Letting someone who is disabled go ahead of me will cost me very little in terms of my time. They have to deal with their disability 100% of their time. Definitely let them go ahead.
As to the one-handed thing. I used the handicap stall when I broke my dominant hand but not when I had a similar injury to my non-dominant hand. It gave me more room to dance into my (thank-god-for-elastic-waistband) pants. Good grief my right arm is a useless piece of junk!
Yeah, I completely agree with that. I wouldn’t take the handicapped stall if there was anyone in line I thought might need it. It just wouldn’t occur to me that someone with their arm in a cast would need it. If they asked me, though, I’d say go right ahead, of course.
If there are multiple stalls and one is marked the handicapped stall, then it’s a bit like taking the handicapped parking spot at the grocery store and making the poor guy in the wheelchair van behind you wait because you’ll “just be a sec!”
If there’s only one stall and it’s also handicapped, you gotta wait your turn.
Arm cast? Wouldn’t really occur to me that you’re handicapped, but I’d probably let you go ahead unless I had to pee really bad.
I’d say a fair way to do it is to let the disabled person get “next” for the handicapped stall if they’re close to the front of the line. Close being defined as “fewer people in front of you than there are available stalls” That is, if there are 5 stalls, you get “next” if you’re 5th in line. If you’re 6th in line, you wait.
I’d be willing to adjust this if the disabled person is disabled in a way that makes waiting to go to the bathroom a difficulty.
Standing in place causes me some unusual pain; if it is a stall designated for use by the handicapped, I (or any other handicapped person) should have first claim. Even so, if someone in front of me is in dire need of a stall, I would yield my claim.
I would let the handicapped person go ahead of me.
That being said, a person in an arm cast or a person who ‘standing in place causes me some unusual pain’ wouldn’t even strike me as being handicapped so it wouldn’t occur to me to offer up the stall.
Seriously - how does ‘standing in place causes me some unusual pain’ even look so that others would know it was an issue? And if there was a person in a wheelchair also waiting for the stall, would you go ahead and use it or offer it to them?
And don’t even get me started on the fact that the diaper changing deck is in the handicapped stall more often than it isn’t. Actually - that’s a bit of a non-starter I guess - If I were waiting with Junior and a person in a wheelchair came in I would still let them go first. While a poopie diaper probably doesn’t feel good, he can probably wait. It still wouldn’t occur to me to let someone in an arm cast or an uncomfortable stander go in front though.
I voted no and was surprised to find myself so alone. Of course, a lot depends on the actual handicap and how long the line is. One or two people - sure, step aside and give the guy in the wheelchair a break. A hundred people in line and a guy with a faint limp heads to the front - no way. I also think the handicapped shouldn’t go to the front of the line at amusement parks, so maybe I’m just insensitive.
It’s a question of entitlement. A disabled person is entitled to priority to the handicapped stall over a non-disabled person. Non-disabled people are only entitled to use the handicapped stall when there are no disabled people around.
It’s like if you had a roommate who had a video game system and he said you could use it. So you play video games while he’s at work. But when he gets home, he can kick you off the system and play games himself even though you were using it first. He’s entitled to use it whenever he wants because he has priority over you.
I think that statement should read “Being treated like everyone else when it is appropriate, but getting help when it is required or asked for.”
When I went to Yankee Candle with the full cast on my arm, the nice salesclerk asked me if I needed any help. I said no, I’d be a while picking out candles. She went away. Later, when I asked her for a plastic bag, she got me one and snapped it open (I would have had to use my teeth to do that). She didn’t offer to put the candles in the bag, as I could do that with my one good hand. When I asked her to put the bag in my tote bag, she did it.
Someone permanently in a wheelchair may and probably does have bladder and bowel control issues, and may really, really need to jump the line, and should be allowed to do so. So if there are multiple stalls, non-handicapped users can use the accessible stall, but handicapped users get priority.
There are some who would say that the non-handicapped should NEVER use the accessible stall, because a handicapped user with bladder or bowel issues MIGHT come in, but this is, I think, going too far.
