can i use disabled toilets

deb74

i can walk but because of my arthritis i need to use a grab rail to get on and off the toilet. i have always used the ordinary toilets but now i struggle unless there is a grab rail. i was wondering if it is ok to use the disabled toilets. 

thespiceman

Hello @deb74 Thank you for your post. I do not see why not.

Understand your concern but if  finding hard to cope then of course.

Understand I have disability of hands, fingers missing. Walk and struggle a lot but always use disabled toilet.

Have concern if you did not and you fell or had trip or accident.

Have to be safe as all of our community should be.

Take care

@thespiceman

deb74

thanks spiceman. i know that i am actually classed as disabled but when i think about using disabled toilets i feel guilty and end up using the usual toilets. 

debbiedo49

That’s just silly you can have invisible illness and need to use disabled toilet. Just like disabled parking bays or seats on the bus. Dive in. 

deb74

that's true. i am just having to accept that my health is getting worse. i was talking to my dad about mobility aids a couple of weeks ago and he said it is about time i stopped being so pig headed and got the equipment i need to make my life easier. 

debbiedo49

 I know exactly how you feel I’m the same. I’m coming to terms with my diagnosis and it’s impact 

geordiangel

I'm disabled. have been since 2002.. but apart from.struggling to walk most of the time. you can't see it all. I use disabled parking bays. at first I'd only use them on my really bad days as I couldn't get out of the car in a normal space. the toilets I never used. until more recently. since my conditions have worsened.. do what you feel comfortable with Deb.. don't feel guilty.. ive came accross some really awful people in my early days.. but the facilities are not just there for wheel chsir users.. they are there for people like us too.. x

Jean Eveleigh

I would have no issue with you using the disable toilet at all under the circumstances you have described - if you are overly concerned carry a folding walking stick with you so you can show it to people who make you feel bad on entering/exiting the loo.

thefainthearted

Seriously there should be no guilt...youhave a disability which you can make easier by using those facilities...no gulit ..use them..

feir

Able bodied people are allowed to use them. There are no restrictions on who can use a disabled toilet and anyone can buy a radar key also.

Waylay

If it would make your life easier, then use them! They're there for disabled people, and you are disabled.

deb74

i suppose i don't feel disabled. 

deb74

thanks feir. i didn't know that.

deb74

thanks everyone. it is about time i started to do things to make my life easier. that includes using a toilet with grab rails next to it. at home i hold onto the windowsill which is next to the toilet but in a public toilet i do struggle.

thespiceman

Hello @deb74 One final point all excellent comments. This is the one issue I do think we all of us see our selves as a member of this community but also more importantly.

Recognising you have a disability I know it is hard to identify being disabled.

Thing is life especially time goes so quickly . My concern is what I always say if I do not do these things to help me adapt now.

What happens if the support is not there. Especially trying to get the things you need or adaptions the prices go up.

Limited availability. Some one gets the support you should have had.

In my younger days my family stopped and prevented me doing things and certain aspects that now I could have done with.


Remember all charities, councils have no money in the sense budgets are tightened as overburdened, so what you need to have go for it.

Please I sure all of us have felt guilty big issues are now the No factor. If you say no too many times. When turning to people for help saying yes. Who is going to help you.

Believe am a proud old fashioned gentleman from a long time ago when manners and polite ness and care and concern were about and helpful and all employees had to do their job.

All changed now sorry even me has to admit need to tell what is wrong. No one is going to help me unless I help my self.

So please stop feeling guilty we all have those feelings.

But if you got to go.  Got go as an gentleman of a certain age see a toilet to powder my nose. Have to go.  No matter what.  Understand not hanging around with screwed up face and crossed legs worrying about a toilet.

If people complain so what.  At the end of the day it is my disability.  I have accepted the way I am.  After a constant battle.  With my demons. Let it go and I do often in a disabled toilet lol.

debbiedo49

You are not responsible for what others think and do, only yourself. I included lpcatoons of good public toilets usually single ones or disabled ones on my route. Local councils have an obligation to provide them. I’m lucky where I am I can use them where I live. Otherwise I wouldn’t go out at all. 

feir

You're welcome @deb74.

Public toilets are public, some have been adapted so disabled people can use them also. So even if you have a hidden disability nobody should be acting like you can't use the toilet anyway. And you definitely don't have to justify using one or explain yourself.

jdtayloruk

The purchasing of a radar key is commonly tight with proof of Disabiltiy needed in some areas due to abuse by homeless etc. This is reasonable but I’m noticing a few places not using them anymore which can be an issue if you find it very hard to use stairs to the main toilets.

Waylay

Before my disability, I broke my ankle. I kept using non-disabled loos, even though there were usually stairs, and they were do small that organising me, my cast, and 2 crutches was really difficult. At some point I thought, "Wait. I'm essentially temporarily disabled. Screw it, I'm going to use those loos."

deb74

good idea. it must be murder going up an down stairs on crutches. 

deb74

thanks feir