Do you use Wheelchair Accessible stalls?

There’s a nice side debate going on over in Maybe you shouldn't park in handicapped spaces? (mild) - Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share - Straight Dope Message Board
about able-bodied people using stalls designed for handicapped access.

It made me curious, plus I’ve never done a poll before, so here it is…

How do the non-handicapped feel about using wheelchair accessible stalls?

I would use the WABS anytime with the understanding that if a special needs person needed it then they would go to the front of the line.

At least that’s the advice Ann Landers gave years ago and I consider it reasonable.

If there are no handicapped people, I use the stall. If when I’m next in line a handicapped person comes in, I let them go ahead of me. I also let older folks and folks with babies go ahead of me. Rarely is it the end of the world if someone has to wait the 45 seconds it takes me to pee if I am in any stall.

An interesting twist on this: the other day, I was shopping (at Saks, if that makes a difference) and popped into the bathroom. There were two stalls, one regular and one larger, handicapped accessible one. The regular stall was being used, no one else was in the bathroom, so I went into the handicapped stall. I was probably in there literally a minute, when I came out to see a woman with a GIANT stroller glaring at me. She told me that stall is reserved for people who need the space. I mean, I disagree with her fundamentally and she is a giant bitch, but that’s neither here nor there :).

My point is: for as many people who think the stalls are exclusively for the handicapped, I’m sure there’s a large contingent who thinks women with strollers get priority, too.

They are called handicapped accessible, not handicapped reserved. Anyone can use them although preference should be given to a perform on crutches or in a wheel-chair. Some bathrooms have only one or two handicapped accessible stalls. What would everyone else do in that case if they were reserved just for handicapped people?

WABS are not exclusively for the handicapped, but they should be given priority.

Exception: Both bathrooms in my office have a WABS, but there’s no handicapped people in our company at all. If I have to sit down for a while, I happily use it.

So far it looks like people are a like mind. If the stall is there, I’ll use it if I feel like it. I would defer to a handicapped person (but not to a person pushing a stroller).

I use it if it’s empty. Regular ones set off my claustrophobia, and I avoid them when I can. Of course I try to avoid public rest rooms in the first place, so it’s rarely an issue.

I voted the third option, although the second one is probably closer to the truth. The thing is, I don’t think I’ve ever been in a situation where a handicapped person was in line behind me. In fact I don’t have any memory of ever seeing a handicapped person in a public restroom.

I see plenty of handicapped people at work, and sometimes there is competition for the bathroom. Since the one next to me is unisex and very accessable, I let them use it. I just use the one around the corner instead. It’s nicer anyway.

Of course I’ll use it. I try not to, but if I have to go and it’s the only empty one, and no handicapped person is in there, I am not waiting. Especially if there’s a line behind me - how foolish.

What gets me is in our work bathroom, there is no easy way for the people in wheelchairs to get in and out of doors - they are not automated, and it’s really hard for a person in a wheelchair to get out.

I’ll use them, unless:

  1. There is a handicapped person who needs it or

  2. I’m in a very public place (like a mall).

The reason for #2 is because the handicapped stalls are often used by moms with small children who aren’t ready to use the potty by themselves yet, and a huge percentage of the time the little ones sprinkle dreadfully all over the general vicinity, and the mom doesn’t clean it up. To be fair to them, they often are managing potty-time for 2 or 3 littles of various sizes, and are rushed and busy and may not see the pee on the seats - but regardless, I’ve found that handicapped stalls have a considerably higher likelihood of seat-pee than the regular ones, and so I avoid them.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a handicapped person use one!

So, yeah, I use them all the time.

I think the question for me is, if you walk into a bathroom with two stalls, both open, one handicapped, which do you use? For me, it’s the non-handicapped, but I know there are some people who go for the handicapped first.

I voted other. I prefer to use the regular stall, but I will use the WABC if: it’s cleaner than the regular stall(s), I have a kid in a stroller (although that’s no longer an issue for me), or if there’s a line and that’s the one that’s open.

I voted other, because I always use them when my 12 year old deveopmentally disabled daughter is with me. She uses it first, then stays inside the stall while I also use it.

If my daughter is not with me, I use them if they are the only stall available.

I’m acrophilic, so I prefer regular stalls. However it also depends on the user population. Where I work now there are no people on my floor who would need to use it, so it is unlikely that doing so would cause a problem to anyone. But I still prefer the regular stall.

Other. I don’t need the extra room, unless the regular stalls are ridiculously small, but I DO need the grab bars. I have to use a stall with grab bars. If there are bars in a regular stall, then I use a regular stall. Otherwise, I used the handicap stall.

A lot of people who need the handicapped stalls don’t go out very much, precisely because they can’t count on finding an unoccupied handicapped stall when they desperately need one.

Many people in the handicapped community consider it quite unreasonable. Ann Landers is frequently wrong. Both the original and the one who’s currently writing the column will tend to give answers off the cuff, rather than doing any sort of research (unlike Our Perfect Master, who WILL do exhausting research, or at least farm it out) and while she’s usually spot on about “normal” etiquette, she can be dreadfully off the mark when it comes to dealing with unusual circumstances or needs. I also suspect that many times she’ll give an answer that she thinks will be popular, rather than an unpopular answer that’s right, and this would be an example. Many able-bodied people would prefer to use a roomier stall, but they don’t want to feel guilty about it, so AL says “Hey, it’s OK, never mind if someone who is genuinely in need of that stall RIGHT NOW comes in! You get to use it!” The thing is, people who can use regular stalls should make an effort to use those stalls in preference to the handicapped stalls. Only if all the regular stalls are full should the handicapped stalls be used by the able bodied.

If the regular stall was in use, yeah, it’s OK to use the handicapped stalls. And parents with GIANT strollers usually have entitlement issues.

I did a lot of walking around with a GIANT stroller myself, when my daughter was an infant. My parents bought that stroller for me, though, I would have purchased a far smaller one. The interesting thing is, I was able to stroll and use regular sized stalls…because we didn’t HAVE handicapped stalls in most places. Or changing stations. Somehow, I was able to manage, and so did all the other parents back then. Oversized stalls were not originally intended for parents with small children or infants to use, it’s just that the parents sort of took them over.

I would not race a guy in a wheelchair to the door, but otherwise I’d prefer the roominess so I would use it. I don’t spend any appreciable time there and will be out even if someone rolls along anyway.

I work in a hospital, so I see people with wheelchairs or walkers using them a lot. So, at work I avoid them unless they’re the only stall available. In situations outside of work where there’s a line and no one with obvious need, I’ll use whatever stall is open.

I googled this and the results told me it was somebody who liked mountains. Is it a typo?

I selected #4.
I’ll use them almost exclusively and I’ve never, EVER run afoul of a handicapped person. Or a father with a child that needed to use it. I’m a big guy and the extra room is nice, plus they always seem cleaner.
If I was already in the stall and could tell that someone needed to use it I’d get out asap, so they have might have to wait 30 seconds…no big deal.
I’d never use it if I knew someone else would have to wait for me before they could use it, but I can’t really see why a short wait would even be a problem.