My name is Samantha Buck, I am Mum to 3, my youngest son Alfie is 14 years old and was born in 2006 with severe brain damage.He has quadriplegic cerebral palsy and severe dystonia, epilepsy and reflux. Alfie spends most of his life in pain.
When Alfie was five years old we were given a RADAR key to access the disabled toilets in my home town which I was very pleased with – until I actually used the toilets and realized that they are not for the people with a severe disability.
If you have a severe disability or paralyzed, you need carers to lift you out of the wheelchair and place you on a flat surface to have your continence pad changed. With my 14 year old son, I was forced to lay him on a urine soaked floor inside the disabled toilet when he was younger, with the 2nd carer standing outside with the wheelchair.
Now he is 14, I cannot lift Alfie out of his chair without a hoist, so he is made to sit in a wet or soiled pad where he is at risk of moisture leisions/sores, which has a detrimental effect on Alfie’s health and well being.
Without ‘Changing Places’ toilets the person with a disability is put at risk, and families and carers are forced to risk their own health and safety by lying their daughter, son or loved one on a toilet floor. This is dangerous, unhygienic, humiliating, and undignified.
We would not change a baby on the floor of a public toilet – so why on earth is this acceptable for disabled adults?
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