urocyon (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
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accessibility_fail2010-06-23 03:06 pm
urocyon) wrote in accessibility_fail2010-06-23 03:06 pm
Entry tags:
Toilet fail
Over the weekend, I found out that our local Sainsbury's supermarket location does, indeed, have a disabled toilet. I have been going in there regularly for better than five years.
A completely unmarked door, with a "RADAR Key Scheme" lock: "RADAR would like all providers of accessible toilets to keep their toilets unlocked if at all possible." So that they're, erm, accessible?
Closeup of lock:
How did I find out that this was a disabled toilet at all? I saw a woman in a wheelchair going in there, after leaning over precariously and uncomfortably (complete with grimace) to try to get the door unlocked.
In effect, they may as well not have an "accessible" toilet at all. An unmarked door, so you have to ask if there is a toilet you can use--if you can ask. And beg a key off them to get into it, if you don't carry one around yourself. As most people needing the facilities don't, I would imagine. Additionally, I am a foreigner (American) in the UK, and had to look up what the "RADAR Key Scheme" is; the label did not scream "disabled toilet" to me. I had assumed it was a supply closet or something, which they locked up to keep customers out of the toilet paper and hand soap refills!
That day, I really would have liked to have had access to their "accessible" toilet. It can be really hard to get around their horribly cramped ladies' room, depending heavily on a walking stick with one seized-up hip (and really dodgy balance) as I was experiencing that day. And that one stays crowded, to the point that I saw the line stretching outside the door and just left yet again, in spite of my sudden urgent diabetic need for the facilities. I'm autistic with CAPD, and have enough trouble going up to the service desk and asking for a key that this wasn't really an option, even once I knew the facilities existed at all. (Not to mention the potential for "Why would you need it? You're not in a wheelchair!" type responses, which nobody needs.)
A completely unmarked door, with a "RADAR Key Scheme" lock: "RADAR would like all providers of accessible toilets to keep their toilets unlocked if at all possible." So that they're, erm, accessible?
Closeup of lock:
How did I find out that this was a disabled toilet at all? I saw a woman in a wheelchair going in there, after leaning over precariously and uncomfortably (complete with grimace) to try to get the door unlocked.
In effect, they may as well not have an "accessible" toilet at all. An unmarked door, so you have to ask if there is a toilet you can use--if you can ask. And beg a key off them to get into it, if you don't carry one around yourself. As most people needing the facilities don't, I would imagine. Additionally, I am a foreigner (American) in the UK, and had to look up what the "RADAR Key Scheme" is; the label did not scream "disabled toilet" to me. I had assumed it was a supply closet or something, which they locked up to keep customers out of the toilet paper and hand soap refills!
That day, I really would have liked to have had access to their "accessible" toilet. It can be really hard to get around their horribly cramped ladies' room, depending heavily on a walking stick with one seized-up hip (and really dodgy balance) as I was experiencing that day. And that one stays crowded, to the point that I saw the line stretching outside the door and just left yet again, in spite of my sudden urgent diabetic need for the facilities. I'm autistic with CAPD, and have enough trouble going up to the service desk and asking for a key that this wasn't really an option, even once I knew the facilities existed at all. (Not to mention the potential for "Why would you need it? You're not in a wheelchair!" type responses, which nobody needs.)