Do you use the handicapped stall?

[ChrisnSteph]

I use it if none of the other ones are available, and if I have my two little boys with me. I can't just stand back while I'm ready to pee my pants and stare at an unused stall!

 

[missypie]

I hope that you are never in a handicapped position that causes you to have difficulty holding "it." Just like a small child needs to go immediately, so do some with various handicaps. Just like your child is going to need certain special services that other's may resent, so do some that are physically handicapped.

The stalls are actually required to be wheelchair accessible. The law does not required stalls to be constantly available for other types of handicaps. I'm sure that those with bladder control problems or small children who can't hold it any more WISH that the law gave them a free pass to the front of the line, but it doesn't. That requires social interaction, asking the indulgance of others, etc. Many people will let you in front of them in line if you seem honest and ask nicely; others won't.

Note that due to space constraints, restaurants, small offices, etc. built pre-ADA often only have enough room for one ADA compliant stall and no others, or maybe one regular and one ADA compliant. If everyone avoided those, there would be no place to go!

I've worked in my office for 20 years and I never recall seeing a woman in a wheelchair in the office...period. (For a while we had a guy in a wheelchair.) It would be silly if we didn't use 1/3 of the stalls.

 

[JoeEpcotRocks]

The stalls are actually required to be wheelchair accessible. The law does not required stalls to be constantly available for other types of handicaps. I'm sure that those with bladder control problems or small children who can't hold it any more WISH that the law gave them a free pass to the front of the line, but it doesn't. That requires social interaction, asking the indulgance of others, etc. Many people will let you in front of them in line if you seem honest and ask nicely; others won't.

Note that due to space constraints, restaurants, small offices, etc. built pre-ADA often only have enough room for one ADA compliant stall and no others, or maybe one regular and one ADA compliant. If everyone avoided those, there would be no place to go!

I've worked in my office for 20 years and I never recall seeing a woman in a wheelchair in the office...period. (For a while we had a guy in a wheelchair.) It would be silly if we didn't use 1/3 of the stalls.

Well said.

And indeed -- in many small men's rooms, the handi-capped stall is the ONLY stall.

 

[Chicago526]

I will if there is no other available OR on the rare occasion I need the extra room for changing clothes (don't ask!).

 

[thelittlemermaid]

If DD has to go to the bathroom and so do I, I will use it. It's so much easier having that extra room with her in the stall with me. Other than that, I will use the other stalls. I have used the other stalls with DD being with me and those stalls get really small, really quick having a little one with you.

Over the years I have noticed that the diaper changing "tables" have moved from the wall that is right outside the stalls, to inside the handicapp stall in alot of restrooms. Has anyone else noticed this?

 

[delilah]

I used it all the time when my son was young enough to bring in with me. As long as there were no "handicapped" people waiting, I felt it was fair game. I know how a handicapped person would feel, at times, when there were only three of us in the restroom, my son, another woman, and I, and she would beeline it for the handicapped stall. In the hospital where I am on staff, a person who wouldn't use a handicapped restroom would be SOL, literally. All the public stalls are handicapped accessible.

 

[Texan Mouseketeer]

I am in agreement with most people on here.

However...I seem to remember a Dear Abby article where she said that you weren't supposed to use it at all if you were not disabled. Am I right?? It always made me wonder about when your'e in a long line at a concert or something and trying to get through the line quickly. I would hope it would get used so I could get to go quicker!!

 

[Marseeya]

I am in agreement with most people on here.

However...I seem to remember a Dear Abby article where she said that you weren't supposed to use it at all if you were not disabled. Am I right?? It always made me wonder about when your'e in a long line at a concert or something and trying to get through the line quickly. I would hope it would get used so I could get to go quicker!!

I never read Dear Abby, but I always read her sister's column and she always had the belief that they were okay to use if there were a line of people waiting (no handicapped people, of course).

 

[Skatermom23]

I view them as handicapped accessible, not handicapped reserved. If it is the only stall available and no one else is around who truly needs it, I will use it. If there is someone waiting who needs it, I will wait and let them use it.

 

[Mama Penguin]

Would anyone have a problem with those who needed the handicapped stall (and when I use the word need that I mean they have NO other option), not waiting in the general line, but standing in front of the handicapped stall. If you are at the front of the line, you may not see the person with a cane or in a wheelchair 6 or more people behind you. This would also allow people who need the handicapped stall for invisible disabilities to indicate that they are waiting for that particular stall. IMHO It just seems a little much to expect disabled people who need the stall to wait their turn in line, then have to wait again, maybe for all of the stalls to empty again, letting people who were behind them in front of them, because they can only use one stall in the bathroom, and the person right before them just went in, thinking "Well, no one else needed it"

 

[Marseeya]

Would anyone have a problem with those who needed the handicapped stall (and when I use the word need that I mean they have NO other option), not waiting in the general line, but standing in front of the handicapped stall. If you are at the front of the line, you may not see the person with a cane or in a wheelchair 6 or more people behind you. This would also allow people who need the handicapped stall for invisible disabilities to indicate that they are waiting for that particular stall. IMHO It just seems a little much to expect disabled people who need the stall to wait their turn in line, then have to wait again, maybe for all of the stalls to empty again, letting people who were behind them in front of them, because they can only use one stall in the bathroom, and the person right before them just went in, thinking "Well, no one else needed it"

I wouldn't have a problem with someone with a visible disability doing it at all. But I think people with invisible disabilities should at least speak up for themselves.

