Mum creates loo-themed advent calendar to raise awareness of disabled toilet access
"Nobody should have to lie on a toilet floor"
To date, mother Sarah Brisdion's alternative advent calendar has seen her eating a mince pie, wearing reindeer antlers and even drinking a bottle of prosecco on the toilet.
The mother-of-two has picked this unusual spot to take her Christmas snaps in a big to raise awareness of the lack of changing facilities in disabled toilets.
Releasing a series of selfies leading up to 24th December, Sarah hopes to highlight the plight of people like her son Hadley, seven, who needs changing facilities in disabled toilets so he can go to toilet with dignity.
Although Sarah says she can preserve her dignity in the shots, she says that her son is one of many who knows that 'there is nothing dignified or festive about lying on the toilet floor.'
'We all need to pee. It's nothing to be ashamed of. Some people just need more help than others,' she said in her first post in the calendar, tagged #looadvent.
'Every day of December, I will be taking a festive selfie to raise awareness of the need for changing benches and hoists in disabled toilets.'
Sarah, who is mother to twins Erica and Hadley, who is a wheelchair user with cerebral palsy, has found that she has to resort to changing her seven-year-old son on the toilet floor because of the lack of changing facilities.
GoodtoKnow Newsletter
Parenting advice, hot topics, best buys and family finance tips delivered straight to your inbox.
'The slight embarrassment I feel from sharing these photos, is nothing compared to the indignity my son feels having to lie down amongst other people's urine,' said Sarah to Metro.
'It's easy for me to take a photo. It's not easy for my son to live with being discriminated against,' she added.
According to toilet accessibility campaigners Changing Places, around a quarter of a million people need access to disabled toilets with changing facilities, but only one thousand are available.
Trusted, informative, and empathetic – GoodToKnow is the ultimate online destination for mums. Established in 2007, our 15-year-strong archive of content includes more than 18,000 articles, 1,500 how-to videos, and 7,000 recipes.
-
Worried about your teen 'being smelly'? They can't help it, according to scientists, and help is on its way to ease the problem
We know that puberty can cause all sorts of smells to emanate from teens - now scientists have revealed exactly what you're smelling, and how evolution contributed.
By Lucy Wigley Published
-
Parenting coach shares 4 'powerful' reframes to try next time it feels like your kid is pushing all your buttons (and #4 is a game changer)
A parenting coach has shared four ways parents can reframe their thoughts when their kid has big emotions. Giving them a try could offer big results in little time.
By Lucy Wigley Published