Ever wanted access to all those toilets?

Ever wanted access to all those toilets?

Author
Discussion

illmonkey

18,112 posts

197 months

Friday 25th February 2011
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Somewhatfoolish said:
Toilets are not a zero sum game. Using one does not deprive it from another user.
Why not? Do you let them in when you are in it?

Its the same as the parking space the guy was talking about. If its occupied, it stops someone else using it. I don't care if you've never seen someone use it, when your in it, a disabled person may need it.


JM

3,170 posts

205 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
illmonkey said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
Toilets are not a zero sum game. Using one does not deprive it from another user.
Why not? Do you let them in when you are in it?

Its the same as the parking space the guy was talking about. If its occupied, it stops someone else using it. I don't care if you've never seen someone use it, when your in it, a disabled person may need it.
When a disabled person is using it, another disabled person may need it.


illmonkey

18,112 posts

197 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
JM said:
When a disabled person is using it, another disabled person may need it.
Yes, but at least in that instance its being used correctly, not someone feeling they can use something they shouldn't.


PeetBee

1,036 posts

254 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
JM said:
illmonkey said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
Toilets are not a zero sum game. Using one does not deprive it from another user.
Why not? Do you let them in when you are in it?

Its the same as the parking space the guy was talking about. If its occupied, it stops someone else using it. I don't care if you've never seen someone use it, when your in it, a disabled person may need it.
When a disabled person is using it, another disabled person may need it.
And your point is?
If there is a higher volume of people using it then it is more likely to be engaged when someone who has to use it needs to use it.

bigrj141

119 posts

196 months

Friday 25th February 2011
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If you can use a “Normal” toilet why do you need a radar key? These toilets are for the people that need them. It’s a radar key, Radar for the disability network. RADAR (Royal Association for Disability And Rehabilitation) Clue is in the name.

I have a radar key as I suffer from ulcerative colitis a bowel condition that brings on urgent, painful spouts of bloody diarrhoea, sometimes 20 times a day. And when I say urgent I mean it, it’s only a matter of seconds before the st hits the fan or in this case my pants. With the radar key I find I now have a larger choice of available toilets and radar loos tend to be on a ground floor therefore quicker to get to and most of them are cleaner without the piss all over the seat and floor.

Part of my recovery processes was to get back to a normal way of life as quickly as possible, but to be able to do that I needed the confidence to know that public toilets will be available, accessible and meet my requirements. (Clean, spacious, as sometimes the pain can put me to the floor, plenty of loo roll, soap, water and privacy) Having this key really helped put my mind at ease, and still does every time I leave the house.

If you don’t need one, don’t take the piss (in a radar loo anyway wink ).

The system was put togethere for a reason

Chainguy

4,381 posts

199 months

Friday 25th February 2011
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bigrj141 said:
If you can use a “Normal” toilet why do you need a radar key? These toilets are for the people that need them. It’s a radar key, Radar for the disability network. RADAR (Royal Association for Disability And Rehabilitation) Clue is in the name.

I have a radar key as I suffer from ulcerative colitis a bowel condition that brings on urgent, painful spouts of bloody diarrhoea, sometimes 20 times a day. And when I say urgent I mean it, it’s only a matter of seconds before the st hits the fan or in this case my pants. With the radar key I find I now have a larger choice of available toilets and radar loos tend to be on a ground floor therefore quicker to get to and most of them are cleaner without the piss all over the seat and floor.

Part of my recovery processes was to get back to a normal way of life as quickly as possible, but to be able to do that I needed the confidence to know that public toilets will be available, accessible and meet my requirements. (Clean, spacious, as sometimes the pain can put me to the floor, plenty of loo roll, soap, water and privacy) Having this key really helped put my mind at ease, and still does every time I leave the house.

If you don’t need one, don’t take the piss (in a radar loo anyway wink ).

The system was put togethere for a reason
You have my utmost respect fella yes

Having seen what that condition did to my mate, who was an army PTI when he got it and fitter than I've ever been, anyone who can get it under control and lead a normal life deserves a massive pat on the back. People will think you're exagerating with the '20 times a day' toilet trips, I know you're not.

