Disabled mum’s anger as woman with pram uses disabled toilet

A disabled mum has expressed her anger after seeing an ‘able-bodied’ woman with a pram using a disabled toilet. 

Posting on the Mumsnet ‘Am I Being Unreasonable’ forum, the unidentified woman explained that, when visiting an aquarium for her child’s birthday, she was forced to wait to use the disabled toilet as it was occupied by a family.

She wrote:  “As I am in a wheelchair, I have no choice in which bathroom I can use, I had to use the disabled toilet.

“I had to wait until a mother and a couple of younger kids came out of the disabled toilet which surprised me, as it looked unlikely that any of the younger kids would need nappies.

“Then I went in this was a dedicated disabled (not accessible) toilet with no baby change facilities. I do understand that the first mother might have an invisible disability, as might her children.”

@pgreen1983 / Unsplash

However, as she herself was using the toilet, she was interrupted ‘several times’ by someone rattling the handle, pressuring her to hurry up. When she left, there was an ‘impatient mother with a pram’ waiting to go in.

She wrote:”I told her that there was no nappy changing facilities in that toilet, assuming she wanting to change the baby. But she snapped at me that she was a mother and had to use this toilet gesturing to the pram. I felt that this second mother was just entitled and rude. Having a pram doesn’t entitle you to use a disabled toilet.”

Many people on the website were disgusted by the impatient mum’s actions, with one person writing: “Use the end toilet in the women’s bathroom, with the door open and the pram in the toilet doorway, like everyone else does.”

Another noted: “Years ago, I had 4 kids under 6yo at one stage and I never used the disability toilets, except for the baby changing ones for baby changing purposes.”

@waldemarbrandt67w / Unsplash

However, some people admitted they have used facilities meant for disabled people before, with one saying: “Honestly, I agree with you. But I also think family toilets are needed. I took (my son) to an attraction today. We both needed the toilet.

“I’ve been before and the women’s cubicles are ridiculously small, but I can’t leave my 4 year old outside when it’s crowded. Took a punt on nobody needing the disabled toilet whilst we were in there and nipped in for a wee.

“I feel guilty, but not much I could do. There is no way that a pram could go into the women’s toilets at the place we were in today, so I’d imagine that a lot of people with babies use the disabled toilet too.”

The woman concluded her post by explaining that she asked the aquarium staff to consider adding a RADAR (Royal Association for Disability and Rehabilitation) lock to the bathroom, adding: “As this was the ONLY disabled toilet, and the baby change facilities were separate.

“To increase the likelihood of ring fencing these limited facilities for those who actually need them, rather than those people who want to use them.”