When Inaccessible Designs Fail Disabled People, it has a detrimental effect on that person. It can mean the difference between doing or not doing our shopping. Being hygienic or not being hygienic and even being able to go to the toilet, to name a few. Companies and manufacturers fail to understand the significant impact they have in enabling disabled people to live independently or create barriers that make living independently challenging or even impossible! Let me explain.
Deodorant
I used Right Guard deodorant for a long time until the bottle top design changed. The right guard bottle on the left (above) is the new style sprayer. The old design is similar to the Sure XXL bottle on the right. I was able to rest my whole palm on the top to spray. However, with the new design, I can no longer do this. The top has a plastic ring which encases the top with an opening to rest one finger on the sprayer. This now makes it impossible for me to use, as I don’t have the strength to press down with one finger.
Resting my palm on the top of the Nivea deodorant (middle bottle) is usable, as the blue section is raised past the sides of the can. I can also use Sure XXL and Right Guard XXL, but they are so hard to find. The Dove bottle is impossible for me to use, as the pad is not higher than the can. This means when I rest my palm to press, nothing happens.
I tried to contact the manufacturer about this. (Do you know how hidden company details can be?) I found a company called The Thriving Brands, which manufactures Right Guard products. They were completely unphased by my difficulty and told me they had no intentions of changing their design.
So many brands are now changing to this bottle top style. There are only a few left I can use. Once all brands use these new design bottles, I’m screwed. I won’t be able to use any deodorant independently and will have to depend on my husband or daughter to spray it for me, making me less independent! I’ve spent a fortune trying different brands only to find they don’t work.
***UPDATE*** 8/3/25
To follow up on the above, I eventually found contact details of the manufacturers supplying these inaccessible aerosol deodorant cans. Some have replied, and I’m still waiting to hear back from some.
However, I had a meeting with the FEA, the (European Aerosol Federation), this week. I spoke with a lovely man who brought up some good ideas I will not go into right now. Needless to say, he admitted not having had any one person in his life who had a disability, so he was completely unaware of how disabled people may be affected by inaccessible designs!
He said that he empathised and would take my concern/complaint internally higher up and see what happened, which, in all fairness, has been the best response I’ve had to date! So what does that tell you? It tells me I’m probably hitting my head against a brick wall, but I’m a determined person and still have a couple of Aces up my sleeve, so I will keep banging lol
Petition
I have started a campaign for manufacturers to revert back to the plain push-down nozzles on their aerosol deodorant bottles. At present, the designs of aerosol deodorant bottles are completely inaccessible to me. Next time you’re at the supermarket, take a look. You will find that most [99%] of the bottles have slanted tops with a rubberised button flush to the sides of the bottles!
I’m hoping you will help me in my plight and sign my petition today, you can see I need all the help I can get. I hate the thought of big companies with their millions of profit sitting back and ignoring their legal responsibility (under the Equality Act 2010) to make “reasonable adjustments”. Let’s hold them accountable and get this petition moving. To sign my petition: https://chng.it/tvbynF4fkz
Milk Cartons/Bottles
I love a cuppa, but I cannot do this if I’m home alone and need to open a new milk carton—the plastic bottle type. If I manage to unscrew the lid, I have to contend with trying to pull off that awful plastic tab thingy. Yes, there are products advertised to help with this, but they’re not suitable for people like me who have dexterity issues. I have tried; check out my Open Sesame review. Nah, it ain’t happening!
With all this technology, you’d think a better, more accessible design would be achievable! Unfortunately, manufacturers do not prioritize those of us who struggle. Money, time, and profits are all they care about. My email to Right Guard proved that.
So, if I don’t realise the carton is almost empty and/or forget to get a family member to open the new one before I am on my own, I won’t get to drink a cup of tea or coffee. I’m sure the milk carton manufacturers’ CEOs don’t have to worry if they get a hot drink or not!
Money
When the new banknotes came out many years ago, everyone was intrigued by how they supposedly couldn’t rip like the previous ones. Royal Mint didn’t consider how inaccessible these would be to blind/partially sighted people or people with poor grip and dexterity. I hate using them because they are slippery and almost impossible to fold into your purse. They keep bouncing back into shape and flying back out!!
