The Socio-spatial Construction of (In)accessible Public Toilets
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Urban Studies, Vol. 38, No. 2, 287– 298, 2001 The Socio-spatial Construction of (In)accessible Public Toilets Rob Kitchin and Robin Law [Paper received in nal form, August 2000] Summary. This paper examines the rights of disabled people to access public spaces in Western societies through an analysis of the provision of accessible public toilets in Ireland. Providing a critical analysis around the themes of social justice and citizenship, the investigation is based on an examination of present-day planning legislation, interviews conducted with 35 disabled people—19 in the Republic of Ireland and 16 in Northern Ireland—and a case study of one particular town, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. These data reveal that in Ireland and the UK, planning legislation is weak and often not enforced. Accessible public toilets are few and far between; those that do exist are often poorly designed; and, this lack of provision severely delimits the daily spatial behaviour of disabled people. This lack of provision, it is argued, is expressive of a wider set of ableist power geometries and signi es that disabled people do not, as yet, have the same civil rights as non-disabled people. 1. Introduction Geographers and others have recently started terms from the geographies experienced by to document how space is socially produced non-disabled people. in ways that deny disabled people the same In this paper, we use an analysis of inter- levels of access as non-disabled people. views with 35 disabled people in Ireland and Adopting a largely critical position, they a case study of one town, Newbridge, to have sought to expose both the ways in describe one such differing geography—that which disabled people are excluded from full of the provision of accessible public toilets. participation in society through the social Focusing on access to toilets might at rst production of space; and, the spatial manifes- seem myopic. However, we would contend tations of unequal social relations (see that the public toilet is still very much at the Kitchin, 1998). It is clear that, despite vary- heart of contemporary struggles over space ing approaches to the study of this subject, and provides a useful illustration of a larger researchers agree that disabled people live in point: how landscapes are constructed ‘transformed spaces’ (Golledge, 1993) and through particular power geometries and occupy a ‘negative reality’ (Finkelstein, shaped by notions of citizenship and social 1993). 1 That is, there are distinct geographies justice. Indeed, the provision and siting of of disability that differ in largely negative toilets is highly illustrative of the socio- Rob Kitchin is in the Department of Geography, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Fax: 353 1 708 3573. E-mail: Rob.Kitchin@may.ie . Robin Law is in the Department of Geography, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin, New Zealand. Fax: 64 3 479 9037. E-mail: rml@hyperperth.otago.ac.nz . 0042-0980 Print/1360-063 X On-line/01/020287-1 2 Ó 2001 The Editors of Urban Studies DOI: 10.1080 /004209800 2001859 2
288 ROB KITCHIN AND ROBIN LAW
spatial processes that regulate and exclude can relieve their bladder and bowel.
disabled people from everyday spatial are- Throughout the modern period, this pro-
nas, and reveals the extent to which many vision has slowly been changing, progressing
public spaces represent ‘landscapes of ex- through a number of stages. Prior to the
clusion’. period of Enlightenment in Europe, urinating
and defecating was a public act, taking place
in elds and gardens, but also in the street.
2. Public Toilets, Disability, Citizenship
By the mid 19th century, however, it had
and Social Justice
become a private act, taking place in out-
In recent years, the disability movement has houses or inside the house, and was disci-
been at the forefront of the struggle to plined and socially regulated by Victorian
rede ne citizenship and social justice with reformers championing modern sewage sys-
reference to embodiment; in other words, to tems and their promotion of discourses of
ensure that civil rights are not simply ab- public health (Law et al., 1999). At the same
stract, but can be exercised by human beings time and for the same reasons, public toilets
with all kinds of bodies. Activists and schol- were built using the public purse to provide
ars have repeatedly argued that full partici- citizens the means to urinate or defecate in
pation in civic affairs—an essential element public whilst away from the home. Privacy
of social justice—depends on the material within these toilets was ensured by design
conditions which shape people’s ability to guidelines and building codes, so that this
participate (Gleeson, 1999). For disabled public space was frequently divided by
people, the provision of public services and screens, demarcated by internal doors and
the design of the built environment can be a shielded from the gaze of others by disrupted
crucial determinant of participation. Al- sight lines.
