Should you be using the disabled access toilet?
No harm done if you just nip in quickly right? Your little ones needs to go, its free and theres a couple of people waiting for the other toilets, no harm done right? Maybe not – lets look at the consequences of using the only disabled access portable toilet:
- Though you may think the chances of a disabled person needing the toilet while you are using it are low, the chances of an able bodied person using the disabled when a disabled person needs it are inversly very high
- Using a disabled toilet when you don’t need to is taking your mobility and ability to hold on for granted
- Disabled toilets are not there to enable you to queue jump, thats just bad manners
- It’s not good ettiquette when there are plenty of other toilets available
- The capacity of the portable disabled toilet is a lot smaller than that of a standard portable toilet. Meaning if everyone else uses it (particularly groups such as multiple family members) then the holding tank is full and unable to be used by a disabled person that can ONLY access that toilet.
- Standard cubicles may be small for multiple family members, but no one minds if you go in one by one and wait by the door. This is a common way families co-ordinate a public portable toilet and can mean you are not tying up the disabled loo.
- You may be assuming there isnt any disabled people around based on physical appearance, but not all disabilities are visible, and you may use the facilities when someone with an invisible disability needs it most.
- There are usually a much higher proportion of standard portable toilets to disabled toilets. That long queue will move very quickly. Most of us are able to hold for a short period of time. Some disabled may not be able to.
- Manners. Would you take a disabled parking spot? Less likely. Yes one is protected by law, and the other lot – but I’m betting a small amount of empathy would tell you that there is many good reasons you should treat the two the same.