Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
We need bigger changing facilities for disabled kids ..it’s about a child’s dignity Mum Katrina forced to use bathroom floors
A MUM forced to change her child who has spina bifida on public bathroom floors is calling for more disabled changing facilities.
Katrina Dorrian’s son Jacob, three, is a full-time wheelchair user but is too big for baby equipment.
The nurse – who is mum to triplets Jacob, Ben and Chloe with husband Ryan – told the Mirror she just wanted her son to be able to be changed in a dignified manner.
Katrina, from Bangor, Co Down, added: “It is more since he has grown a bit bigger we have experienced problems
“He was premature and was really small when he was born and is still small for his age.
“When we go out now and he needs changed, the baby changing facilities need a huge changing table for him. It just doesn’t work any more and there is nowhere to change him.
“He is three and knows what is going on and doesn’t want to be changed in front of his brother and sister.
“It is hard when you take him out and there’s nowhere you can change him. Disabled toilets are great for access but there needs to be a bigger changing bench.
“He is small enough and I can lift him now but one day I will need a hoist. It really does limit where you can go and what you can do with him.
FACILITIES
“I have been told about the Changing Places facilities and they are great and apparently there’s one in Castlecourt, but it is about raising awareness and getting more facilities like this.
“I know parents who are struggling and they bring changing mats so they can do it on the toilet floor. I want more done, we are talking about a child’s dignity.
“I think unless you are in that position you don’t understand or think along those lines.”
Jacob and his identical brother Ben and fraternal sister Chloe were born on October 18, 2014, at 32 weeks.
His siblings both weighed 4lbs 4ozs and stayed in hospital for 16 days, but Jacob was a tiny 2lbs 10ozs and due to a complication with his condition was in hospital for six weeks.
Katrina and husband Ryan found out during her pregnancy one of the triplets would be born with spina bifida and hydrocephalus, but they did not know which child until birth.
Jacob has undergone three emergency shunt revisions with the last one taking place in 2016.
Katrina said he had been fortunate with his health over the past year or so. He does require the use of a wheelchair full time but also has a standing frame at home to help him walk.
Katrina said: “It’s good for his psychological health and he is able to play with his brother and sister. He plays with them, it’s just they can run off and go and do things but he has found his own unique ways to do things.
“Doctors are expecting him to do some walking but not an awful lot. He has no learning disabilities. He had speech delay for a while, he would only say mama, dada and bye bye, but we took him to sign language and that really helped him.
“He really came on when he learned that and then that was him and he has not stopped talking since.
“He is brilliant, he is a cheeky wee man, he is stubborn but that has worked in his favour as he has worked out ways to do things himself.
“He is also very sociable which is brilliant because he goes to see so many different people.
“He loves everyone he meets and charms them all. He is just a happy-go-lucky little boy.”
Now she is urging authorities to consider their disabled facilities and whether they accommodate children like her son. Katrina said: “I think it is about making people aware because you just don’t think about it until you are in that position and you don’t know where to change your child in a dignified manner.
“Changing your child on a floor is heartbreaking, people come in and see you doing it.
“I want to raise awareness around this for children with disabilities so something can be done.
“I have spoken to other parents of children with spina bifida online and some say they would bring inflatable camping mats.
“We are just thinking of ways to do it in a dignified manner.”
BANGOR YESTERDAY