More than 70% of disabled people we surveyed say UK attractions lack useable accessible toilets
We’ve collaborated with disability charity Leonard Cheshire to raise concerns over the availability of accessible toilets at UK attractions in 2019. In our survey, 280 disabled people said they have had trips to British tourist spots ruined by a “disgusting” and “degrading” lack of useable toilets.
More than 7 in 10 of the respondents, 73%, said that they had arrived at a tourist attraction in the UK to find a complete lack of toilets that they could use. Of these, almost the same proportion again (71%) said they had been promised an accessible toilet before visiting.
One person said, “Using the toilet meant lying on a dirty floor,” while others were forced to urinate in bottles by a lack of disability-friendly facilities, or even to forgo drinking water to avoid having to go the loo.
Even when so-called accessible toilets were available, this was no guarantee of an easy visit. Accessible toilets are meant to be reserved for disabled people with special RADAR keys.
However, this has been exploited, with one visitor telling us that, “people [can] just buy RADAR keys off Amazon and eBay rather than being assessed for them, meaning accessible loos are taken up by people who don’t need them.”
Understandably, many were put off making trips to tourist attractions, with nearly 7 in 10 (68%) saying the lack of accessible toilets deterred them.
One tourist said: “You feel out of sorts, like a rug has been pulled out from under you. It also leaves you feeling like they don’t want me there, and it makes me feel very off and guarded for the rest of the day.”
Lynn, at Leonard Cheshire’s Orchard service in Liverpool, said: “The people that built these places are irresponsible. They didn’t think of people in wheelchairs.”
Neil Heslop, Chief Executive at Leonard Cheshire, said: “We’ve seen a snapshot of the situation facing disabled travellers, and the picture is grim. Clearly, far too many people are facing unacceptable conditions at tourist attractions around the UK.
“Even aside from the impact this has on disabled people being able to live independent lives, there are major implications for the tourism industry, which could inadvertently be turning away a huge proportion of customers.”
Have you attended a British tourist destination which had poor or unsuitable accessible toilets? Please share your stories in the comments box below or on Facebook and Twitter.
By Disability Horizons
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