One too many coffees or breaking the seal after a few pints down the pub?

I bet you all know that feeling of needing a wee so badly it hurts. Well many disabled people don’t get that feeling or the luxury of holding it in.

Picture this. I am in a pub, just out of the car and busting for a wee. The disabled loo is occupied, not that strange I think given the proximity to the National Spinal Injuries Unit. And then, two minutes later, out walks a man with no white stick or walking aid. He looks at me and immediately drops his head, guilt ridden and unable to make eye contact, I conclude that he must be able bodied.

This was lunchtime, not at half time at a football match.

I can guarantee the men’s loos were vacant. Was he claustrophobic? Did he suffer confidence issues at the urinal or was he simply lazy?

The reality of many of those with a disability is limited continence and a difficulty in ‘holding it in’. It is infuriating when you have an accident out and about because of watching the red lock and waiting to see only Joe or Joanne Blogs stroll out, during which time I’ll have ‘not made it’ and my only option is to shamefully go home, shower and change.

The reaction of the culprit is always the same, the head hung or the profuse apologies. But if you know it is so wrong then why do it?

Disabled toilets rarely have nice décor or posh soap. They are functional, barren and full of sanitary bins. I cannot understand the appeal.

Let’s flip the coin. Imagine me going into a women’s changing room because it was a little bit easier or there was a queue for the men’s. I would be labelled a pervert and flatly denied. Maybe I should be campaigning for toilet bodyguards, but perhaps a little more consideration from the rule breakers would be cheaper and easier (plus I don’t want a 6ft burly guy listening to my call of nature).

All I ask is a bit of ‘if I was in their shoes’ mentality.

Next time you can’t be bothered going up the stairs or two doors down, think of someone losing their continence outside the door, mortified, in the public eye and left to change their plans immediately in order to get cleaned up.

It might seem an innocent three-minute wee break to you but it might mean hours out my day. I don’t think it is too much to ask. So let’s all stick to our allocated zones shall we?