Brixton Villlage: accessible toilets should not depend on someone answering the phone [opinion piece]

A couple of years ago, when my bladder issues first started, I was travelling across London on the bus for over an hour.

Traffic was bad and I suddenly needed the toilet urgently. I had to jump off the bus early in just to try and find somewhere.

There were no public toilets nearby.

I went into the nearest restaurant and explained that I urgently needed the bathroom. I even offered to buy something. They refused. The next place said the same thing. It wasn’t until the kindness of a nail shop that someone finally let me use their staff toilet.

I cannot properly describe the anxiety that experience created. I have wet myself in public before. Do you know how humiliating that is?

Since then, leaving the house has often meant layers of planning and anxiety. What do I carry with me? What happens if I can’t find a toilet? What if somewhere refuses me again?

So finding places where I can reliably go out matters. For me, one of those places has been.

It became somewhere I could go on weekends, see people, socialise a little, and feel like I could exist in the world without constantly worrying about whether I would be able to access a toilet when I needed one.

Part of that confidence came from knowing there was an accessible toilet with a standard Radar key system. That system exists across the UK for a reason: it allows disabled people to access facilities independently, with dignity, and without having to ask permission.

Recently I discovered that Brixton Village has removed the Radar lock and replaced it with a system where disabled people must call a phone number and wait for someone to unlock the door.

When I tried to use it, no one answered.

No one called me back.

I was left without access to a toilet that was literally on site.

On another visit, I ended up having an accident linked to my period and had to leave and travel to another venue just to change — even though there was already a toilet facility right there.

Meanwhile, when I used the paid public toilets nearby, people were openly doing drugs in there and causing a nuisance. Which only proves something obvious: antisocial behaviour in toilets is not unique to accessible facilities.

Brixton Village has said the Radar system was removed because of antisocial behaviour and damage. I understand that no venue wants its facilities vandalised. But making disabled people jump through hoops for basic access is not the solution.

Misuse of toilets happens everywhere. We do not respond by locking all toilets and forcing everyone to call a phone number to be let in.

I also recognise that I am still more able-bodied than many disabled people. If this situation created anxiety and barriers for me, I can only imagine how much more difficult it could be for people who are wheelchair users or who have less capacity to chase complaints, challenge decisions, or advocate for themselves.

Since becoming less able-bodied myself, it has become very clear how little the world is designed with disabled people in mind. Basic adjustments that should exist simply don’t.

That is part of why I am speaking up. Because accessibility should not depend on how loudly someone can complain.

Accessible toilets are not a luxury. They are essential infrastructure.

And an accessible world for disabled people is ultimately a more accessible world for all of us.

Since this happened, I haven’t gone back to Brixton Village. Not because I want to avoid it, but because I no longer trust that I’ll be able to use the toilet when I need to.

Accessibility should not depend on whether someone picks up the phone.

[Opinion piece by Koleish James-Amoo/ @kokopopsweet]