Disabled toilets !?!
This is the one and only difficulty I have with booking a place to eat - when people say they have disabled toilets for wheelchair users and yet they don't really!
And unless I interregate them down the phone on their bathrooms there is no way to know for sure.
Take today, me and my Husband went for a nice anniversary meal at a restaurant. Hubby rang the place and asked if they have disabled toilets to which they said "Yes" and so we assumed they knew what they were talking about as we had booked a place for myself as a wheelchair user.
When we got their access to the place was really accessible But then when I needed the loo they offered to show me where it was and help but it turned out that the "disabled" toilet was nothing more than a slightly bigger cubicle which there was no way on earth that I could get in there on my own.
Thankfully my husband was able to help me but if I was on my own I would have been stuck. A few days before I went to a community centre and there was apparently a disabled toilet so I should have been found and although in this case there was at least grab rails - there was no way to fit a wheelchair or walking frame through!
It makes you wonder if people just think that more space equals accessibility or just having grab rails? I wish people were a bit more aware it would certainly make life easier. I went to visit a gp surgery once for a project and the disabled toilets were down stairs in the basement without a lift ? what clever person thought of that idea!
It kind of begs the question- what do people think disabled toilets look like? How can they call unsuitable toilets disabled toilets? this is not the first apparently accessible toilet I have come across and sadly would probably not be the last as the only way I can be sure is by having a look round unless people were more aware of what constitutes a disabled toilet.
The other thing is how aware are people of the disabled people around them - I have used a few disabled toilets which are used as storage cupboard ! In one of them the stacked high chairs fell down so I got stuck in there and had to be rescued by my husband.
I even had to go to the loo in the dark once - it was my Hen night and I went to a club and I asked where the loo's are and they unlocked them for me and opened the door they tried to put the light on but it didn't work ! there was also loads of storage in there but I was a bit tipsy and bursting for the loo so I took a deep breath and found my way in there the staff apologised saying "this toilet is hardly ever used so we forgot to check the light" me I rolled my eyes REALLY in this day and age where we can get about so much easier thanks to ramped buses and taxies and powerchairs! surely I wasn't the only disabled person wanting to ever use the facilities.
Discombobulation! I really would like to spread the word that we appreciate toilets but would like to know for sure that a place has got properly accessible toilets before going somewhere - surely it's not a big ask for someone to have a look in their supposingly accessible toilets and judge for themselves? surely they clean them at least once a week ?
Well i've ranted on like a grumpy old woman but it's hard not to especially after a glass of wine or two!