though the issues of appropriate design of Throughout the modern period, however,
services and sites are generally recognised, where public toilets are sited, how they are
the focus of attention has tended to be on designed and for whom they are intended
building design and public transport, with have been contested. For example, the evi-
relatively little work that speci cally ad- dence at hand for Canada, New Zealand,
dresses public toilets. Yet we would argue Australia and the UK shows that provision of
that the topic deserves closer attention, for a public toilets for women was late, partial and
consideration of the provision of public toi- often gained through local and national civil
lets raises interesting questions concerning rights campaigns (Andrews, 1990; Greed,
citizenship, loosely de ned here as the civil 1996; Austin, 1999). More recently, other
and welfare rights that a state’s subjects can groups such as homeless people have sought
expect. to gain access to public toilet facilities (Law
Such a link between public toilets and et al., 1999), whilst others have tried to
citizenship has a long history. The rights of ‘escape’ from their usage. In the latter case,
citizenship to include access to appropriate parents and care-givers are campaigning for
public toilets emerged in the West with the speci c gender-neutral spaces in which to
rise of modernity. In this period, the design change a nappy and care for a baby, and are
of the built environment (especially the ur- also promoting the acceptance of breast-
ban) and the provision of services were in- feeding in public spaces such as parks and
creasingly shaped by concerns over public restaurants rather than in toilets. Similarly,
sanitation and by shifting de nitions of pri- gay activists have argued for the right for
vate and public. Consequently, since the mid more safe spaces where gay men can meet
19th century, the provision of public toilets other men for sex, away from public toilets
has become an accepted demand on the state, that have long served as meeting-places
as it has been acknowledged that citizens in (Chauncey, 1994; Nilsson, 1998). Disabled
public space need private places where they people then are part of a larger struggle to(IN)ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TOILETS 289
rede ne citizenship in relation to public toilet in the same social position through ma-
provision, with their struggle de ned around terial means. Disabled people are often
two distinct and somewhat separate issues excluded from the labour market through
related to citizenship: access and dignity. discriminatory practices and poor levels
Clearly, access is not just about spatial of mobility. Where they do gain access,
con guration and design, but is a political it is usually in marginal positions under-
and social issue: it is about the ability to take taking low-paid, low-skilled work often
part in public life. There is no denying that on a part-time basis. Such a situation
many disabled people are denied the same works to deny disabled people prosperity
rights in comparison to more abled-bodied and wealth, and their associated power.
citizens in their ability to access and use (4) Some disabled people are suppressed
public space. The disabled movement and through violent means: disabled people
their allies argue that the denial of access are controlled through physical violence
rights is an expression of a particular form of and imprisonment. For example, the sys-
discrimination, ableism. They de ne ableism tem of placing some disabled people
as the systematic discrimination of disabled against their wishes in asylums has been
people by non-disabled people through indi- one particular method used to con ne
vidual, institutional and social/cultural means and oppress disabled people.
(Kitchin, 2000). Ableism, the disability (5) Disabled people are stigmatised through
movement contends, leads to social injustices the use of cultural representations and
in the ways in which disabled people are myths: non-disabled cultural practices,
treated and catered for by the state and other lifestyles and images are promoted as the
citizens. Using Iris Marion Young’s (1990) norm and, in general, disabled people are
examination of social justice, ableism, as portrayed as abnormal and ‘freaks of
with other forms of oppression such as nature’ thus legitimating how non-
racism, can be divided into ve general disabled people view and treat disabled
types. people.