I've also seen what a prolonged course of Prednisolone (Spelling?) will do to you during recovery. Not that there is a recovery, UC being a chronic disease. When you have it, you have until you die. Thats the hand you're dealt.

RADAR is there for a reason. Abusing it, or any other system in place to help those who need it, is very wrong indeed IMHO.

gtdc

4,259 posts

282 months

Friday 25th February 2011
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Somewhatfoolish said:
Like 95% of men, I've been caught short on many occasions, when there have been perfectly good toilets avaliable for the disabled super nearby... but inaccessible.

However, something great came in the post the other day, and I thought I should share it with PH. Specifically, it's a "RADAR Key". You can buy it from here: http://www.radar.org.uk/radarwebsite/tabid/41/defa... - less than a fiver!

Just make sure, if you're not disabled yourself, that you add VAT to the price.

Then you'll be able to use all these toilets smile

Theoretically, these are for disabled people only. But if you use them responsibly and don't leave a mess, there's absolutely no reason you shouldn't use them either. This little known scheme is basically to keep out semi literate junkies or other assorted scum who ruin toilets in various ways. But as a literate junkie (hehe, on edit this sounds bad, like I'm doing something other than pissing in these places!) I thought it best to share it. Make sure when you buy one you give a tenner donation to RADAR to ease yer conscience thumbup

Edited by Somewhatfoolish on Sunday 20th February 20:48
I thought you had the Grindr key?

DWS

657 posts

217 months

Friday 25th February 2011
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UC not pleasant. Mines in Remission ATM but I thought about getting a radar key but never got around to it. as has been said when you have to go, you REALLY have to go. There is no option of thinking about it. Beleive me it's a tad embarrasing when you crap yourself. So not having an afliction and taking up the key is a bit on the selfish side IMHO.

Somewhatfoolish

Original Poster:

4,336 posts

185 months

Friday 25th February 2011
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I think what people are missing is RADAR was not put there because disabled people were having to queue for toilets. Had that been the reason, I would be more open to the "it's abusing the system" argument. RADAR is around because without it people were shooting smack, cruising for a rogering, vandalising, and generally not using toilets for what they're supposed to be used for.

Because of that lots of places closed their toilets. This is a way of keeping those undesirables out. RADAR would prefer that the toilets were open to all, they say so on their own website.

Edited by Somewhatfoolish on Friday 25th February 18:01

Somewhatfoolish

Original Poster:

4,336 posts

185 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
gtdc said:
I thought you had the Grindr key?
hehe

MGZRod

8,086 posts

175 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
Somewhatfoolish said:
I think what people are missing is RADAR was not put there because disabled people were having to queue for toilets. Had that been the reason, I would be more open to the "it's abusing the system" argument. RADAR is around because without it people were shooting smack, cruising for a rogering, vandalising, and generally not using toilets for what they're supposed to be used for.

Because of that lots of places closed their toilets. This is a way of keeping those undesirables out. RADAR would prefer that the toilets were open to all, they say so on their own website.

Edited by Somewhatfoolish on Friday 25th February 18:01
If that's the case so be it, but our disabled toilets are for disabled people. Please don't use them, regardless of key or not.

Jonny_693

5,113 posts

175 months

Friday 25th February 2011
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When Chainguy first mentioned this condition my natural reaction was to think pah, and how many people are going to need a st that quickly. Then blow me, three people on this forum have, or know someone with the condition.

I won't be getting a radar key.

Somewhatfoolish

Original Poster:

4,336 posts

185 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
MGZRod said:
If that's the case so be it, but our disabled toilets are for disabled people. Please don't use them, regardless of key or not.
That's illogical.

Well, it's logical in one sense. In that it obeys arbitary labels. But so does obeying the speed limit constantly. Do you do that?

I don't think labels are important. What is important is that everyone should be decent to everyone else. You probably agree with that basic proposition, and consider that part of decency to everyone else is not using disabled toilets. I disagree. Only takes a minute or three at most for a piss, after all.

