Handicapped Restroom Etiquette, Part 2
Please send your
questions for publication to [email protected].
Prudie has received a
flood, you should pardon the expression, of correspondence in response to the .
The volume of mail was astounding. Following is a fair sampling from the
deluge, with Prudie's thoughts at the end.
Dear
Prudence,
I am dismayed at your answer to the query about
using the handicapped stall in a public bathroom. I use a wheelchair. I cannot
begin to tell you how many times I have entered a public facility to find the
ONLY stall occupied is the handicapped one--and by a person who did not need
it! The large size is not because we are "deserving of such amenities," but
because people in wheelchairs need the space to turn around, to clamber onto
the toilet, to empty catheters, whatever. People such as myself cannot get up
from the seat in a conventional stall without handrails.
I have seen people
use them with their kids--waiting until two or three toddlers "make pee-pee."
People sometimes use them to change clothes! This means I sometimes soil
myself. If there are NO other empty stalls and you gotta go, then, by all
means, use them--but never if there are other stalls you can use.
--Ann
How clueless!!! Here we have an able-bodied, selfish caffeine addict, who
can't seem to wait for a stall, callously making someone who is handicapped
wait. What will it take--seeing a person standing in a puddle--or worse--before
you realize that you're a doofus?
--BM98
Dear
Prudence,
I felt the need to
respond to this. I don't know how many times I have gone to use the handicapped
stall and there's always someone in it. If there isn't another stall open, I
understand. However, the comment I object to is the one where you say there is
never a handicapped person waiting to use it when you are done. There are many
conditions that are not visible. I have MS and look just fine. What is not
apparent is that I have a bladder problem and a catheter. For me to deal with
this is almost impossible in a "standard" stall.
--Sincerely,
Me
You dropped the ball big time in your response
to "Doubting," about the able-bodied using stalls for the disabled. Let me
enlighten you: Almost every time I need to use the disabled stall (I am in a
wheelchair), I have to wait for an AB to leave, and they all apologize meekly
when they leave. Your insensitivity is truly astounding. What you consider
luxurious is a necessity to us. I suggest that you try holding your bladder or
bowels, race to the bathroom, and find the ONE stall you can possibly use
occupied by someone who prefers the "luxury" of the handicapped stall. Please
reconsider your opinion.
Thank you.
--Eric
Dear
Prudence,
Sorry to inform you
that in California it is a finable offense to use a handicapped-designated
restroom stall if you're able-bodied. The fine for the first offense is $271. I
was riding my bicycle on the state beach at Huntington Beach and was arrested
and given a ticket, which the court has upheld--in the winter the beach
maintenance closes all but the handicapped facilities, so I guess you are
supposed to use the landscape.
--For Real
Dear
Prudie,
The article on use
of the handicapped stall was a farce. You basically said it's OK to use it any
time. As a former roommate of a disabled person, I became more aware of the
functional aspects of being handicapped. Many of these individuals do not have
the capacity to "hold it," as you or I do.
--A Concerned Citizen
Prudie,
I'm sure you are not
advocating disregarding the rights of the disabled, but I think you may have
misled others to do so. There is a big difference between handicapped parking
and handicapped restroom stalls. Courtesy would dictate yielding designated
bathroom facilities to those who require them, though when available, their use
is not restricted from the general public. I would be encouraged to see this
clarification published.
--D.P.
Dear
Prudence,
Public restrooms are
for public use. The larger stalls are meant to accommodate the handicapped--not
specifically for.
--Phyllis W.
Prudie, after much thought, realized several things
about this matter. One is that the disabled have a strong, perhaps
disproportionate, influence when it comes to public policy. Mostly this is to
the good. There are some caveats, however. Prudie remembers the Atlantic
Monthly story about the French kiosk company that developed wonderful
individual bathrooms for use on streets. New York tried them but had to give
them up because the lobby of disabled persons raised such a fuss about
all of them having to be handicapped accessible. This, of course, was an
impossibility, and unreasonable, so none were allowed on the streets.
An illogical example of the power of this lobby can
be found in hospitals. The number of bathrooms for surgeons and surgical staff,
proximate to the operating rooms, has been reduced so that there can be
wheelchair-accessible bathrooms. Well, there are no surgeons and allied
personnel in wheelchairs, given the nature of the work.
As some correspondents did point out, when no stall
is available and there is a line, anyone can use the designated handicapped
stall--if that is the next one to open up. It is a bit of an ethical conundrum
that the handicapped want fairness, but fairness for them sometimes results in
unfairness to others. Perhaps this is an acceptable trade-off, given the
particulars.
Prudie's reconsidered opinion is that when an
able-bodied person enters a public restroom, and there is a choice of stalls,
that person should not go into the handicapped accessible one. Prudie, herself,
after undergoing some rather strong e-mail aversion therapy, plans never to
step foot in the more spacious stall again.
