Pretty much what everyone else has said. I use them when I have my daughter with me, and also when (as now) I’m in an advanced state of pregnancy and no longer fit into the regular stalls. But these are also usually situations where the bathroom is mostly empty anyhow.
Come to think of it, the handicapped stall is often also where the diaper-changing station is.
I nearly always use the handicapped stall rather than one of the regular ones, if both are open. It’s bigger, and often cleaner, since fewer people use it. I’ve never once gotten in the way of a handicapped person’s use of the stall - tough, of course, if needed, I can certainly let them take the good stall :).
Bearflag, if you don’t make the parking spaces off limits, they will constantly be full, handicapped drivers will be forever sitting waiting for the spots to open. In the bathroom, most people are going to get up and leave promptly anyway, so waiting is reduced. The ratio of handicapped to standard is also much lower for parking than bathroom stalls, making that problem worse.
Parking places are in use far longer than it takes to use the bathroom. Also, there are good reasons why many disabled can’t just wait the time for a parking place. If the disability involves a heart ailment or general weakness then being out is too exhausting to spend your time waiting for a parking space. Also, more rooms is often needed because of wheelchairs.
And there are far more reasons than just convenience that people need to use the hcwc that just being wheelchair bound. In a normal stall I do fine, unless some numbskull mounted the tp dispenser and tampon disposal unit such that they impinge on the room i need for my knees or body while sitting on the toilet. Also some regular stalls are much smaller than seems to be standard and if the door opens inward, I can’t use them.
In many crowded places that I have been, there forms a second line for the hcwc, wheel chair bound and those with obvious disabilities go to the front of it, but plenty of others are in that line. Most either are large, have children, need to change clothes, or are inconveniently dressed. I’ve had the top to one too many jumpsuit fall in the toilet while trying to use a small stall.
Excellent points. Thanks!
I’m 6’5". I find the higher toilet much more comforable than a conventional one. I’d one in my house, but my wife, who is relatively short, would object.
I always figured the handicapped stall was there in case it’s needed. But I don’t see any need for it to be left open at all times when there’s nobody there to use it. I liken it to wheelchair ramps at building entrances. I wouldn’t have any qualms about walking up the ramp, as long as I don’t push a wheelchair out of my way as I’m doing it.
I see no problem with using handicapped stalls providing you aren’t rushing to beat out a handicapped person to it. The use of a stall takes a few minutes at most, while the use of a parking space may take far longer, which is why they aren’t really a valid comparison. Also, as many people above have mentioned, restroom congestion is often bad enough without a portion of the stalls inaccessible due to such a rule or moral guideline.
[/hijack] Handicapped parking spaces should be only for those people whose handicap requires them to have the extra space for getting in and out of their vehicle (for example, but not limited to, wheelchairs and vans). For other handicaps, which I would say constitute the vast majority of people who use those parking spaces (I have no cite here, but from personal experience), if they can walk around in a mall for hours, they can walk the extra hundred yards to a normal parking space, while at the same time leaving the handicapped parking spaces for people who ACTUALLY need them. The “handicaps” that they give out handicapped parking permits for are ridiculous, at least in New England (where I am from and have the most experience with). [/hijack]
I sought out some answers to this question when my hubby told me his friend at work and family were in the casino in NJ and her dad used the handicapped stall. He encountered an incensed crazed guy in a wheelchair who called security - security came and the disabled guy was going positively postal, screaming and abusive because he had to wait for this able-bodied (albeit elderly) gent to come out. The security guard basically did nothing, except to whisper into the friend’s dad ear “Sir, I’m begging you - if you could just be reasonable and walk away it would diffuse the situation.” This pretty much concludes - there is no law against using the handicapped stall. To agree with another poster, I think if I ever have the situation visit me personally, I’m going to simply say “I’m claustrophobic.” And if that didn’t cut it I’d say “Hey! I’m terminally gorgeous-lay off!”
But is it legal for zombies? And do zombies even need to go to the toilet?
Psst, Lorriepoo. The other people in this thread debated this topic 11 years ago and concluded it wasn’t illegal.
from what I understand, the laws only mandate the creation of the stalls by the developers of the buildings/properties, they don’t really say what should happen after that. I believe this is the case for men/women room mandates, too, i.e. it’s not actually illegal to use the other gender bathroom, but up to the landlord.
When I had a full cast on my arm and needed a handicap stall, I encountered one being used as a cell phone booth. I told the “lady” to get off the fucking phone and let me use the stall. She came out, saw my cast and said "Well, I’ve never seen a handicapped person use the stall before.
Hence some buildings having single-user washrooms still pointlessly 
labeled MEN and WOMEN while others sensibly 
label them as WASHROOM or TOILET or MEN/WOMEN and don’t require a person to stand and wait with an unoccupied washroom because the waiting person is of the same gender as the occupied washroom. Yes, [del]I[/del] that person could use the “wrong” washroom anyhow, because it’s single-user and the door locks, but [del]I[/del] that person doesn’t want to be perceived as that pervert who uses the wrong washroom. :o
As noted in this and prior threads, people with disabilities may, in fact, have less ability to wait than non-disabled people, and getting a disabled body sufficiently exposed, onto the toilet, business completed, off the toilet, clothing straightened out, and back out might also take significantly longer than for a non disabled person.
So, if you ARE using a handicapped stall and someone wheels (crutches, whatever) into the rest room please finish your business as soon as possible and get your butt out of there. Pronto.
Also, as noted, do not set up for the long term in a handicapped stall. Get in and get out. It’s also fine for “people of size”, the claustrophobic, heavily pregnant, people with children, and so on to use the handicapped stall if it’s available at the time they enter the rest room. Just don’t dawdle.
The thing is, there are a lot of people like my dad who can walk from the handicapped parking spot to the interior of the store to the little carts, but not much farther than that. If you make him park in the regular spaces he might not be able to reach the entrance to the store. He doesn’t look that disabled, but he is.
Some people, like my spouse, can manage walking on flat, dry, artificial surfaces just fine but put a little ice and snow on the ground and he’s falling on his ass. (This is also a problem faced by lower limb amputees who are far more unstable on unsteady ground than the rest of us). So yes, he can walk around a mall with dry, clean floors just fine but outside in the winter not so much.
So try not to “rate” the handicapped when they park.
I was coming out of the handicapped stall one time and this guy in a wheelchair was waiting to
go in. He very rudely said, “Hey…this is for handicapped man, what the hell’s your handicap?”.
I screamed, “Fuck you asshole! Tourettes!”
nm, humor fail
The reason this was posted is the reason I’ll never live there (again).
That applies to regular stalls too, though. A public toilet is not the place to be cleaning your back zits, calling your ma on the phone or trying to figure out the answer to life, the universe and everything.
Since that’s always the stall with the Koala Kare I always thought it was reserved only for handicapped parents with toddlers that need changing.
On my floor at work we have about 200 men and 5 stalls, one of which is handicapped. We have no handicapped people working on this floor.
Of course I use it.
Hell, I used the handicapped stall in a quiet area of the Denver airport back in June. It was larger and generally cleaner than the other stalls and there was only one other person in the restroom while I used it, so it’s not like anyone was rushing for it.