mytwotinks said:Can I ask a question about handicap bathroom stalls? I don't mean this to be rude at all, I really just wonder. Is it maybe a little bit different. I mean, I sometimes have a stroller with me and if a mom can't fit the stroller in the stall is she supposed to hold her baby when she is in the potty or is it o.k. to use the handicap? I guess to me it seems a little bit different to have to wait for a stall for a minute than to be trapped out of your car and not know when the person is returning. If there is a line and a handicap stall is open isn't it o.k. to use it? Obviously if a handicap person comes in they would be the next in line for it. It doesn't seem unreasonable to use the stall if it is empty. Am I wrong?
Unfortunately, in my area the handicapped stall is used as just another stall in the bathroom lineup. There's no blue placard or Guest Assistance Card needed. Just last weekend, I had to wait behind about a DOZEN cheerleaders and their chaperones and couldn't even get into the stall because a teen was changing her clothes. I was literally in tears waiting for that stall to open, as I had just had a fall and was in pain and then REALLY had to go because I landed on the wet ground with a full bladder. I have no choice BUT to use the accessible stall, so it bugs me when someone with options takes my access.
What could I say? Nothing I could say would change the situation that the stall was in use by an able-bodied person.
Even in the local Walmart, I find the handicapped stall occupied by employees changing before or after their shift, usually on their cell phone.
In fact, I'm hard pressed to think of a time in recent memory when I was able to have immediate access to the handicapped stall.
Being a mom of young'uns myself, and having had a few years in the double-stroller brigade, I can say that I personally would not have ANY problem with you using the stroller. Sometimes your only other option is to park the stroller outside of the stall and wake a sleeping baby, or wrangle a toddler while you try to tend to personal needs. If the larger stall helps you, then I have no issues with you using it, even though I might have to wait. However, I also think you'd probably be wise enough to notice that there was someone waiting for that particular stall, unlike my examples above, where the person in the stall just didn't seem to care.
Of course, other people's opinions may vary...I can only speak for myself.