Melvin & Me, Part 32: Public Ostomy Toilets

So, I've mentioned recently that we're working on an ostomy toilet in our house.  Truth was, I didn't even know this was an option or an idea until a few months ago.  

See this picture?  I knew what it meant immediately.  This is placed outside of some public restrooms in Japan.

I have found a couple of articles (here and here) that broke down what needs an ostomate has in the bathroom, what went into the decision to make ostomy-friendly spaces, that they have been available since 1998. The general idea was noting that when a public safety emergency forced Japanese citizens into a shelter, it was realized that the needs of these individuals was not well met within the shelters as they were built--in a box of "medical supplies," one is generally unlikely to find ostomy appliances.  And thus, there was a response to that need, leading the the design and implementation of these in certain places.

I have so many feelings about this.

Firstly, anger.  I have been a part of this world since 2012 personally, 2000 peripherally.  People have had ostomies for FAR longer.  Why the HELL are these not showing up over here?  Do I just need to go to bigger cities to have visibility?  I can't recall ever seeing something like this at stopovers in O'Hare or even the Mayo Clinic.  I feel so unseen--if I come out of the handicapped stall because I needed space to better tend my ostomy, I don't look disabled enough for some people, in my mind's eye.  I plugged in ostomy toilets into Amazon and got mostly results for smell-masking products--when I'm looking for accessibility and to be seen, the pieces recommended to me were about covering up.  I mean, heaven forbid that I go to a bathroom and take care of my bodily needs, right?  

And then comes a fair bit of grief.  How many people feel unseen and unwanted when there isn't a space made that can include them.  What nonverbals are we sending when we don't make a place wheelchair accessible, for example?  How many persons we don't realize we are excluding is sickeningly high.  It takes intention to learn how to see people; it takes practice.  And I am intent on growing that for the sake of others I will come across.  I'm sad for myself and the pressure I have felt in those spaces; I'm sadder for others that don't know how to break past that.  

Then there was a lot of spiteful resolve.  Spite is a mighty, mighty motivator.  I will have a bathroom space that does not make me feel like an outsider.  I will not feel like an inconvenience in my own home.  And many other affirmations as we started planning out some significant changes to the bathroom.  

And here we have a lot of rather loud sounds and rumbling from our basement at the moment--the whole floor is shaking as I write, actually.  It feels...fitting.  

I'm not done with this idea.  

...Also, when we're allowed to travel again, I may genuinely plan travel with specific intent to see these spaces in person.  Thirty-some-odd hours of flight, just to see some bathrooms.