The Handicapped Stall Is Not for Able-Bodied People

You need to use the restroom just like anyone else. There are six stalls as you walk in, one of which is the handicapped stall. There is no one else in the restroom, and yet you still choose the stall made big enough for those with disabilities who are unable to use the stalls made for able-bodied people. You come out and wonder why there is a disabled person waiting patiently for you to be done when there are five other stalls vacant.

Don’t get me wrong, if the restroom is packed and it’s the only stall available and you are able-bodied, I am not going to get mad about it. But if there are more stalls in the restroom than there are people, and you choose the only stall I am able to use, I am not going to be happy. I should also add that the handicapped stalls are also designed for mothers and their children especially if the changing station is located in that stall. I am not going to get mad about that. But I am going to get mad if you are not disabled or a mother with a child and come waltzing out like you did nothing wrong.

That large stall is not there for your convenience to change in or to have extra room while you pull your pants up. That stall is there for people with disabilities. If you do not have a disability or a child, you need to stop using it.

I have a task trained service dog that is trained to mitigate several disabilities. He is my medical equipment in the same way someone who is paralyzed uses a wheelchair or an elderly person uses a walker. Unfortunately, he and I both do not fit in the small stalls I used to fit in before I became disabled and got him. We have to use the stall designed for people with disabilities. As shocking as it may seem, I am disabled. He is considered my medical equipment because I am disabled and he is there to help me live independently just like everyone else’s medical equipment is.

It is humiliating to stand in the restroom with five other stalls waiting for an able-bodied person to walk out so I can use it. They often look at me like I’m weird for standing there waiting when there are five other stalls. I have had to stand in line (when in reality there is no line, the only line is me standing there while everyone else gets to go who came in after me because they are able to use the small stalls and an able-bodied person is in the only stall I can use) waiting for the stall designed for people specifically like me for 10 minutes because there is someone in there who could have easily used the stall that was designed for them.

While not all disabilities are visible like mine, you seem to learn the generalized way people act, walk, or carry themselves if they have an invisible disability. Typically, if someone comes out of the handicapped stall without medical equipment and they see me standing there waiting, they will apologize for making me wait if they too are disabled. Maybe they suffer from chronic pain and need to utilize the bars and handles that are installed in the handicapped stall for people who need help sitting down and getting up. My first assumption is not “oh they aren’t disabled” if they come walking out like a normal person without medical equipment. I wait to see how they interact with me. So far every person that happens to not be able-bodied but not physically obvious comes walking out, acknowledges me in some way. There is a mutual understanding and respect for the rest of your disability community and we tend to acknowledge and encourage each other. It’s the people who come walking out like there is nothing wrong with a disabled woman standing there with her medical equipment waiting for the only stall that is taken out of six total and don’t even seem fazed by it. If I come out and there is someone waiting for the stall that is in a wheelchair or has other medical equipment or seems like they might be someone who needs the assistance of the bars and handles, I always smile and apologize for them having to wait on me. They are always very sweet and tell me not to worry about it and typically compliment me on my dog. The roles are always reversed if someone in the disability community comes out and sees me waiting. I always do the same and let them know it’s not a problem that I had to wait. That’s because there is a mutual understanding we all have towards each other.

I do not want to sit here and immediately say you are not disabled and shouldn’t be using the handicapped stall. But you know if you are disabled or not, and if you knowingly use that stall that is not intended for your use while there are countless other stalls that were intended for your use that are vacant, you are part of the reason why the disability community feels shunned and lesser than. 9 times out of 10 we can’t even use the restroom in a timely manner because we have to wait for someone who just wanted the extra room to come out. Let me be honest in saying that before my conditions became disabling, I used the handicapped stall. I saw nothing wrong with it and I always got irritated when the woman in the wheelchair waiting for me to come out would give me a dirty look. Now I know why she used to give me a dirty look. There was absolutely no reason for her to have to wait for that stall when I was the only other one that was in there and there were five other stalls vacant.

If you are able-bodied, if you don’t require the use of medical equipment, if you don’t require the assistance of the bars and handles installed in the handicapped stall, and you are not a mother with a child, please don’t use it. It is not there for you, it is there for the people who need the extra room to move from their wheelchair to the toilet or to lay their medical equipment down on the floor while they use the toilet.

The handicapped stall is there for us, not your convenience.