cup, amary.

Everyone has said that if there is a baby changer in there then it is ok to go in to change your baby. And if it is the only toilet then obviously it is intended to be multi use and anyone can use it!!

Head explodes.

Can I just point out that disabled toilets aren't just needed for those in wheelchairs. Ds1 doesn't need an accessible toilet but he needs to be accompanied in the toilet (he has severe autism and severe learning disabilities). Many of the young people we know are still in nappies. Try changing a male 15 year olds nappy in the ladies.

In ds1's case he doesn't care where he goes. If he's with me alone I'll look for a disabled toilet if either of us needs to go so he can come in with me. If it's full I try to make him wait, but he doesn't really understand that do will shout, bash on the door and hit himself. If it's someone with a buggy I don't really care, but I'd here another disabled person to feel rushed. So of it gets too bad we go in the ladies

If ds2 is with me (he's 10) he'll take ds1 into the gents but I don't like doing that as ds1 can't really cope if he kicks off. Ds3 at 7 is too young to take him in - he's half his height for starters.

Do point of this is some disabilities make waiting difficult and don't tut if you see a teenager in the ladies - it's through lack of choice.

Sorry ds2 can't cope if ds1 kicks off and I would hate another disabled person to feel rushed.

Maybe we should start using staff toilets, in many of the shops I have worked in they are a largish single cubicle, perfect. Oh, hang on, they aren't intended for shoppers to use, maybe that would be wrong.

This thread feels like a different world to the one I live in!

5 children over 8 years and I have never taken a second out of my day to worry about this.

If i am out and need a wee and have the buggy with me. I go in park the buggy outside the cubicle, go in the cubicle shut the door and have a wee. I had no idea that this was so frowned upon. Its how I remember my mum doing it and im sure that everyone I know also does this.

If I am on a bus and a wheelchair is waiting to get on - i get up i fold the buggy I move to a different seat. I have NEVER come across any problem with this.

I feel like I need to open my eyes to a whole world of problems now.

Oh I also dont buy special tiny buggies I buy whatever buggy I need in general (as i walk more than i use the bus) so at the moment I have phil and teds - not small but it folds and I have folded it on a bus.

so between .yself, mrsdevere and 5dcinneed we have 15 children left in pushchairs outside of a cubicle whilst their parent nips in and has a wee...not one has bern abducted by aliens!!!

ditto.to folding up pushchairs, currently have a nipper 360, have also had a phil and teds and a bugaboo, have managed to fold all when necessary on a bus, occassionaly i have asked someone on the bus to hold my shopping or even my baby if i needed help, suprisingly all five of my children have survived this so far.

It's a miracle!

I have managed 3 under 4 in a cubicle - 1 on the floor on a mat, one on my lap and one passing me the loo paper.

When we came out,people must have thought the toilet was the tardis.

Add my two, when in buggies. So 17. DS walks now and squooshes in with me.

i tend to leave baby in pushchair and ones under age 5 that were walking came in with me. once 5ish, depending on the child, i could trust them to stand outsude the cubicle whilst i nipped in.

at least when they were in buggies they were trapped. DS is 3 now and loves opening toilet doors... shame he always does it when i am mid wee!

yes ds4 is a pita for that. or for exclaiming loudly 'mummy are you having a poo' or even worse saying something loudly about 'mummy bleeding' or one time recently someone in the next cubicle did a rather loud fart and he commented on that!! much better to leave them outside the cubicle when you can

Twas fun getting DS2's wheelchair in the ladies today because the disabled was full.

Never mind, he didn't piss all over the garden centre.

Still at least the buggy user wasn't inconvenienced.

Glitter do you not get it? disabled people should not expect to be able to use disabled facilities. even if they end up in pain or very wet.
mums must be given priority withe their bugies
bugies are more important always

I have a dd 7yrs who is a full time wheelchair user. We have waited patiently outside a disabled toilet (which was in use) next to 2 women chatting over a buggy and 2 other toddlers. When the toilet door was opened and out came a woman with a buggy one of the ladies grabbed a kid and ran in saying to her "we'll go for a coffee before hitting the shops again" ..... I was fuming.... They had no consideration for the little girl who really really wishes she could use a normal toilet so we wouldn't have to then plan ALL our activities around the 1 toilet she can use as there are so many normal ones! If I hadn't spoken up then the third lady was about to tag team herself in too!

Also we don't tend to hang around outside a disabled toilet because we end up blocking the corridor so we walk away slightly and distract dd and then go back a few minutes later. If everyone with a buggy uses the excuse that its empty and they promise to only take a minute then sooner or later there will be queues for the disabled toilet too.

So please bear that in mind before using them it may be the easier and safer option for you but for the disabled person it is there only option....

I have wondered what will happen when ds is older, and still in a buggy, the mountain buggy we have now goes up to age 5 - and I am aware that when people look at ds they will just see a big boy in a buggy. I wonder if there is a sticker I can put on it that lets people know he is disabled and that is why he is still in a buggy, and why it may not be so easy to fold up if we get the bus, or why we may need to use the disabled toilet.

Oh hazeyjane, that makes me so sad, not sad at you but sad at a society that would make you feel you need to use a sticker to justify your child's needs. I can understand why you feel that way but it's wrong that you are made to.

Hazey, when people have challenged me for using disabled spaces and spat that dd "doesn't look disabled" I tend to reply that unfortunately her 'Pity Me I'm A Cripple' t shirt is in the wash.

How sad, that such a thing might actually be helpful in some situations. People are just CRAP, aren't they?

And yes, when she three and still in a buggy people would comment. "She should be walking, she's being lazy". Oh do fuck off.