19-02-2025
The public toilet crisis leaving disabled people feeling like second-class citizens
Thousands of disabled people have shared their frustrations in trying to find a suitable and open toilet.
According to a survey of thousands of disabled people by accessibility review website Euan's Guide, nearly three-quarters of disabled people have struggled to find a working toilet.
Respondents shared some of the extreme "obstacles" preventing them using public facilities, with examples including people having sex, locks not working and walls smeared with faeces. Others had been turned into glorified storage rooms for cleaning equipment and clothes, with one loo even being used as a makeshift office.
Berit Watkins, a pensioner from south-east London who suffers from bowel problems, tells Yahoo News that she often has no choice when confronted by such issues. "When you're in that much pain, you don't have time to complain," she says.
Several respondents cited this as one of the big barriers stopping them from going outside, with 78% sharing that they are not confident about visiting new places because of the lack of accessibility.
The number of public toilets has reduced by a staggering 40% since 2000, according to the British Toilet Association (BTA).
It says that one in five people restrict their travel due to lack of public toilets, which damages our high street economy - for instance, in Soho, a lack of public loos costs £4.9m every year in lost revenue.
The problem disproportionately affects the UK's 16.1 million disabled people.
The issue has worsened in the last few years alone, with the number of public toilets falling by 14% just since 2018, according to Liberal Democrat research.
Some experts blame council budget cuts, as well as there being no legal obligation in the UK for local authorities to provide public toilets - something the BTA is trying to overturn with its 'Legalise loos' campaign launched earlier this month.
The issue worsened during the COVID pandemic, when public toilets were closed to mitigate the spread of the virus, with some remaining permanently closed after restrictions were eased.
Disabled people are facing the sharp end of the crisis. As of 2023, there were only 1,324 accessible changing places toilets in the UK, equivalent to just two per 100,000 people.
One of those who has struggled to find a decent toilet for years is Berit Watkins. Like 94% of people with bladder or bowel conditions, she worries about leaving her home due to lack of toilet facilities.
The retiree, who lives in south east London, said she has even experienced difficulties going to toilet when she has been admitted to hospital.
Watkins has some severe disabilities that mean she needs an accessible toilet in close reach. She has severe scoliosis and rectocele, which causes difficulties with predicting her bowel movements.
When Berit was admitted to hospital after she experienced severe breathing difficulties, she was reliant on the single accessible toilet in A&E, which was "terrible".
"I got really ill from a breathing problem," she told Yahoo News. "The ambulance picked me up late at night, 1am. I was taken to A&E."
"First the door wouldn't lock. There was a little gap of about a centimetre, just enough so someone could look in. I didn't and couldn't close it properly, and hoped no one would come in.
"Then I opened the toilet lid, and it was full. But what could I do? I had no choice but to go. I went to discard my pad, but the sanitary bin was full. I had to force myself to use the toilet, and "squeeze my pad in, on top of all of the soiled things everyone else had been using.
"Then when I went back to sit on the seat, a woman came in who was high on drugs. She sat on the assisted chair a couple of seats away, and then used the toilet. It was like no one cared who used it," she added.
Even though she felt really frustrated by the experience, she said she wasn't in a position to alert staff.
"I didn't say anything. When you're in that much pain, you don't have time to complain," she added.
Another person told Euan's Guide that the lack of access makes them feel 'like a second-class citizen."
"People don't see why I might need to use an accessible toilet urgently. Maybe clean it first," they added.
Kiki MacDonald, co-founder of Euan's Guide, said the results of the access survey 'paint a frustrating but familiar picture."
She said: "Even 30 years after the first equalities legislation was put in place, disabled people are still having to fight for disabled access information and access to everyday places.
Whether it's arriving at a 'wheelchair-accessible' restaurant only to find a step and no ramp or being stranded at a train station with no assistance, these experiences are unacceptable.
"Accessibility should be a right, not a privilege," she added.
