Shared disability toilets with baby changing facilities

[MobilityCat]

Yesterday, I found myself in an embarrassing and upsetting situation when I crapped myself while waiting outside the disabled toilet. A mum was inside, chatting and cooing to her baby while changing its nappy. While I completely understand that she needed a suitable place to change her baby, I couldn’t help but wonder: why does it have to be in the one facility specifically designed for the disabled? Why can't the baby changing facilities be located in the women's toilet or have a separate dedicated room for this purpose?

Alot of places are now designing the baby changing facilities out of the accessible toilet I've noticed. My local supermarket has a separate baby changing room, accessible toilet and ladies/gents toilets.

This only works if there’s a toilet in the baby change room. Some I’ve been to have and some haven’t, but if they haven’t then parents still have to use a bigger toilet cubicle as a pram doesn’t fit in a standard size toilet cubicle. Even worse if you have a baby and a toddler with you!

This was the argument when disposable nappies were introduced, are they still using it?

It works well to solve the OP issue though. The baby changing facility is removed from the accessible toilet - allowing for the baby to be changed while someone else uses the toilet.

Best I saw was a baby changing and feeding area with a separate toddler toilet cubicle and an adult toilet cubicle. Feeding area also had a curtain around it as it was a unisex area. Whoever designed that one understood the struggles of babies, toddlers, small children and changing / feeding in public

Yes those ones are the best design. The separate changing area without a toilet in is problematic and doesn’t always solve the problem, I’ve had to get permission from staff in a few occasions to use the disabled toilet as otherwise my dd couldn’t use the toilet as she’s too young to be able to go in the ladies by herself (and too small to get onto a full size toilet by herself), but my babies pram doesn’t fit in a standard so the only option was to use the disabled toilet anyway.

Whether it's reasonable to have a combined facility is down to the size of the venue/footfall. Combined disabled toilet and baby change does make sense in many settings and offers older toddlers/ children some privacy if still in nappies. I really needed the space for dc as she was in nappies then having frequent accidents for ages (asd).

In a perfect world we all get our required loos but we need to be sensible of space allocated. In large venues you are spot on op but not the local pub with only 3 toilets

There's actually a standard design for disabled toilets but nobody seems to know about it when designing one.

That really sounds like a well thought out solution. When designing disabled toilets and changing places, it would be logical to consult the people who rely on these facilities to ensure they truly meet their needs.

You truly have my sympathy. I can only hope that you didn’t have to endure sitting in it as I did. As for me, I can’t begin to imagine how difficult it must be to live with severe endometriosis.

Thank you, I just put my shopping down and left, the worst part for me was then having to get in the car and drive home wondering how I wasn't going to ruin my car seat. It's awful isn't it, humiliating. Endometriosis is horrific but after multiple surgeries I have been lucky enough to have a baby and get my pain under control for the majority of the time.

Unfortunately I was in a shop that didn't have any customer toilets, superdrug to be exact. I think it's awful that shops are allowed to have no toilets available for the public to be honest, when you have trouble with urgency the fact that there are just no toilets available at all actually puts me off going to shops. Which limits me to supermarkets and shopping centres.

I've had the same problem though not as embarrassing when my baby has had a poosplosion and there are no toilets in the shop so I've just had to change her in the pram with my back to the wall and hope for the best. I would like to see it made mandatory for any business premises serving the public to have at least one toilet.

It sucks op and sorry this happened

I guess space is usually the issue a lot of places can’t have a baby room and a disabled room

but some plates that’s not the issue - my local shopping mall shares the space and the main toilets are tiny - I go there with my toddler and baby and if I need to use the toilet we can’t really all fit in a normal cubicle - I end up having to take us all in the disabled toilet which I’d rather not do

it also happened me at Dublin airport recently no separate baby changing area or family type toilet - I was travelling alone with 2 kids so what option do I have other than leave my toddler alone outside the cubicle

I once had to change my daughter on the floor of Dublin airport toilets as my daughter had a nappy explosion - poo everywhere me and her covered and the shared disabled and baby change area was being used

No, love, I was in a supermarket at the time.

Honestly sometimes changing the baby can take ages. Cooing and chatting to the baby doesn't mean I'm taking my sweet time, it means i am keeping the baby from screaming!!!!

Thank you, I was beginning to think that I was alone in making a reasonable point.

Thank you for your comment. I want to clarify that I don’t hate parents or other women at all. My frustrations stem from the challenges I face as a wheelchair user, especially when it feels like my needs are overlooked or ignored. When I vent about these experiences, it’s not about blaming individuals, parents or otherwise,but rather highlighting the fact that we're disabled by the environment, like poorly designed toilets or inaccessible facilities. I completely understand that disabled children and their families also have needs, and I fully support inclusive solutions for everyone. I do appreciate your suggestion about channeling this energy into campaigning, as change does need to happen. I do try to address these issues personally with companies which I have issues with.

I have done but I'm not sure if they actually care or will do anything about.

Or they could put a changing table in both female and male toilets.

If they're going to put a changing table in the disabled toilet they could at least make it accessible to people in wheelchairs who need to change their babies.