ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the disabled and non-disabled women may need longer and more frequent access to public toilets as they are more likely to be caring for others and/or dealing with menstruation and menopause than people of other genders. Access to toilets and access to wider social care are not discrete problems, but wrapped up in broader ideologies regarding whose bodies and ways of being are valued. In opposition to cuts to social care, Disabled People Against the Cuts highlight that when budgets for personal assistance disappear, so too does disabled people’s basic right to make choices, including when to use the toilet. Accessible toilets, like gendered toilets, are subject to social monitoring and regulation, request a process of self-identification with the label on the door. The campaign by Changing Places to see more toilets with large changing areas and hoists shows the real-life problems faced by people who need support to use the toilet or to change continence pads.
