Reporter

If you are an able-bodied person, you should not be using a handicapped bathroom stall.  

Every day, every hour, maybe even every minute, an able-bodied person is using a handicapped stall.

Handicapped stalls are for handicapped people, not for able-bodied people who want to hang up their winter coats, kick up their feet and play on their phones.

These stalls are designed to accommodate people who use wheelchairs or have disabilities that prevent them from using the other stalls.

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 required that all public facilities, including libraries, parks, hotels, restaurants, theaters, retail stores, museums and schools accommodate people with disabilities.

As a person who uses the assistance of a cane, handicapped stalls are especially helpful for me, although there are others protected by the ADA.

The ADA protects the rights of anyone with conditions not limited to partial or completely missing limbs, mobility impairments requiring the use of a wheelchair or cane, diabetes, cancer, epilepsy, autism, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and muscular dystrophy.

There is usually only one handicapped stall per restroom, so if an able-bodied person is occupying it, the person who it was created to serve has to wait, and depending on what that able-bodied person is doing in that handicapped stall, we are left waiting for several minutes.

There are times that there are not enough stalls in some of the restrooms, which makes it hard to overlook an empty stall, especially when you need to go. 

I understand that these stalls provide spacious comfort, are convenient to access and reflect your selfish personality, but there are people who actually need these stalls.

Just like there is handicapped parking, there are handicapped stalls.

You think that, because this is a restroom, and you have your pants around your ankles, you’re excused?

You’re wrong.

I went to the ladies’ room once, and waited almost ten minutes for someone to exit the handicapped stall when there were six empty regular stalls.

This type of occurrence is frequent in my day, and I’m only one person.

I know sometimes there are some extenuating circumstances, like a pregnant woman, or a mother with a toddler being potty-trained, or simply that you ate at the wrong restaurant and you need to go, but how often is this really the case?     

We are all college students, and many of us are adults, so it’s time to use our brains, and not the selfish side of them.

Don’t use the handicapped stall unless you are disabled.