The mother of a disabled girl has launched a petition calling for improved changing facilities at Aberdeen Beach.
Nurse Judith Scofield, from Ellon, started the campaign after she was forced to change her four-year-old daughter Maisie on a grubby toilet floor when on a visit to the beach.
Maisie, who has a neurological condition, spends much of her time in her wheelchair and her mobility is extremely limited, meaning she needs access to hoists and specialist equipment to use a bathroom.
And while there are many disabled toilets around Aberdeen, Mrs Scofield said there are actually very few bathrooms available in the Granite City which are designed with youngsters like her daughter in mind.
She said that without such a facility on offer at the beach, dozens of north-east families with similarly disabled children don’t feel they can safely visit the many attractions at the sea front, including the cinema, bowling, restaurants and more.
So far, her petition has attracted more than 500 signatures – and she plans to send the petition around the businesses at Aberdeen Beach appealing for any one of them to install the facilities families like hers so desperately require, to allow their children some dignity.
Mrs Scofield said: “We went out one day to the beach, and Maisie needed her nappy changed – but we had nowhere to take her.
“We ended up having to change her on the toilet floor, and I thought that it was an absolutely ridiculous situation.
“There are so many businesses at the beach, but not one of them had a bathroom where I could get her changed, the closest suitable place was Inspire up the boulevard towards town, but I didn’t have a car at the time to get up there.
“Going to the loo is such a normal part of every day life, but for so many people living with disabilities it’s not that easy, and it’s just crazy that the thing preventing so many north-east families from going to the beach is simply the worry of where they can take their child to go to the toilet.”
To sign the petition search for “Install a changing places facility at Aberdeen Beach” on the website www.change.org.
