Changing Places Awareness Day – 19th July 2024
Today (Friday 19 July) is Changing Places Awareness Day – the annual event highlighting the importance of fully-accessible toilets needed by more than a quarter of a million people, as well as their families and carers, in the UK.
PAMIS, promoting a more inclusive society, is the only charity in Scotland that solely supports children, young people and adults with profound learning and multiple disabilities (PMLD) and their families to lead healthy, valued and included lives. PAMIS offers a range of projects and programmes including family support services; education and development; research and practice development; inclusive culture and leisure; campaigns; information sharing and an extensive library including the PAMIS multisensory stories; and resources to support digital inclusion. PAMIS co-chair the UK Changing Places toilet Consortium alongside Muscular Dystrophy UK and are calling for more Changing Places toilets to be made available in Scotland.
A Changing Places toilet is different to a standard accessible toilet. With extra space (12 sqm) to help accommodate larger wheelchairs and the presence of carers to assist and support the users. It has specialist equipment such as an adult size, height adjustable changing bench ceiling track and hoist, peninsular toilet, and height adjustable sink.
People with profound learning and multiple disabilities, hidden or physical disabilities such as spinal injuries, muscular dystrophy, and multiple sclerosis, often need extra equipment and space to allow them to use the toilets safely and comfortably.
Without enough Changing Places toilets, people with hidden and physical disabilities face the option of not leaving their homes, limiting fluid intake on days out, or having to be changed on dirty toilet floors.
Changing Places Awareness Day is not only an opportunity to call for more toilets but a day to mark the official launch of the campaign, started back in July 2006, enabling a celebration of all the achievements to date and give a huge thank you to the many dedicated campaigners, who fight for change and raise awareness about this issue or fundraise in their local communities to create more Changing Places toilets.
PAMIS have been campaigning for more Changing Places toilets for over twenty years since the majority of the families the charity supports cannot use accessible toilets and require the additional space and equipment provided by a Changing Places toilet. Fiona Souter, Inclusive Communities Director explains: “People with profound learning and multiple disabilities are isolated in their own communities due to the lack of appropriate toilets and this is fundamentally a human rights issue where we frequently hear from families who cannot access healthcare, education or enjoy days out with family and friends because there are no Changing Places toilets nearby. Whilst there have been major steps forwards in Scotland most notably around changes to building standards and planning legislation making it mandatory to include a Changing Places toilet in certain sized new public buildings there are still huge geographical gaps in provision. We want Scotland to be a truly accessible and inclusive country to visit as well as to live and that is why Changing Places Awareness Day is so important – the more people that are aware of these life changing facilities the better.”
Key Resources
Official Changing Places Awareness Day Toolkit
Read the Changing Places toilets Scotland Annual Report
Register your Changing Places Toilet Today
Find your nearest Changing Places Toilet
PAMIS Enquiry Service: [email protected]