Not long after I'd had my hip replaced, the John Lewis department store at the huge Bluewater shopping centre installed grab rails in their public toilets. The cubicles are not very wide, and the further restriction of rails on BOTH SIDES made it very difficult for someone on the large side, with limited flexibility (like me on both counts) to get inside and close the door.
At the second attempt, I managed to get someone to look into the reasons for this ridiculous attempt to make the toilets more "accessible" to disabled people.
Guess who they are doing it for? People with one arm - they could be missing either arm, after all. Why does the loss of an arm mean someone needs a grab rail in a toilet? Surely that's not who grab rails are designed to help? Aren't they for people like me, who are stiff and doddery from things like arthritis?
But I ask you - how common is it to have only one arm, compared to a hip replacement or arthritis? No other store in the shopping centre has such a ludicrous set-up, nor do the shopping centre toilets themselves, which are much wider anyway.
There is actually a disabled toilet next door to the main toilets. The fact that the flashy electronic lock rarely works should be more of a concern to the store's management, rather than misinterpreting the accessibility requirements.
I just emailed Head Office. I will keep you posted on any further nonsense I hear from the Jobsworths.