Restrooms - wheelchair "accessible" or "reserved"

[KPeveler]

You would likely find a lot of mothers using those stalls even without the baby changer, because the stroller will fit in.

oh, i know, especially at disney. i love how mothers refuse to leave a stroller outside a restroom or even outside a stall, and yet you have to leave the stroller outside of EVERY attraction, unless you have a special need. If hte child can stand, i would prefer you have the kid stand in a normal stall if at all possible. obviously someone with an infant cant do this... and sometimes the normal stalls arent big enough for this.

in disney, i have had a mother cut me off with her stroller (and my brakes are my HANDS people!) so much so that my sister walked into the back of my chair so she could get to the handicapped stall first. She never took her child out of hte stroller (i can see her feet under the door, and the stroller wasnt even facing her), just used hte toilet herself. I understand using the bigger stall for convenience, but it is just BAD KARMA to cut off a person in a wheelchair so you can pee pee faster... i just sat there and laughed, and when people asked if i needed help, i said politely, though audibly, "no, I have to wait for the handicapped stall. I am sure she will be done shortly." yes, that may have been snarky, but she was rude and could have hurt me (hands + spokes = pain), so i didnt really feel bad about it. and i did get to use the toilet eventually

 

[cteddiesgirl]

It's accessible, not reserved.

 

[Poohbear123]

Although I'm not wheelchair bound, I use the wheelchair accessible stall when available because they have safety bars, which I use to lower and rise due to a not immediately recognizable disability that I have. That being said, if a wheelchair user is able, they should wait in line like the rest of us until the wheelchair accessible stall is available.

Same here, I have bad knees and need to lower and raise myself up an I use this stall to do that.

 

[DevilDuckie]

ITA!



I do. I don't see why the wheelchair shouldn't wait in line!

...getting my Flame retardant suit on....

Because when you or I wait in line, we wait for one of a number of stalls to open up and can use any of them. When someone who can ONLY use that stall waits, they have a much smaller "window of opportunity".

And "the wheelchair" is a thing. The *person* in it is not.

 

[KPeveler]

And "the wheelchair" is a thing. The *person* in it is not.

 

[yeartolate]

good point...

i would like to point out that if there is NO line and you have no NEED for the HA stall, PLEASE PLEASE use the other stalls. you may not see a person with a need come in behind you, but you cant always see a need until that person is knocking on the door to the stall asking you to finish up! when i am out in my chair, i have to wait about 40-50% of the time for a stall i can use to open up. i am sure that the person in there was alone when they entered the restroom, but when they see me sitting waiting (occassionalyl i have to knock and ask them to hurry - sometimes i dont really get warning before i need a bathroom break), i am usually just sitting there smiling. you can tell the people who used that stall for convenience or "just 'cause" beucase they always smile self-consciously and blush a little bit. i say nothing (after all, i understand invisible illnesses and needs rather well), but i kinda feel bad enbarrassing that person. i dont MEAN to make them feel bad, but when i am in a wheelchair, i need that stall...

if there is a line, use the first available restroom. if there is no line, then PLEASE leave that stall open for those of us who may not have a choice

Realistically, if there is no line when I come in, my business would be finished before a handicapped person could make it to the door. Close the door, sit down, pee, wipe, flush , out. I am realatvely certain this is a 30 second process. Maybe your experience is with the hovering, germaphobes that make a 5 miute process is a vein attempt to stay sterile, but most people I know do their business quickly and get out. I am not in their dressing or putting on a new pair of pantyhose.

Also, be wary of who you judge as not "needing"the room. Folks with hip/ankle/knee issues benifit from the higher toilet seat and handle bars. I

 

[Sugarfoot]

If I go into the restroom and have a choice of using a regular stall or a handicapped stall, I will always choose the regular and leave the handicapped for someone who truly needs it.

But! If there is a long line and everyone is waiting their turn I see no reason to leave the handicapped stall empty. It should be used in the line just like all the others and if someone comes in who is handicapped they should wait their turn at the back of the line like anyone else, unless of course it is a dire emergency, like their colostomy bag is going to overflow or something like that, then I wouldn't mind them moving to the front of the line.

