The socio-spatial construction of (in)accessible public toilets

This paper examines the rights of disabled people to access public spaces i n Western societies through an analysis of the provision of accessible publ ic toilets in Ireland. Providing a critical analysis around the themes of s ocial justice and citizenship, the investigation is based on an examination of present-day planning legislation, interviews conducted with 35 disabled people-19 in the Republic of Ireland and 16 in Northern Ireland-and a case study of one particular town, Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland. These da ta reveal that in Ireland and the UK, planning legislation is weak and ofte n not enforced. Accessible public toilets are few and far between; those th at do exist are often poorly designed; and, this lack of provision severely delimits the daily spatial behaviour of disabled people. This lack of prov ision, it is argued, is expressive of a wider set of ableist power geometri es and signifies that disabled people do not, as yet, have the same civil r ights as non-disabled people.