Handicap Bathroom Hell

I'm visually impaired and use a white cane. Disabled bathrooms have been built at great cost and I'm often directed to use them over traditional bathrooms. Probably to help justify their expense. Most handicapped bathrooms are setup for people in wheelchairs, which is fine. It's just that the visually impaired often don't do well in rooms designed for wheelchairs.

Once, during jury duty, I was led to the handicapped bathroom. I walked in and the lights were off. It took me a while to figure out where the switch was located because it had been lowered to the level of a wheelchair. I kept turning around in the dark until I found it. When I got up from the toilet, I stood up straight, like a person who can walk. I gouged my back on a jacket hook that had been placed at low level behind the the toilet.

After finishing, I took a step and bruised my thigh on the corner of a sink, which was much lower than expected. After recovering, I tried to clean my glasses in the automatic faucet but it wouldn't stay on long enough to get my glasses wet. Then I couldn't find the towel dispenser. I left the bathroom disgruntled and in pain. The officer who had accompanied me asked how I liked their new handicapped bathroom. I told him it was "fine."

On another occasion I was in Paris waiting in line for a bathroom and an attendant grabbed me and led me to the front of the line to the handicapped bathroom. I could tell everyone hated me for cutting them. I had been happy waiting in line like everyone else. I did my business and went to flush the toilet. In France, the toilets don't have a consistent flush mechanism position. It can be on top of the toilet, on the side, on the wall. Any wall. I spent more time trying to figure out where the button was than I had taken using the bathroom. The attendant came back to check on me. I was holding up the line. But there was no way I was going to leave the bathroom unflushed. I eventually found the button on the wall beside the toilet.

There's some dark humor about these scenes that even I can appreciate. It's just further proof that a one size does not fit all approach when it comes to disabled bathrooms.