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A mom's mission: Bill seeks to require adult changing tables in Florida public restrooms
James Call
Tallahassee Democrat
That abandoned buggy of groceries you saw in the dairy aisle may have been left there by Sabrina Kimball, a Tallahassee mom whose adult son has developmental disabilities.
"I can't tell you how many times I've done that because there is no place to change him," said Kimball.
Her 22-year-old son Greyson was afflicted with bacterial meningitis as an infant and left without the ability to talk or walk. He uses a wheelchair, wears adult diapers and can't use the restroom by himself.
"My son is very cognitive; I don't lay him on a restroom floor. A lot of people don't even like walking on public restroom floors. You feel like they are nasty," Kimball said.
"Can you imagine having to lay someone you love on a public restroom floor to do what I call a seat-cover change? It is unconscionable," she added.
Kimball is part of a grass-roots movement launched a decade ago in the U.K. to install adult changing tables in public restrooms.
Her five-year effort to provide a safe, sanitary space in public facilities for people with disabilities and the elderly has resulted in a bill (SB 1106), filed by Sen. Dennis Baxley, R-Ocala, for the 2020 session of the Florida Legislature.
Rep. Wengay "Newt" Newton, D-St. Petersburg, filed a House companion (HB 669).
"There is a whole group of people out there with these types of issues, it's not just" those in wheelchairs, Kimball said. "It's people with incontinence, people who had a colonoscopy or catheters. They need a safe clean space."
The bill would require highway rest areas, airports and bus stations, parks, community centers and shopping centers to provide an enclosed assisted-use toilet facility.
Inside, there must be a powered, height-adjustable adult changing table, either floor or wall mounted.
"We can just start with public spaces and new construction to take this need into consideration," Baxley said. His long-term goal is to accommodate more of the needs of people with disabilities.
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"They are very integrated into our society and into our communities in this day and age, rather than being sent off somewhere," said Baxley, whose adopted son suffered brain damage when shaken as an infant.
"They are part of our families," he added. "They are part of our daily lives and we need to accommodate the needs of their caregivers to respectfully care for their personal hygiene."
The tables are like baby changing tables but are longer and more durable, capable of handling up to 500 pounds. The "Universal Changing Places" movement in the U.S. was inspired by Changing-Place UK, launched in 2006.
The effort quickly spread to Australia, Canada, Spain and now the United States. Orlando International Airport, for example, has eight changing places scattered across its terminals, which Kimball found inspiring during a recent visit.
Kimball started working on the issue in 2015 as part of an internship in policy making offered by the Florida Developmental Disability Council. The internship connected her with other advocates, including officials with the Florida Department of Transportation and the Florida Building Commission.
She and her allies were surprised that no one in Florida had followed the Changing-Place UK lead, and they went to work. They wrote their own bill and lined up a House sponsor for the 2016 session but couldn't find a Senate sponsor.
The next session, Kimball found a Senate sponsor but couldn't get one in the House.
"It was like, I'm such a novice," Kimball recalled. "I figured the representative would carry it again, so I didn't reach out to him until I had a senator. I didn't know there was a limit on the number of bills they could sponsor. When I called, all his slots were filled."
The proposal stalled the last two sessions, but for the 2020 session, Kimball started calling lawmakers this past July.
She recruited Newton. And Baxley volunteered to carry the bill in the Senate. Sen. David Simmons, R-Altamonte Springs, had been a previous sponsor.
Baxley said he was touched by Kimball's willingness to work the issue with passion and patience.
"It's not just persistence," Baxley said about his advice to Kimball when they made plans for the 2020 session. "It is also education.
Lawmakers "need to know these people to latch onto the mission ... You go member to member and educate them on the needs and circumstances," he said.
"I hope we can get this discussion started. There's a basic need we need to meet in a way that provides dignity to every human being."
Writer James Call can be contacted at jcall@tallahassee.com. Follow on Twitter @CallTallahassee