(1) Disabled people are rendered ‘power- The denial of access rights contributes
less’: disabled people are kept in the signi cantly to the reproduction of Young’s
same social position through political points 2 and 3. Here it is recognised that the
means and are being denied access to provision of accessible public toilets pro-
important decision-making positions vides the minimum conditions under which
within society. Disabled people are gen- disabled people can participate in social and
erally underrepresented in political posi- political life. Without accessible toilets, peo-
tions at all levels (local, regional, ple are subject to ‘the bladder’s leash’
national and international) and therefore (Cooper et al., 1998), restricting how long
lack a platform to give their views. they are able to stay in a place and thus
(2) Disabled people are marginalised within constraining their participation. At present,
society and social life: disabled people for a large proportion of disabled people in
are kept in the same social position the developed world—those with impaired
through social means. Disabled people mobility, especially those who use a
are generally ‘pushed’ into poor housing, wheelchair—most public toilets encountered
denied access to private and public trans- are not accessible. Here, we refer to both
port, and nd it dif cult to take part in public toilets intended for use by the general
‘mainstream’ social activities such as public (i.e. purpose-built public services paid
visiting the pub or cinema through poor for by the public purse) and those that are
provision and weak statutory laws. intended for use by customers and clients
(3) Disabled people are exploited within the (i.e. toilets in areas populated by the public,
labour market: disabled people are kept but which are generally restricted to those290 ROB KITCHIN AND ROBIN LAW
paying for a service, such as a meal, and as ceived notion that there is little need to pro-
such are not available to those just walking vide public toilets which are accessible
in off the street). because disabled people are not the occu-
Moreover, the cultural meanings attached pants of public space. For example, the num-
to relieving bladder and bowel mean that ber of mainstream Irish schools with
toilet provision involves more than access; accessible toilets is presently extremely low
appropriate provision means that toilet users (27 per cent in rst-level schools), as it was
must be able to exercise that access and use never expected that they would be used by
the service with dignity. The key element of disabled children (Kitchin and Mulcahy,
this is privacy. Unlike ramps and buses, pub- 1999).
lic toilets must be able to be used in private The non-recognition of disabled people in
and in a way that minimises the potential for public space has also been shared by those
embarrassment. Going to the toilet is not a making decisions about the built environ-
simple matter of performing a necessary bod- ment. Architects, planners and builders until
ily function; it is also an act which is connec- very recently have been under no obligation
ted to a range of cultural concerns and taboos to provide accessible toilets in public spaces
about dirt, infection and bodily exposure and buildings, and consequently few were
(Douglas, 1966; Stallybrass and White, ever installed. The issue of cost is often
1986). The dominant Western norms of raised as an explanation, but is clearly not a
proper toilet behaviour for adults include suf cient explanation alone. The fact that
discreetly dealing with your body’s needs, these groups did not take it upon themselves
away from the gaze of others, in demarcated to introduce accessible environments, Imrie
settings with some spatial separation from contends, is the result of a neo-liberal climate
other activity spaces, using facilities which and the fact that the ideas and ideals that
meet public health standards on the disposal underpin planning and architecture are form,
of human waste and control of dirt. Conse- aesthetics and mobility, not function and ac-
quently, to be placed in a situation where you cess (Imrie, 1996, see especially ch. 6).
are unable to relieve yourself without break- Whilst these ideas and ideals remain, the
ing the social conventions which surround legislative framework within most Western
the act can be understood as a denial of your countries has however changed in recent
rights to participate in social life with dig- years, with legislation concerning disabled
nity. access to public spaces introduced. This
We would suggest that the paucity of legislation though is highly variable across
accessible public toilets re ects the long- nation-states. For example, Gleeson (1999,
standing exclusion of disabled people from p. 181) makes a distinction between the
public space and the public sphere. For much rights-based approach adopted in some states
of the modern period, disabled people have and the regulatory approach adopted in oth-
been regarded as appropriately con ned to ers. In the US, the rights-based approach is
the private spaces of the home and various expressed in the American with Disabilities
kinds of institution. This separation and seg- Act (ADA) which was submitted to Congress
regation has been reproduced by planners in 1988 and eventually signed into law in
through a tradition of providing ‘specialised 1990. It required that all public accommoda-
spaces’ for groups such as disabled and older tions (in other words, all privately owned
people, such as sheltered accommodation buildings open to the public) had to be ac-
and retirement homes (Imrie, 1996). As a cessible to all people with any type of dis-
consequence, disabled people have not been ability. In the UK, access to the built
highly visible in public space, thus placing environment and to public space is legislated
little pressure on service providers to cater through the Town and Country Planning Act
for their impairments through better access 1970, Disabled Persons Act 1981, Part M of
provision. In a sense, there has been a per- the Building Regulations 1987, 1992, 1999(IN)ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TOILETS 291
and the Disability Discrimination Act 1996 that the socio-spatial landscape is largely
(Imrie, 1996). Access is essentially governed determined by those resistant to access pro-
by building controls administered by local vision. This is leading, we would contend, to
councils. Other countries share elements of a reproduction of social injustices (as de ned
both approaches. For example, New Zealand by Young) and the perpetuation of the mar-
is characterised by Gleeson as having a dual- ginalisation of disabled people.
