to have told off colleague for using disabled toilet

[loopsylala]

I have a disability and often can't get into the toilet at work as its being used by people changing clothes etc.

I mentioned it to hr who put a sign up but that's been removed.

Just caught someone using it. I asked if he was disabled, he said no but that the other toilets are sometimes full. I said that didn't matter, as he shouldn't be using the disabled toilet.

I'm worried now I will get into trouble. I've complained about this so many times and don't want to be seen as a trouble maker or that it's "my" toilet.

I hate confrontation and want to get on with my colleagues.

Could I have handled it better?

All staff toilets at my work are disabled toilets. By the reasoning here I cannot go to the loo at work!

why on earth would you post something like that?

So 60 people must share 3 toilets, 20 people to 1 facility, while you get one just for you...and unless anyone else can verify to you -their colleague - that they have a disability, they aren't welcome to use "your" toilet?

If you have to ask somebody at work whether they are Disabled or not, it means they haven't chose to disclose any possible disability with you. So you have no right ask- even if you are the self-elected Toilet Police.
My DS has a hidden disability, i sometimes have to accompany him to public bathrooms. If any self-entitled busybody asked me if either of us was disabled, I'd hit the roof.

Because if you look on the first page someone I forget who pointed out that accessible toilets are included in the number of toilets required in a building given the number of people who work there irrespective of the number of disabled people. So if planning laws include them then obviously they're intended for use by everyone. If the accessible toilets were just for disabled people surely the planning laws would specify a number of toilets and then an additional number of accessible toilets.

You lot are crazy.

OP YANBU. Mayyybe to have asked them, but the rest no.

MN stinks at the moment.
STINKS

Yes okay I am fucking off.

So 60 people must share 3 toilets, 20 people to 1 facility, while you get one just for you...and unless anyone else can verify to you -their colleague - that they have a disability, they aren't welcome to use "your" toilet? angry

She never said it was hers. Take a breath.

A close friend of mine often finds herself in this situation-on the surface she looks like a completely healthy, beautiful young woman, so she is frequently judged by total strangers who think she shouldn't be using the disabled toilet/priority seat on the tube or whatever.

These days, she's taking to lifting her top up to reveal her colostomy bags if anyone actually has the gall to confront her about it. Usually shuts them up.

YABU, i use the disabled toilet all the time when the ladies is busy.

wandering it is people like hanwillis and others on this thread with the same attitude who lead to people who do need to use the facility being (wrongly!) judged because so many use it when they don't have a need

Haven't read the whole thread but op you have my sympathy. It must be frustrating. Could you ask for the disabled loo to be accessible only by means of a special key that should be issued to those with disabilities including hidden ones. What if op needed the loo in a hurry and couldn't access it due to an able bodied person getting changed in there. That's not reasonable. Hope you manage to get this resolved.

The colleague said he wasn't disabled - he could still have a condition which means he needs to use the accessible loo but which he personally does not consider a disability.

Not at all. We have 5 toilets at work for 200 people. 1 of them is disabled / accessible. If people only used the 4 without the hand rail while leaving the accessible one free all day then it would be silly tbh. At peak times i see no issue with using it as there has never been someone waiting to use it. People just use it when the others are busy.

In this Planningportal document it doesn't say that accessible toilets are free for all. It won't let me copy and paste so I've taken a screenshot. It's page 53 on the document, point 5.9.

As I said earlier, the sign/allocation just means it has been made accessible, not that it is solely reserved for people with a disability. So able bodied people can and should use it, if there are no other loos free.

OPs situation is different, she has colleagues who are refuting the designation of a disabled loo. That is an HR issue that needs to be addressed until their abuse stops.

Any of the other claptrap here is just silliness, taken to the usual MN extremes.

Conversley it doesn't say others cant use it. Moo point.

Could you ask for the disabled loo to be accessible only by means of a special key that should be issued to those with disabilities including hidden ones.

baby this is why you should read the thread (or at least the op's posts). The toilet had s lock fitted and only those miners of staff with disabilities were given keys. The op claims people are picking the lock t use the disabled toilet.

Genuine Question: Do the same rules apply to Disabled/ Accessible toilets, that apply for disabled or priority seating on public transport?
I think the sign on buses says, "These seats are free to use, but designated for priority use by elderly and disabled passengers. Please respectfully vacate your seat if it is needed".
So you are welcome to use the seating, just be prepared to vacate it if asked to, or you see by the passengers getting on that you should.
If you were asked by a seemingly able bodied person if they could sit down, you wouldn't ask them, "Are you disabled?" would you. You'd just presume their need is greater than yours at that moment in time, and give up the seat with no problem.

My point is, if I went to the disabled bathroom with my disabled son, and waited while someone else was finishing, i would presume they also had a need for it too- just they needed it 5 minutes earlier than we had done. It would be massively intrusive to question them on their personal life, to see if their need trumps my DS's.

I'm of the 'pick your battles wisely' when it comes to work, I think you have been a little petty, OP, you could have just waited, as all of us have to sometimes to use the loo. I save my office beef for real issues.

Therefore, YABU

FanjofortheMammaries I have no idea what your comment to me was about on page 5. I haven't argued for healthy people using accessible toilets at all.

"YABU, i use the disabled toilet all the time when the ladies is busy."

and there is the problem

i wonder who will start a thread about this next.....we had one only yesterday

Yanbu about people getting changed in the accessible loo but YABVU about questioning a colleague as I'm sure you now realise.

However you and HR need to find out if the accessible loos were included in the calculations of loos per worker or if they are supernumerary. If they aren't supernumerary then I think you and HR (who haven't covered themselves in glory do far) are on very dodgy ground by insisting only those who are registered disabled can use the loo.

I am curious as to why people are so keen on using the disabled access toilet that they will go to the trouble of picking the lock.

Is there some problem with the other toilets that hasn't been mentioned?

Is there some problem with the other toilets that hasn't been mentioned?

From what OP has said there is simply not enough of them.
30 people all fighting for 2 cubicles whilst the disabled is reserved for the glorious keyholder... all one of them..

I am curious as to why people are so keen on using the disabled access toilet that they will go to the trouble of picking the lock.

I suspect the op is stretching the truth for dramatic effect...

How do you know he doesn't have Crohn's?

He was under absolutely no obligation to reveal his disability status to you and you could end up in trouble for discriminating against someone with a disability.

Yes making someone with an invisible disability feel uncomfortable due to behaviour related to their disability is discrimination.

You sound very egocentric OP.