ALL i’m saying is that it should be considered a toilet of “last-resort” for the able-bodied, or non-disabled. If all other, perfectly usable options are not available, by all means, any and everybody has the right to use whatever toilet is available (including the handicap-accessible one). It’s simple fairness. We (those w/access-compromising disabilities) have only one option at all times. All we ask is that the able bodied use the options that they have available to them. And, luckily enough, if the other options AREN’T available, hey, you’ve got an out-the handicap stall. But the handicap stall should be viewed as a stall of necessity. By everyone, disabled and non-disabled. When I hear the argument of “well, don’t you see how asking people to avoid going in there when no handicap people are around is unfair?” I have many ways of responding. One simple way would be to say, “well don’t you see that if it wasn’t due to wheelchairs and the disabled being a part of a functioning society, those stalls would never even exist in the first place for you to enjoy?” And you will actually protest my modest plea for equality and fairness?
And I literally mean “stall of necessity”. Someone may have a disability that is not obviously visible but still causes them to need the stall, or an able bodied person has no other toilet to go to. Or, someone in a wheelchair can only fit through the wider doors, or maybe someone is healing from surgery. The examples are endless, I’m just saying NECESSITY. Necessity does necessarily mean disability.
I don’t know who “we” are in your post, but that makes sense. People who don’t need to use the handicapped stall probably shouldn’t if they have any other choice.
I still have trouble buying that there are large numbers of people who are disabled in a way that makes them need extrz space AND have elimination urgency of the exact nature that allows them to shop, dine, etc with no speci precautions but does not allow them to wait two minutes for the stall to open up. If two minutes are really all that critical, wouldn’t that makes it risky to shopin the back aisles, go on pretty much any car ride, or stamd in any sort of line at all? And wouldn’t anyone affected to that degree have some kind of backup plan?
I would venture that accidents caused soley by an occupied handicap stall are extremely rare. What we are talking about is then mostly the ordinary discomfort that comes withwaiting for the person before you to finish up in a stall- which I think everyone has to bear now and then.
No, it’s a stall, like any other stall, unless someone shows the need or requests it. Then they move to the front of the line for the accessible stall.
I don’t know why you have trouble knowing what I meant by “we”, since I immediately followed “we” with (those w/access compromising disabilites). But either way, there ya go.
The handicapped stall is by far the most comfortable stall for big and tall people to use.I am not mobility impaired, but I am a tall man. Beyond this, just as a point of observation, I have rarely seen a mobility impaired person waiting for a handicapped stall in public bathrooms. Also, if there is crush such as after a movie lets out, ALL stalls are going to be used for urination.
If I do not see a handicapped person waiting in the vicinity I will probably go for an available handicapped stall. As far as I am concerned all stalls are fair game if there is not someone handicpaped waiting to use it. Your request that I crunch into a narrow stall as a matter of course on the very small chance that I will delay access to the handicapped stall is not (IMO) a sensible request.
It is. It’s just that people in wheelchairs aren’t the only ones who get to decide what’s ‘necessary’.
It never crosses my mind. I just go where I need to when a stall is open.
Prior (and relatively recent) threads on this very subject, provided for your reference, edification, and amusement:
Do you use Wheelchair Accessible stalls?
Maybe you shouldn’t park in handicapped spaces? (mild) - Yes, it starts with parking but moves into the bathroom.
Mothers, please teach your daughters…
Should a disabled person get first use of the handicapped bathroom stall when there’s a line?
I’ll agree with the OP in one condition only, if you are about to sit down for a 10 minute battle with #2, don’t do it in the handicapped stall. If you’re going to be in and out in 2 minutes or less, including time to buckle up and flush, go wherever you feel most comfortable. If you don’t have a preference, use a regular stall.
Claustrophobic. Not enough room in most standard stalls. Have dropped my stuff in the toilet trying to disrobe while standing over the toilet with my nose practically pressed up against the door and unable to sit down without cracking my leg on the toilet paper dispenser.* Gonna keep using the handicap stall. Sorry about that.
- Seriously! WTF are they thinking? I’m not even obese.
I can’t recall a single time, not one time, when I’ve seen a handicapped person waiting for that stall to open up. On my floor at work, we have literally zero people who need that stall. There are five or six stalls, and I subscribe to the spread-out-the-usage-as-much-as-possible doctrine (skip a stall when possible, etc. – I hate it when I’m the only one in the bathroom and then another person comes in and uses the stall next to me – I mean, WTF?).
It’s just another stall with priority for the handicapped when they are present. It’s also the best one – the seat is higher, there’s more room – why should it sit idle on my floor 100% of the time? It doesn’t make sense.
Your view is skewed because wherever you are, there is always at least one handicapped person present. For many of us, we just don’t come across that many handicapped people, and the few that we see, the chances that one needs that stall at the same time that we need it is pretty small.
In my building, there’s one person regularly there who is in a wheelchair. I’m not sure what floor she goes to, but there are 13 floors in my elevator bank and it’s not mine. You see the occasional person with crutches, etc.
In my view, it’s ludicrous for one sixth of the bathroom should be reserved 100% of the time so that you can avoid waiting a minute or two.
The handicapped stall is fundamentally different than handicapped parking spots – in the parking lot, people stay in one spot a lot longer, maybe hours. In the bathroom, the waiting time is measured in minutes, and just a few of those.
I get that your life is difficult enough. But, really, this is a silly issue.
If a disabled person comes in they get the stall, even if there’s a line up.
No disabled person requiring it? It’s just like any other stall.
So they might have to wait for a few minutes, for an able bodied person to finish? That’s right. Just like they’d have to wait if another disabled person was in there.
Could it be more obvious that the OP has a huge chip on his shoulder?
This is also my view on the issue.
They’re all “stall(s) of necessity.”
Those handicapped stalls are way better for getting it on with some chick you just picked up, even if neither of you is handicapped.
But not if both people are handicapped. Maybe we need a third, and larger, stall so that two people with wheelchairs can get it on. For the rest of us it remains a stall of absolute last resort, if all the regular stalls, and even the handicap stall are occupied and you really, really, need to get it on with a chick.
Having been on both sides of this fence, I’d say it’s okay to use it if no handicapped person is waiting. But please, let the handicapped go first.
And i will say I was amazed that some people don’t think having a cast from fingers to halfway up your upper arm is a handicapped. It sure felt like one when I ws so impaired.
I think the OP is saying that handicap people bear that uncomfortable waiting more often and please consider that in your choice - you could make their life much better as almost no cost to you.
You can walk into a bathroom and chose in such a way that someone has to wait for you and hold it, or in a way that you both can be revealed.
My response is it depends on the circumstances, if there are multiple large unoccupied stalls I may be more likely to use them, as well as if the small ones are super small or messy. It also would depend on the likely hood of a person needing them, as in seeing a large number of people in wheelchairs in the area.