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, just tO be clear. It's ok to leave your child in holiday department as nothing ever..... Oh wait! Sorry it's ok to let your child play at the local park alone because nothing ever..... Hmmm nope still doesn't work. You can tell me as many times as you want that my childte
Probably will be ok if I leave them unattended outside the toilet but I'm still not sold.
I hate, absolutely hate, that this has been turned into them or us situation. Why does my concern ( whether it's Ott or not, hey maybe I'm a bit OCD about my children's safety) turn me into someone that is deliberately trying to make others life more difficult. I'm not, neither am I trying to make mines easier. I just can't leave my kids unattended, guess in just but that way. Fwitw I have walked past/away from shops/cages/etc that I felt could not safely accommodate my family.
On the bus thing, well may not be popular but should the mother and children get off in the rain? If possible of course I would move/fold buggy but sometimes that would not be enough. Is my family less entitled to travel because we are able bodied?

Do you know, detaching the car seat from the chassis of the buggy honestly never occurred to me, I will definitely try to do that in the future.

kneedeep Yes, your family is less entitled to travel in the wheelchair space because you are able bodied. If you can't manage to fold your buggy and sit in a regular space then yes, should should get off in the rain.

This is not unfair, And the reason for that it that:
you can sit in a regular seat and you can walk home/get a taxi/another bus/drive/get a train etc etc

and a person in a wheelchair cannot wheel/get a taxi/another bus etc?

nailak it's a hell of alot harder yes. Many disabled people are operating at the edges of their capability just to do everyday essentials, so they really NEED the extra 'disabled' stuff. It doesn't just make life easier, it makes life possible.

For me, if I had tried to go out & use a bus the journey would be planned to the nth degree as it would be testing my physical limits massively & if someone decided to refuse me a seat or disabled space then it would probably tip me over into illness & extreme pain / incapacity for days after.

It would be the difficulty & strain of getting on, waiting whilst being refused help, & getting off a bus, then trying to call for or hail a cab, waiting, strain of getting into & out of cab... Etc etc. Then the cost of childcare and extra carers if I was incapacitated in the days after, & the cancelling of plans, like planning to go to work, to cuddle my son, to eat dinner... And then not wanting to try & go out again as other people make life too difficult, then read an article demeaning that disabled people are often isolated & trapped in their own homes...

Not quite as easy as someone else you see.

Bemoaning not demeaning - autocorrect strikes again

TFL have just re-issued their policy on wheelchairs and buggies on buses to remind drivers not to drive off if buggy users refuse to clear the wheelchair space, and to remind buggy users that they may need to fold them if a wheelchair needs the space.

The position with using the space on buses, or sitting on certain seats on the bus or tube, is clear: anyone can use them, but if someone comes along who need is greater then you have to move.

Maybe there needs to be more clarity about accessible loos: either they are never for use by anyone who doesn't strictly need them; or they can be used, but disabled customers get priority.

Knee deep you fold the buggy - then stand. If you have a baby who can't stand then you sit with that baby on your lap. It's not rocket science . For the handful of times you really can't find space to stand then hopefully another passenger would help out. That must be almost never anyway. If you really can't manage it then yes get off the bus, you have a wider choice of buses you can use anyway.

I do wish bus drivers would get stroppier with people who won't move buggies.

Nailak - many wheelchair users can only use certain buses or taxis. They do not have the wide range of choice that those of us with ooh these marvellous things called legs have. And whilst I can easily walk a couple of miles (which is what I used to do with a buggy to avoid bus hoo hah) many wheelchair users cannot just wheel a couple of miles.

Did you genuinely not know that? (Ttry kerbs in a wheelchair) - not all wheelchair users are paralympians (and many of the struggle with public transport - the tube is completely out if bounds for many). Being in a wheelchair isn't like having whizzy little legs you know? Or like being in a buggy - wheelchairs ate often extremely heavy for starters.

Many of those - have a google - there were newspaper articles around at the time by medal winners saying how great it was to actually be able to use the tube.

oh ffs there is one wheelchair space on a bus, just one
so of course anyone not in a wheelchair using it should move for a wheelchair. tis so simple.

You would think so wouldn't you threesocks

The few times I have got a bus with DS I have put the pram down while waiting to get on. That way it causes no issues for anyone (other than finding somewhere to put the pram!). Having read some of the threads on here in the past I do wonder if bus companies need to stop admitting prams (other than SN prams of course) unless they are already collapsed to stop any issues for wheelchair users getting on.

I recently had to take DD to A&E via a bus, no car and no car seat to take a cab. Three buses later I was finally able to get on a bus. No other pram/wheelchair but a lady asleep/passed out in the priority area with a rather vicious looking dog standing guard.

A wheelchair would get priority over a pram IMO...but a dog?! That pissed me right off. But then thats now what I expect from London public transport.

Not read entire thread no need, it will contain the usual shite

NO IT IS NEVER OK!! to use a disabled loo! you are NOT disabled you just have a baby/child! pisses me off that people are so fucking selfish! it is not ok for me to wait outside for you to finish while my daughter pisses her pants!

oh fucking hell have read the last few posts, i see this has moved onto the idiots that dont know how to fold a buggy.....dont tell me i bet there are others here that cant possibly walk across a car park in the rain too??

So its right that my 36 week pregnant friend using a Double buggy with her 15 month old and 30 month old gets kicked off a full bus because a wheelchair needed? She did btw and had to struggle up a very steep hill. She may be able bodied but she was still 'in need' of that space on the bus.

At least she could struggle to get up a steep hill,a disabled person in a wheelchair would find it nigh on impossible,how does it compare.

Yes banana it was right - pregnant or not she can still walk ( and I've fine third pregnancy with two young kids - it's horrible for a few weeks )
Wheelchair takes priority over buggy. And pregnant or not she's still a lot more mobile than many wheelchair users.

Yes its right, while appreciate its not an easy position for her to be in, it is her choice., the disabled person needing the space didnt have that luxury did they?

It is possible to understand that of course a person who uses a wheelchair should get priority over a space designed specifically for them WITHOUT sounding like an unsympathetic bitch. Some people might want to give it a little try.

And yes, I will gladly move my pram or fold it, whatever. And i wouldnt use a disabled toilet unless told to by staff. But saying that the woman in the above situation (being pregnant) should just count her blessings is a bit much.

I don't think its a case of counting her blessing but a case of having to appreciate that although she finds her position a bit tough there are other people who are in a much worse position than her and they get priority for the space designed for them.

Now the person in a wheelchair may well see her and think "actually this woman needs the space more than me" and decide to wait but that is their choice to make. Nobody else should make that choice for them

Exactly, Easilybored. and personally, I think someone in advanced stages of pregnancy (who quite possibly is suffering from hip and other joint problems, and where something like a strenuous walk could trigger early labour) is essentially temporarily disabled. Doesn't mean that she shouldn't move the buggy, probably with assistance from others to manage that, but to say that she chose to get pregnant so she can lump it is unfair.

And yet, everyone on this thread is trying to make that choice!

I wouldn't want anyone who needs the space to feel guilty about using it. But can't the rest of us be a bit more sympathetic to the fact that whilst you may not have a disability, it is possible for your situation to be really shit too?

It just seems like if you don't get up in arms about someone using a disabled toilet, then you must hate disabled people, or not understand how difficult life must be etc. when that just isn't the case.

But it was her choice,being disabled is not a choice.