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Original poster

How wrong is it to use the disabled toilet when you are not disabled?

192 replies

emkana · 08/09/2006 19:38

And does it make a difference whether you have small children or not?

I nearly always use the disabled toilets when I'm out with the children, I just don't see what to do otherwise, where to leave the children while I'm in a tiny cubicle.

Wrong or not?

OP posts:
PeachyClairHasBadHair · 10/09/2006 11:21

Double buggy? If it's a toddler that needs the loo, I never had (or have, still there with the training for my youngest) any worries leaving the door open. If it were for me, i'd wait until I found a loo with a mother and toddler room. Because adults can wait. And I'd obv familarise myself with facillities when i went anywhere for the day.

Just never ever occurred to me to use the disabled loo.

edam · 10/09/2006 11:22

Actually, I think the big issue underlying this is that there are so few public loos these days. Forget the figures but thousands have been closed and not replaced over the past few decades.

The campaign for public loos was originally a women's liberation issue - women couldn't go far from home because there were no facilities. William Cobbett, who was a national hero for fighting for repeal of the corn laws, headed the campaign for public lavatories too.

I think there is a group campaigning for more public facilties but can't remember what they are called. But might be worth everyone who is concerned about lack of facilities tracking it down and joining up!

PeachyClairHasBadHair · 10/09/2006 11:25

If an ordinary adult can't wait for a loo- eg my Mother- I don't see why that can't be classed as a disability TBH, my mum can't go without toilet for more than half an hour, and that can be very disabling indeed- imho she's as entitled to a radar key as anyone. Perhaps we need to be mroe open about definitions of disability? To me, disability means physically or mentally prevented from using /waiting for a normal toilet, or unable to use a toilet unsupervised or without assistance- either from another person or from the aids found in these toilets

SoupDragon · 10/09/2006 11:28

So how does a wheelchair-bound parent change a nappy? Or do they never go out alone with a child...

In Croydon's Debenhams store, I think the normal toilets are completly non-accessible to buggies/prams. The entrance doors are at right angles so really difficult to negotiate with a buggy and the internal layout means that if you got one in there, no one would be able to walk past it. If I were caught short in Debenhams, I'd have to use the disabled one.

Thinking about it, I can only remember ever seeing one disabled person going in/out of a disabed loo you know. The rest, if any, have been parents with buggies. Just an observation.

PeachyClairHasBadHair · 10/09/2006 11:29

I agree with that Edam. I'm supposed to be float building in a field today, if Dh gets nagged yet again for me not being there he has been instructed to announce in a loud voive 'Because she has her AF and it's an hour and a half from here to our loo'. That'd shut them up (being they're almost all men)

the loos here are abysmal, we always ahve to pay for drink in Wetherspoons or go to a supermrket, it's the same back home- they closed the only public ones left in the town, although there is the option of the ones in the park where you have to dodge the alkies / drug dealers . my sis is trying to toilet train her son atm, can't go shopping without enough money for a coffee in Wetherspoons JIC

SoupDragon · 10/09/2006 11:32

PeachyClair, I agree about the definition of disability. It's not black and white at all in this respect.

wheresmyfroggy · 10/09/2006 11:39

I refuse to leave the cubicle door open when my dd is using the toilet in a mens facility [which is obviously where I would have to take her] sorry if that makes me overly protective. I guess dw could in the female toilets.

FlipFloppinRubyRioja · 10/09/2006 11:42

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

harpsichordcarrier · 10/09/2006 11:47

yes, I quite often leave the door open while dd1 uses the ladiesloo.
then I have to leave them both outside while I use the loo.
which is not ideal, tbh.
incidentally I did a scientific RCT of everyone I spoke to yesterday who has a disability or has a family member with a disablity (in the widest sense) and not one of them thoght that disabled loos were just for people with disablities. several people said of course people with children use them.
mostly people were surprised at thequestion

PeachyClairHasBadHair · 10/09/2006 11:51

FLip I would agree- make more sense to have facilities all can use.

