Using a disabled loo.....

[countrymousesussex]

This is a weird one that I’m genuinely curious about, and it’s a situation I’ve found myself in a few times.

Being on maternity leave with a 4.5 month old, I am often out with the buggy. We live in a village so often am in a different town/village when shopping, running errands etc - so not close enough to nip home.

Today I was in a market town about 7 miles from our village, shopping. I was dying for the loo so I went into the baby change room at Tesco to find that there was no loo inside it. I then tried to get the buggy into the ladies but there was no room. Someone saw me struggling and said why didn’t I just use the disabled one as there was no one waiting and it has space for the buggy. I didn’t feel right doing this, so trekked in and out of coffee shops till I found one with a large enough loo to get the buggy in.

Was I being ridiculous to not use the disabled? In our village cafe I often leave the buggy in the main room while I nip to the loo and ask one of the girls that works there to keep an eye on the baby, but I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing that anywhere else.

Parents with buggies, what would you have done?

Disabled people, would you have been really annoyed if I’d used the disabled?

I’m just interested to know if I was being a doughnut!

Lots of women with babies have severe continence issues (wee and poo) due to pregnancy and childbirth. Lots have pelvic floor injury. In fact it is the most common cause of incontinence.

If you go into the Halifax Arts Centre, the disabled toilet is now for the use of anyone who doesn't want to use the Gents or Ladies.

So tough luck if you are disabled in Halifax and need the loo urgently.

And back in the real world.
People use accessible toilets when they need to.

I mean genuine question, but what would a disabled person do if there was another disabled person in front of them. They would have to wait wouldn’t they?

Does being disabled mean that you should never have to wait for the toilet! And I get that it might be an emergency, and you might not be able to hold, but that’s got nothing to do with the reason for accessible toilets, that’s a totally different thing altogether.

I would absolutely not leave my baby on the other side of a locked door from me. If that means using the disabled toilets so be it. And as other posters mentioned, pp I wouldn't have had time to trek around to find a big ladies cubicle, pelvic floor muscles meant if I had to pee then I had to pee immediately.
And yes, it is awful if a disabled person has to wait. But they surely sometimes have to wait if another disabled person is in the loo ahead of them?

It's a poor planning issue on the part of architects

ThinkingNotSpeaking

Lots of women with babies have severe continence issues (wee and poo) due to pregnancy and childbirth. Lots have pelvic floor injury. In fact it is the most common cause of incontinence.

Agreed.

ThinkingNotSpeaking another one using “accessible” to mean for the use of people who’d like a bit of extra space!

That is NOT what accessible means!

It refers to the facilities provided within the cubicle, the height of the toilet seat, the sink position, possibly adult changing facilities.

For god’s sake I’m getting sick of repeating this stuff!

“Accessible” is simply a word used in place of “Disabled”.

”What is the difference between a disabled toilet and an accessible toilet?”

”A designated toilet for disabled people is described as an ‘accessible’ toilet.

There are no disabled toilets even though many people call them this in day to day life.

A toilet would have to experience some disadvantage, barrier or inequality and have feelings and emotions to be disabled – which of course is impossible!

The purpose of an accessible toilet should be to enable disabled people to gain prompt access to facilities that might be different from regular toilets in terms of the available space, layout, equipment, flooring, lighting etc. i.e. removing the disabling barriers and restrictions that might be present in regular toilets.”

Oh god where shall I start. The changing facilities in a disability/accessible toilet are not for women and babies. They are for disabled people and their carers who need continence pads changing. The disability toilets are for people with disabilities who CANNOT use a normal toilet. This might be because they cannot get up from a toilet seat without hand supports, or because they need to remove clothing to change or empty a colostomy bag and so need a sink in the room, or because they are in a wheelchair and need support bars to transfer to the toilet. They are NOT for parents of mixed sex children who could use the ladies, they are not for parents to change nappies in and they are certainly not for you to take pushchairs in because you can't be bothered to get your child and shopping out of the pushchair in order to use a non disability toilet. Its not as if there aren't toilets you can use. For some people with a disability they do NOT have a choice, I really think some of the posts on here are really bloody sad and entitled. Leave off using the disabilty toilets if you do not have a disability, please, and stop being so bloody selfish.

Does being disabled mean that you should never have to wait for the toilet

I think the issue is how likely, or how long, will a disabled person have to wait for another disabled person to use the toilet as opposed to every parent with a pram using the toilet?

Allowing far more people to use the accessible toilet will mean that they are going to be far busier. That restricts the life of a disabled person if they fear wetting themselves everytime they leave home.

