Handicapped stall etiquette

[sam_gordon]

The only time I really get irked is when you wait & wait and finally a non-handicapped cast member comes out (and all the other stalls were available. AND, NO they weren't cleaning it.)

If you didn't see them go INTO the stall, how do you know the other stalls were available when they went in?
How do you know they didn't need the extra space?
How do you know they didn't require the handrails to get up?

 

[monkeydawn]

Another time I felt bad for the person who was in the handicapped stall. I had my mother who was in a wheelchair at the doctor's office which was in a building attached to a fairly large hospital. We needed to stop at the restroom right outside the doctor's office and the handicapped stall was occupied by an employee who was pumping breast milk. She tried to get out as quickly as possible and apologized but my thought was why in the world did she have to go pump in a bathroom for privacy? Especially in a modern hospital building. I got the impression from her demeanor that it wasn't her choice.

Might have been the only place a plug was available. I know when I had a friend visiting that was pumping and we'd go out, finding an outlet was the biggest problem.

I long for the days when a good handicap stall thread was the hottest thread on the Community Board.

So much. Two months ago one of my biggest concerns was would I find a good lemon grove to tour in Sorrento. Now I'm hoping no one I love dies.

 

[ZJ5/9D47]

Being in a wheelchair does not give you front of the line access. You have no idea what kind of issues or disabilities a person in front of you has that may require them to use the handicap stall.
If you are the type of person who just feels entitled to push your way past people then you are rude, plain and simple. Your wheelchair does not justify rude behavior, it just doesn't.
If you feel it's an emergency that you go in front of people, be courteous and ask people if they mind, is it really that hard? I'm sure if you were polite about it nobody would care, but if you rush past them because you feel your needs are more important than theirs then you are going to be seen as a jerk and rightfully so.

There is no such thing as front of the line access in a wheelchair or other mobility device because you still have to wait for the one (or two in the very large restrooms) to become available. Everyone else is cycling through 10 - 40 stalls while someone in a wheelchair is waiting for that one to become available and more often than not it is occupied by a mom and her multiple children which can result in a 10 minute wait. Sometimes there are parents changing their kids' clothes or even teens changing clothes. It gets even worse when there is a sink inside the stall. I've never met a mom who doesn't make do in a regular stall if a HC one is not available. There are also often ADA stalls with handrails that accommodate everyone who needs the grab bars or a bit of extra room.

Expecting someone in a wheelchair to wait until it is "their turn in line" actually forces them to wait on average 5-10 minutes longer than everyone else. The most common scenario I've encountered in WDW (DL guests tend to not use the HC stall if others are open) is that there are plenty of regular stalls open but the HC one is taken by a mom and kids because it was more convenient for them. Take 5 bathroom trips per day multiplied by an extra 4 minute average wait and that is a 20 minute daily penalty just for needing a HC bathroom stall.

Oddly enough no one has ever openly gotten upset with me for "cutting" although I often let people know as I pass that I am going to go wait by the HC stall for it to open. If I see anyone with a mobility device or is frail I will ask them if they need to use the HC stall and tell them to always go to the HC stall line (this is common where I live). Usually the people I would have been near in line end up getting a stall at a similar time to me and if I had waited I would have been waiting even longer. Obviously I don't do this in a restroom with one of the only two stalls being a HC one. Those needing the HC stall also tend to take longer so it is creating fair access when we form our own line, especially in time sensitive places like event intermissions.

I did flat out cut to the front of a very long line on NYE once because it was a mega-restroom and I knew that only one of the HC stalls was functioning at the time and that there was no way I could wait extra if a family of four was using the stall because I had diarrhea. I was also tying up the stall for any other person who needed it after me. Abled-bodied guests didn't need to know that excuse because they had dozens of other stalls to use and it was not an issue that affected them at all.

 

[Hikergirl]

There is no such thing as front of the line access in a wheelchair or other mobility device because you still have to wait for the one (or two in the very large restrooms) to become available. Everyone else is cycling through 10 - 40 stalls while someone in a wheelchair is waiting for that one to become available and more often than not it is occupied by a mom and her multiple children which can result in a 10 minute wait. Sometimes there are parents changing their kids' clothes or even teens changing clothes. It gets even worse when there is a sink inside the stall. I've never met a mom who doesn't make do in a regular stall if a HC one is not available. There are also often ADA stalls with handrails that accommodate everyone who needs the grab bars or a bit of extra room.

Expecting someone in a wheelchair to wait until it is "their turn in line" actually forces them to wait on average 5-10 minutes longer than everyone else. The most common scenario I've encountered in WDW (DL guests tend to not use the HC stall if others are open) is that there are plenty of regular stalls open but the HC one is taken by a mom and kids because it was more convenient for them. Take 5 bathroom trips per day multiplied by an extra 4 minute average wait and that is a 20 minute daily penalty just for needing a HC bathroom stall.

Oddly enough no one has ever openly gotten upset with me for "cutting" although I often let people know as I pass that I am going to go wait by the HC stall for it to open. If I see anyone with a mobility device or is frail I will ask them if they need to use the HC stall and tell them to always go to the HC stall line (this is common where I live). Usually the people I would have been near in line end up getting a stall at a similar time to me and if I had waited I would have been waiting even longer. Obviously I don't do this in a restroom with one of the only two stalls being a HC one. Those needing the HC stall also tend to take longer so it is creating fair access when we form our own line, especially in time sensitive places like event intermissions.

I did flat out cut to the front of a very long line on NYE once because it was a mega-restroom and I knew that only one of the HC stalls was functioning at the time and that there was no way I could wait extra if a family of four was using the stall because I had diarrhea. I was also tying up the stall for any other person who needed it after me. Abled-bodied guests didn't need to know that excuse because they had dozens of other stalls to use and it was not an issue that affected them at all.

Wow, this is from a long time ago but maybe more and more people are online checking the DIS now that they are home.
I stand by what I said, rude behavior is rude behavior. If you feel there is a reason to justify your rudeness then fine, but don't expect people to agree that cutting in front of them isn't rude.
It's not that hard to tell people you have an emergency and need to go ahead of them and ask if they mind.
And as far as not telling anyone what the issue is, you are in a public restroom and there are people crowded in there, it isn't like you are going to keep your bathroom emergency under wraps for long.

 

[monkeydawn]

I did flat out cut to the front of a very long line on NYE once because it was a mega-restroom and I knew that only one of the HC stalls was functioning at the time and that there was no way I could wait extra if a family of four was using the stall because I had diarrhea. I was also tying up the stall for any other person who needed it after me. Abled-bodied guests didn't need to know that excuse because they had dozens of other stalls to use and it was not an issue that affected them at all.

The thing I dont get about this is that your reason for cutting the line had nothing to do with your disability. You needed the next stall that you could use, period. Ive now seen a few people on this thread use this reason for "cutting" in line. I dont feel like having urgency is a good reason to cut the line without at least a cursory apology/ request, independent of if you need the HC stall or not.