www.incontinentsupport.org

One of the regular correspondents on my wife's Facebook page is the mother of a special needs adolescent. Recently she posted a photo of him lying on a changing pad on the floor in what she described as a filthy public restroom. She was furious at that facility, and with good reason. With everyone else here, I have been forced to change occasionally in such places. Our local county fair job johnnies come to mind. What did impress me was her anger. The parents of special needs kids are bull dogs. They are organized, vocal, effective lobbyists on behalf of their kids, and they do not give up. They are an invaluable asset for us in our efforts to bring incontinence out of the closet, and to secure the ready availability of clean, intelligently laid out handicapped accessible restrooms. I'd better step down from my soap box before it breaks.

Hey Patrick. I am a frequent visitor to "The Mighty". For those of you wondering, the mighty is essentially a site dedicated to those with disabilities and/or chronic illnesses. Some of them are severe and vast in nature. The stories on the site are mostly about hope and encouragement despite overwhelming odds. Some are just people venting their frustrations out about their illness(es) to anyone who will listen. The Mighty lets people know they are not alone. Anyway, on the site are several articles from frustrated parents of children with various issues including incontinence. The stories are of parents uniting and writing to their local legislators. This is even happening in the U.K. They are begging for new legislation regarding their campaign called Changing Spaces. These parents are advocating for more restrooms that are disability friendly (and clean) with larger tables and lift chairs and such. They are tired of having to change their growing children on dirty bathroom floors. In some cases they are winning. There are sites dedicated to these parents where they track such restrooms of those who have been willing to accommodate their needs, such as retailers. These parents are tough and refuse to back down.