Guest post: Do disabled loo designers see us as a genderless entity?

Over the past few weeks I've been thinking about disabled toilets. It's something that I've posted about in the past and no doubt we could all write at length about the positioning of handrails, flushes and whether or not baby changing units are a help or a hindrance. What I've been considering though is slightly different...

It was prompted by a recent visit to a certain Swedish furniture retailer. Yes, their toilets are wonderfully accessible, but while sat there I noticed something else. On the wall was a tampon dispenser. I had a sudden realisation, this was the first time I remember seeing one in a disabled loo.

Now I should explain that as a 41-year-old male, my experience of tampon dispensers is a little limited. But then I thought back to my pre-wheelchair days, and remembered that countless public toilets had condom dispensers. The point that I am gradually getting to is, why do non-disabled toilets have these but they are not found in disabled facilities?

All of this begs the question, are these omissions just a careless oversight or is there something more fundamental happening? I've long wondered whether designers realise that it's patronising to lump disabled people in with the elderly, when creating products or facilities. Now I'm coming to the realisation that in addition, they see us as a genderless entity that doesn't have the same needs as the rest of the population. At best that is mildly offensive, at worst it is indicative of a pervasive discrimination.

There are those who no doubt break into a cold sweat at the thought of the words disability, sex, sexuality and menstruation ever appearing together in the same sentence, but I'd hope that now in 2016 they were few and far between.

So come on all you current and future disabled toilet designers, lets make room for more vending machines and a bit more equality! Oh and while you're at it, how about some of these?

- Flushes that can be reached from a wheelchair (flushing while sat there is at best an over- rated pastime)

- Bigger spaces. I may be lacking the proverbial cat but it would be nice to be able to maneuvre my chair around.

- Bins that don't solely rely on a pedal to open them. This is aimed at my local physio department, where you'd think they could see the flaw.

Oh and finally, why do so few disabled toilets have mirrors? I know we may be invisible to many people, but we don't mind seeing how good we look.