istic access framework. This includes the
amended Building Act 1991 which requires
3. The Study
that “a disabled person must be able to carry
out normal activities and processes in that In the rest of this paper, we examine the
building” (Gleeson, 1999, p. 179). experiences of disabled people attempting to
The effectiveness of legislation to require participate in social life and use public space
accessibility is of course highly dependent on in Ireland. Our central questions are: to what
enforcement, and on the presence of ambigu- extent do disabled people have access to
ities and loopholes. In the UK, Imrie (1996) places to relieve themselves in dignity, and,
shows how laws are poorly enforced by local how does the provision (or lack of provision)
authorities. For example, he reports that one of accessible toilets affect participation in
local authority noted that they use the build- public life? To explore these questions, we
ing regulations sparingly: provide an analysis of interviews with 35
disabled people and a case study of provision
We use it about a third of the time, but, of
in one town, Newbridge, located in County
this, less than 25 per cent of the applicants
Kildare, Ireland. The interviews formed part
will actually conform to what we want
of a larger study concerning how research on
(Imrie, 1996, p. 135).
disability issues should be conducted.4 Part
The other 75 per cent were not prosecuted. In of the interview concerned what issues
other cases, authorities found it very dif cult needed to be researched further. Many of the
to enforce the regulations, with developers respondents suggested access, and many
choosing to ignore threats of action which went on to detail speci c examples and how
rarely materialised, and 25 per cent of au- they affected their daily living; the analysis
thorities admitted that they had taken little or presented here draws from this aspect of the
no effort to enforce Part M. Thus, whilst interviews. The 35 disabled people inter-
change is sought, there is much resistance on viewed had a variety of physical, sensory and
the ground by both developers and authori- mental impairments, and the transcripts be-
ties. 2 low are mainly drawn from wheelchair users,
Indeed, many architects, developers and although access to toilets was mentioned by
builders, who usually operate on principles 50 per cent of all respondents. Of the inter-
of libertarianism, have resisted such changes viewees, 16 either lived in the Belfast Urban
on the grounds of increased costs and loss of Area or within 15 miles of Belfast city centre
oorspace. Others still object to wide-scale and the other 19 either in Dublin or County
and costly changes which will not result in Kildare. Interviewees in Belfast were sam-
economic bene ts to the provider group. pled using a snowballing method, with initial
Thus, we are currently witnessing a complex contacts supplied by Disability Action.5 In-
interplay between government institutions, terviewees in Dublin were arranged by the
legislative bodies, disability groups, the Irish Wheelchair Association, and in County
building trade and building owners, that is Kildare using a snowball sample.
shaping accessible toilet provision in public The interviews were conducted between
spaces.3 Indeed, whilst the rights of disabled March and November 1998 by the rst au-
people may well be recognised by govern- thor. Interviews lasted from 25 minutes to
ment, their lack of legislative enforcement in over 3 hours. Of the respondents, 24 were
countries such as the UK and Ireland means interviewed separately, either in their home292 ROB KITCHIN AND ROBIN LAW
or place of work; 2 were interviewed as a vided toilet facilities for customers and not
pair; and the remaining 9 in 2 focus groups everybody who wandered in off the street.
of 6 and 3 (these were training centre and Here, prior knowledge of the existence of the
day centre attendees). Interviews were taped toilet is needed and, technically, some cus-
except in one case where notes were made by tom to the facility’s owner given. Thus, it
both interviewer and interviewee. All the was evident that disabled people are clearly
interview data were transcribed, typed into being denied levels of provision available to
plain ASCII les and imported and analysed other citizens and are being excluded from
using NUD-IST 4.0 (Non-numerical public spaces. For example, Yvonne who
Unstructured Data Indexing Searching and worked in a shopping centre in Belfast
Theorising). To allow the data to ‘speak stated:
for themselves’, we have used original pas-
There are no disabled toilets in this centre
sages from the interviews, but all respon-
simply because the disabled toilet used to
dent names have been changed to preserve
be regularly vandalised. And that’s the
anonymity.
reason they shut it.
