The right to pee !!
A modern day horror story.
Right we’re going out as a family, what are the thing’s we need to consider! ?
Food everyone will like?
Who’s driving?
Money?
Suitable for all ages?
Maybe packing a changing bag?
What about the toilet facilities? ?
Surely if you’re out and you need the loo, you find a toilet and hey presto! !
OR NOT! !!
What happens if a member of your family is disabled? Your child! Your partner! A parent!
Then it gets complicated because you see a vast majority of places just don’t have the facilities for EVERYONE to use the toilet!
Someone in a wheelchair would need a hoist and where does the person even lay to be changed?
Well we have some options –
Stay dirty! – no this is not an option is it?
Go home! – really! Just because we need the toilet!
Lay on the floor! – a dirty and possibly wet floor that people have walked over all day! Would you? Particularly great if you’re prone to illness and infections!
Or not even go out in the first place! This is many people’s only option. Simply because no appropriate toilet facilities are available this is making people housebound!
We are in the year 2016 yet many people /families are trapped in their homes because of no changing places.
My son hasn’t been able to fit on a baby changing table for years, so many many times I’ve had to lay him on a public toilet floor and kneel next to him to change him. Often we have had to resort to changing him laying in the boot of our car (good job it’s a big car) .
Even on public grassed areas for the world to see.
One time sticks in my mind most unpleasantly. .
I was out on my own with my three children and my son needed changing, we found the toilets but no hoist and no changing area!
The floor was wet with. …well i don’t even want to think about that!
We was a 40 minute drive from home so going home wasn’t an option.
The car was too far away and he was already getting distressed as he was uncomfortable.
It was raining.
Only one option left. ….
My eldest son was trying to support his disabled brother in the standing position ( they are almost the same height ) so I could squat on the floor to change his nappy. Have you tried to change the soiled nappy of a standing child? It’s not for the faint hearted.
He was upset and in pain with his leg’s.
We didn’t all fit in the toilet so I wedged my foot in the part open door to stop my young toddler from doing a runner out the door.
I felt a little broken that day as it hit me that this world is still not fully accepting of everyone. That our most vulnerable people, our loved ones don’t have access to a basic human right!
That they are denied of dignity!
We need adult size changing beds.
We need hoists.
We want to be able to go out the house and still use a toilet!
#phantomloos
#changingplaces
#spacetochange
#benchandhoist
My Autism and Duanes syndrome awareness mission 
We have resorted to surgery for my daughters dignity. She has had a Mitrofanoff for emptying her bladder. So we can catheterise her through a stoma in her tummy while she is in her chair and empty into loo. No need to transfer or change pads any more. In the same surgery she had an ACE. This is for emptying her bowel, we do it once every couple of days , in privacy of our home at a time that suits us, so she is empty and comfortable. Its seems drastic but is has made her a lot more comfortable and it has made planning trips out a lot less complicated.
LikeLike
Great blog. I can relate. My daughter is still in diapers. It frustrates me that we have not evolved to include bigger tables. Worse case we do resort to using the floor but I’m very careful with that. Odd time we’ve gotten lucky and found a table big enough. I agree we need much better facilities even here in canada.
LikeLike