Anne Main – Member of Parliament for St. Albans has unveiled a new toilet sign following the announcement that Morrisons, the UK’s 4th largest supermarket chain, are changing the signage of their accessible toilets to reflect the ‘invisible nature’ of some health conditions. This follows a successful UK public campaign for support by patient charity Crohn’s and Colitis UK.

 

A major anxiety for people living with a chronic health condition, like Crohn’s Disease or Ulcerative Colitis¹, is being refused toilet access or being confronted about why they are using a disabled facility. Whilst someone may appear to look ‘okay’ on the outside, they may be in a daily battle with a serious medical condition and urgently need to use the ‘disabled’ or ‘accessible’ facilities.

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The new signage will be rolled out to 492 stores across the country (from 1 December to 30 January 2017), using the tagline message that ‘not all disabilities are visible’. Crohn’s and Colitis UK², called for supporters to back the campaign³ by emailing the bosses of the UK’s largest supermarkets; asking for their help to end the stigma and distress and help raise awareness that not every disability is visible. The announcement comes during Crohn’s and Colitis Awareness Week⁴ 1-7 December that increases understanding of Crohn’s and Colitis and highlights the true impact of these debilitating conditions.

 

By supermarkets adopting new accessible toilet signs, it is a simple but effective act they could help to ensure that customers with a medical condition can use the toilet facilities without fear of criticism or embarrassment.

 

Following the launch of the campaign four months ago, over 18,000 emails have been sent to the top supermarkets in the UK. Morrisons is the first chain following this campaign that has agreed to change their signage. 

 

 Anne Main MP said;

 

“I would like to congratulate Morrisons for agreeing to take part in this important campaign and I’m thrilled that they have unveiled the new toilet signage in my constituency. This is a significant step for the many thousands of people in my constituency living with invisible conditions like Inflammatory Bowel Disease. 

 

Thanks to the successful campaign by Crohn’s and Colitis UK, Morrisons have listened to the needs of their customers and I look forward to seeing the new signs being rolled out up and down the country.”

 

Dan McLean, Director of Marketing, Communications and Membership at Crohn’s and Colitis UK said;

 

“This announcement is a great step by Morrisons towards reducing stigma and raising awareness that not every disability is visible and everyone is grateful to them for making this change so swiftly. People living with Inflammatory Bowel Disease can be very disadvantaged by the impact of their condition. They may not look unwell but are often profoundly affected by debilitating and unseen symptoms that affect all aspects of their lives. The experience or fear of unpredictable incontinence is very undermining to a person’s confidence and self-esteem and can lead in some cases to the person affected becoming too anxious to leave their home”.