Restrooms for Severely Disabled at O'Hare Airport? Do they exist?

We continue to be excited about Dear Son's upcoming Make a Wish trip to Disney World. I spent some time yesterday planning for the trip however there is one issue I can't get resolved. I've written before about my concern for our plane ride to Orlando. My biggest concern is that I will need a place to change his diaper before boarding the plane. We will be boarding an early flight and leaving our home at 5:15 a.m. for the airport. Prior to that, I will have to give Dear Son his formula via his feeding tube and his seizure medications. At some point, I will have to change his diaper prior to boarding the plane. Once I change his diaper, then he should be able to make it on the plane ride without going to the bathroom. I will be bringing changing type pads to set on the seat so if he does have an accident, that the airplane seat won't get wet. My problem is this: no one can tell me where I can change him.

We are leaving from O'Hare International Airport, the busiest airport in the United States. I contacted United Airlines today and explained the situation, that I have an 18 year old male, who is severely disabled and I need a place to lie him down to change him. I was told that "there isn't any such room like that to change his diaper and that he "must" use a restroom." That was unacceptable. Dear Son can't use a restroom because he is disabled. He can't stand up and I use a hoyer lift to lift him up. He can't sit up well enough to even sit on a toilet, let alone let me know when he needs to go. He is not toilet trained. A typical handicapped bathroom is not adequate. I need to lie him down to change him. Ideally, I'd like a large restroom with a bench in it to lie him down on. Something like a family restroom. I am looking for a cot to lie him down, someplace with some privacy to change him. This should not be an issue in 2009 nor an issue for the world's busiest airport.


I asked to speak to her supervisor. I got a young man who told me that, "there should be someplace there to change him" however when pressed, he didn't know where that was. I asked him to check for me and he contacted the agent at O'Hare who said that they don't have a "specific area" but that there were bathrooms for disabled. I said that we can not use a handicapped bathroom since he needed to lie down and he said to, "just check when we get there". I explained that I needed to check now since I can't wait until the last minute. He had no other answers.

Prior to this call, I had tried to find answers on United's website. There were none. I tried to submit a question however it only accepts questions for "past" flights and the form won't allow questions on future trips or anything else as it requires you to input flight information from past trips to submit the question. They recommend you contact United at their 800-864-8331 for questions relating to upcoming trips, which is what I did. That isn't a great system however because you can't speak with anyone from customer relations, you can only speak with a reservations agent no matter what you say in the automated prompt menu.

I googled contact information for United Airlines and found an on-line form to submit an e-mail question and did that today. It came back as undeliverable with a failure message.

This is 2009. Dear Son just needs to go to the bathroom like anyone else does before his Make a Wish Trip. Some people have suggested not feeding him so he won't go the bathroom however how mean is that-taking him on a Make a Wish trip and then not being able to feed him so he won't urinate? That doesn't make any sense and no I'd never do that. I've written before on the restroom issue facing the disabled. We tried to go to a movie a while back and had to leave in the middle of the movie because there wasn't a place to change him.

Ideally, what we really need at airports and the like is simply, a family washroom large enough to get in a wheelchair and with a bench of some kind to lie him on, I could change him. I know that this washroom would be used by fathers who take their daughters in to be changed, mothers of kids in diapers, disabled children and the like. This isn't a new issue however. The Great Reporter wrote an article back in 2007 talking about accessibility and family restrooms for the disabled. You can see that article here. They state,

"Family restrooms have started appearing in more public buildings. Will these restrooms one day lead to the elimination of gender-specific bathrooms? Most states now require family restrooms, places where parents or caretakers can accompany members of the opposite sex who need help in the bathroom, in any new facilities, especially stadiums and parks."

They even reference O'Hare Airport as having family washrooms in Terminals 2 and 3 however those restrooms do not have a place to lie down Dear Son. If anyone has used this airport and knows of a place to change him, it would be appreciated. If you have any contact information, other than the main number for United, it would be appreciated. I checked with the Make a Wish Organization and they said that I'd have to contact United because they didn't get an answer. Please understand we are very appreciative of our Make a Wish Trip and just need to use a bathroom like anyone else. You can imagine that our fellow passengers would appreciate it if we can change him prior to boarding the plane as well.

Note: Dear Son is seventeen years old and suffers from a progressive neurological disease, seizures and severe mental retardation as a result of a random mutation of the ARX gene.

FYI: Since my previous post, I did get an answer to the ear popping issue with the changing altitude. Since Dear Son can't swallow or yawn to pop his ears, the neurologist suggested giving him an antihistamine a few hours prior to our flight to help with this issue.