COLUMBUS, Ohio — You may not think twice about taking your kids shopping, out to eat or to the local YMCA. But for parents like Melody Bogan, taking her son anywhere requires planning.
“It takes a lot of foresight because I am aware that there aren’t a lot of available changing tables,” says Bogan. She’s the mom of a 16-year-old son with autism and Down syndrome.
Alan can’t go to the restroom on his own. A changing station for babies or toddlers won’t help because Alan weighs 150 pounds. Bogan says the lack of adult or universal changing tables is a real inconvenience.
“So, for our family, when we go out, it needs to be a short stint because I need to be within a 20-minute radius of home,” says Bogan.
Kim Boulter has a similar story. She faces the same challenges when it comes to taking her disabled son out for the day.
Boulter is an advocate with Changing Spaces Ohio, a group raising awareness about the need for adult or universal changing tables.
“Everyone needs to use the restroom usually when they’re away from home, especially if they’re gone any length of time longer than an hour,” Boulter said. “So not being able to find a place to change him or take care of him or change his clothes if needed is really a big barrier to being able to go participate and have fun in our community.”
These families, like many others in central Ohio, would like to see legislation like what recently passed in the state of Minnesota. A law, taking effect in January 2024, will require new public buildings to have adult changing stations. It will also provide up to $20,000 in incentives for businesses to update their existing restrooms.
“Honestly, I believe it’s a sense of awareness,” Bogan tells 10TV. “We don’t know what we don’t know.”
Advocates took their concerns to Columbus City Council earlier this year. They say the lack of adult changing tables is a community issue.
They hoped their needs would be met when city council authorized the funding of $25,000 to purchase more baby changing stations. It was part of a grant program to raise awareness and provide equal access to diaper-changing tables throughout the city.
But that money was already allocated to small businesses as part of an initiative to help provide more baby changing stations.
“This is not a quick fix solution,” says Columbus City Council President Pro Tem Rob Dorans. “I wish it was because in talking with some of these folks, I understand how hard this must be to not have this kind of infrastructure in place to take care of their family members.”
Dorans says that until recently, this issue was not on council’s radar. Now that it is, he’s committed to addressing the problem.
“We’re taking a hard look at what we can do internally at the city when we bring new public facing buildings online, and then having some conversation with other partners out in the community when they do that as well,” said Dorans. “We’ve found out as we do more research on this, it’s much easier to install on the front end when a new building is constructed.”
As older buildings get renovated, Dorans said that could be another opportunity to add universal changing tables.
“We are part of a growing movement of people that really want equity,” said Boulter. “Everyone deserves a safe and dignified place to change. It’s a human right to be able to the use the restroom with dignity in our society.”
Hopefully, the city will do their part to make improvements for the disability community. The next phase would be taking this issue to the state level.
“I’m confident that when it comes to adult changing tables it’s a common sense thing to do,” says Bogan. “I really believe our city council and our government will do the right thing.”