The case study comprised an access audit
of Newbridge, a reasonably large regional As a consequence, despite working from 9
town (population 13 363; OCPS, 1996) lo- until 5 o’clock in the centre, Yvonne had to
cated in County Kildare (population travel to another centre nearby to use the
134 992) in the Republic of Ireland.6 The toilet facilities, an undertaking that no other
availability of accessible toilets in the town employee was expected to take. Similarly,
was assessed as a component of a larger Aine, who was born and raised in Longford
study which mapped in detail access to the (population 6444; OCPS, 1996) and still vis-
built environment in general.7 This project is its regularly to see her parents, cannot social-
on-going and is a collaborative project, un- ise for long periods in any of the town’s
dertaken through a partnership between the pubs, restaurants and hotels, because she has
local access group and the local university, to return home to use the toilet.
and is action-orientated.8 Indeed, one of the
Aine: There is no toilet in Longford in a
central aspects of the project is to use the
hotel, or restaurant or pub. No disabled.
maps produced to lobby the local council and
Only one, the one in the shopping centre.
businesses in Newbridge to tackle existing
problems, including the provision of access- For those disabled people living in the town,
ible toilets, and to adopt more disabled- the only accessible public toilet is in the new
friendly planning approaches in the future. shopping centre, a facility that is intended for
use by shopping centre patrons only.
This poor provision described by the inter-
4. An Analysis of the Socio-spatial Con-
viewees was borne out in an access audit of
struction of (In)accessible Public Toilets
Newbridge. Up until 1999, there were no
Our analysis revealed four main themes in accessible public toilets funded by the public
relation to public toilet provision, each illus- purse in Newbridge, despite its size and re-
trating the partial nature of citizenship ex- gional context. Moreover, until recently, no
perienced by disabled people in Ireland. other public space such as shops, cafes, pubs,
First, respondents expressed concern over hotels, cinemas, health centres, sports cen-
the lack of accessible public toilets. All the tres, libraries, etc. had accessible toilets for
interviewees described how most towns in customers, clients and indeed workers. This
Ireland (North and South) seem to have no, can be placed in context by the fact that until
or very little, accessible toilet facilities. In 1998 none of Newbridge’s 40 pubs had an
the cases where there was provision, these accessible toilet.9 In the past three years, the
toilets are often hidden (unannounced ) in number of accessible toilets in the town has
particular shops, cafes and pubs, which pro- increased. The access audit of the town re-(IN)ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TOILETS 293
vealed that there are now a number of ac- the county is very limited, and a number of
cessible toilets, only one of which is clearly towns with populations greater than 1500
visible, with the other locations being deter- have no accessible toilet. For example, Kil-
mined by word of mouth. Indeed, whilst cock with a population of 1825 (OCPS,
undertaking the audit, it became clear that 1996), a small town that serves a large farm-
members of the local access group did not ing community, has a number of shops and 5
previously know of the existence of a num- pubs, but no accessible toilet. In some
ber of the toilets. senses, then, the disabled people of New-
So far, 12 accessible toilets have been bridge are better off than others living else-
located in the town (a number that surprised where in the county, a fact that reveals the
the access group), 7 of which have been extent of disabled people’s exclusion from
installed in the past 18 months: 1 in a bank, public space in Ireland.
1 in a parish centre, 1 in a sports centre, 1 in This limited provision of toilet facilities,
a new credit union, 2 in new cafes, 2 in especially in the Republic of Ireland context,
refurbished pubs, a new public toilet on the is unsurprising given the limited and ineffec-
main street (opened October 1999), 1 in a tive legislation that is supposedly meant to
new health centre, and 2 in new hotels. In 2 increase and safeguard disabled people’s ac-
cases, permission/key to use the toilet has to cess rights. In the Republic, the only pieces
be sought, and in 1 case the toilet cannot be of legislation related to accessibility are the
used as it is currently a storeroom. None of 1990 Building Control Act and Part M of the
the toilets is a model accessible toilet, each Building Regulations 1991 and 1997. Under
having a number of faults (such as one side Part M, ve requirements are made (NRB,
transference only, no large handle taps, etc.), 1998):
although most are adequate. The local access
M1 Reasonable provision shall be made to
group are concerned over the design of the
enable disabled people to have safe and
new purpose-built accessible toilet, which is
independent access to a building and to
located on a slope and whose surrounding
those parts of a building to which it is
street area seems badly designed, with the
appropriate to have access.
