Which is why I said I don’t see a problem with what he was doing. But stating that “I’ve never seen a single person . . . that might possibly need to use it,” assumes that disabilities are apparent to others. That’s a widely held but false assumption in our society.
I’ve also done that at a gas station, when I could hear a mom with several small children in the women’s room and it was that or wet my pants. Nobody arrested me, either.
I actually prefer using handicapped stalls in some places (the antique mall where I have a booth, for instance) because the regular stalls are incredibly narrow.
I’d say nope, use it if you need it.
I have an occasional flair up of back pain due to an old back injury.
I can sit just fine; I can walk around just fine. But sometime the transition…well, sometimes it’s just uncomfortable, and sometimes it’s excruciating.
So the handy-dandy hand-rails and assist bars in the handicap restroom are much appreciated.
I wasn’t disputing that, but the specific scenario in the OP is not the same as other accessibility situations. This broadens your point that the relevant disability may not be obvious. Unlike parking spaces, what matters with bathrooms is not whether someone requires accessibility, it is whether they need immediate access to a stall or whether they can wait a few minutes. Most people who require accessibility do not lack bowel control (although there may be some correlation); whereas (for example) someone with IBS (or just ordinary diarrhea) may not require accessibility but may have an urgent need for the bathroom. It’s a jerk move to occupy any bathroom stall for 20 minutes to read the paper. I think that deserves greater emphasis than the question of whether it’s okay to make use of the accessible stall.
From the 2006 thread:
What does one being in a wheelchair have to do with it? The stall is for people with disabilities, not for people using wheelchairs, although there is probably some overlap.
Unless you have omniscience, I believe you would have no way of knowing who may or may not have need for a “handicap stall”.
Literally nobody else uses it? Do you have surveillance video of this restroom? If so, why? (and ick!) Have you watched every minute of every day of the last 10 years?
This would be me–I have a bad knee and trying to get up off one of those short 15" high non-ADA compliant toilets is a struggle, especially in a narrow stall. The handicrapper is guaranteed to be a 17" tall ADA compliant toilet and those grab rails make all the difference when my knee is playing me up. Not all physical impairments require a wheelchair.
According to all laws and regulations, a handicapped stall is handicap ACCESSIBLE. Nothing else. If you’re not removing the railing or stacking boxes so that wheelchairs have no room, you’re fine.
Just out of interest, why do they make them like this? I would have thought that kids young enough that a 17" toilet would be a mountain to climb are too young to be using a public toilet alone anyway, or am I mistaken in that?
I have no idea but I absolutely HATE those short pots with great fervor. I will never voluntarily live in a house with short toilets again, it’s super annoying. I hate having to fold myself up like an accordian just to take a whiz.
My experience has been that the default height of ordinary home toilets is 17"; there are taller ones for less bendy adults; and the really low ones are common in public toilets.
Whereas i got talked into taller toilets when we replaced them, and now i need a stool in front of each one, so my legs are at an okay angle. I like low toilets. I loved the squat toilets in Japan.
@Riemann , the default used to be lower in homes, but toilet stores have been recommending higher ones for several years, now.
I used the benjo when I lived in Japan but I was a lot shorter, younger and bendier than I am now. 34" inseam, bad knee and being old = 17" toilet or I’m holding it until the handicrapper opens up lol.
True story–used a benjo while on the Bullet train and my goodness there’s an adventure in not pissing all over your own shoes.
If no one who is visibly unable to use the normal stalls is there, damn right I’m using the accessible stalls. Just because you can’t see inside my bone-on-bone knees, doesn’t mean I need help getting off the pot.
Is the “accessible” label for a restroom intended to say 1) this stall is reserved for those who really need it, or 2) this stall is designed to accommodate those who need it or prefer it? That is the question.
The museum I volunteer at has four pairs of bathrooms. Recently the smallest pair were turned into ‘family’ bathrooms by changing the signage and installing locks on the doors.
The former men’s room has one toilet and one urinal. The toilet is accessible.
The former women’s room has two toilets, one accessible and one narrow. I haven’t checked to see if the narrow stall has a high toilet or not.
When I was a mommy with one toddler and one baby in a stroller, I would actually WAIT for a handicap stall. I could drive the stroller in, keep an eye on the toddler, and pee in relative peace.
~VOW
@ OP. Yes, you are an A-hole for using the parking stall. Doubly so since you think that a person has to be wheelchair bound to quality.
It took a couple of years before I noticed a co-worker walking with a slight limp one day. I asked if she was okay and she said yes, never explaining why she was limping. I later found out she had a fake lower leg because of a spider bite that got infected years before.
In the early 90’s, I worked for a short time in the Honolulu permit department. The legal requirement was that the disability had to be certified by a doctor. Not that it had to be necessarily visible. I had people walk in perfectly fine, but they had a non-visible disability such as a heart issue.
Anyone with a potentially fatal condition like cancer, HIV or AIDS with a doctor’s note was an automatic permit.
On the other hand, we turned away people coming in on crutches because they didn’t have a doctor’s note. This was because we had no way of determining how long the permit would be necessary.
The permit wasn’t permanent. It could be valid anywhere from a few days, to the full expiration date which was several years as I recall.
From WebMD.com
*Check with your own state to find out the specific criteria regarding who qualifies for disabled parking.
Common conditions include:*
** Lung disease*
** Heart disease*
** Substantially impaired mobility, for example, use of a wheelchair, brace, or cane*
** A disease that significantly limits your ability walk or to use your legs*
** Documented vision problems, including low-vision or partial sightedness*
** Loss of one or both legs or loss of both hands, or limited use of these parts*
Be aware that other conditions also may apply, so ask your doctor about your eligibility. For example, some states will grant permits to people who use portable oxygen or have an acute sensitivity to sunlight that causes burning and blistering of the skin.
I have no issue with using the disabled toilet stall. But if someone behind me was in a wheelchair or visibly mobility disabled, I’d wait for a regular stall. Common courtesy and respect.