Whenever a person walks out of the accessible bathroom stall and sees me, a wheelchair user, sitting outside waiting for the stall, they often apologize.
In the beginning, I said, "No worries!" Because I was too scared to be confrontational.
Then I started saying nothing.
But after a while, I realized that some disabled people may be a portion of the people that apologize. And I never want to make an invisibly disabled person feel bad for using accommodations that they need. There are many different reasons a disabled person would need the stall!
(It is tiring waiting for ages while someone uses the stall to change, or do their makeup. It is not annoying for anyone who needs the stall to use it.)
So, I've decided to start saying, "That's okay! I believe every disabled person should be able to use the accessible stall!"
Because then, if they are invisibly disabled, hopefully that will put them at ease.
And if the person isn't disabled, it will remind them that the accessible stall is not just "the big stall."
