Blog Against Disabilism Day 2009

[annwfyn]

Something that's been bugging me.

How come so many disabled toilets are not disabled accessible?

"Hang on, Sally," I hear you say. "You're being a bit daft there. I mean, disabled toilets have to be disabled accessible. That's the law, right?"

You'd think.

The disabled toilet in one museum that I know of has a large table with a pot plant placed on the wall opposite the disabled toilet, nicely taking up the extra space provided for the wheelchair. Another disabled toilet that is in another museum of my knowledge has a large and heavy door on it which opens outwards. God alone knows how someone in a wheelchair could open that. A third disabled toilet I know, in a supermarket, is kept locked whilst the non-disabled toilets are left unlocked. I'm not sure why, and the shop assistant I asked was vague about it, but muttered something about couples using that toilet together.

And it seems like a little thing, but really, it isn't. I mean, toilets basically are there to cater for one of the most basic of needs - the need to be able to piss somewhere. Everyone needs to. You can plan around most things, but at the end of the day, you can't avoid needing the loo at some point. People need access to toilets, to facilities, if they are going out and about. And the fewer decent and reasonable toilets there are for disabled the harder it is for the disabled to get out and about at all!

"You're still making a fuss about nothing, Sally. You've cited three disabled toilets. I'm sure most work fine."

Maybe. Perhaps I am. But it still bugs me. It bugs me as well that in all three cases I've gone to someone and raised the issue with their disabled toilets. In all three cases I've mostly been brushed off, as if I was mosly a nuisance for even saying something. Yet if I'd approached a member of staff in any of those places and told them that their toilets were blocked, or overflowing, or the flush didn't work, I'd have probably had someone apologise, and I'd have felt fairly satisfied that someone would sort out the problem soon. If the toilets don't fulfil their basic function for able bodied people, then that is an issue that needs sorted. If the disabled toilets don't fulfil their basic function for disabled people, then that's just something that the disabled people should endure.

Surely something is wrong with this picture?