Someone in a cast (arm or leg) needs the extra room to maneuver, but ought to wait in line like everyone else.
Right, because 1) she could easily see that it would be difficult for you to open the plastic bag with one hand, and 2) only an asshole would not help when someone requested it.
Neither of these applies in a situation where a person with a cast is standing in line in a bathroom, unless that person pipes up and asks to go next.
This question seems to come up a lot and I can only answer it as an Architect so you have to bear with me!
A Handicap toilet stall is an accommodation and is NOT similar to a Handicap parking space. A HC parking space is for specific use of someone who is disabled. A HC toilet is for use by everyone but has the accommodation of being easier to use then a regular toilet stall. A HC person can use a regular toilet stall, but it is more difficult. When we determine the number of toilets in a facility it only takes into account the numbers of female and male users, not the % of disabled individuals. The code just requires that one of the stalls have this accommodation. If you don’t use the HC stall you are underusing the capacity of the toilet room.
Now given all that, the courteous thing to do is to allow the HC person to use the HC stall, which is what I would do given they were already within the next group of users. If you are outside the door, then the HC person should wait their turn until they are within the group of next immediate users in my opinion.
But I did want to discourage anyone from thinking that the HC stall is only for use by the disabled which has come up in previous threads on this topic. Someone who is very large also has difficulties in a regular stall as well, they can use it, but clearly a HC stall would be easier. The HC stall if for use by all patrons and is an accommodation for those who need it.
There are a few assholes in this world, cause I had people turn down requests to zip up my coat and tie my shoes when I was in the cast.
You couldn’t easily see that a handicapped person needs the handicapped stall? They should have to ask for it?
Obviously the disabled person should have priority. That’s partly point of the stall. They’re not ‘toilets for disabled people but only if the able-bodied people feel like letting them use it.’
A lot of toilets for disabled people in the UK can only be opened by a radar key, which isn’t easy to get - you have to be claiming disability benefits, according to my local council. People without disabilities aren’t even supposed to us that stall at all.
This can be a stupid policy sometimes, though, since it excludes people with temporary disabilities like a broken leg and people whose disabilities aren’t bad enough to necessitate disability benefits, but are bad enough that they need the special loo. Like, when my narcolepsy was particularly bad, I’d avoid stairs because I fainted so frequently, and obviously most disabled toilets are placed where you don’t have to use the stairs.
You wouldn’t have know I had a disability, though; you don’t know if the other people in that queue did either.
Re: the bolded bit. 
Lots of people with disabilities wouldn’t be able to use the regular stalls at all. You’re an architect and didn’t realise that someone in a wheelchair wouldn’t be able to get up stairs or manoeuvre around a regular-sized stall?
Only one where the handicap is such that it isn’t immediately obvious that the person would have a preference for the handicap stall. As has been made clear in this thread, some people (and types of casts) require the extra room, and some don’t, and it’s going to be on the person in the cast to say “I really need the extra room in there. Is it okay if I jump ahead now that it’s open?”.
I agree. I put Other as it depends on the situation. If someone’s in obvious physical discomfort waiting in line, then yes. Broken arm? Wait your turn.
There are LOTS of disabled people with LOTS of different disabilities. I was one just awhile back when I was on crutches for six months with a broken hip. Trust me I totally understand the issues involved. For example a deaf or a blind person is still disabled and could use a regular stall, so is someone like myself who is on crutches. I did use the HC stall when it was available but if it wasn’t I used the regular stalls. It was difficult but it can be done.
I stated that someone in a wheelchair ‘can’ use a regular stall but with extreme difficulties. That is why the accommodation is there, so they won’t have to deal with those difficulties. Are you telling me that if someone in a wheelchair came into a toilet room without a HC stall they are shit out of luck? They would use the toilet that is there. It won’t be easy or pretty but it can be done.
Actually, I would pretty much let anyone who asked politely cut ahead in a restroom line. It’s such an odd thing to do, and something thing I think 99% of people would only do in severe distress, that I can’t imagine saying no.