CPD with Dolphin Solutions: Accessible Toilets
August 18, 2025
As an essential piece of infrastructure, everyone deserves to have easy and unequivocal access to a toilet wherever they may be.
Historically, however, not everyone has been made welcome. Women, people of colour, LGBTQ+ members and the disabled have all had their right to public toilets questioned, mirroring the inequality and prejudices of wider society; some still have their rights questioned today. For those who require spaces tailored to them in order to use the facilities in a meaningful way, there is a special disregard in toilets that do not cater for them whatsoever, and more in those who half-ass their provision in order to attempt to tick a box. Whether intended or not, having a public toilet which one is able and welcome to use affects how welcome and able they perceive themselves being in the wider spaces which the toilets are meant to service.
Dolphin Solutions visited us to tell us about accessible toilets
Many disabled toilets provided have common shared problems:
• cluttered
• difficult to use
• not compliant
• risk of infection
• risk of cross-contamination
• ugly
This includes issues like these spaces being used as storage areas, which contributes to the problems listed above and imparts the impression that these spaces are not regarded well in their own right. They become difficult to use and non-compliant when the various grab bars are not visually differentiated from the walls and floors of the space; when there are bins in spaces dedicated to wheelchair maneuverability; when the flush handle is on the far side of the cistern; when the tap, soap and hand tissues are not reachable from being seated on the toilet; when the toilet paper cannot be obtained and torn with a single hand; and when the emergency cord is missing, out of reach, or also not visually differentiated. Often, these spaces are not well considered in terms of layout, or finishes, and result in spaces that seem second-rate and are not pleasant to use.
