Last winter, a third-year Carleton University Disability Studies: Policy and Activism class conducted an extensive audit of Carleton’s washroom accessibility and created an interactive map based on their findings.
The students’ research found that only six buildings on Carleton’s campus are fully compliant with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) standards.
Even fewer campus washrooms meet the student researchers’ higher standards for accessibility, which include audio and visual fire alarms, adult changing tables and wash basins for prayer.
In light of Carleton’s goal to make 50 per cent of campus washrooms accessible, the students produced 12 calls to action for the university’s administration to consider in future washroom design. Students are also calling on administration to expand the attendant services program, which provides students with personal living care.
Student research
Fady Shanouda, a critical disability scholar, taught the Disability Studies: Policy and Activism class and decided on the research topic. The students undertook the rest of the research decisions, scope, methods and data collection.
The class collectively audited 330 washrooms across 13 buildings. To assess each washroom’s accessibility, they measured everything from door widths to hand dryer heights.
“It’s also shameful of the university that it hasn’t done more previously,” Shanouda said. “Now, of course, that this is done right, the university has asked for it to be part of its mapping.”
When asked by the Charlatan to respond to this criticism, the university media relations officer did not provide an answer, instead writing, “the university administration actively works with the Carleton University Students’ Association and the Graduate Students’ Association to support accessibility upgrades on campus through the Dedicated Access Fund.”
Shanouda said he refused to share the students’ data directly with the university, instead opting to allow the university to share a link to the student’s work on its website to ensure the students received the proper credit.
“They can’t just appropriate it, without paying the students, without acknowledging that it’s 100 per cent student work,” he said.
Fourth-year public policy student Sonika Sharma was part of the project’s research and scaling team.
The team designed a scale to audit the accessibility of each washroom. The scale included elements such as whether the washroom could be found on a map, if the doors were 86 cm wide (the minimum accessibility standard set by the AODA), if the sinks were of variable height and if free menstrual products were available.
Sharma and the rest of the scaling team then processed this data by placing each building on a five-point scale.
No buildings on Carleton’s campus were rated five out of five, meaning no building on campus meets the optimal standards of washroom accessibility as defined by the student research team.
Additionally, only six buildings on campus meet the lower threshold of AODA standards. The AODA standards include elements such as minimum door width (86 cm), grab bars and automatic doors.
AODA, which sets the standards for accessibility in Ontario, is “very weak” because it is rarely enforced, Shanouda said. Advocates point to a lack of provincial auditing and mechanisms for reporting AODA violations as contributing factors to enforcement issues.
Shanouda said the Ontario building code, which is enforced at Carleton, includes some aspects of the AODA guidelines but is still limited in its scope. That’s especially true when compared to the students’ broader understanding of accessibility, such as accessibility for people with cognitive impairments or people who need assistance in the washroom.
Additionally, the provincial building code only applies to new buildings or substantial renovations, not existing buildings. As a result, many buildings on campus aren’t required to meet the code.
In a statement to the Charlatan, the university media relations officer wrote, “Carleton is committed to ensuring that all new buildings meet or exceed [AODA] standards for accessible washrooms and that washrooms in existing buildings are being updated/upgraded to meet established standards in a timeframe that aligns with current fiscal responsibilities.”
Other data collected by the student researchers found that 65 per cent of washrooms on campus lack automatic door openers and 70 per cent do not have tactile or braille signage.
After assessing each washroom, the students’ calls to action sent to the administration include installing more grab bars, height-adjustable fixtures, proper ventilation and automatic door openers.
They also reflect the intersectional approach to the research, including a call for more gender-inclusive washrooms and changing tables.
When asked by the Charlatan if Carleton’s administration is aware of these calls to action and intends to address the calls, the university media relations officer did not provide a response.
Attendant services lacking
Carleton and Algonquin College offer attendant services programs which provide students with personal care services for daily living. These services include helping students dress, use the washroom and exercise personal hygiene.
Jay Baldwin, a fourth-year women and gender studies student, was one of the team leaders in the disability studies class. Baldwin uses attendant services to go to the washroom in their Leeds House residence room.
Baldwin wears adult incontinence briefs when they leave residence because they often cannot make it to the washroom in time when rotating between academic buildings for classes and their residence building.
