Before I get hate mail....

[Kellykins1218]

There is a baby care center in every Disney park.

So you expect a parent to walk all the way to the front of the park every time they have to use the restroom? If the handicap restrooms were only at the front of the park that would be ok, too, right?

 

[Kellykins1218]

Personally, I have no problem with a parent with a baby using the wheelchair stall or family restroom, as needed. I also have no problem waiting for a child to use the wheelchair stall if all the regular stalls are occupied. I also have no problem waiting my turn in a crowded restroom.

My main frustration with restrooms is an able-bodied adult with no children uses the wheelchair stall when all the regular stalls are empty.

If a regular stall is unoccupied/available, and a person is capable of using the unoccupied regular stall.....Please leave the wheelchair stall available for people who really need it.

But you are just assuming they are "able bodied." You have no clue if they have a hidden illness or disability and frankly it's none of your business if they do. You don't get to decide who is "disabled enough" to use the stall.

 

[RedsDrew]

After reading this thread, I felt the urge to pipe in. While I have no kids and really no concern in general for myself or anyone I know at the moment regarding who uses what stall, that doesn't mean tomorrow some unforeseen circumstance won't impact me, my family, you, or your family. So, I can tell you from a 3rd party perspective (where I just want people to generally demonstrate respect for others) that common sense tells me this:

While first come first serve typically applies in our society, it would be courteous, polite, and respectful to NOT take a handicap stall if there is an individual nearby or somewhere close to the front of the bathroom line who appears to be in need of the handicap stall (i.e. someone using a wheelchair, a walking assistance apparatus, or any other assistance contraption, seeing eye animal, or seeing eye person, that requires extra space). The legal definition of handicap does not include having an infant, transporting a stroller, or accompanying a child that does not have a legally protected ailment or condition.

Being handicap shouldn't give someone a fastpass to the front of the bathroom line, but the fact is that unlike those who don't have a handicap, a handicap person generally only has one or two stalls that can accommodate his or her use. Can a parent with a child and a stroller use the handicap stall? Sure, it's a free country and unlike a handicap parking space there is no code saying you can't use it. But that doesn't mean they should always use it. Since the idea of a handicap stall is that it provides extra room for those who need it for various personal reasons brought on by a handicap, if someone doesn't need the extra room, just don't use that stall if another stall is available. If another stall isn't available, use the handicap stall so long as there's no one nearby that actually needs it because your odds of getting a stall are greater than theirs.

In the game of bathroom roulette, an individual with a handicap has worse odds of getting a stall than you.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

But you are just assuming they are "able bodied." You have no clue if they have a hidden illness or disability and frankly it's none of your business if they do. You don't get to decide who is "disabled enough" to use the stall.

Everyone has already acknowledged that people with invisible handicaps should get a handicap stall if they need one.

 

[mrsksomeday]

So you expect a parent to walk all the way to the front of the park every time they have to use the restroom? If the handicap restrooms were only at the front of the park that would be ok, too, right?

I never said that. I just stated that their is a place dedicated to take care of babies.

As for the issue if I would be ok with only one handicap restroom in front of the park, no. There are bathrooms all over WDW, a fraction of those are handicapped. There is a difference in need and want. A disabled person might need to use that stall, a parent might just want the extra room if they bring a child in with them.

 

[Kellykins1218]

Everyone has already acknowledged that people with invisible handicaps should get a handicap stall if they need one.

But my point is that people are making the assumption that they are seeing able bodied people leaving the stalls when the fact is they don't KNOW that for a fact.

 

[Angel Ariel]

I understand that only a fraction of stalls are handicapped throughout WDW...but, as the mother of an 8 month going to WDW soon, if the changing table is in the handicapped stall, then what else am I supposed to do? I don't have any control over where Disney placed its changing tables, and I shouldn't have to place my infant on a floor to change her. Changing her in the stroller is an option, yes, but then I've seen plenty of posts where people take issue with children being changed outside of bathrooms as well.

As for the baby care centers...there was mention in this thread of how scarce handicapped stalls are and how those who need it shouldn't have to wait to use them. The baby care centers are even more scarce than handicapped stalls (only one in the park). Surely it's not expected that a parent who needs to do a quick diaper change should trek from one end of the park to the other to use the changing tables at the BCC?

 

[Kellykins1218]

I never said that. I just stated that their is a place dedicated to take care of babies.

As for the issue if I would be ok with only one handicap restroom in front of the park, no. There are bathrooms all over WDW, a fraction of those are handicapped. There is a difference in need and want. A disabled person might need to use that stall, a parent might just want the extra room if they bring a child in with them.

Or the parent might also need the extra room. If parents didn't have a right to use the stall, then they would stop putting the changing tables in them. Also, my kids look perfectly normal. They're not. I need to take them into the stall and I don't need, or appreciate, people giving me a hard time about it because they don't SEE a disability. It's no one's business.

