Last week, I visited a ‘changing places’ toilet which made me want to write about accessible toilets again. The only other time I have been to one was in a hospital, so this was the first time I have been to one in more usual circumstances. The experience was largely positive even though it was just to see what the facilities were like inside. It had everything you would hope for as a wheelchair user, a wider door, lots of space, a ceiling track hoist, changing bench, and all the other usual features you would expect in a toilet. Other than struggling to find the room and not having a key with me, which meant a lengthy wait and a slightly irritable worker, it was easy and meant I could use it if I needed to.
The importance of these toilets should not be understated as they open up a huge number of possibilities when it comes to leaving the house. It allows disabled people much more freedom when going out because they are no longer restricted by how long they can wait to go to the toilet. Usually, I have to go back home if I need the toilet which means cutting short journeys or carefully planning where I go just to avoid that situation. Removing such a big restriction allows people in wheelchairs or with other disabilities to take part in what are considered normal day to day things much more freely.
There are just over 1,000 ‘changing places’ toilets in Britain which is a great improvement over the last 10 years but more still needs to be done, as an estimated 250,000 people need them and could benefit from them. Recently, there have been some cases in the news about providing more appropriate changing spaces for disabled people which has increased the profile of this issue and led to calls to install more across the country. This is a question of fairness and equality, and also about the dignity of disabled people. Despite certain laws being already in place, the provision of adequate facilities for the disabled remains pretty woeful. The Changing Places Consortium has done excellent work on this and continues to do so, so do check out their website for more information.
Finally, if you have a disability remember to ask for a RADAR key from your local authorities to give you access to a large number of accessible toilets in Britain. This information does not seem to be spread too widely so I wanted you to know if you didn’t know about it already.
Links:
DMD and Me 