Lifting the lid: Disabled toilets as sites of belonging and embodied citizenship

Abstract

This article explores the complex relationship between citizenship, bodies and toileting through the experiences of disabled people. By examining the toiletscapes that disabled people must navigate, the impact that inaccessible toilets have on self and personhood and the hidden inequalities produced through these spaces, we can come to understand disabled people’s sense of (non)belonging. At the centre of this article is a focus on the socio-political dualisms that locate disabled people at the margins of everyday citizenship. Through a feminist phenomenological analysis the toilet and toileting bring to the fore how (non)belonging is felt. Toilet(ing), then, problematises the nature of so-called ‘private’ and ‘public’ spaces and by engaging bodily waste we come to understand citizenship through dirt.

Reproductive (In)Justice and Inequality in the Lives of Women with Intellectual Disabilities in Scotland

“…The sexual and reproductive lives of women with intellectual disabilities remain hidden under veils of the so-called private sphere whilst also not being prioritised in feminist academic scholarship, or feminist discourse, outside of disability studies. The findings presented here make visible the inherent nexus within which rights, policy, and intimate life exist (Wiseman 2019). Disabled women's fights for reproductive equality are ongoing, and systemic denial of these rights are commonplace globally (Dean et al 2017).…”

“…However, the lack of informed consent around contraception (McCarthy 2010), and the over-subscription of long-term contraceptives, even during menopause suggests that 'reproductive control is not a historical institutional problem but very much a ' contemporary community based one' (Ledger et al 2016: 714 in McCarthy 2009. Constraints placed on decision-making echo legacies of structuring women with intellectual disabilities as incapable of practising normative ideals of citizenship, where citizenship is afforded to so-called autonomous, able-bodied, rational (often male) actors (Wiseman 2019). As Dotson et al (2003) argue, sex can be a complex topic to raise with women with intellectual disabilities.…”

Blood flows: mapping journeys of menstrual waste in Blantyre, Malawi

“…Whilst the linkages between school attendance and menstrual practices have been extensively examined (Hennegan and Montgomery 2016), there is no such exploration on how access to menstrual absorbents affects other kinds of participation in the economy and civil society. In a Western context, Moffat and Pickering (2019) and Wiseman (2019) have discussed how the menstruating uterus and associated stigma can become a 'leash' restricting women to, or close to, the home when suitable materials or infrastructure are not available to manage and conceal menstrual blood. In a similar way, use of cloth or other improvised absorbents might be anticipated to act as a barrier to participation in certain workplaces due to lack of changing facilities, as has been shown to be the case in schools (Hennegan et al 2017).…”

‘I have to know where I can go’: mundane mobilities and everyday public toilet access for people living with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS)

“…Insights into the daily navigations of living with IBS offer contributions to the 'hidden geographies' of disabilities (Davidson & Henderson, 2010;Dyck, 1995;Moss & Dyck, 1999). It further adds such narratives to toilet scholarship (Slater & Jones, 2018;Wiseman, 2019) by centralising IBS and its relationship to mundane and embodied geographies (Bissell, 2016(Bissell, , 2009b(Bissell, , 2007Evans et al, 2021). Beyond this, this paper seeks to illuminate diverse bodily needs and toilet inclusion and its centrality to everyday life and everyday movements.…”

“…Previous research in geography and sociology has drawn attention to the inaccessibility of toilets (Cooper et al, 2000;Kitchin & Law, 2001;Slater & Jones, 2018;Wiseman, 2019) with an emphasis on disabling environments and implications for access, belonging and citizenship. However, explicit attention to IBS, a condition that is both invisible and often dismissed, has not been solely theorised.…”