Incidentally that's different to using disabled parking spaces. Using them would be fine in theory if it were reasonably foreseeable no disabled person would want them, but that tends not to be foreseeable. However if someone wants to use one of fifty free disabled spaces for two minutes that is no problem either.

Edit: Just noticed the "our" there, and seen you're in a pub. That's obviously different as there are able bodied toilets there too, in which case there is no particular reason to use disabled toilets. Which is not a reason that using disabled toilets is wrong... it does make it pointless though!

Edited by Somewhatfoolish on Friday 25th February 19:50

Somewhatfoolish

Original Poster:

4,336 posts

185 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
Jonny_693 said:
When Chainguy first mentioned this condition my natural reaction was to think pah, and how many people are going to need a st that quickly. Then blow me, three people on this forum have, or know someone with the condition.

I won't be getting a radar key.
Another point: Anyone using this by definition needs the toilet just as urgently as the disabled person. It's not as if folk urinate recreationally.

voyds9

8,488 posts

282 months

Friday 25th February 2011
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You know it really annoys me when the disabled think they can park in normal spots just because their ones are full.

It gets worse, they sometimes use the normal toilets, and even watch non-signed TV.

They have fought for these rights and should be forced to use them and leave the able bodied areas alone.

JonyTVR

2,548 posts

188 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
Somewhatfoolish said:
Jonny_693 said:
When Chainguy first mentioned this condition my natural reaction was to think pah, and how many people are going to need a st that quickly. Then blow me, three people on this forum have, or know someone with the condition.

I won't be getting a radar key.
Another point: Anyone using this by definition needs the toilet just as urgently as the disabled person. It's not as if folk urinate recreationally.
as another one who can be added to the list with a similar condition (mines Crohns disease, very similar to UC) there's needing the loo and fk me I'm going to st myself needing the loo, and someone earlier quoting 3 mins is being quite conservative! Thankfully I don't have that worry now but still do on occasion NEED to use a disabled loo for various reasons, but will still avoid doing so when I can.

However

Those saying they get annoyed by waiting for a disabled loo to come free only to half some bloke walk out after taking a st, just because they can walk doesn't take away their possible need to using the loo, I'm in my early 20's and sometime get dodgy looks when I walk out, as unless I'm having a bad spell and have just lost 20KG and look like a smack head I just look like some yoof not wanting to use the main loo's

at the end of the day I hope most people would leave the disabled loo's free if they are perfectly able to use the main ones but I'm not going to get in a tiff if I see a normal looking person walk out of one.

JonyTVR

2,548 posts

188 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
Jonny_693 said:
When Chainguy first mentioned this condition my natural reaction was to think pah, and how many people are going to need a st that quickly. Then blow me, three people on this forum have, or know someone with the condition.

I won't be getting a radar key.
I bet you know a lot more people than you think with something similar, but for obvious reasons people don't generally go about telling everyone and the symptoms are often hidden.

no word of a lie, I was sat having lunch with various aged teachers whilst helping move a local school, and the 2 women sat opposite had crohns/UC and the woman sat next to me, her son had it! now even that surprised me hehe

Egbert Nobacon

2,835 posts

242 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
JonyTVR said:
Somewhatfoolish said:
Jonny_693 said:
When Chainguy first mentioned this condition my natural reaction was to think pah, and how many people are going to need a st that quickly. Then blow me, three people on this forum have, or know someone with the condition.

I won't be getting a radar key.
Another point: Anyone using this by definition needs the toilet just as urgently as the disabled person. It's not as if folk urinate recreationally.
as another one who can be added to the list with a similar condition
Christ, I hope I'm not using my RADAR key after you three have been in there. biggrin

Somewhatfoolish

Original Poster:

4,336 posts

185 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
I'm starting to wonder if I am actually disabled. Way "normal" people are talking it's looking as though I have a disability!

JonyTVR

2,548 posts

188 months

Friday 25th February 2011
quotequote all
Somewhatfoolish said:
I'm starting to wonder if I am actually disabled. Way "normal" people are talking it's looking as though I have a disability!
you have the disability of being normal by the looks of it

Pistonheads - st matters! hehe