Disability-inclusive toilets and safe spaces in schools and colleges
- kevinndaws
- Jun 20
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 29
One of the motions debated at the TUC Disabled Workers Conference was about the need for accessible toilets and safe spaces in schools.
The motion was tabled by the NASUWT trade union and it is reproduced below:
Conference notes with concern the lack of a suitable provision of disability-inclusive toilets across educational settings.
Conference further notes that there is a failure to fully fund school and college buildings in order for them to update and provide suitable provision that is inclusive of all disability and neurodiversity needs.
Conference is concerned that provision is often misappropriated or access needs misunderstood to the detriment of disabled staff and pupils.
Conference asserts that in order to provide fully disability-inclusive toilets and safe spaces, this will require an intersectional approach in order to meet the needs of a diverse range of people, including both disabled and neurodivergent teachers and educational staff.
Conference calls upon the TUC Disabled Workers’ Committee and the TUC to:
provide further model guidance on the provision of safe spaces and disability-inclusive toilets in full consultation with the relevant advisory committees;
campaign for employers to conduct an audit of their current provision of inclusive toilets and safe spaces across all education workplaces for all disabled and neurodivergent staff; and
campaign for the provision of disability-inclusive toilet facilities in all workplaces.
My colleague, Dan Smith, Chair of the Unite South West Disabled Members Committee spoke in the debate and this is what he said:
Colleagues, I was going to open this speech with the words “I have a dream” — but someone beat me to it back on 28 August 1963. And I do not class myself anywhere near as good as Dr Martin Luther King.
But I do have a vision.
A vision of workplaces — especially our schools and colleges — where disabled and neurodivergent people are not expected to squeeze ourselves into environments that were never designed for us.
A vision where the world finally becomes ready for people like me, and people like so many of us here today.
Because when I talk about inclusive toilets and safe spaces, I’m not talking about bricks and mortar. I’m talking about dignity, safety, and belonging.
I grew up as a neurodivergent child in a school that simply wasn’t built for someone like me.
I didn’t fit in — not because there was anything wrong with me, but because the environment around me created barriers at every turn.
I was bullied relentlessly. Not for who I was, but for who the world expected me to be.
And when you’re a child who already feels different, being denied safe spaces — places to regulate, decompress, or simply exist without judgement — those barriers become heavier than any textbook you carry.
That is why the social model of disability matters.
I wasn’t disabled because of my neurodivergence.
I was disabled because the school environment disabled me.
And today, too many disabled and neurodivergent staff and pupils are still being disabled by their environments — by inaccessible toilets, by sensory‑hostile spaces, by buildings that treat inclusion as an afterthought.
But we know what good looks like.
We have PAD 6463, the building regulation standard that shows exactly how inclusive design can be done.
And we have the RNIB Grimaldi Building in London, which — to my knowledge — remains the only fully inclusive building of its kind. It stands as proof that my vision is not a dream.
It is possible.
It is achievable.
It is already happening.
One building has shown the way. Now the rest must follow.
Because inclusive toilets and safe spaces are not “nice to have”. They are reasonable adjustments. They are legal duties. They are moral obligations. And they are essential for the wellbeing, safety, and equality of disabled and neurodivergent people.
When accessible toilets are misused as storage cupboards, when safe spaces are treated as optional extras, when funding is denied for basic dignity — that is not an accident. That is a choice.
And today, we choose differently.
We choose environments that remove barriers instead of creating them.
We choose workplaces where disabled and neurodivergent staff can thrive, not just survive.
We choose schools and colleges where no child grows up feeling like I did — like the world wasn’t ready for them.
Conference, my vision is simple:
A world where inclusion is built in, not bolted on.
A world where every workplace meets the needs of every worker.
A world where the next generation of disabled and neurodivergent children grow up safe, supported, and seen.
We have the standards.
We have the evidence.
We have the lived experience.
Now we need the action.
Dan's speech is a great call to action and is about time that we ensure that all schools and colleges have accessible and inclusive toilets as well as safe spaces.
Tell us what you think in the comment box below this article. Do you agree with Dan? Have you had similar experiences to Dan?
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