Using the handicap bathroom stall when your not handicap!
Does this bother anyone else? The bathroom I use at work is for women only, it has 4 stalls and one is handicap accessible. We do not have any right now who would need this stall. There are a couple people I work with who always use the handicap stall! Does this bother anyone else? I know no one else is going to use it, but it still bothers me. I would understand if all the other ones were full, but they are not.
I was thinking of this today, but mine was from a different perspective. I was proud of myself b/c I no longer felt cramped in a regular stall. I use to always go to the handicapped stall b/c it was more comfortable for me.
I'm just glad that I don't have to worry about that anymore!
I like to use the handicap stall when I am out with my kiddos.. besides, there is more room so you don't feel like the germy public bathroom walls are closing in on ya.
Nope, if it's empty .... and there's no handicapped folks waiting ... no problem.
an aside ... whenever my younger SIL and I went out when she was preg (many times ) She used the handicapped. Felt she at least had room to move around. If no one else needed it of course.
I like the handicap stalls - don't know why really - they are just roomier and you don't have to worry about where to put your stuff as much. But I occasionally get a paranoid feeling that a handicap person is going to be waiting and will yell at me or something. Maybe that is my guilty conscience.
I guess if there is nobody that needs it ..I am okay with it. Some regular stalls are so small that if you are heavy it could be considered a handicap. I have used them on occasion but also feel guilty and try to hurry up. If there is a normal stall that is: one-clean, two-big enough, three not occupied, I will use it.
Side note: Have you ever broken a toilet seat? I broke two this summer in my house. My husband bought cheap ones. I felt so terrible! I never want that feeling again!!! I bought the one we have now and made sure it was a good sturdy one!
I remember reading a dear Abby column (or maybe it was her sister Ann Landers' column), discussing the matter. And she pointed out that the handicap stall is not like a handicap parking space. To access a bathroom, one might at any time have to wait a few minutes til the person ahead of you is finished. And if a handicapped person comes into a restroom, there could be another handicapped person or an able-bodied person in the stall, and the wait for the person is the same regardless. Now, if an able-bodied person, sees that an obviously handicapped person comes into the restroom, then it would be extremely rude to take the handicapped stall and make them wait.
If there's no one going to need it, not only in the immediate moment, but at any time in the foreseeable future, what does it matter? It's not like using the handicapped stall damages it, in any way, or prevents a handicapped person from using it, at least not for more than a few moments.
Another thing to consider, is that there are many people who have mild disabilities that aren't noticeable, but could make using the regular stall difficult. Flexibility, pain and balance issues, for example. You can't always tell by looking, even if you work with a person, whether they have an issue.
About 15 years ago, after I herniated a disc, when my herniated disc healed to the point that I wasn't limping anymore, and no longer needed the handicapped parking permit, I still needed the handicapped stall. The regular toilets were too low for me to get up from the toilet, and there was no rail to help. I also didn't have the flexibility to use the tp (graphic, sorry) in the tiny stalls. No one would have guessed that I had such potty issues, and would have assumed that I didn't "deserve" to use the handicapped stalls.
I actually had this discussion with "someone" one day... I have no idea why it came up.
But I was appalled when she said if there was a line for the restroom and the handicapped stall was open and she was before a handicapped person, she would STILL use the handicapped stall -- because why should THEY get to go before her, if she was waiting longer?
Oh brother! It doesn't surprise me though, in that many people are so "me" centered.
One thing that drives me much crazier about handicapped stalls, is how inadequate most are. I didn't realize it until I met my FIL (he passed away last year) who was wheelchair-bound. We would get on the topic of handicapped stalls, and he pointed out how poorly most are constructed (few allow a person in a wheelchair to use unassisted, and often are not large enough to include a second person into the stall to assist). He pointed out that many handicapped people have to slide onto the toilet and with some disabilities the person can only slide left to right, or right to left. Since the toilet in a handicapped stall is rarely in the middle, but rather very close to one side or the other, it can be completely unusable to many handicapped people who would have been able to use it if the toilet had been installed on the other side (which would then make it inaccessible to people who had to slide in the other direction). Where if the toilet were in the middle of the wall, or even better in the middle of the floor with hanging support bars, rather than wall bars, more handicapped people would be able to use them.
Also, the toilet paper dispenser is rarely placed on the wall where a handicapped person can reach it. I've noticed that even relatively able-bodied, with some flexibility issues, I often have a hard time reaching the tp in a handicapped stall. You often have to lean forward and reach both under and up to get at the tp. A handicapped person with arm issues couldn't do the reaching, and a person with balance issues would fall off the toilet while reaching for the tp. My FIL and I would often discuss ways to make handicapped stalls truly usable by a wider range of disabilities. He was an exceptional man, and I really miss him (a potty discussion doesn't do the man justice, but it was one of many issues he was passionate about. It may seem silly to be passionate about potties, unless you find yourself unable to use them).
The handicap stall thing doesn't bother me at all. What really gets me p***** off is when people will borrow their handicap mother's or someone else's handicap parking permit! It's so rude! Especially with something like parking because usually you aren't just running in, and you can't watch it to make sure there's no one coming that will need it. So rude...
Not only is it rude, it's illegal, and "borrowing" the handicapped persons permit can result in the permit being revoked, and the handicapped person being fined as well as the borrower.
It's even illegal to park in a handicapped stall, if the handicapped person stays in the car. It's only for use when the handicapped person is going into the store.
I don't know why anyone would lend their permit to anyone, because if they're caught, bye bye permit and hello legal problems.
My husband has a handicapped permit, and they're very upfront about the rules. The documentation is very clear that if the permit is misused it will be revoked and the people prosecuted (both the lender and the borrower), and very likely the handicapped person will be unable to get a new permit issued, at least not easily or for quite a while.
PNut i totally agree with you. My boyfriends dad uses one and he needs it. But when my boyfriend is feeling lazy he goes down to his parents house (they live 6 houses away) and gets it for when we go out. I get super super super irriatated. I dont feel it is right. Also at out mall we have reserved parking for pregnant women and moms with small children which i think is awesome. But it irritates me to no end when someone that is clearly not pregnant or with a small child parks there.
Side note: I was with my boyfriends family one day and we went to the grocery store. His dad was with us so we had to park in the handicapped spot. His mother saw this woman getting out of the car and she appeared fine and without a disability. So she says to the woman ummm excuse me this spot if supposed to be for the handicap only. Well the woman pulls up her pants and shows that she has 2 prosthetic legs. OMG we all about fell over. I was so embarassed for her and felt bad that the woman prolly felt insulted. Never assume someone is not handicapped.
Last edited by CandyKisses0204; 10-01-2008 at 05:59 PM.
My aunt has a severe kidney disease (polycystic kidney disease). She's had a kidney transplant, which improved her health immensely for a while, but now the disease has spread to her liver, so she's getting sick again. She looks perfectly healthy (a lot of it, artificially created by the steroids and other antirejection drugs), but she gets exhausted easily. If she were confronted by a self-appointed handicap monitor, she wouldn't have anything to show them (the scar for a kidney recipient is very small compared to the scar of the donor).
Using the handicap bathroom stall when your not handicap!
My husband bought cheap ones. I felt so terrible! I never want that feeling again!!! I bought the one we have now and made sure it was a good sturdy one!