 

[tiggerlover]

If nobody is waiting and there are no other bathrooms free I will use a handicap bathroom, otherwise I use a regular one. I do admit when my son was small and in a stroller I used them because I could wheel the stroller in with me because I wouldn't leave him alone.

 

[DisneyAddict_M]

I use it if I have to go into the bathroom with dd4, because the stall is larger and we can both fit in there. When I'm alone, I always use the regular one, because I have a fear that someone will somehow open the stall door when I'm in there and the handicapped stalls are too large and the door to far from the toilet, so that I can't slam it shut again. Yes, I'm weird.

 

[PrincessKitty]

Would anyone have a problem with those who needed the handicapped stall (and when I use the word need that I mean they have NO other option), not waiting in the general line, but standing in front of the handicapped stall. If you are at the front of the line, you may not see the person with a cane or in a wheelchair 6 or more people behind you. This would also allow people who need the handicapped stall for invisible disabilities to indicate that they are waiting for that particular stall. IMHO It just seems a little much to expect disabled people who need the stall to wait their turn in line, then have to wait again, maybe for all of the stalls to empty again, letting people who were behind them in front of them, because they can only use one stall in the bathroom, and the person right before them just went in, thinking "Well, no one else needed it"

You make a very good point--nobody should have to wait in line to use the bathroom, then wait in line again for the handicapped stall to open up. On the other hand, it really just takes a minute or two for the stall to empty out. So I'm not sure what's right (but it didn't feel right to the 40 or so people standing in the line to which I was referring to have somebody cut in front of all of us....I'm not saying we were right to feel that way, but it felt like the situation was being taken advantage of. If she'd said "I'm sorry, I can't hold it for even another minute!" I think people would have been much more empathetic. ).

 

[bgirldeb]

Would anyone have a problem with those who needed the handicapped stall (and when I use the word need that I mean they have NO other option), not waiting in the general line, but standing in front of the handicapped stall. If you are at the front of the line, you may not see the person with a cane or in a wheelchair 6 or more people behind you. This would also allow people who need the handicapped stall for invisible disabilities to indicate that they are waiting for that particular stall. IMHO It just seems a little much to expect disabled people who need the stall to wait their turn in line, then have to wait again, maybe for all of the stalls to empty again, letting people who were behind them in front of them, because they can only use one stall in the bathroom, and the person right before them just went in, thinking "Well, no one else needed it"

Definitely no problem with that! I think its a good idea.

 

[SueM in MN]

This subject came up a month ago. Here's what I posted then:
If the person with a disability is close to the front, it doesn't make sense to not allow them go ahead to use the handicapped stall. My DD uses a wheelchair and needs me in the stall with her. We have had people not let us go ahead when we were within 2 or 3 people of the front. The problem with "making us wait our turn" is that usually within 15 to 30 seconds another stall opens up - so if 2 people let us go ahead, the most they would have to wait is usually going to be 30-60 seconds. But, we can't use that stall, or any other stalls until the handicapped stall opens up again. So, we end up waiting longer and letting people go ahead of us because someone right ahead of us wanted to make sure we waited our turn.

(Out of boredom while waiting for the one stall we could use), I've kind of kept track of what happened. Usually, in a small to medium size bathroom (2-12 stalls), we will have to wait thru one whole "cycle" of the stalls - (which means all the stalls empty) before the handicapped stall opens again. So, we end up letting between 2 and 12 people go ahead of us. Even the largest restrooms usually don't have more than 2 handicapped stalls, so no matter how many stalls there are, usually we can only possibly use one or 2 of them. Often, we are waiting in a bathroom with open regular stalls.

Many restrooms don't really have a lot of room for a wheelchair user to wait and people to get in and out of the restroom. So, while we wait, we become an obstacle that other people have to get around to get in and out.
Besides that, some of them didn't see that we were waiting for the handicapped stall, so they don't want to go ahead of us - I've had quite a few offers from strangers who say they will "watch" DD for me while I go to the restroom. I have to thank them, explain that DD has to go and that we are waiting for the handicapped stall. Their "entry" into the next stall is delayed by the amount of time it takes to read this explanation.

If I don't have DD with me, all the stalls are full and I am next in line when the handicapped stall opens up, I do ask if anyone needs the handicapped stall. If the answer is no, I will use it (quickly) and get out as quickly as possible.
But, if the restroom is not busy and there are other stalls available, I would never use the handicapped stall if I was not with DD.