nearest designated parking space over 200
M2 If sanitary conveniences are provided in
yards away. For those visiting the town, only
a building, reasonable provision shall be
the 1 toilet is apparent, that on the high
made for disabled people.
street. At least 2 of the toilets are only in
M3 If a building contains xed seating
existence due to pressure from the local ac-
for audience or spectators, reasonable
cess group, and the installation of a number
provision shall be made for disabled
of the others has no doubt been in uenced by
people.
this group which has been very proactive in
M4 In this Part ‘disabled people’ means
seeking changes in access provision in gen-
people who have an impairment of hear-
eral. As far as we are aware, none of the
ing or sight, or an impairment which
toilets is the result of state-de ned citizen-
limits their ability to walk or which
ship and enforced through legislation.
restricts them to using a wheelchair.
From discussions with the local access
M5 This Part does not apply to dwellings
group and the Kildare Network of the Irish
(although Technical Guidance Docu-
Council for People with Disabilities, an um-
ment to Part M, paragraph 0.2 states that
brella group for the county as a whole, it is
“it does apply to the common areas of
clear that, whilst the situation in Newbridge
apartment blocks and the like”).
is bad, it is however exceptional in relation to
the county as a whole, both in the level of As outlined above in relation to the UK, this
provision and the success of its access group, legislation is quite weak and is very poorly
which is by far the most active in the county. enforced; indeed, we know of no prosecu-
The number of accessible toilets in the rest of tions under the terms of this part of the294 ROB KITCHIN AND ROBIN LAW
Regulations. This weakness has recently chair toilet but they have steps into it as
been acknowledged by the Irish government well. As far as they are concerned they
which has published a consultation document have a wheelchair toilet, but it’s no use if
acknowledging the failure of the legislation you can’t get into it, like on Grafton Street
and condemning those that have used the where there is three steps up to the place.
‘reasonable provision’ clause to make mini-
This lack of thought in thinking through
mum access provision (Department of En-
toilet provision in relation to access in the
vironment and Local Government, 1999). In
rest of the building is highly frustrating to
short, the legislation has had a minimal effect
disabled people, especially when accessible
on disabled access in Ireland, invoking slow
toilets are relatively rare. In the second in-
and ad hoc change in the landscape.
stance, the design of the toilets themselves is
A consequence of this weak legislation
inadequate. For example, Ciara stated that:
and poor enforcement is, at the time of writ-
ing, accessible public toilets in Ireland (both Ciara: Now with the new regulations every
North and South) are, as our respondents new building is meant to have a
indicated, few and far between. Most of wheelchair accessible toilet. Well they
those that exist have been built in the past 10 have one but not all of them are very well
years and are sited in new buildings. Thus, designed. Some of them you can’t close
accessible toilets are still relatively rare, par- the door. Because you have to remember
ticularly outside the main conurbations. For that everyone has different-sized
example, disabled people interviewed in the wheelchairs. I mean this wheelchair is
Kitchin et al. (1998) study claimed that there massive. And it just won’t get in half the
were only 3 accessible public toilets, all in time. I’ve also been to some places where
shops, in County Donegal, a large rural there are wheelchair accessible toilets
county in the north-west of Ireland (popu- available but they are up stairs!
lation 129 994; OCPS, 1996). While this is
Similar concerns were expressed by Fiona:
likely to be an underestimation, there is little
doubt that accessible toilets in this county are Fiona: I found recently in a hotel—a
very few and far between, especially when friend, a colleague of mine, her sister got
compared to those available to non-disabled married out in Jamaica but she had one of
people. those evening services—Nuala who works
A second main theme concerned the poor alongside us had to go to the toilet later on
design of those toilets that had been installed. that evening. And I said to the staff—and
Toilets failed to meet standards in one of two she had rung up the hotel, just outside
ways, either being unreachable or unusable. Derry, and they had taken it because they
In the initial instant, the toilets themselves said it was accessible—and we asked
were ne but they could not be used as the where was the toilet and she said “it was
disabled people could not access them. The way down through”. And she took me,
most common problem was that entry to the gave me keys, opening doors, going down
toilets was prevented by steps, either into all these corridors and all these doors were
the premises, or inside the premises. For opening and everything else and she made
example, a great big show of this accessible toilet,
and Nuala could have got in but the world
Shane: Like Harry Africa [a restaurant]
and his wife could have seen her going to
across the road. They put up a sign saying
the loo, you know—we couldn’t get the
“disabled toilet”. But they neglect to say
door closed. So I says to her “your toilet’s
that there is a two-foot step to get in to the
not very accessible she can’t use it”, and
place. They try to do a bit but they never
she says, “everybody tells us that!” And I
quite get it right.
