MONTGOMERY, Ala. – When Huntsville resident June Wilson plans family outings, she has to consider her young son Lorde’s bathroom needs and where she’ll change his Pull-Up diaper.
Lorde is 4 and has disabilities that have delayed toilet training. He no longer safely fits on the restroom changing tables meant for babies.
“For most people, they go to work or they go out and they’re not thinking about where they’ll go to the restroom,” Wilson told Alabama Daily News.
That’s not the case for Wilson anymore, or other families with members whose personal care needs require assistance.
The Wilson family has cut short or skipped altogether events that would require taking Lorde back to their vehicle to change him in what might be a crowded parking lot. Or maybe worse, on the dirty floor of a public restroom.
Wilson is one of the advocates behind Senate Bill 83, which would require new public buildings to have powered, height-adjustable, adult-sized changing tables in family restrooms.
“The mission of the changing table is to promote community, inclusion, access and equality for individuals with disabilities who cannot safely utilize the standard, handicap accessible restroom,” Wilson told Alabama Daily News on Monday. “And there are so many of those individuals, so many that are unable to actually be out in the communities, patronizing all the beautiful things that our state has to offer because of a simple thing like not being able to properly use the restroom in a safe, hygienic and respectful manner.”
The legislation is sponsored by Sen. Arthur Orr, R-Decatur, who Wilson approached last year.
The legislation also applies to public buildings that renovate gender-neutral restrooms.
It also creates a grant program to encourage upgrades in existing facilities and asks private entities to consider installing adaptable changing tables.
Wilson said the bill calls for the tables in a bathroom used by both men and women because family restrooms are usually the most accessible and have locking doors. If the tables can’t be in family restrooms, Wilson said the next best options are the wheelchair-accessible stalls in men’s and women’s rooms.
Orr said the arguments and personal stories behind the bill are compelling.
“We want to help these families who are taking care of their loved ones,” Orr told ADN. “They want to have them out in society, not bedridden at home and rather than the government winding up as the primary caretaker. So we need to help them all we can and be grateful they’re rising to the occasion.”
The bill has been assigned to the Senate education budget committee, which Orr chairs. Wilson and others will be advocating for the bill during a public hearing today.
Wilson and Godilean Powell are the Alabama advocates for a national effort for the adult-size tables, Changing Spaces.
The tables she is asking lawmakers to put into public spaces cost between $5,000 and $12,000, Wilson said.
Sonny Brasfield, executive director of the Association of County Commissions of Alabama, said he reviewed the bill with Orr recently.
“The increased cost for counties is a consideration, but we are looking at how the additional costs might be contained,” Brasfield said. “Not sure we’ll have that all together by the committee meeting but that work can continue going forward.
Nearly 17% of Alabama’s population needs a caregiver, Wilson said.
Wilson said the tables also benefit the state’s elderly population and those with temporary illnesses or conditions.
“Disability is the only minority group that someone can join at anytime,” she said.