Almost every fifth public bathroom is inaccessible for the physically disabled, with advocates warning that the issue is much larger for private-owned bathrooms. <\/p>\n
The scale of inaccessibility is forcing physically disabled Australians to stay home, blocking their freedom to interact with the Brisbane community. <\/p>\n
Brisbane City Council data revealed 105 of 580 public bathrooms were not accessible for disabled people, mostly consisting of train stations and petrol stations. <\/p>\n
These inaccessible toilets make up 18 per cent of Brisbane\u2019s council-funded bathrooms. <\/p>\n
Former Paralympian and high-profile disability advocate Karni Liddell said she was not surprised when she saw the statistics. <\/p>\n
\u201cTrain stations are public transport\u2026it should be accessible to every single person in that community,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
\u201cMost people (planners) think they\u2019re doing the right thing. They think everything\u2019s being done right but they don\u2019t know.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just about how we identify disability to begin with and make sure that you don\u2019t solely rely on an architect. They can do the job, but we could come along with you and talk about accessibility.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Paralympic swimmer was diagnosed with the muscle-wasting disease Congenital Titinopathy, causing her to rely on a wheelchair to travel distances. <\/p>\n
Ms Liddell said it can even create health problems for physically disabled people, since they have to hold it in until they can access a suitable bathroom. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been using a wheelchair since I was a child. Looking back in the 80s and 90s, I\u2019d say it was pretty much the same as it was now,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Train stations with inaccessible bathrooms include Auchenflower, Taringa, Sherwood and Buranda. <\/p>\n
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare found that one in six Australians had a disability, adding up to 18 per cent of the population. <\/p>\n
Ms Liddell said the bathroom issue becomes much starker once private toilets such as hotels and restaurants are included. <\/p>\n
Spinal Life CEO Mark Townend said there are a lot of simple actions that can be done in the planning stage of construction. <\/p>\n
\u201cFor the last six years, Queensland Rail have been building new railway stations and they\u2019ve all been designed with that in thought. Everything\u2019s inclusive so it\u2019s not a chore to go the loo,\u201d Mr Townend. <\/p>\n
\u201cBut the (inaccessible) bathrooms actually go backwards in terms of community access, and they\u2019ll stay home because it\u2019s too hard.\u201d <\/p>\n
He said once he started working in the disability advocacy sector, he began to see inaccessible infrastructure all the time. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s not how I feel. It\u2019s how someone in a wheelchair or someone with another disability feels. That\u2019s the key. You have to put yourself in that role,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
Ms Liddell said the number of inaccessible bathrooms is alarming given the upcoming 2032 Paralympics Games. <\/p>\n
\u201cIf they can\u2019t get work and if they can\u2019t go to the bathroom then we should at least be able to go to the toilet in public. Those are the basics,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n
Brisbane City Council was contacted for comment. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Almost every fifth public bathroom is inaccessible for the physically disabled, with advocates warning that the issue is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":83332,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[134734,134730,48031,31771,134720,38038,134417,55770,38151,134741,42149,134712,28209,38795,40668,134731,134727,134744,5398,99,10934,134751,134740,36917,4546,31752,134735,324,2176,3893,88464,134746,111611,134729,134722,134726,111325,28249,134753,52,134717,134745,134723,134743,41414,134750,134758,134714,134742,134754,134738,58542,134732,134736,134724,34889,134748,213,134718,134756,134719,134739,115337,39506,82554,87812,134757,134711,96651,44576,50898,134728,134733,134725,40910,40413,46774,65831,134755,134737,39151,134752,134713,134721,99461,47447,39833,39127,56931,45925,134749,134715,134747,45842,112216,134716,17331],"class_list":["post-83331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brisbane","tag-s-council-funded-bathrooms","tag-s-disabled","tag-48031","tag-31771","tag-580-public-bathrooms","tag-a-child","tag-a-chore","tag-a-disability","tag-a-lot","tag-a-suitable-bathroom","tag-a-wheelchair","tag-a-wheelchair-or-someone","tag-accessibility","tag-advocates","tag-all-the-time","tag-almost-every-fifth-public-bathroom","tag-an-architect","tag-another-disability","tag-auchenflower","tag-brisbane","tag-brisbane-city-council","tag-brisbane-city-council-data","tag-brisbane-toilet-problem","tag-cent","tag-city","tag-comment","tag-community-access","tag-construction","tag-data","tag-disability","tag-disabled-people","tag-distances","tag-every-single-person","tag-five-brisbane-public-toilets","tag-five-public-bathrooms","tag-former-paralympian","tag-health-and-welfare","tag-health-problems","tag-high-profile-disability-advocate-karni-liddell","tag-home","tag-hotels-and-restaurants","tag-inaccessibility","tag-inaccessible-bathrooms","tag-inaccessible-infrastructure","tag-most-people","tag-mr-townend","tag-ms-liddell","tag-nearly-one","tag-new-railway-stations","tag-physically-disabled-australians","tag-physically-disabled-people","tag-planners","tag-private-facilities","tag-private-toilets","tag-private-owned-bathrooms","tag-public","tag-public-transportit","tag-queensland-rail","tag-sherwood-and-buranda","tag-simple-actions","tag-six-australians","tag-spinal-life-ceo-mark-townend","tag-taringa","tag-terms","tag-that-community","tag-that-role","tag-the-inaccessible-bathrooms","tag-the-80s-and-90s","tag-the-australian-institute","tag-the-basics","tag-the-bathroom","tag-the-bathroom-issue","tag-the-brisbane-community","tag-the-disability-advocacy-sector","tag-the-issue","tag-the-job","tag-the-key","tag-the-last-six-years","tag-the-loo","tag-the-muscle-wasting-disease-congenital-titinopathy","tag-the-number","tag-the-paralympic-swimmer","tag-the-physically-disabled","tag-the-planning-stage","tag-the-population","tag-the-right-thing","tag-the-same","tag-the-scale","tag-the-statistics","tag-the-toilet","tag-the-upcoming-2032-paralympics-games","tag-their-freedom","tag-these-inaccessible-toilets","tag-thought","tag-train-stations","tag-train-stations-and-petrol-stations","tag-work"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83331"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83331\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}