“This is my ceiling lift,” Baldwin said as they showed the Charlatan around their accessible room in residence.
“And these are my supplies [incontinence briefs] that I wear every day when I go to classes, just so I don’t piss myself having to wait for someone to help me go to the bathroom.”
However, Baldwin said using incontinence briefs places them at higher risk for urinary tract infections. With accessible washrooms across campus and if attendant services went beyond the residence buildings, they said they could wear the briefs less often.
An accessible washroom for Baldwin includes a sink their wheelchair can fit under, a ceiling lift, a commode, an adult-size change table and someone to assist them. None of the campus washrooms outside of residence contain any of these features.
Sinks in most washrooms are too low to the ground for Baldwin to comfortably fit under when washing their hands. To accommodate, they bring hand sanitizer with them everywhere they go.
Even their residence room sink is barely high enough for them to wash their hands, they said.
“Even though it’s an accessible room, it wasn’t made with me in mind. It wasn’t made with people who have different mobility aid sizes in mind,” Baldwin said.
Baldwin also said that Carleton’s attendant services are underfunded and understaffed. The program is currently funded by the Ontario Ministries of Health and Long Term Care.
Kiara McGivern, a third-year human rights and social justice student, is a member of CU Care Act — a Carleton grassroots organization advocating for accessibility on campus.
McGivern also relies on attendant services, and said they can only use the washroom in residence. Because of this, they schedule their classes so that they are not away from residence for too long.
When they have to be away for a longer time, for example, during exams, they said they reduce their fluid and food intake to avoid needing to use the washroom.
McGivern said attendant services is an important service for accessibility and CU Care Act is advocating for the service to extend to other campuses across Canada.
“For so long we have been kind of cast to the side and excluded from higher education,” McGivern said. “CU Care Act aims to make higher education more accessible to everybody, not just students who have access to Carleton University, because attendant services is a great program and it deserves to be expanded.”
According to the university’s statement to the Charlatan, “Attendant Services has made positive changes over the past few years to ensure effective staffing patterns for the program.”
Baldwin said the lack of washroom accessibility at Carleton washrooms makes them feel “less than” and scared for the future if the status quo continues.
“It makes me feel everything I already feel just moving through the entire world as a disabled, Black, queer, non-binary person with a spicy brain and body,” they said.
“The world was never built for me,” they added. “I’m not gonna pretend like it is, because I don’t owe anyone the toxic positivity that they think disabled people need to give them.”
‘Shit politics’
Baldwin also highlighted the intersectional elements of accessibility, stating a one-size-fits-all approach to accessible spaces will not be effective.
They noted people with larger bodies, people with visual or auditory disabilities, gender-diverse people and people who need washbasins for prayer have diverse sets of needs when it comes to an accessible washroom.
“Everyone has [access needs]. Going to the bathroom and doing a human thing should not be something that’s so stigmatized and should not be something with so much red tape,” they said.
As a non-binary person, Baldwin said they feel conflicted about using gender-neutral washrooms to wash their hands in public. Because they often need help in the washroom, they said they don’t want to take up space in the few gender-neutral washrooms available on campus.
“I’m not a shitty person, even though things around me are shitty. Pooping and peeing and doing normal things you’re supposed to do as a human being is politicized to the point where it makes you feel shitty about yourself,” they said.
To make washrooms more accessible, Baldwin said the most important thing is consultation. They said Carleton should ask everyone, not just disabled people, what they need and want from a washroom, and take that into consideration in the designs.
Shanouda refers to the politics of washrooms as “shit politics.”
“To make specific reference to shit and piss as a political action or process, and one that’s more politicized for one group over the other, is very important,” he said. “I think people take for granted access to spaces to defecate and relieve themselves and do all the other types of things that we do.”
He said one of the reasons he chose this topic for his students’ research is to acknowledge the pain associated with washroom accessibility.
“Regardless of embodiment, all of us have experienced the feeling of needing a bathroom and not being able to use it. We understand the pain associated with that,” he said. “There’s something about auditing the university and demonstrating how disabled people come across that pain more regularly.”
Featured image by Grace Huntley/the Charlatan.
