Wherever you go nowadays, you see the signs for accessibility for handicapped persons.  Isn’t this great?  The world is changing enough to realise that not everyone can climb steps, open doors and get into confined spaces.  Some grocery or department stores are even offering motorized shopping carts to assist those people who need a hand in getting around.

I never realised that these signs did not always mean what they said until my step mother came to visit, in her wheelchair.

Some automatic doors appear to be booby trapped for the unwary person in a wheelchair, as they open toward you.  To press the access button, you have to get close to the door, activate the button then do a fast retreat before the door swings open and hits you in the face.  Many people are not manoeuvrable enough to do the backward roll needed, to get out of the way, before the door smacks you.

One of the least accessible areas are public washrooms.  In some places, there is a separate door for the accessible toilet, this is good and fairly easy to enter.  The problem occurs when the handicap toilet is one of a row of cubicles. In many cases there is a double door from the outside area, one door opens and inside, is another one, usually on a right-angle to the first door.  This makes an impossible situation for the person in a wheelchair or even with a walker.

If they are unaccompanied, they have to try and hold one door open while struggling through the next one.  A very complicated process if you are frail, have arthritic hands or struggling with a wheelchair.  If you are accompanying a person needing assistance, it is almost impossible to lean past them to push the second door open.  If you enter first, holding two doors open at the same time that someone is trying to pass through, is not possible.

Once inside, if you have not already wet yourself, is the problem of the actual toilet.  Very few handicap washrooms have a high toilet so, once seated, rising is a challenge.  Even a grab bar is no guarantee for weak or arthritic arms.

Some of the washrooms my stepmom used looked great, lots of room for wheelchair manoeuvring but, once seated, she found the toilet roll was on the furthest wall, behind the wheelchair.  Not the best time to discover this state of affairs.  How much thought goes into the installation of these, so called, comfort stations?  Before I had to assist a person with a handicap, none of this was noticeable to my fairly able body but, once you really have to take notice, things are not nearly as accessible as they appear.

Even to the fully mobile person, public washrooms have always been a source of “inconvenience” in many ways.

For men, the whole affair is an easy event but, for we who need to squat, things are not so easy.  The average woman carries a purse which needs to be put somewhere while things are taken care of.  Usually the hook is missing or broken so the purse has to be balanced somewhere hygienic, not too easy in a public washroom.  Most of us have been caught out with empty toilet paper holders, so pack around some tissues in our purse. Quite often the lock is broken so we need to hold it closed with our head, hand or foot.

From a very young age girls are taught not to sit on a public toilet seat unless it has first been covered with a seat liner or toilet paper.  Many women do not take the time to do this so have learned how to perform while squatting.

I defy any man to try to squat on one foot, while holding the door shut with the other foot, holding a purse between your teeth.  At the same time trying to not let any article of clothing touch the floor, which is usually wet from leaky plumbing.  The weaker sex……….I don’t think so!