I was again honored to be invited to write a guest blog for Bowel & Cancer Research, this time I wrote about my gratitude towards Tesco and other large supermarkets for their new signage for accessible toilets:
Credit where credits due, I want to thank Tesco, Asda and Morrison’s alike for taking the time to think about people just like me. They, with the help of Crohn’s & Colitis UK have implemented new signage for their accessible toilets in store.
Why was this an important step? Well I’ll tell you, as the sign states ‘not all disability is visible’. How very true that statement is. Not only are some disabilities not visible but they are also unspoken about, as if it’s something to be ashamed of, just to be clear on that point – it isn’t and I’m not!
I look perfectly ‘normal’ (a ghastly term but you know what I mean) but sometimes I need to use a complete toilet area, you know, with a sink and a toilet in one place. No, I’m not disabled in the true sense, I’m perfectly abled bodied, but for one small feature. I have stoma, a colostomy to be precise, so my bowel is very disabled in the literal sense, it has no off switch, no end cap if you will. They say time and tide wait for no man, the same could be said for my stoma, it’s an unstoppable force that I use a bag to collect any output.
Sadly sometimes that bag for whatever reason fails me or fills to overflowing and then I need to use a toilet, and this is where accessible toilets come in, I need space and I really need a sink and a toilet all in one room.
Luckily I have my radar key that allows me (and others just like me, there’s lots of us you know) access to disabled toilets. I have come out of the disabled loo before now to looks of judgment and disgust, to which I have simply smiled sweetly and lifted up my top to show my bag in all its glory (two can play at that game and I’m going to trump you every time, if you’ll pardon the pun). I and others like me shouldn’t feel the need to explain out existence and needs, so it’s rather lovely that these giants of supermarket’s have heard our cry and have given us the voice we needed. I for one am very grateful that they are making life just that little bit easier.
Now you see me now you don’t! Invisible though it is while I am dressed, my stoma and bag are always right there beside me.
This blog can be found on Bowel & Cancer Research facebook page. (Being released on Sunday 29th Jan (evening))
www.bowelcancerresearch.org