Using disabled loo during period leakage

[moutonfou]

Using the disabled loo if there's a long queue and you're leaking blood - reasonable or unreasonable?

Not done it but was in the situation and luckily there was no queue - wondered what I would have done if there'd been one.

I can't imagine a period so heavy it was a 'toilet emergency'

I've just had an extreme period following a miscarriage. I wouldn't have been able to wait to long for the use of a loo.

Theres a sink in the disabled cubicle so you can clean up in privacy. Much better than using the communal area.
I'm disabled. I wouldnt have judged you.

YANBU. Needs must and you were very much in need and- as reported above, a biohazard. I've had this before when working at St Pancras station with a heavy period. No staff loo and was covered in my own blood as I'd had a flash flood. It was summer, so v obvious on bare legs. I was at work and was worried about being out my shop for too long as I was in charge and the loo queue was huge! I felt quite guilty, but less so after this thread.

Imo disabled/accessible toilets are for those who are disabled or need more room to assist a disabled person.

Complete common sense bypass here....

So the current, actual and urgent need of one person (the woman with a heavy bleed), is trumped by the potential and probably not so urgent need of another person (the disabled person), just because it's been designated a disabled loo....

BTW, for those on extremely heavy periods, ibuprofen can reduce it greatly. It has to be maxed out and taken at regular times, since just before it starts. It's fantastic.
It's a "good" thing I also have bad pain, which starts shortly before the period, so I have a warning it's coming.

Same with toddler about to soil themselves. Try to get given priority at the regular loo, first.

Surely if you have a toddler about to pee or poo, you just get them anywhere asap... no time to push through queue, politely ask other members of queue, and then wait until next door opens. Not ideal, this is the real world!

I don't have to imagine either. Many a pair of knickers, pants, tights and skirts have been ruined, despite doubling up on super plus tampons and pads.

Flows like that tend to be exceptionally painful too, and I need the bars to hold on to because I can just about hold myself up.

It can come on very very quickly too.

Good old endo

YANBU
Tbh if there is no one disabled who is queuing I use it anyway if I'll be quick

Ibuprofen is contraindicated with some other common meds. It can cause liver failure to mix them.

They're not 'disabled toilets' they're 'accessible toilets'. That stick wheelchair symbol doesn't mean it's for disabled people, it simply conveys this information:

With two exceptions the designated area will generally, but perhaps not wholly, be accessible someone in a wheelchair. The two exceptions are toilets and lifts (elevators). In those two cases the entire area designated by the symbol, and all the controls, equipment and appliances inside, are accessible to someone in a wheelchair.

—ISO 7001, but paraphrased because I don't have the precise wording to hand, but it's accurate.

It says nothing at all about who is or isn't entitled to use the facilities, it simply conveys information.

It's only a convention that if someone isn't disabled then they should use the 'normal' facilities in case someone who cannot use those, needs to use the toilet. That's all it is, a convention, although it's polite and considerate, it's not a rule still less is it a law. If someone with, for example, a child in a buggy, needs to use the toilet and can't get into a normal cubicle because of the child in the buggy, then that person is fully entitled to use the accessible toilet and no-one is entitled to complain. Anyone, disabled or not, is entitled to use an accessible toilet.

Your local council's disability policy officer will confirm this, you don't have to believe me. Or you can buy a copy of ISO 7001 for £££, and read about international road signs!

I think there should always be two 'accessible toilets' wherever possible. One radar key for wheelchair users/radar key holders, and one accessible toilet for other users in need.

Well I wouldn't. I can't imagine a period so heavy it was a 'toilet emergency'

Well you're spectacularly lacking in both imagination and empathy.

All manner of conditions can result in hideously heavy periods. I have one of them. I tend to be pretty much housebound for the first day/two days unless I can guarantee being less than 30 mins or near a loo

I should have thought that a disabled loo is designed and constructed for individuals who have special needs and who need a wider range of services supplied in a private, accessible environment.

If everything has just gone to hell in your knickers and there is or there is about to be blood everywhere, then you are going to need - at the very least - private access to water and a toilet at the same time. This sounds like you are an individual with special needs who needs a wider range of services supplied in a private, accessible environment, even if it is just a one-off.

It shouldn't be a competition about "my unique needs trump your unique needs".

At the risk of derailing, disabled loos and gendered-access loos would be a moot point if ALL loos were properly equipped individual private cubicles with proper walls and a sink and bin in each one, opening onto the main space (whatever it might be - school corridor, office) with the doors possibly shielded by a screen to every three doors (if that makes visual sense).

Myrtle You are so deluded! As a Blue Badge holder that's registered disabled and ALSO has such heavy periods I randomly can soak a towel at any point throughout the month with no notice! As can many women with gynae-related issues. Grow the F up!!!!!

I don't go along with this 'always leave the loo for a disabled person' if you are desperate or have a hidden disability. Disabled people cannot expect the loo to be vacant at any time they wish to use it- other disabled people may be in it.

Surely it's obvious? Delay due to another disabled person or person with greater need being in there: unavoidable and acceptable. Delay due to non-disabled person choosing to use it when they don't need to: entirely avoidable, therefore unacceptable.

And, by the way, a leaking blood emergency constitutes "greater need".

'You are so deluded! As a Blue Badge holder that's registered disabled and ALSO has such heavy periods I randomly can soak a towel at any point throughout the month with no notice! As can many women with gynae-related issues. Grow the F up'

I'm neither deluded or need to 'grow the fuck up'. Accessible toilets aren't for people who need to change their sanitary towels. imo.

Accessible toilets aren't for people who need to change their sanitary towels. imo

For a normal, period change then no, they're not.

But that's clearly NOT what is being discussed. A normal period is not comparible to bleeding from gynae issues

You've clearly never had a baby either!!!! 6 weeks of CONSTANT flow so bad that you have to wear adult flaming NAPPIES!!!! And that's everybody pretty much. Is even usually the case after miscarriages

Myrtle, I hope you never have problem periods at any point in your life. If you ever do though, you will soon realise what a stupid and ignorant remark that is.

Some of us flood heavily during a period, especially with certain medical conditions and approaching the menopause. Yes, it can truly resemble a haemorrhage. I can flood through super plus tampons in half an hour, through a super absorbent sanitary towel at the same time, soaking my clothes and trickling down my legs. It can definitely be classed as a toileting emergency.

Do you have even the remotest clue how gross, embarrassing and mortifying it actually is when that happens?

Apologies if that last sentence came out a little insensitively. Don't want to upset anyone reading this.

I wouldn't judge you. Period leaks are distressing so no reasonable person would have a go at you if you apologised and explained that you'd had an emergency.

Myrtle don't be an idiot. It is an emergency if poor op is bleeding so heavily, its leaking, if it goes on the floor, a bio hazard. So you wpd rather her stand in a long queue, leaking over her clothes and be humiliated, then sort herself out discreetly in a safe confined space, where she can clean herself up in private, instead of staring people. You needs compassion and empathy bypass my dear!

'So the current, actual and urgent need of one person (the woman with a heavy bleed), is trumped by the potential and probably not so urgent need of another person (the disabled person),'

Yes. The 'potential need of a disabled person' always trumps someone changing sanitary protection. I thought most people would agree really.

The op said she was leaking blood, imo that could wait. There was no mention of medical emergencies. I don't like being accused of being a troll or a sociopath either for putting my point across very calmly.