Campaigners are calling for every big public place to have a toilet suitable for disabled people, and they've won the backing of MPs.

More than 230,000 people in the UK cannot use a standard toilet. And sometimes there's no disabled toilet for them either.

The Changing Places campaign is calling for suitable toilets to be installed in shopping centres, arts venues, hospitals, train stations, airports, motorway service stations, leisure complexes, stadiums and other public places.

Birmingham MPs Khalid Mahmood (Lab Perry Barr) and Jack Dromey (Lab Erdington) signed a petition backing the campaign when they met Paralympic athlete Anne Wafula Strike in the Houses of Parliament.

Ms Wafula Strike, a British wheelchair racer who has no use of her legs, revealed last year that she was forced to wet herself on a train during a three-hour journey, because it had no accessible toilet.

She said she was profoundly humiliated and "completely robbed of my dignity", but decided to speak about the incident in the hope that it would bring about change.

L to r: MP Jack Dromey, athlete Anne Wafula Strike, campaigner Lorna Fillingham and MP Khalid Mahmood
L to r: MP Jack Dromey, athlete Anne Wafula Strike, campaigner Lorna Fillingham and MP Khalid Mahmood

Mr Mahmood said he was particularly keen to ensure venues used for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in the West Midlands, including Alexander Stadium in his Perry Barr constituency, had toilets for everyone who needed them.

He said: "I want to make sure there is sufficient space for disabled people to come and use suitable toilets, and that there is sufficient access to them.

"In a stadium there are always going to be steps. So we need to make sure there is adequate access into the stadium itself, and throughout the stadium including to the toilets."

What does a suitable toilet include?

Standard accessible toilets don't meet the needs of all people with a disability.

The Changing Places campaign is calling for what it calls Changing Places toilets.

They include:

The right equipment

  • A height adjustable adult-sized changing bench

  • A tracking hoist system, or mobile hoist if this is not possible

Enough space

  • Adequate space in the changing area for the disabled person and up to two carers

  • A centrally placed toilet with room either side

  • A screen or curtain to allow some privacy

A safe and clean environment

  • Wide tear off paper roll to cover the bench

  • A large waste bin for disposable pads

  • A non-slip floor

Information about how you can support the Changing Places campaign is available here .