To use the disabled bathroom when I’m not disabled?

[waterorsoda]

I promise this isn’t one of those questions where the OP asks something then argues with everyone that they are being reasonable etc when they’re not😆

My journey home from work has 2 parts to it. In between both journeys I always, without fail, need the bathroom. However I usually get around half an hour before closing so I usually jump in to the shopping centre and go to the toilet before the 2nd journey home as the traffic is bad and I need to go to the toilet anyway. However because they’re getting ready to close, the ladies toilets are ALWAYS closed off (as in, they are barricaded off as they are presumably being cleaned) but the disabled toilet is open. I usually just go to the disabled toilet but I always feel guilty because I shouldn’t really be using it. For context, I have an eye condition so very technically it’s an invisible disability but it’s not something that would make me usually need to use the disabled bathroom and I would always go to the ladies instead so I’m purely using the disabled because it’s the only one open. But I always feel guilty and feel like I shouldn’t be in there. It’s always quiet and nobody has ever had to wait for me but I’m always scared to come out in case someone says something or in case I’ve made someone who really needs the disabled toilet wait whilst I was in it.

am I ok to use it? Or should I not be doing it? There’s no other toilets nearby and unfortunately all coffee shops etc are closed so I couldn’t go there. The other toilets in the shopping centre are the exact same set up with the ladies being closed off😞

Well you don't obviously it's just up to the person not needing it being half decent and not using a disabled/accessible toilet.

If you need to wee every hour to two hours, then yeah I'd say thats a disability - you may not want to call it that of course, but needing to wee and being at risk of wetting yourself if you're more than an hour from a toilet at any point is not normal. In which case, your use of the accessible toilets is probably justified.

Exactly! Which is why noone should ever judge anyone for using a disabled toilet

Most of these toilets are now called accessible toilets. I'm a blue badge holder and I wouldn't think twice about you using the toilet in this situation.

You don’t, many disabilities are hidden- that’s why entitled, lazy idiots take advantage… safe in the knowledge they can get away with their selfish behaviour.

Or maybe their disabilities are hidden and so unless surveys are carried out how do we know that people using them have hidden disabilities. People really should mind their own business and not judge

We shouldn’t judge people who openly admit that they think being too lazy to wait a short while for the ladies is a valid reason to make the life of disabled people even more difficult?!

We already have fewer toilets we can access and have to wait for any other disabled people to use them (which can take a while!) without having to queue behind 12 ‘I’ll just be a minute’ knobbers.

That is what the whole thing boils down to essentially. Nobody is going to have a clue who has a disability, from those who do not, unless it is obvious. It is down to those individuals not to use those facilities unless necessary perhaps, as in the op's case.

I think the whole point of this thread is the OP is trying to decide how to judge herself and she knows her own health situation!

Totally agree. That's what I do for myself aswell

It the ladies is closed it is perfectly reasonable to use the disabled loo. But be considerate and dont be in for half an hour putting your make--up on.

A quick google will tell you 6-7 times a day is the norm. It sounds like you need the toilet far more than that, so perhaps get it checked.

No, they are not just for people with medical conditions or disabilities. If there’s a queue for the ladies it’s absurd to leave the accessible toilet unused. There’s no can’t be bothered about it.

It’s absurd to leave a facility designed for disabled people for disabled people?

Presumably the same goes for ladies toilets if the gents are full? Or p+c parking spaces? Or family changing rooms? It’s ok for one bloke to use the only one of them if he fancies it?

Being too lazy to queue isn’t a disability, it’s just being a self absorbed knob.