to politely decline to use the disabled loo?

[MsIngaFewmarbles]

I was waiting in a long queue for the loo in a coffee chain and saw a lady with crutches head into the disabled toilet. She came out while I was still queueing. Another lady further back in the queue caught my eye and offered for me to go in first. I declined saying that I wasn't disabled so wasn't entitled to use it. She then countered away to her friends telling them that she was going to use it as 'it was the law' that if it wasn't being used you could use it. I couldn't face an argument so just ignored her. It's still bothering me that I should have said something to her and corrected her.

It's fine to use it IMO as long as you are quick. No hanging about in front of the mirror reapplying makeup etc.

So it would be fine for the whole queue just to nip in one after the other?

We need to look at whole picture not just"I'll only be a minute so that's fine".

Yanbu I would have stayed in the queue waiting too.

It is accessible to all dawndonnagain- anyone can use them

DawnDonna, just to clarify, if it's one of those loos marked men/women/disabled I presume it ok for all to use? I've always thought it was fine, but I'm happy to be schooled if not.

I wouldn't use a loo marked just disabled.

I don't know why I bother posting on these threads as they are so regular and some people just don't get it no matter how many times you say it, but hey ho...

So, first dozen or so replies basically along lines of....if there's no one in it I would use it, I would only be a minute.

If you are using it, someone may come along who is disabled and who NEEDS it not just wants it. Yes, you may be a minute, but a dozen replies...a dozen people doing it...you are occupying the toilet and you shouldn't be.

I have posted about this before when I went camping this year, one disabled toilet which had a shower in it too. Over three days, EVERY SINGLE time I went, there was someone in it. Not disabled as they always said "oh sorry i wasn't a minute/little jonny couldn't wait/we've been waiting for ages for the other one...." Etc Etc etc.

Please take a minute to consider. As a wheelchair user, I cannot access "normal" toilets, it also takes me longer for obvious reasons to get undressed so a wait can cause problems, I cannot use a toilet without grab handles, extra space. Presumably those of you who aren't disabled, can do so. So please ...if you want the disabled toilet, you can take my disability.

Why would you make someone's life harder than it needs to be (when it's difficult enough) when you don't need to? Selfish. But no doubt I will be shouted down. Please think about it though.

These threads make me cry. Whilst you are having your quick pee a disabled user may just turn up. Okay, I accept that there may be a disabled person using it, and accidents may occur, but why the fuck would you want to increase the chances of an accident happening. You're able to use a loo that a person with disabilities may not be able to use. So, there you are, with a small queue for ten cubicles, and there is my dd in an unnecessary queue for the ONE accessible lavatory.
Selfish, selfish, selfish and rude.

Whether "it's not illegal to use them" or "anyone CAN use them" the fact remains if everyone used them there would never be a free toilet for those who can only use them.

Who may suffer issues from waiting. Like my DD.

So maybe people CAN but life is about more than that. I CAN shove folk out of a queue in a shop and go first but I don't.

Also some people use the disabled toilet because they cannot queue for whatever reason- perhaps they have a condition causing extreme urgency or a learning disability that means they do not understand queuing, waiting for the toilet could mean they have an accident or become extremely distressed. Fair enough if the toilet is occupied by someone who is entitled to use it, but very annoying if it was somebody who could have waited for a regular toilet.

It is accessible to all dawndonnagain- anyone can use them
A loo marked specifically for the disabled is an accessible loo for those with disabilities. That's it. It isn't accessible for all, it isn't designated as such, and has never been so. So, unless it has a sign that it's accessible for all, or also included a baby change area, it ain't for the likes of anyone who doesn't bloody need it.

Those people using disabled toilets when they don't need to are probably those selfish twats using a blue badge space with no blue badge...after all you will only be a minute, no one is in it etc etc.

If you wouldn't think of using a BB space, why use a disabled toilet when you don't require it? Exactly the same principles.

Disabled loos aren't designed to ensure a person with disabilities doesn't have to wait. They are just accessible

When you are getting planning etc for a business which requires a certain number of loos, the disabled loo is part of the total. So if a bar with capacity for 100 needs 10 loos, 2 can be disabled and 8 normal. That's still the amount they need for 100 people, disabled or not.

It's nice to ensure you always have a private accessible loo available but that's not the idea behind them

Because there is plenty of parking, there aren't always plenty of loos. Why on earth would you queue with. 30 women (interval at the theatre maybe) and leave the disabled loo unused?

well done op
and I mean that

YANBU. More hoards of entitled people.

Sorry some of you have to deal with this kind of crap.

I wouldn't use them usually. I got directed to use them at the (very small) airport by a member of staff a little while ago because the ladies were out of order.
It made me think of MN. I'm still not sure whether I should have or not. I never found out if that was the only ladies that side of customs but it may well have been.

Because Serenity, what if everyone took that viewpoint? Then the person in real need of the accessible toilet wouldn't be able to use it.

It's really not a hard concept to grasp.

it is on mn

Serenitysutton there's more to life than practicality.

Why on earth would you queue with. 30 women (interval at the theatre maybe) and leave the disabled loo unused?

For the many reasons stated above.

As for your reasons with regard to disabled loos, you're wrong. Sorry, the numbers game is an irrelavancy. They are part of the legislation, but they were and are built in most cases, to be accessible to those with disabilities, not as a free for all.

Sorry piss you're right there to be honest

I'm off to bed.

Kudos to those who look further than end of their nose and "we are entitled to use it"

The others..don't surprise me.

All of the toilets at work are disabled accessible. Does that mean I can't use them??

This is why I HATE when baby change is in the disabled loo, I always feel so guilty

Serenitysutton..fighting hard for the right of people with no disablities to use the disabled toilet . How worthy