thought “well why don’t you widen the
Luke: some McDonald’s have a wheel- door or shift the door around”. So even if(IN)ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TOILETS 295 you get the transport it might not be ac- Laura: Or the door is locked. But the very cessible or you’ll nd beer kegs because fact that it is called a “disabled toilet”—I it’s being used as storage—I mean they get just getting weary of it all. it and they may even get a grant for it and they don’t use it or they get it wrong Shane: It should just be one word—toilet. because you have to think about … Nuala After all you don’t go into one and see wasn’t on what you call a manual, she was blacks only or whites only. So why should on electric wheelchair—and they are big- disabled people have a label put on them? ger and bulkier. Indeed, disabled toilet provision is seen Here an effort has been made to provide an largely as a separate concern, and is after all accessible toilet, but little thought has actu- legislated for separately. This separate pro- ally been given to what this means in prac- vision reveals the ideological bias towards tice and it serves little more than a cosmetic separating and segregating disabled people in exercise. Such instances are particularly frus- public space. If disabled people were equally trating on an number of counts. For example, valued members of society, then all toilets as Fiona describes, disabled people often would be accessible and their provision phone ahead to make sure that the venue is would not be an issue and would not need to accessible, including an accessible toilet, and be legislated. Clearly, however, the second- attend on the basis that there is provision. class citizenship bestowed on disabled peo- However, it is only on reaching the venue ple is accepted unproblematically by most of and going to the toilet to use it that they the general population. discover that it is in fact inaccessible. This The fourth main issue is one that has been generally leads to an embarrassing and implicitly discussed so far, that is the fact undigni ed situation of having to try and use that disabled toilet provision delimits the the toilet in any case, or to go home (an spatial behaviour of disabled people. In other option not always available). Moreover, in words, disabled people often plan their daily many cases, the management of the venue spatial routines around the provision of toi- already know about the problems of the cur- lets, avoiding locations where there is no rent design, but do little to address it or to tell provision, and consequently having a con- disabled customers ahead of their attendance. strained, daily home range and constrained Further, it needs to be remembered that dis- patterns of spatial behaviour. As Aine de- abled people with different impairments use tails, this concerns nearly every aspect of the toilet differently. For example, some peo- daily life: ple transfer from the left, others from the Aine: Because when, as I say, you go right, some face forwards, others backwards. outside your door if you’re going some- Thus, toilets designed for use by disabled place—if you’re going to a shopping cen- people are planned around a very narrow tre, going to a pub, going to a hotel; if you view of how they will be used. are going to a cinema, or any type of The third main theme centred on the mis- entertainment, or if you’re going to a class use of disabled toilets. It is quite clear from in a school or college, you have to check the interview material and anecdotal evi- to see if there is a toilet there. Otherwise, dence that disabled toilets are often used in you can’t spend longer than three hours ways that they are not intended for. For away from the house. example, in the following passage, two inter- viewees discuss this issue and the fact that Similarly, Luke limits his socialising to a disabled toilets seem to be a separate concern handful of pubs where there are accessible from other public toilet provision. toilets: Shane: Or you nd that toilets are being Luke: Getting in is okay, but toilets would used as a store cupboard. be the problem. Most places I go to I do
296 ROB KITCHIN AND ROBIN LAW
make sure there is an accessible toilet. I’d Choice afforded to other people is clearly
usually just drink in those places. constrained in these cases, and it is clear that
disabled people in Newbridge have partial
As a consequence, the places disabled people levels of citizenship, with their right to be in
shop, work and socialise in are to a degree public space questionable.
planned around access to toilets, especially if
the trip will be longer than a couple of hours.