You can often pull out more than one note at a time, making money literally slip through your fingers if you haven’t noticed! I’ve spoken to many people who have lost £5 and £10 notes due to this fact. Because of this, I refuse to use them whenever possible. The knock-on effect, however, is I have to use my card in a machine at the till. A machine that is usually too high or too far back for me to use, making another inaccessible feature.
Self-Checkout Tills
Self-checkout tills are my nemesis! Yes, they can make checking out quicker, but they are impossible for me to use independently. At present, to use one, I would have to sit sideways at the till. I would not be able to reach the screen to start scanning. So, it’s already a significant failure for me. IF I did reach the screen, I would have to lean forward to get my shopping. Once scanned again, I would have to go behind me and lean down to sit my shopping on that platform. Repeating this process for every item.
Then I would need to reach the high card reader to pay for my shopping, then either turn around or back up to pack my shopping. With my poor grip, reach, and overall strength, I cannot achieve this!
The image above shows some self-checkout tills I came across in an M&S shop at a service station. These show tills are heading in the right direction for accessibility. It allowed me, as a wheelchair user, to sit facing the till as I could get underneath it. I can reach the screen if it is at the right height (which, in some places that have them, it is). However, if this were available in supermarkets, they would need redesigned to allow for more shopping on each side. It was such a great feeling to purchase items independently without any help.
On a slightly different note, a couple of years ago, I communicated with Superdrug for some time regarding their high counters in my local branch. This made using their card machine difficult and painful. After meeting with the area manager and taking him around the store to show him precisely the issues, I was told builders were visiting the store to put in a new counter. This is what was implemented.
The Lowered Counter
I was all excited when I went to see the finished result. I looked but couldn’t see where this supposed lowered counter was. Given how the conversations went, I expected a lower section of one of the front main counters. This was not the case.
I spoke with the manager, who had no idea what I was talking about. However, we inspected the counter and eventually found a lowered counter hiding behind a display stand around the side of the counter, which then had to be lifted out into place to use. WTAF???? After everything I had done, emails, phone calls, the area manager seeing for himself etc. etc., I felt as though the piss had been taken out of me. I felt highly insulted!
So rather than solve the issue, Superdrug felt it was acceptable to hide a lowered counter around the side of the main counter, which no customer would ever know was there as a display stand hid it. Plus, NONE of the staff knew it existed, including the bloody manager!!!!! It begs the question if that shelf had been there all along. Considering I was told builders were going in and not one staff member knew about it, it would make sense, right?
What hope do we have of anything ever changing when faced with moronic decisions like these?
Disabled Toilets
These are probably my biggest peeve. The clue is in the name..Disabled or wheelchair-accessible toilet! Why are so many wheelchair-accessible toilets not fit for wheelchair users? I’ve used so many disabled toilets over the years, and I would say over half of them I’ve had to wheel away from and find alternative toilets. Why? Because they have been too small for me and my wheelchair to fit into, let alone my husband when I need his help. Check out my Q300M Mini Review, and you will see that I’m not in a huge electric wheelchair.
So many disabled toilets are not built to meet building standards requirements. I’ve seen and used some very dangerous disabled toilets from metal box toilet roll dispensers with sharp metal corners. That one nearly took a chunk out of my arm to a toilet that wasn’t attached to the floor. If my husband hadn’t been with me to catch me, who knows how seriously injured I would have been?
So I’m sure you can understand why I was so delighted when Changing Places came along. These toilets are amazing, to say the least. However, I feel very guilty about using them. I know these toilets can make a difference in whether or not I get to pee, but I know others’ needs may be greater than mine.
Food Packaging
How often have we struggled to open a plastic packet or tub and failed? I know I do most of the time. I either have to use a knife or scissors to attempt to open some packaging. Even then, some of the time, these don’t work, meaning I have to ask my hubby to help.
Ham, cheese, etc., can come in a plastic-type box. Some have a self-sealing top as part of the packaging. However, these are impossible for me to tear back to open. I have to use a knife to open them, which makes the self-seal useless!
Conclusion
While I’m unable to live independently due to accessible design failures, I will always feel part of a society that’s been forgotten about—or worse, part of a society that is not even cared about. Is my money not as good?
There are many more design failures I could mention, the list is massive. If you feel an important one is missing, don’t hesitate to Contact Me with a description and I’ll add it to the list.
