Although the start of the holiday season can be an exciting time to begin shopping for the loved ones in your life, one mom is reminding others not only how difficult this seasonal task can be for some families, but also to think twice about where you're deciding to spend your money. As a mom of a little boy with disabilities, Laura Moore couldn't remain silent after seeing people swoon over one store's holiday campaigns, especially after coming across a photo of her friend's child struggling on a dirty bathroom floor — because that same retailer doesn't have any handicap-friendly options.
Laura posted the heartbreaking photo on Twitter to raise awareness for just how difficult normal outings can be for families with disabilities when retailers don't provide the facilities they need. "While everyone is swooning over how wonderful the new @johnlewisretail advert is … just take a moment to look at this photo which was taken in one of their stores because they don't provide #changingplaces for severely disabled people & refuse to do so. Priorities," she tweeted.
This isn't the first time that the mom from England has spoken out about businesses that don't offer bathroom spaces for families like her own. As a voice for the Changing Places campaign, Laura lobbies for retailers to equip their bathrooms with sturdy and larger changing tables for children or adults who need assistance.
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Laura's 8-year-old son, William, has quadriplegic cerebral palsy, and she explained that once a child is older than 3 years old, he or she has outgrown a typical changing table, leaving parents with no other options but the dirty floor. "William is too tall and too heavy for a baby changing table and so the only option is to lie him on the toilet floor," she told the Daily Mail. "Manually lifting him [without a hoist] is unsafe and lying him on a toilet floor is unsafe, unhygienic, and degrading. I have been trying to get stores to provide facilities for William but have had no success."
For parents who have never had to think about what other moms and dads have to go through just to help their older children not have to sit in their own bodily fluids, this photo is an eye-opening experience.
Laura explained that she had to speak out about the store's hypocrisy after seeing its expensive holiday ad. "You see they spent £7 million on this advert, despite telling families like mine that they can't spend £10,000 on upgrading their stores so that we can shop with them," she wrote on Medium. "But for me, this advert is just another smack in the face from John Lewis. Another reminder that my son is not welcome in their stores."
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A spokesperson for John Lewis told the Huffington Post UK that they are unable to have hoists and benches large enough for adults in their current stores but that they will look into this provisions for new projects.
"We have disabled customer toilets and parent and child facilities in our shops; unfortunately due to the limited space we are unable to make the changes that Changing Places desire at this point in time in existing shops," the spokesperson responded. "However, we are reviewing the feasibility of putting hoists and changing benches in new department stores and including this in store refurbishment plans. We continue to work closely with shopping center developers to influence the addition of these facilities in shopping centers."
Although the retailer also responded to Laura's tweet, she wants to people to know that her message isn't just about one store. "It's not just a John Lewis problem, it's an all retailer problem," she told Daily Mail.
