One of the nice things about the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) is the fact that handicapped stalls are so much larger than a regular stall. You need to use the restroom. It seems to me that these stalls are often under-utilized. Is it ok to use the stalls when you’re not handicapped? What are your thoughts?
[poll id = 496]
Wheat & Tares 
I answered “only if the other stalls are full”, but also, if I have to help a small child use the restroom.
Helping little kids is usually considered a justified use of the bigger stall. If the bathroom has a diaper changing table it’s often located in the handicapped stall. And with potty-training or your kid just insisting you’re there standing next to them, the handicapped stall is the only place where you can have multiple bodies without feeling claustrophobic.
I use a handicapped stall if there isn’t a handicapped person in the room. Seems sensible to me and if a person who needs it comes in I am probably only a minute from vacating it anyway. Since waiting a minute or two is such an ordinary part of normal life, it doesn’t seem that it would be burdensome. Naturally, I wouldn’t do anything that I thought would add to the challenges of a disabled person but the trade off with being treated like anyone else seems like something I’d be fine with if the circumstances were reversed.
On some occasions I’ve found handicapped stalls to be littered with paper on the floor and had the opportunity to tidy up. It made me feel good to leave it better than a found it and do something that a handicapped person might not be able to do for themself.
I know when I’ve got a toddler or, worse, a stroller to contend with when using the restroom, handicapped stalls are a blessing! Maybe kids shouldn’t be considered a “handicap” but they can present challenges. In fact, years of pushing strollers have given me a very healthy respect for the physical challenges handicapped people face. I wish people who designed store layouts would have to make their way through crowded aisles (sometimes with very breakable things all around!) and see the obstacles they create!
they are always my first choice
It is perfectly appropriate for anyone to use public accomodations. Unlike the current fuss about LGBYTNABCXYZ-sensitive toilet facilities, at this moment there is no placard required to use the toilet. Fortunately, it is a very generic appliance which seldom discriminates.
In any case, “handicapped” does not establish my identity, it is a general categorization that represents a very wide spectrum of associated unique challenges. I do often notice that the “blue placard” parking spaces are not the most convenient for me. Then I feel free to make use of undesignated public accomodations.
I feel the same about toilets.
I don’t see handicapped stalls as being like handicapped parking spaces which are off-limits to non-handicapped persons. Under normal circumstances, it takes a few minutes to vacant a stall, and waiting for a stall is a normal occurrence for everyone. If there’s no handicapped person in the bathroom waiting to use a stall, it should be up for grabs.
Im spllt on this one.
Most places I go – including the local chapel – the disabled toilet doubles as the “family” toilet and baby change area, so I’ll use it for that purpose because the other option is the floor. Also, if the general toilets are closed for cleaning and I’m desperate I might nick in – but only if Im somewhere unfamiliar and I don’t know where another option is.
See, I’m also aware that there are number of conditions where waiting isn’t an option and having the disabled spot ready to go at a moments notice is VERY important. So I want to leave it free for people with that need and I hope that others would too.
Handicap stalls are “everyone” stalls that have been adapted to meet needs. They should not be left vacant while a line forms for the standard stalls. When a person who requires the larger stalls join the queue, they should be given priority as the next in line for the large stall. That said, I think it’s perfectly acceptable that a person in a wheelchair would have to wait while a mother with a stroller (who was in line first) uses it ahead of them.
It has been a long while since I have had the time to sit down and do more than just read the OP, and a few comments you know, something like leave an actual comment. I am making time for this one since there appears to be a little need.
I will speak as someone who actually has to legitimately use the handicap stalls on occasion, though I tend to avoid public toilets like the plague (sad mission story involving public toilets in the subway station and picking up a fungus on my sitting cheeks). I have a seizure alert / service companion dog, so my situation is not a stark as someone with a seeing eye companion, a wheelchair, or a walker, but the stalls are large for situations just like this. Nothing is more frustrating for you, and your companion, then having to try to fit both of you in a regular stall. And, it doesn’t matter how well trained the service companion is, it doesn’t want its nose anywhere near the toilet while you are taking care of business (honestly, you don’t want their face anywhere near there either, it’s just weird); which is what happens when you have to use the regular stalls. Nothing is more frustrating then having to put both of you through this because someone else decided that they wanted the king-sized comfy stall. FYI, there isn’t enough room in a regular stall for a dog to do a U-turn. The handicap stalls are large to accommodate people’s needs, including parents with infants when the changing station is in the handicap stall (although, even that is just plain poor structural planning on someone’s part).
That said, my gripe is minor.
Allow me to relate a situation I recently found myself in. I was waiting in line behind a gentleman in a wheelchair for the handicap stall. The other stall was empty, but it was extremely tight. As we talked for a bit while we were waiting, he expressed something I had thought about briefly, but never really pondered over. When we (people in general) need to use the restroom in public, the situation is often a bit more urgent than normal – meaning we need to go NOW. Despite their best efforts at being prepared and planning for restroom time, people in wheelchairs have it sneak up on them as well. Not only that, but stalls are more often than not needed for both functions, not just for, how do the kids say it, number two. For those of us without mobility challenges, it is easy. For those the stall is set aside for, it is not as easy and takes more time. So, already the need is urgent, but for some that urgency is worse since it takes more time to move from the wheelchair to the toilet; and this after they have had to wait in line while there is a perfectly good non-handicapped stall empty. He did share that these wait times can cause accidents, “One time I sh!t myself while waiting.” He shared this loud enough that the person in the handicap stall could hear. The guy seemed to take an extra long time, maybe he was too embarrassed to come out. That was likely, since when he finally came out he nearly tripped in his haste to make a speedy, no eye contact, exit. (Without washing his hands, yuck!)
Be polite, empty restroom or not, no line or not, consider that your using the handicap stall could potentially add more time and discomfort (and maybe an accident) to an already lengthy and uncomfortable situation for those the handicap stalls are set aside for. The Golden Rule applies here too people.
Seriously, as a nod to another recent post (1,000,003 thanks Kristine A), we humans really, really suck at empathy.
I think things must be a little different here, where disabled toilets are generally completely separate from the mens/womens. They are very large, with an outward opening door. In many places, department stores, shopping centres, family or baby changing toilets are also often separate side by side with the disabled facility. Many disabled toilets are locked and a radar key is required for access. Disabled persons can apply for a key (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-ouch-22602836)
In all the bathrooms I’ve ever visited, I don’t recall ever seeing someone in a wheelchair in there.
I like to use the disability bathroom stalls even though I don’t need to but I try my best to be quick in quick out. I,also, have never seen someone in a wheelchair in one.