I’m disabled and would have absolutely zero issue if someone who appeared to be “not disabled” used the disabled loo,with or without a pram.
It’s not a right for us to not have to queue it’s just a disabled friendly facility

SuperSara I think you're the one who is confused about what 'accessible* means.

It does not mean disabled. It means the ability to access

For the third time, where I live, most of the toilet signage actually reads “accessible for everyone”. So yes it is for everyone!

The only other option I can think of that could work with prams is maybe a bike rack sort of area you could lock the pram to and one of those seat things for the baby in the cubicle. It's not reasonable for people to have to risk prams being stolen or to use the toilet in front of strange people or try to change a tampon whilst holding a baby

Jon65 what are you talking about!? How on earth can a baby change table not be for parents and babies!? Of course they are for babies! How would a baby change table with a weight limit of 15kg be for a disabled adult!?

People are also ignoring the fact that most baby changing facilities are in these toilets. Why are they there if they are not meant to be used?

I'm not going to change my baby on a dirty public toilet floor if there is a changing unit in an accessible toilet.

Broken record indeed.

@ThinkingNotSpeaking it says accessible FOR everyone NOT accessible TO everyone. Accessible toilets means being accessible for everyone with a disability not to everyone per se

Jon65

@ThinkingNotSpeaking it says accessible FOR everyone NOT accessible TO everyone. Accessible toilets means being accessible for everyone with a disability not to everyone per se confused

That makes absolutely no sense. You're creating an imaginary subtext there. In that sentence the words 'For' and 'To' are interchangeable.

So if they are for the use of everyone, you as a parent with a baby are ok to wait in line for 10 minutes while absolutely everyone else uses them then?

Because your interpretation of "accessible" means for everyone without restriction.

@Jon they're baby changing tables. With a picture of a baby on. The words "baby nappy changing table". And a weight limit of around 3kg, I believe.

In Japan many main public toilets have a little unit set inside each of the women's stalls specifically for seating a baby/small child. Babies are usually kept in slings. It's a shame similar provisions can't be made here but, cultural differences in how babies and children are carried around etc.

The point is. It’s accessible for people who need accessibility.
If you have to put your child on the floor of a dirty toilet or use a toilet with a door open, then clearly you need somewhere that’s more accessible.

Is it right? No not really. But nothing in life is always perfect so common sense from all is needed. If it’s easy to get your child out and take them into the toilet then do that. If it’s really not. Then you need to use the accessible toilet.

A lot women with young children have some kind of hidden disabilities. If you’ve got 2 kids and a pushchair and your double incontinent, then you’ll be needing the accessible toilet for obvious reasons. Or should these ladies just stay at home.

The McDonald’s toilets in our city have the baby changing and disabled together I’ve seen it in other places too. I’m dyspraxic I don’t think that entitles me to use the disabled toilets but due to it I could not hold a baby and change tampon /use the to toilet get toilet roll out wipe etc So if dp isn’t with me I will sometimes use the disabled toilet. I also had to use it the other day at the park when the ladies toilet had a really long wait and my toddler was desperate for a poo. I appreciate it wasn’t ideal but it was better than my toddler pooing himself when there was an empty toilet.

SuperSara I think you're the one who is confused about what 'accessible’ means.

It does not mean disabled. It means the ability to access

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

We are not discussing the meaning of a word. We are discussing the purpose of accessible toilets.

I have quoted multiple times already the definitions of “accessible” with regard to provision of toilets. It is NOT to do with the space afforded, the size of the door opening, or anything else that makes you think it’s just a toilet that’s easier to get into!

Accessible, in this context, is with regard to providing a facility that’s usable by disabled people - I.e. to provide them with access to a toilet where the ‘standard’ facilities would not be useable by them.

It’s really, really not difficult.

@superSara - I give up . . .

I am disabled and depending on the day I can use the ladies or accessible toilets. I wouldn't care if you used the room! Yes there are some disabled people who cannot wait due to their disability, but to those suggesting thats why you shouldn't use it.. What exactly do you expect to happen if a disabled person is using it already?

SuperSara

And the changing tables in most of them are there for what reason? My local Tesco and Costa has the baby changing table in the ACCESSIBLE toilet. Am I supposed to ignore that because of your convoluted interpretation of the word accessible?

If I complained to customer service about having to change my baby on a public toilet floor, they would quite rightly have told me to use the baby changing table provided in the accessible toilet.

And you're accusing me of being obtuse? OK then.

MagicKingdomDizzy

Because in those instances it is a dual purpose toilet - accessible toilet plus baby change.

It still doesn't mean the "accessible" part = open to everyone