Cerebral Palsy Coffee Morning

Liz went to the Cerebral Palsy Coffee Morning yesterday and it was a really enlightening morning. A wide range of subjects was discussed and it was eye opening some of the difficulties people face. We had quite a discussion around accessible and disabled toilets and while there are a number of these around, there are none with hoists in in Stafford, which immediately excludes part of the group from being able to go out for the day as there are no facilities for them to be hoisted, so while some wheelchair users can transfer themselves the term disabled or accessible toilets is incorrect as they are not accessible to everyone.

Liz spoke about a gentleman she knows who recently went to America on holiday and the highlight of his holiday was being able to go into the gents toilets, because in America accessible toilets are in both ladies and gents toilets.

The conclusion the group reached is that being able to go to the toilet is a basic human right and when new buildings are planned why can’t they include accessible toilets in both the ladies and gents! It would be brilliant if we could manage this and it would be even better if we could have changing places in more places so that everyone is catered for.