www.incontinentsupport.org

Every time I meet someone in a wheelchair they have a urine bag and a catheter or an ostomy or a colostomy. All of these things are worse than wearing diapers less stigmatized - therefore they stigmatise those who use diapers. And if they have a diaper on for bowel voids, then aren't the other apparatuses unnecessary? The bag is very uncomfortable to wear on one's leg.

Some ostomies are temporary, the user recovering full control after surgical intervention. Diapers can also be temporary, depending on the cause. I think the stigma will diminish in due time, because of many social and economic factors. We just need to keep working at it.

If the person is in a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury, depending on the level of their injury they may be unable to feel the need to urinate or even to urinate without self-cathing, which many can't do if they have a C-level injury because their hand dexterity is too impaired.

Also, if they forget to drain their bladder, they could go into autonomic disreflexia, which is a serious condition.

Plus, many can drain their urine bags easily, but they can't easily transfer and change a diaper. You don't want to be sitting in urine all day if you can help it, right?

Many pts with SCI's don't normally have bowel movements on their own, they have to do a bowel program to defecate and therefore don't have fecal incontinence in general.