Ouch! Talkpermalink
is wearing contact lenses a disability?
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Ouchers, the other day I was waiting with my daughter who uses a wheelchair to get into the disabled toliets in the local mall.
We waited for ages and eventually this young lad came out of the toliet, no wheelchair or anything.
I asked him did he really have to use the disabled toliets to which he replied 'excuse me, but I was putting my contact lenses in'.
I was taken aback, what do you ouchers think, is this a sufficient reason for using these loos? -
Hello glummum
Putting contact lenes in is taking advantage but I've found druggies injecting in the disabled loo in our shopping centre. I think they stole the key off a disabled family member + the council did nothing about the problemThis is a reply to this message.
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I have often come across people using the disabled loos at a big event just because there is a queue to use the normal ones. I do get people giving me dirty looks when i use them as they think i'm normal!!! Ive got CP.
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Perhaps I should have said to the young man 'oh sorry I thought you were normal, but now I know your'e not!'
I must remember that for the next time I catch someone (especially nappy changing parents aaargh!) skulk out of the disabled loos.This is a reply to this message.
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If glasses/contacts fully restore your vision: No, that person is not legally visually impaired.
If someone wears glasses/contacts but their vision is still impaired? Then yes, legally, they are visually impaired.This is a reply to this message.
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I was on my way into the (thoroughly disgusting and perpetually unlocked) disabled loo in a pub near me once when I heard the group of lads behind me say "doesn't look disabled to me..."
Now, I was in a pretty bad mood, having needed to go quite badly even before negotiating a busy pub and waiting for the AB guy to finish peeing on the floor in there before I could go in, so I opened the door again, provided and brief, precise and fairly sharp precis of my medical records and asked if it was okay by them if I had a p*** now.
Apparently it was, and they all became suddenly fascinated by their shoes when I walked back out of there.
My understanding is that - contact lenses or no - some blokes feel the need to use it because they're embarrassed by using your bog-standard (sorry!) urinal. Maybe they have something to be ashamed of. I'd suggest they stand closer if this was the case, but judging by the state of the floor in the Paul Pry, they needed to do that anyway.This is a reply to this message.
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I have serious sight loss so I'm quite qualified to say wearing contact lenses is, as has been said above, only a disability if they don't restore your sight to a normal state.
This person taking the p*** IMHO.This is a reply to this message.
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When I think of the foul, eye-watering conditions to be found in many men's public lavatories, I don't think I'd want to do something like changing contact lenses in there. Due to vandalism they often have no sink or mirrors. In fact I'd prefer to urinate in a bush rather than use places like this. Unfortunately this is frowned upon.
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wearing contact lenses, imo, isn't a disability.. the reason someone may be using them maybe.
Im SVI and have continence problems, and do use disabled toilets when theyre free, it means i only have to struugle to find the loo and paper etc and dont have to avoid other people who dont seem to know that a white stick means I may not be able to see them.
I did have hassle in one public loo where the disabled loo was in the same place as the others when a lady had a go at me for using it even tho no one else was queing for it..This is a reply to this message.
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Wearing or needing contact lenses isn't a disability, no.
However (*puts on flameproof panties*) I think it could be argued that with his contact lenses not in, the young man's vision could have been impaired to a disabling degree. Not disabling in the "lasts a year or more" sense, but certainly in an immediate sense.
Now, unlike blue badge spaces, accessible loos don't have criteria attached about the permanence of a condition. They are available for people with temporary impairments too. For example, a person with their leg in plaster after a simple fracture isn't DDA-disabled and will probably be up and walking about again within 3 months - but their temporary impairment is certainly enough to prevent them using the Normie loo and I doubt even the most hardened political crips would object to their use of "our" facilities.
It's also (as I understand it) acceptable for a person with diabetes to use an accessible loo as a safe, clean, hot-running-water, well-lit and private space to inject their insulin - in other words, to do the necessary things to prevent their condition from *becoming* disabling.
So you *could* argue that this young man, although not disabled, was experiencing temporary visual impairment due to his contact lenses coming out, and needed somewhere safe, private and well-lit, with a mirror and facilities to wash his hands before touching his eyeballs, in order to do the necessary things to prevent his condition from impairing him to the point of disability.
You could also argue that he should carry a pair of glasses for when his contact lenses come out unexpectedly or that he probably would have managed in the Gents, so please don't think I'm defending him to the hilt here. But personally, I think I would let that one go.This is a reply to this message.
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My sons sight loss is due to an accident when he was 3 and I see that as a disability, he was normal till he had a head injury.
ddThis is a reply to this message.
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You could also argue that he should carry a pair of glasses for when his contact lenses come out unexpectedly or that he probably would have managed in the Gents, so please don't think I'm defending him to the hilt here. But personally, I think I would let that one go.
Why not defend him; if his use was legitimate. There’s also the argument that he doesn’t own glasses; as he can’t afford to pay for specs and contacts.
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He may have seemed a bit unconcerned about it, but it's possible that he couldn't manage in the Gents. I wear contacts, and in the Ladies at my workplace the mirror is so far away because of the counter that unless I already have them in, I can't see my eyes to get the damn things in. In the disabled toilet next door it's possible to get right up close to the mirror and thus prevent the lenses being dropped in the sink, on the floor, on the counter etc.
No, I wouldn't say it's a disability, not when it corrects with contacts, but I can easily see why he may have needed the use of the room.This is a reply to this message.
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>> No, I wouldn't say it's a disability, not when it corrects with contacts, but I can easily see why he may have needed the use of the room. <<
_Chosen_ to use the room, not needed. He didn't need to put his contacts in, he chose to do it and he chose to do it in somewhere he had no right to.This is a reply to this message.
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Disabled toilets with a mirror? Now there's a rarity.
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I've been wearing lenses for over 30 years and never use a mirror! So as long as there's a flat surface it doesn't matter where I put them in.
DaveThis is a reply to this message.
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I don't use a mirror when putting mine in either. I know where my eyes are.
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It's possible that whilst he said he was putting his contact lenses in, he may stil have an invisible disability.
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Honestly, I don't think wearing contact lenses is a disability....at least in the United States.
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putting in contacts isnt a genuine reason for using a disabled loo. but then you can never say that someone should or shouldnt use a disabled loo unless you know them or why they are using the loo, even more importantly we should say if someone looks disabled enough to use them.
There are many people who use disabled loos becuase they are incontinent or have stomas and becaause of this are given radar keys from their nurses to use the disabled loos. Maybe the lad had a genuine reason for using the loo but didnt feel like he had to justify himself. Maybe he was shocked or embarrased and said what he said rather than 'out' himself as having a certain condition.
Maybe he was putting in his contacts but that doesnt mean he cant use the loo. When i lost my sight i was wearing contacts for a long time and used the disabled loos as a visually impaired person, I didnt look visually impiared either so if i didnt have my white cane with me I often got looks of 'why are you using the disabled loo' from people.
It is annoying to wait for ages for the disabled loo to then have someone who 'looks normal' come out of it. But there is nothing worse than using the disabled loo and coming out of it to have people look at you like you are rotten becuase your disablity or need for the loo isnt obvious.
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