 

[KPeveler]

Realistically, if there is no line when I come in, my business would be finished before a handicapped person could make it to the door. Close the door, sit down, pee, wipe, flush , out. I am realatvely certain this is a 30 second process. Maybe your experience is with the hovering, germaphobes that make a 5 miute process is a vein attempt to stay sterile, but most people I know do their business quickly and get out. I am not in their dressing or putting on a new pair of pantyhose.

Also, be wary of who you judge as not "needing"the room. Folks with hip/ankle/knee issues benifit from the higher toilet seat and handle bars. I

I do not think you need to tell me to beware of judging, if you had read all of my posts... I had said several times earlier that i often do not need my wheelchair, and that i still require the handicapped stall, even when i do not have my cane/crutches with me

 

[AKBAFB]

trust me when i say i HATE those - people ALWAYS leave the table tray down (sometimes still with baby poo on it) and i cant always get it back up (kneel down sometime and try it - those things weigh a ton). it then blocks the toilet, and i have to go get someone else to put it back up.

very few new places are being built like this. mostly because people are TERRIBLY slow about changing a baby, and then they use the restroom themselves, and it is not uncommon for me to have to wait 5+ minutes for someone to finish. not blaming them, as they have no other choice, but i HATE when they put changing tables in the HA restrooms

I understand your point here, those trays are difficult to move up and down sometimes, especially if one is disabled as you pointed out, or if one happens to have a baby and a diaper bag in her arms, but people don't "ALWAYS" leave the trays down. And I don't know about any one else, but as a mom, I hate having to change diapers on those things and I try to get it done as quickly as possible. Now, you may have the occasional, lets say "difficult clean up" when doing a diaper change, but it's not like the mom is purposely hanging out in the bathroom chilling out. In that situation, where the baby changing station is in the HA stall, it may be that the person needing the HA has to wait a few minutes for the baby-changing mom, but likewise, the baby-changing mom may have to wait a few minutes for the person using the HA stall. As it has already been pointed out that the person using the HA stall may need a little more time in the stall than others.

I generally agree with your point that those HA stalls with baby changing stations are a poor design choice, but I don't believe that all mothers are HA stall-hoggers, oblivious to the needs of others.

 

[KPeveler]

I generally agree with your point that those HA stalls with baby changing stations are a poor design choice, but I don't believe that all mothers are HA stall-hoggers, oblivious to the needs of others.

I never said they were. I said that people fail to put up the changing tables (in my experience probly more than 60% of the time i find it down - but i guess the tables are broken a lot, and fall down again, too), and that people tend to leave those areas messes.

i think those tables are generally unsanitary, and i completely understand not wanting to use them to change a baby!

I was commenting on the poor design and less-than-sanitary nature of hte HA stalls with changing tables in them, not blaming the mothers who have no other choice

 

[hollieplus2]

I do not think you need to tell me to beware of judging, if you had read all of my posts... I had said several times earlier that i often do not need my wheelchair, and that i still require the handicapped stall, even when i do not have my cane/crutches with me

Following on with what you said, sometimes there are people who need to use that stall that aren't in a wheelchair. So then shouldn't the wheelchair person that came in be in the wrong? Maybe someone else needed it and they were waiting in line and their need wasn't as obvious.

I am a young person but I suffer from overactive bladder. When I have to go I have to go. I'm not in a wheelchair but I will take the handicapped spot if it's open. If it's really bad and I'm going to pee myself I will tell the wheelchair person to wait their turn, I can't hold it. They may have a diability and can't hold it but neither can I? Who trumps who when I've been standing in line and they haven't?

 

[Magic Mom]

Because when you or I wait in line, we wait for one of a number of stalls to open up and can use any of them. When someone who can ONLY use that stall waits, they have a much smaller "window of opportunity".

And "the wheelchair" is a thing. The *person* in it is not.

Their wait would only be one or two minutes more though, because they would move along in the line with everyone else until they were next in line. Then of course they would have to wait a few minutes until that stall opened up. It wouldn't be a considerable amount of time extra.
Having said that, typically you will not be encountering hoards of wheelchair bound people cutting in line. Its usually just one. So why not let them move up and use the stall? It will only add a few minutes on to your wait.You in general not you specifically.

