She Got Caught Using the Disabled Toilet in Her Dorm but Does She Have the Right To Use It?

A woman recently got ‘caught’ using the disabled bathroom in her dorm, and she’s now very embarrassed. Even though the woman wasn’t able to stand due to leg pain, she isn’t technically disabled and wonders if she was in the wrong.

Here is what she had to say.

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Photo Credit: Shutterstock.

The woman, 20, lives in the dorms at her college. On her floor, there are multiple bathrooms, and one of them is a bathroom for those who are gender-neutral and/or those who are disabled.

On her floor, there is nobody that is physically disabled.

All bathrooms in her dorm have two toilets and two showers, but the ones in the disabled bathroom are far bigger.

One of the showers is larger than the other and has a seat you can sit on.

On Mondays, the woman has a class from 8 a.m. until 7 p.m., with only short breaks throughout the day.

The woman is usually exhausted when she returns from her class and has prepared her dinner for the night.

When she gets fatigued, her left shin starts causing her severe pain, one that is bone deep that does not improve unless she sleeps it off.

In one of her most recent Monday classes, she began experiencing leg pain at around 5 pm, and it was still hurting badly two hours later.

She managed to eat quickly and return, though she had decided that she was going to shower and go to bed.

The woman decided to shower in the disabled bathroom as she needed to use the seat due to the pain in her leg.

“Anyways, I’m sitting there and showering when someone knocks really loudly on the bathroom door,” she said.

“I said I would be out in a minute and continued to shower, but they continued to knock.

“So I finished my shower quickly, put on my towel, and opened the door.”

Upon opening the door, the woman saw another student and the floor’s resident assistant standing there.

The student looked particularly angry and began shouting at the woman for using a disabled shower when she was not disabled.

The resident assistant looked confused throughout the encounter, so the woman explained that she wanted to sit down because of her leg pain.

The student interrupted once again to ask if she was disabled and shouted at her further when she reiterated that she was not.

The resident assistant told the woman to use the facilities meant for her, but she looked anxious to leave as soon as she said it.

As she left, the student beside her gave the woman a dirty look as she walked away.

The woman felt bad and embarrassed afterward and therefore asked the Reddit community if she was wrong for using the disabled bathroom.

Fortunately for her, the majority of the commenters were on her side.

“Those showers are designed for people who can’t stand up in the shower,” said one commenter.

“At that moment, you were a person who, because of your pain, could not stand up in the shower.”

“So you were using exactly the right shower. The person who gave you hell about it was herself being extremely ableist because she was making assumptions about your ability based on how you looked.”

“Not all disabilities are visible. Invisible disabilities deserve to be treated as valid.”

“Disabled showers have the same rules as accessible toilets – if someone is waiting who has a disability, they get priority, but it’s still available for anyone to use,” said another person.

“It’s insane to leave a perfectly good facility unused just because it’s accessible, especially when none of the tenants have a disability. “

“It’s there so that people who need it can shower comfortably, just as you needed it to be able to shower comfortably.”

What do you think? Was it okay that the woman used the disabled bathroom?

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Source: Reddit