No, but we did visit one that had won some sort of award (they don’t have awards for potties in the US to my knowledge)
Is it morally improper to use the handicapped stall if you’re not handicapped?
No. As long as there is not a handicapped person waiting to use it.
Personally, I never use it it. The toilet is up too high, and every time I go to wipe (I do it standing up) some guy walks in on me.
I hope not–though I’d never use it when it was needed by a person for whom it was designed. I am a little overweight (OK, I’m FAT) and I’m pregnant and the narrower stalls can be difficult for me to wedge myself into (and I speak here of stalls narrow enough to bump your knees into when you are in cleanup mode). Not to mention the fact that I have two young children whom I am not willing to leave out in the main area where who knows what can happen (to them OR to the bathroom), so I must take them in with me and a small stall leaves no room at all for this. I have seen something recently that I really do like though, and that’s the placement of infant seats bolted to the doors of some stalls. This means that I wouldn’t have to wheel the entire cart with an infant in it into the stall.
You wipe standing up?? I can’t picture how this would work… especially since the …err… well your butt cheeks push together when you are standing…
In my high school locker room, there weren’t even stalls! Just three toilets right there in the room. Not even a separate room. Just right there. Only ever saw one guy using it. He must have had to go damn bad. There were other bathrooms elsewhere in the school with much more privacy. (could there be any less?)
when i visited beijing, china, i found out that instead of toilets, they have these “squat-pots” where you squat and… go in a whole in the ground that has water running through it… disgusting and unsanitary.
It’s a guy thing…
a big reason doors open inward is because of the ADA requirements. ADA is the American Disabilities Act.
IIRC, you need to have a 5’ diameter UNUBSTRUCTED circle (for turning around) for Wheel chair accesibility.
A lot of people don’t realize how many ADA laws there are.
I have a 4" binder with requirements.
Quite often, complaints about buildings are because of it. People complain to the Architect, but our hands are tied in public buildings.
you’d be surprised: a LOT of places don’t follow code.
I once went to a restaurant where the service was just awful. And speaking to management made the situation worse.
So, I went to the bathroom and measured the heighth of the ADA toilet. hmmmmm. It was 2 inches too low. Called the Code enforcers later that day. A biz will not be fined but they MUST fix the situation. MUST. let me tell you, moving a toilet up 2 inches is not cheap.
Many places here have stalls that are actually separate rooms, with walls running from floor to ceiling. I’m sure it’s expensive to build, but I don’t care, I love 'em. Not only because it’s private, but because if you’re out shopping, you can put your purse and packages on the floor! No one can reach over from another stall and grab them! 
That’s the normal way to do it here in Scandinavia. I always find the weird toilet arrangements in Ally McBeal totally disgusting, and I don’t understand how Americans can stand having it like that…
I’ve always hated using public restrooms. I don’t mind those that are just for one person. But I’m always freaked that there are security cams watching, in the air vent or hidden somewhere else.
Well, I don't know what I did as far as the quotes here, I'm still learning. But, I had to chuckle at the Ally McBeal thing because that is the only place I've ever seen it. I've never seen that type of situation in real life in the U.S. Am I the only one?Never seen Ally McBeal… what are the toilets like?
Ally McBeal has a reasonably ‘normal’ bathroom with stalls and sinks, but both genders share it.
<hijack>
I loved George Carlin’s quip regarding what to say when you, an obviously non-handicapped person, are confronted as you are exiting a handicapped restroom stall:
“Well, I was handicapped when I went in there…”
</hijack>
Re: Ally McBeal & the coed
We ladies kicked up a fuss because our floor is one of two floors in the bulding that didn’t have a Mens and a Womens. (The other floor has very few women, and they are less motivated and organized than us, I guess.) They changed to to a coed by putting a lock on the door and taking down the “Men” sign, putting up a “Coed Restroom: Please Lock Door” sign.
The closest I’ve gotten to an Ally-MacBeal situation was walking in on some doofus who didn’t lock the door.
I think I could have handled it, except that a) I wasn’t expecting it, and b) I was in a stall and ahem in process when I noticed that there was someone in male dress shoes in the stall next to me. And then I thought, well, geez, is he going to know how to unlock the door–it’s pretty obvious, but the working of the lock appeared to have escaped him on the way in . . . but he found his way out. And I figured, well, let’s finish up and get the heck out, but before I was done another man walked in and started using the urinal.
Honestly, I could have handled it if I was expecting it but now I’m emotionally scarred due to being trapped in a bathroom stall with my pants around my ankles waiting for someone to finish peeing. I now have to bend down and check both stalls before I can use the facilities.
BTW, I saw an Ann Lander’s letter a handicapped woman who was told to “wait her turn” by a non-handicapped person who wanted to use the handicapped stall. I can’t imagine the nerve. However, the handicapped person said that only handicapped peopl should use the handicapped stall, which I think is a bit of an overreaction. If there’s no handicapped person in sight, why shouldn’t you?
I remember reading a column about the same issue, though I don’t recall if it was Ann Landers or Dear Abby (whichever the Houston Chronicle carries). IIRC, she urged people never to use the handicapped stalls in case a handicapped person came in with an urgent need to use it.
Wha? I’m a guy and I don’t do it this way.
Please tell me I’m not alone. I like being normal.
Wiping standing up makes the Baby Jesus cry.
Or maybe just shit his diaper.