 

[roomthreeseventeen]

No one in this thread is saying that you should change your baby on the floor, or that if your child is disabled that they should wait outside for you. It's just that it gets tiring for people in wheelchairs or ECVs to see people misusing a handicap stall. No, you can't always tell, but if everyone went out of their way to try and do the right thing, life would be better.

 

[DisneyKevin]

The fact that you would even equate raising a five year old to a nine month old actually proves that you don't have the experience. They are light years apart.

You still haven't provided one reason why you can't wait five minutes. I honestly cannot comprehend your argument. You were slightly inconvenienced because it is NOT POSSIBLE (there is often no other changing table to change the child anywhere else) for me to use a different stall. Now I, and any other parent, am offensive for using the handicap stall?

This argument is beyond ludicrous. Again, why is one handicap "better" than another? I am suggesting that two parties have different but valid reasons to use needed equipment. You are suggesting that your problems trump everyone else and that certain groups should never use your facilities no matter the situation. Do you see how one suggestion is FAR more reasonable than the other? If not than your emotions are clouding your judgement.

You make a lot of assumptions.

As long as you know me and my experience so well and are so certain of what I know and dont know...I will bow out of the conversation.

 

[robinb]

As for the baby care centers...there was mention in this thread of how scarce handicapped stalls are and how those who need it shouldn't have to wait to use them. The baby care centers are even more scarce than handicapped stalls (only one in the park). Surely it's not expected that a parent who needs to do a quick diaper change should trek from one end of the park to the other to use the changing tables at the BCC?

There are separate baby change areas in the park bathrooms not attached to a restaurant (because I know someone will say ""Oh yeah? What about the bathroom in Tony's? Huh? Huh? Gotcha!").

 

[Sarabi's Cubs]

I have walked in your shoes caring for an infant. I have also walked in the shoes (or ridden an ECV) of a disabled person who desperately needs to use a restroom and it is not available.

Thank you, Carol for your perspective. This thread, which started with the best of intentions, has taken an unfortunate turn. I would hope that we can all agree that public places need both more disability-friendly and family-friendly restrooms and that changing tables should not be placed in a handicapped accessible stall. I have generally found that persons who need to use handicapped stalls have a heightened sense of empathy and consideration for others that probably comes from experience and are unlikely to pitch a fit about a parent who exits the stall with a small infant and perhaps apologizes. Unfortunately, many people using those stalls do not have hand-held infants or hidden disabilities and are simply using them because they are there, without a thought for those who actually need them. I for one am grateful for the reminder.

Laurie

 

[DLgal]

Personally, I have no problem with a parent with a baby using the wheelchair stall or family restroom, as needed. I also have no problem waiting for a child to use the wheelchair stall if all the regular stalls are occupied. I also have no problem waiting my turn in a crowded restroom.

My main frustration with restrooms is an able-bodied adult with no children uses the wheelchair stall when all the regular stalls are empty.

If a regular stall is unoccupied/available, and a person is capable of using the unoccupied regular stall.....Please leave the wheelchair stall available for people who really need it.

Thank you for proving that there are actually reasonable people on this thread.

Now, I will say this, because it has happened to me more than once. What happens if an "able bodied" person (myself) enters a restroom where the ONLY open stall is a handicap stall? And, that "able bodied" person is desperately ill and needs a toilet A.S.A.P. No one else is waiting. What should happen?

I will tell you what did happen (this was in an Epcot bathroom, FWIW). I was violently ill with a stomach bug. TMI, but I spent a good 30 minutes in that accessible bathroom stall. When I got out, a woman in a wheelchair proceeded to berate me about having been in there. I was so sick, I just didn't even respond to her.

While I do subscribe to the notion that the handicap stall should be left available if at all possible, and I try to use regular stalls as much as possible, I will not lie and say I never use handicap accessible stalls. Sometimes, bathrooms are small, with only 3 or 4 stalls. If I have to "go" and there isn't a noticeably handicapped person in or approaching the bathroom, I'm using whatever stall is open. Unfortunately, you never know the condition of the person who emerges from the accessible stall, and no one should feel that their needs trump anyone else's.

If people with disabilities want to get equal treatment, then they want to get equal treatment. That means sometimes, you wait for what you need. Seems to me like "preferential treatment" is what a lot of disabled people are after.

 

[Angel Ariel]

There are separate baby change areas in the park bathrooms not attached to a restaurant (because I know someone will say ""Oh yeah? What about the bathroom in Tony's? Huh? Huh? Gotcha!").

For which I'm grateful (because honestly, they're much better than the ones in stalls!) - but if I'm in a Disney restaurant or just in a bathroom in which the only changing area is in the handicapped stall, I don't really have any other options. I just don't see how that is "misusing" the stall.

I completely agree there need to be more family friendly and handicapped stalls...but in the meantime, I can only use what's been provided. I will be as fast as I can, as I do have empathy for those who need the accessible stall, but I'm not going to not use it, or walk across the park to the BCC when there's a perfectly good changing table in a handicapped stall.

 

[robinb]

Thank you for proving that there are actually reasonable people on this thread.

