Hello everyone, 

My name is Lauren and I am a mum to two little boys. My youngest recently turned 5 years old, and received his diagnosis of autism in January 2023. We noticed quite early on that he was different and have made it our mission to make sure that he has all the support he needs to allow him to live a happy life. 

My son is 5 years old and is still currently using nappies, which I feel a lot of parents with SEND children are able to relate to. He does have some awareness of going to the toilet but we are still in the very very early stages of him being fully potty trained and using the toilet full time. When we are out and about I have begun to notice the extreme lack of accessible changing facilities, meaning that if my son needs changing it is a real struggle to do so, as most places only have baby changing facilities available. As a 5 year old, and a child who is also very tall for his age, as you can imagine this is a real struggle and there has been many occasions where myself and my husband have had to change him in the back seat of our car due to the lack of suitable facilities for him. 

I want to raise awareness to the lack of these facilities in many public places, and hope that by bringing more awareness to this cause, will help families with SEND children be able to have access to changing facilities that are much more suitable. Not only for families who have SEND children and those with additional needs but also families and people with disabilities and life long conditions which mean they need more accessible facilities in order for them to use toilets independently or with support such as carers. 

Hopefully if we can raise more awareness to this, it will be spoken about by people who might be able to make more of a change and we can start seeing more equality for SEND children and families and those with disabilities and life long conditions. No one should have to be scared to go out and enjoy the world due to there not being a suitable place for them to go to the toilet. I feel that this issue is not something a lot of people would think about if it does not directly affect you, and you would be right but just think if you were to go somewhere and find out that there was no where for you to be able to relieve yourself, how would you feel? Yes, there are disabled toilets and this is brilliant but we need more fully accessible toilets and changing facilities for those who need just that bit more support. 

Please sign this petition and let’s get the conversation going about something that I feel really passionate about and that could help so many people!