I struggle with signs in darker places / unclear symbols as my sight is sadly shite. So yes better signage please. I am forever walking into the wrong loos

WMF- yes it probably is easier for a dw, and we only have boys so DH wouldn't have ahd problems either. back to the all loos should be accessible to all theory then

Bucketsofdinosaurs · 10/09/2006 20:10

Debenhams are the worst, despite their Babyfriendly claims. The one in Southampton has normal men/women's loos downstairs that you can't swing a cat in, a disabled loo on the first floor (!) and babychange room with no loo in it on the 2nd floor. The cafe is on the ground floor near the tiny loos. It's ridiculous, with just a little rearranging they could have really accessible facilities and attract loads more customers. Mind, the whole building is scruffy inside and ugly outside, don't suppose anyone is interested in investing in loos.

sorrell · 10/09/2006 20:20

Has anyone EVER walked out of a disabled toilet and found a queue of anguished disabled people waiting? I suspect not. It is ridiculous to insist they remain empty 90+% of the time just in case someone disabled happens to come along who also happens to require the loo much, much more urgently than any non-disabled person.
Also as other have pointed out, these are facilities suitable for disabled and non disabled users, many also have the baby change facility in them and atherefore are not designed for the exclusive and sole use of people with disabilities. What a silly argument this is.

mum2monkeys · 10/09/2006 20:36

PMSL Sorrel,

Piffle · 10/09/2006 20:40

I did with a baby in a pram, I am unable to take the pram into the cubicle in a normal toilet and if ther is no changing room then you have little choice. Most places I go to are disabled/parents only - certainly in those places without a baby room.
And also if dd (3) is desperate and there is a big queue at the ladies...
I think much less down the scale than parking in disbaled spaces
But technically dd has a blue badge (for her eyesight) so... she's probably actually entitled anyway perhaps...

Bucketsofdinosaurs · 10/09/2006 20:47

I've had glares on exiting a disabled loo with a pushchair even though there is a babychanging table inside so I don't really give a toss about the glarers anymore.

Tatties · 10/09/2006 20:55

The disabled loo in my local M&S has a sign saying that it is intended for the use of disabled people and those with buggies.

julienetmum · 10/09/2006 21:28

I work for a plumbing company and we are carrying out a lot of DDA work at the moment.

Unlike disabled parking spaces where supermarkets have to have a certain proprtion for exclusive disabled I don't think there is a requirement for separate disabled toilets only that toilet facilities have to be accisible.

One local library for example has all its toilets accesible for disabled people.

However as the price of a Doc M Pack (disabled toilet fitmenets) is very expensive most places with lots of toilets are going to have most of their toilets normal and just a minimum number of Doc M's.

In the area where I used to live there were no mother/baby toilets at all and so I used the disabled ones with my pram. Where I am now there are a few in town so I use them whenever I need to.

HelenaHandcart · 10/09/2006 21:31

Dear God.

Only on MN...

HelenaHandcart · 10/09/2006 21:31

(comment on whole thread kick-off btw)

misdee · 10/09/2006 21:32

lol i thought of this thread today at the hospital where we squeezed everyone into a disabled loo.

Tatties · 10/09/2006 21:42

The disabled loo in my local M&S has a sign saying that it is intended for the use of disabled people and those with buggies.

Tatties · 10/09/2006 21:44

don't know how that happened...

SpaceCadet · 10/09/2006 21:45

as someone else said, there are lots of catagory of disabled loo, some are the only toilet provided, others serve as a baby change area, so yes ive used them to change my childrens nappies and have on occassions used a disabled loo when my balance is bad..as i have been known to fall over before in the loos

misdee · 10/09/2006 21:50

SC me too, i think dd2 gets her balence problems from me.

Murphee · 10/09/2006 21:55

I have Crohn's disease, have had my large intestine removed, cannot wait. I also work with disabled people. I class myself as disabled. I see red whenever disabled seems to equal 'wheelchair user' only. To those of you saying the equivalent of "I've never come out of a disabled loo to find someone waiting" I say that you wouldn't find me waiting because I'd be trying to hide somewhere to conceal my humiliation at having my own crap running down my legs. Also, all my wheelchair bound clients complain about getting their hands covered in filth from the wheels after the floors in disabled loos have been left covered in pee. Sorry about the rant but feel very strongly.