 

[AKBAFB]

I never said they were. I said that people fail to put up the changing tables (in my experience probly more than 60% of the time i find it down - but i guess the tables are broken a lot, and fall down again, too), and that people tend to leave those areas messes.

i think those tables are generally unsanitary, and i completely understand not wanting to use them to change a baby!

I was commenting on the poor design and less-than-sanitary nature of hte HA stalls with changing tables in them, not blaming the mothers who have no other choice

I think we totally agree on this, I just needed to give a mom's perspective, whereas, you gave the perspective of the person needing the HA restroom.

 

[mjkacmom]

oh, i know, especially at disney. i love how mothers refuse to leave a stroller outside a restroom or even outside a stall, and yet you have to leave the stroller outside of EVERY attraction, unless you have a special need. If hte child can stand, i would prefer you have the kid stand in a normal stall if at all possible. obviously someone with an infant cant do this... and sometimes the normal stalls arent big enough for this.

in disney, i have had a mother cut me off with her stroller (and my brakes are my HANDS people!) so much so that my sister walked into the back of my chair so she could get to the handicapped stall first. She never took her child out of hte stroller (i can see her feet under the door, and the stroller wasnt even facing her), just used hte toilet herself. I understand using the bigger stall for convenience, but it is just BAD KARMA to cut off a person in a wheelchair so you can pee pee faster... i just sat there and laughed, and when people asked if i needed help, i said politely, though audibly, "no, I have to wait for the handicapped stall. I am sure she will be done shortly." yes, that may have been snarky, but she was rude and could have hurt me (hands + spokes = pain), so i didnt really feel bad about it. and i did get to use the toilet eventually

I always used the handicap stall when I had toddlers in strollers - kept them from touching everything (and opening the door...). It's really tough to have small children with you in those stalls - especially if they won't keep their hands to themselves!

 

[muffyn]

with the majority I believe it is accessible,, not reserved.

but, how would you handle the following situation.
what most of you are talking about is a big room with lots of stalls & an HC stall.
I have been to some theatres where the main restroom is down a flight of stairs & on the main floor by the steps there are one or 2 single restrooms marked Handicapped accessible/family. now. I NEVER see anyone go into these rooms, & a long line for the ones downstairs are right nearby.
would YOU go into the unoccupied single restroom?

now I 'have' on occasion , only because at the time my leg did not want to co-operate walking downstairs.

but,, mmmm,, why not use these rooms? it didn't say "ONLY" on the door.

 

[yeartolate]

We have a "historic theater" in an adjacent town. THe main bathrooms are up a grand staircase. Heck if I am going up the grand staircase and missing 5-10 minutes of the movie when several solo handicap accessible bathrooms are free.

 

[LindaG4458]

One place where I worked the handicapped stalls were decreed off limits to anyone non-handicapped!

It seems a handicapped person entered the restroom and the stall was occupied. That person had an "embarassing accident", and complained to personnel. After that, regardless of the situation, we were supposed to leave that stall empty.

 

[KPeveler]

let me just clarify that i think the woman in the wheelchair in the OP's story is definitely in the wrong. I think that if the woman in the wheelchair was the second or perhaps third person waiting in line, then the person in the front of hte line should let her go into the stall if it came available, but she should not automatically get to go to the head of the line!

 

[acourtwdw]

Ok, I've got my flame suit on so here it goes:

First of all I need to tell you all that when I have to go I can't hold it for very long.

If the HA stall is open I will take it even if there is a wheelchair bound person in line.

If someone is in front of me and the HA stall is open, and if they aren't going to use it, I will "cut" in front of them to use it.

Also, someone at the door telling me to "hurry up" will only have the opposite effective.

I will use the family restroom if that is what is available.

 

[KPeveler]

Ok, I've got my flame suit on so here it goes:

First of all I need to tell you all that when I have to go I can't hold it for very long.

If the HA stall is open I will take it even if there is a wheelchair bound person in line.

If someone is in front of me and the HA stall is open, I will "cut" in front of them to use it.

Also, someone at the door telling me to "hurry up" will only have the opposite effective.

I will use the family restroom if that is what is available.

I dont understand your comments about cutting other people in line. Why would you do that? And why do you take longer if someone who MUST use the HA stall alerts you that they are waiting? I am not sure why you would say so boldly that you would act in a rude manner?