Meeting of the Parliament 24 November 2015
I congratulate Iain Gray on bringing the debate to the chamber this evening. He made the important point that although there might be a bit of behind-the-hand sniggering about the concept of debating toilets, it is important to remember first and foremost that there are many nations in the world where, as he rightly pointed out, the use of a toilet is hazardous to health and often extremely dangerous just in terms of accessing the toilet in the first place.
Iain Gray made some important points. I was interested to hear the example of his constituent because I have been in a similar situation with my son who, because he is not toilet trained, needs more space than a toilet cubicle often provides in order that he can use the toilet. He gets sensory overload from the sound of hand dryers, so it is extremely important that we can use an accessible toilet, because we know that we will be the only ones in there and we will not have to worry about somebody setting off a hand-dryer, which could trigger an autistic meltdown. When we emerge from such toilets holding the hand of our son who is walking freely, we are often met with sceptical looks because, as Iain Gray said, people associate the concept of accessible toilets with wheelchair users.
If Iain Gray wants to forward to me information regarding Grace Warnock’s campaign and her sign, I would be more than happy to receive it and to see whether I can do anything through my work with organisations including the National Autistic Society Scotland and in my constituency to promote this opportunity to change signage. The work that Grace is doing is commendable, but the more shoulders we put to the wheel, the more chance there is of making change. I would be happy to receive that information from Iain Gray and to have a conversation with him about it at some point.
I have been heavily involved in the changing places toilets campaign alongside the Profound and Multiple Impairment Service—PAMIS—which is leading the campaign in Scotland, and the changing places consortium, which is promoting the campaign. The issue first came to my attention when I shadowed Stephanie Chalmers, who is a carer from Turriff in Aberdeenshire whose son Connor requires hoist equipment in order to use the toilet. That experience outlined to me just how difficult it is for Stephanie and Connor to enjoy what most of us classify as a normal day out. It often requires military planning to know exactly where they can access a toilet facility that is suitable for Connor’s needs and to make sure that they are somewhere in the vicinity of that facility so that they can access it if the need arises. That is why I have been so impressed by the work that has been done, which has been driven by the changing places consortium and PAMIS and ably backed by the Scottish Government’s learning disability strategy, “The keys to life”. The target within that strategy has not just been met; it has been smashed, and work is continuing to promote changing places toilets.
One of the things that has been highlighted to me is the idea that such facilities can exist only in large venues. To some extent, that is true, so we need to see more large venues adopt changing places toilets. I know that Jenny Marra, who is about to speak, has called for such toilets at the Scottish exhibition and conference centre, and I have backed that call. I have written to football clubs in Scotland to encourage them to incorporate changing places facilities. I wrote last season to all the top-flight teams and the top three teams in the championship, which at that time were Hearts, Hibs and Rangers, but I received only three replies to the 15 letters that I sent—from Celtic, Dundee United and Aberdeen. I passed those replies on to PAMIS and I know that it has been trying to engage with the clubs concerned.
We do not have a single changing places toilet in Scotland’s airports. That needs to change. Until such time as we get such facilities in sporting venues, music venues and airports, many people will still feel that they are being denied the dignity that is afforded to the rest of us when we go to a venue, go on holiday or go for a day out.
I commend Iain Gray for bringing the debate to the chamber and for allowing us the opportunity to outline some very important points that relate to it.
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