From little things big, unacceptable problems grow

There just wasn’t enough time to find another accessible toilet. I could only wait and hope the only accessible facilities in the capital city’s railway station would be vacant soon.

I’m sure you can guess what happened next.  My internal mantra of “dry, arid desert, dry, arid desert,” gave up as soon as my bladder did - in a public hallway, on a Saturday night. I was, of course, hugely embarrassed and panicking. 

Shocked and confused, I rang my parents on the mobile while I tried to hide out of view (which is no easy feat in a large powered chair).  Dad would drive down with towels in tow.

It was at this stage that an able-bodied looking cleaner added insult to injury by flushing and emerging from the “closed toilet.”  He then told me that one wasn’t working and to use the other one (insert obvious profanity here).

I continued to hide until my father’s arrival. We entered the “closed” room, applied towels and covered up my lap with a blanket.

Of course anyone with a functioning nose could tell what had happened. I then began a 60-minute ride home in wet, smelly clothes.

Infuriated, I wrote to Adelaide Metro the next day.

I don’t blame them for my bladder’s movements (my neurological condition does not affect my bladder), but I did want to make it clear that having only one accessible toilet in the station is not good enough. 

I am still waiting for a formal response, although after persisting I was provided with a bullshit story.

“...Thank you for both emails concerning the access toilet located at the Adelaide Railway Station. The situation required a level of investigation before I could provide a detailed response. This investigation has been completed and I have provided some information below.

“A number of years ago, the toilet at the end of the corridor was identified as not suitable as an access toilet and could not be retrofitted to meet the Australian Standards. TransAdelaide worked with our Transport Access Group and HREOC (Human Rights Commission) to identify an alternate solution. The outcome of the consultation was that a new access compliant toilet was constructed at the entrance to the current toilet facilities.

“The instruction to staff was to keep the non compliant toilet locked, and only open this facility when the access toilet was out of order.

“Unfortunately this instruction was not implemented correctly, and the toilet was incorrectly signed and used by concourse employees as a staff toilet. This is not an acceptable practice and steps have been taken to ensure the toilet remains as a dedicated backup support when the access toilet is out of order.”

“I have arranged instructions to staff to ensure that they realise that this toilet is the only feasible backup and that it is not to be used for other purposes. I have also arranged to remove the incorrect signage so that customers do not mistake the non accessible toilet as ‘in service’.

“We will continue to monitor the condition of the accessible toilet, and will provide temporary signage clearly directing customers to the end of the corridor if the access toilet is out of order. This ensures that at least one toilet is available at all times…”

MetroAdelaide have now removed the “Toilet Closed” sign and locked the door, although the door does indicate green/vacant.

I have no intention of being a whiny crip or soliciting peoples pity and sympathy, but I do want to say (scream, even) that I have had a gut full of these ludicrous events/moments that happen to disabled people every day. I think there’s been too much silence on these matters for far too long.

I refer to all the little inaccessibilities that exist everywhere in our environment, our society and our culture that end up creating massive barriers for disabled people when trying to interact with and contribute to society.

The conflict with Adelaide Metro is not yet resolved and I won’t let it drop easily.