Was I BU to use the disabled toilet?

[Unplastered]

At a local national trust place today, just me with Dd age 6 and baby in his pram.
The baby change unit in the loos is just in the main area, there's a long row of (tiny) cubicles and a large disabled loo with a sink in.
Dd and I both needed the loo, there was nobody around, so I took both kids in the disabled loo.
As we came out there was a woman approaching the loos on a crutch. She hadn't been waiting - she was just approaching as we exited. She told me, sharply, that I shouldn't have used that loo, the baby changing wasn't in there. I said I knew that, we hadn't needed to use it, just wanted a bigger cubicle so as not to leave the baby outside. She replied it didn't make any difference as none of us was disabled.
Was I BU to use the disabled loo?

MrsB yes it definitely is

Ibs sufferers are entitled to use any toilet even staff shop ones as they carry a card explaining, also should have a radar key as well

Truffle I have RTFT thanks, I am disabled and use said toilets, just hate the use of 'disabled toilets' as a term when being correct it's an accessible toilet! Non disabling language being my preferred options thanks

Accessible does not = free for all though, Adara.

Adara, I think you're being a tad unfair. Whilst many of us do prefer the non disabling language, under the circumstances, perhaps it would have been fairer to state your case when you first posted. I agree accessible toilet is a better term, but when dealing with the hard of thinking, it's not always easy to get them to recognise that it doesn't mean them.

Beyond, this is also my tactic.

My usual explanation is 'it's an accessible toilet, not a disabled one, if was disabled toilet it wouldn't work very well!' Which alth is correctly understood as tongue in cheek with my friends / family, would likely have got me lunges in here, but hell, I'll go for it anyway!
I wasnt implying it was a free for all at all truffles, just a language usage big bear of mine I suppose you could say

Linched even!

(Ps anyone else now getting ads at top of screen for (non accessible!) portable toilets?! )

Sorry Adara, it's just you said "They're accessible toilets, not disabled toilets!", which a lot of people had just been saying before you to try and reason that accessible = for anyone.

Arad - yes! Obviously the solution to the whole issue - portable toilets!

Where do I get an IBS toilet card?

Anyone who doesn't care that they might make a human being soil/wet themselves is a selfish twunt in my eyes. There is more than one option when using a toilet for a pram, there are almost ZERO options for some people with bladder and bowel conditions.

^using a toilet with^ a pram.

Google is your friend MrsBo
www.theibsnetwork.org/what-we-offer/cant-wait-card/

truffles no worries, was just lazy typing on my part!

here Mrs B

I don't know if anyone has mentioned this yet.

I am epileptic. Disabled but able bodied. I use the disabled toilet, not for accessibility, but for the emergency cord were something to happen to me.

She WBU to argue with you, because as far as she knows, you could also have a disability.

Thank you for those links. I may never need them, but my condition has the potential for it to be the case. Good to know in advance rather than have the worry about how the hell I will manage and then have to find out.

Whether you right or wrong is beside the point. She was a 'judgey cow' and had no right to challenge you; she knew nothing of your abilities!!!!!

I get the not being judgmental about hidden disabilities, I really do.
But the OP has stated that was not the case. My responses are based on that.
She was BU to use it.

why can't disabled people wait

start here sobadass.me/2015/02/17/to-the-woman-who-tutted-at-me-using-the-disabled-toilets/

I copied & pasted the following:

There is nothing in the DDA to mandate accessible toilet facilities being exclusively for use by people with disabilities – so long as in high use areas there are sufficient numbers of accessible facilities to give users with disabilities equivalent convenience of access."

"Or to put it another way, nothing wrong (at least legislatively) with using them for short periods if all other toilets are in use or you need them for a temporary disability, but if you insist on using them purely because you like them better, then don't be suprised if in the future legislation requires every toilet be made accessible, which will mean you will be paying for it.

It's really not fair that a person in a wheelchair has to sit & wait for you to finish while there are half a dozen other toilets available to you & not them.

Or maybe the person in the wheelchair should just go into the normal toilet & empty the urine from their leg bag into the hand washing sink?"

So if you (as a fully-abled person) want to use the toilet; and the "fully-abled" toilets are occupied (or otherwise unavailable e.g. for cleaning or maintenance), and the "disabled" toilet is unoccupied then it is neither illegal nor immoral for you to use the "disabled" toilet. Especially if you are quick and there is no disabled person in sight!

The DDA doesn't exist anymore and hasn't for quite some years.

I work in a public venue and we have disabled loos. They are accessible toilets. Which means you can use them. It just means that should you be waiting and a disabled person require them, common sense and common courtesy asks that you give the disabled person preference. And we don't demand people "explain their disability" - sometimes it's not obvious!!

Genuine question for parents of disabled children.
If you are out shopping with a child who is a wheelchair user and you need the loo but the child doesn't do you use the disabled toilet and take your child in with you or do you prop a door open and leave the wheelchair outside a normal cubicle (presuming the toilet block is accessable)
I have a child who is a wheelchair user by the way so I know what I do but just wondered what general opinion is on the acceptable actions in this situation.