Fun morning.
I had to be in town at 9am this morning. My local shopping centre has an accessible disabled toilet so I thought I'd be ok.
Out of order!
There is a Costa in the shopping centre which has toilets, but only for customers.
In any case, they need a key and you have to try and get through the tables and chairs to the counter to ask for them. Not easy.
Thinking where else I could go, getting desperate, I think of the ace centre. Not open till 10am.
I check the library thinking it isn't open till 9.30, and it is open. It is no easy task for disabled people though. Surprise!
First of all, the really inaccessible disabled toilet is upstairs.
There is a lift, but… haha always a but when you're disabled.
It's a very small lift and to open the door, you have to pull and it doesn't stay open.
So you either have to shuffle the scooter/wheelchair backwards and forwards trying to hold the door at the same time or hope a nice person holds it for you.
Once you manage to manoeuvre yourself in, and wait for the door to close, there is a lever that you have to hold constantly or the lift stops. Not good if you have weakness in your hands.
Once up, you again have to struggle to get the door open while trying to manoeuvre yourself backwards.
There are the toilets. But you need to go to the reception counter to get a key.
Which involves another heavy door.
When you get the key, and struggle through the door again, then you have to open the toilet door.
You have to position yourself right in front of it to get the key in the lock. Then try and drag it open while working the scooter/wheelchair backwards, again.
When you're finally in, you have to somehow get the door closed, before you can go about your business.
Then reverse the process. It is not easy. Again.
The only other place in town is Morrisons. Again, the accessible toilet is not very accessible.
It's at the back of the checkouts, at the end.
The toilets are down a small corridor. Not easy in a scooter/wheelchair as it is, just have to hope nobody is coming out as there is no passing room.
Quarter way up the corridor is the disabled toilet. In its own small corridor. Which has a pull door.
The only plus side to this toilet is, it doesn't have the baby change in it. Yay!
Although if you're disabled with a baby, best just stay at home *sarcasm*
Accessibility is supposed to allow the disabled to be independent. But when it's virtually impossible to access the accessibility 'friendly' areas without help, it does the complete opposite.