Now, I will say this, because it has happened to me more than once. What happens if an "able bodied" person (myself) enters a restroom where the ONLY open stall is a handicap stall? And, that "able bodied" person is desperately ill and needs a toilet A.S.A.P. No one else is waiting. What should happen?

I will tell you what did happen (this was in an Epcot bathroom, FWIW). I was violently ill with a stomach bug. TMI, but I spent a good 30 minutes in that accessible bathroom stall. When I got out, a woman in a wheelchair proceeded to berate me about having been in there. I was so sick, I just didn't even respond to her.

While I do subscribe to the notion that the handicap stall should be left available if at all possible, and I try to use regular stalls as much as possible, I will not lie and say I never use handicap accessible stalls. Sometimes, bathrooms are small, with only 3 or 4 stalls. If I have to "go" and there isn't a noticeably handicapped person in or approaching the bathroom, I'm using whatever stall is open. Unfortunately, you never know the condition of the person who emerges from the accessible stall, and no one should feel that their needs trump anyone else's.

If people with disabilities want to get equal treatment, then they want to get equal treatment. That means sometimes, you wait for what you need. Seems to me like "preferential treatment" is what a lot of disabled people are after.

Hmmm ... it seems that you feel the victim here because the woman in the wheelchair was upset with you that she had to wait 30 minutes for the only bathroom she could use. And there is the difference between you and me. If I were in the same situation and I ended up an extended period of time in a handicapped bathroom with a bad stomach bug, I would feel bad that I kept that woman waiting for so long ... not all still PO'd and convinced that my own misery trumped hers needs.

 

[Angel Ariel]

If I were in the same situation and I ended up an extended period of time in a handicapped bathroom with a bad stomach bug, I would feel bad that I kept that woman waiting for so long ... not all still PO'd and convinced that my own misery trumped hers needs.

I didn't take the poster to be "convinced that [her] own misery trumped [the handicapped woman's] needs."

I took it as moreso the poster didn't have any other option at the time, and it's not like she was playing around. She was violently ill. One would think anyone in the bathroom would be able to hear that. While I absolutely have empathy for the handicapped woman not being able to access a necessary stall, I don't think it's asking too much for the handicapped woman to have a little empathy as well, as it's not like the OP was poking around and just wasting time. I can understand the handicapped woman being annoyed, but berating someone who was violently ill because they went into the only open stall at the time? What else should the poster have done at that point?

 

[robinb]

For which I'm grateful (because honestly, they're much better than the ones in stalls!) - but if I'm in a Disney restaurant or just in a bathroom in which the only changing area is in the handicapped stall, I don't really have any other options. I just don't see how that is "misusing" the stall.

I completely agree there need to be more family friendly and handicapped stalls...but in the meantime, I can only use what's been provided. I will be as fast as I can, as I do have empathy for those who need the accessible stall, but I'm not going to not use it, or walk across the park to the BCC when there's a perfectly good changing table in a handicapped stall.

I don't think it's 'misusing' the handicapped stall to use one if you're not disabled . The handicapped stall is NOT only for handicapped people, but people have to remember that it is the ONLY stall they can use. I think that people need to develop more empathy for other people and I agree with what roomthreeseventeen said and we should just "do the right thing". Of course, the "right thing" depends on the circumstances and if you are focused on yourself and your own desires you won't be able to determine if your actions are the "right thing" or not.

 

[Justin Jett]

But you are just assuming they are "able bodied." You have no clue if they have a hidden illness or disability and frankly it's none of your business if they do. You don't get to decide who is "disabled enough" to use the stall.

If they get up, open the door, walk out with no problem. Yes they are able -bodied!!!! They can use the 16 open regular stalls.

 

[robinb]

I didn't take the poster to be "convinced that [her] own misery trumped [the handicapped woman's] needs."

She specifically said:

Unfortunately, you never know the condition of the person who emerges from the accessible stall, and no one should feel that their needs trump anyone else's.

I took it as moreso the poster didn't have any other option at the time, and it's not like she was playing around. She was violently ill. One would think anyone in the bathroom would be able to hear that. While I absolutely have empathy for the handicapped woman not being able to access a necessary stall, I don't think it's asking too much for the handicapped woman to have a little empathy as well, as it's not like the OP was poking around and just wasting time. I can understand the handicapped woman being annoyed, but berating someone who was violently ill because they went into the only open stall at the time?

I wasn't clear that the woman waiting knew that the OP was ill. If she did then I agree that she should have also had some empathy for someone who is sick.

What else should the poster have done at that point?

She couldn't do anything once she was stuck in there. However, she should have apologized to the waiting woman and explained herself. A simple: "I'm so sorry, I was really sick" would have gone a long way. But by the way she told the story she wasn't sorry then and she's not sorry now.

 

[Angel Ariel]

If they get up, open the door, walk out with no problem. Yes they are able -bodied!!!! They can use the 16 open regular stalls.

While it hasn't happened yet, a family member of mine has Parkinson's. I can see a future where he would need the assistance of the hand rails in the accessible bathroom while still being able to open a door and walk. I don't think anything surrounding disabilities is black and white.