5. Conclusion
Certainly, Aine rang ahead to every venue
she visited to ask if there was provision, and In this paper, we have argued that analyses of
did not go unless there was an accessible access to the built environment need to be
toilet. This severely limited her patterns of framed within a framework centred on citi-
spatial behaviour to one shopping centre out- zenship and rights-based conceptions of so-
side her town of residence (she could not cial justice. This approach has two bene ts.
shop on the main street as most of the shops First, it provides a theoretical position in
were inaccessible), one pub and one cinema which to understand how public toilet pro-
(located further away than her local cinema). vision is shaped by individual and institu-
Other interviewees adopted this phone-ahead tional socio-spatial processes. Secondly, it
strategy, and many had built up a compre- frames access issues within a civil rights
hensive knowledge of where toilets were in framework and provides a useful political
their local area and along main routes across strategy to engage policy-makers. Here, the
the country. Because disabled people take it approach is used to argue for a revisioning of
on themselves to monitor and restrict their citizenship and the creation of a more inclus-
behaviour in light of the restricted facilities, ive society in which every citizen, regardless
the outcome is that their constrained mobility of impairment, has the right to access public
becomes naturalised and invisible to others. space in dignity. In this sense, then, the
To some extent, this replicates the con- arguments for access which have been
strained mobility experienced by women fac- mounted in support of accessible buildings
ing environments that are unsafe after dark: and transport services can be mobilised for
because the constraint is the immediate result public toilets. Here, there is a recognition
of self-limiting behaviour, the wider struc- that the rights of disabled people do not rest
tural reasons for the constraints are not al- on their contribution ( nancial or otherwise)
ways recognised and remain in place. As a to society but on a wider basis of egalitarian
consequence, attitudes to public toilet pro- and utilitarian ideals. This means re-
vision are reproduced and the status quo con guring traditional, distributive models of
perpetuated. social justice in which disabled people are
Similarly, we found that disabled people envisaged as recipients of social welfare not
living in, working in or visiting Newbridge, as citizens with full rights (Young, 1990;
have limited access to facilities in the town Gleeson, 1999). Such systems, it is sug-
and often have to be prepared to travel be- gested, are sustained by the false perception
tween premises to nd toilets even though that disabled people are/were ‘takers’ and not
they are available to other customers in situ. ‘givers’ to the social system and society.
This means that activities have become lim- This approach is already being implicitly and
ited to locations with accessible facilities. explicitly adopted by the disabled movement
For example, Newbridge Access Group and to support their claims for more appropriate
the Kildare Network and who meet regularly provision of facilities but, so far, at least in
in the town, have to limit their meetings to the case of Ireland and the UK, with only
either the parish centre or one of the two limited success.
hotels with accessible toilets. Going for a Using this approach, we have demon-
social drink after the meeting is limited to the strated that disabled people in Ireland and the
one of the two pubs with an accessible toilet. UK have differing levels of access to public(IN)ACCESSIBLE PUBLIC TOILETS 297
toilets from non-disabled people; that toilets ing disabling environments’, funded by the
are often inappropriately designed, restricting Royal Irish Academy.
5. Disability Action is a Northern-Ireland-wide
digni ed use; that toilets are often inappro- organisation that provides advice and support
priately used; and that these three issues to disabled people and campaigns on disability
combined have far-reaching consequences issues.
for disabled people, limiting their use of 6. Although it should be noted that Newbridge
public space and constraining them to par- grew substantially in the late 1990s, when it
was redeveloped as a satellite town for Dublin.
ticular patterns of spatial behaviour. This 7. See http://www.may.ie/staff/rkitchin/new-
situation is being reproduced through weak bridge.htm, for full details of the project, ac-
legislation which only partially acknowl- cess maps and photographs.
edges disabled people’s moral rights to ac- 8. Action-orientated research aims to use the re-
cess public space. Thus, despite the rhetoric sults from the research project to change the
social, political and economic conditions of
of civil rights for all and recent pieces of people within the area studied.
legislation aimed at improving access in gen- 9. Newbridge has a large number of pubs for its
eral, disabled people are still being conceived population size due the nearby presence of the
of as essentially second-class citizens. In or- Curragh Army base.
der to challenge this social injustice, atten-
tion needs to be directed at rede ning notions
of citizenship, changing attitudes of design References
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