Building the Open Restrooms Movement

There are not enough public restrooms in America, and the few restrooms that are potentially available to the public are often hard to find. Businesses with available facilities may also discourage non-customer access. Even where legislation has been passed to require businesses to open access to the public, low awareness and compliance of the law pose significant challenges for patients with urinary and bowel urgency issues. The Open Restrooms Movement aims to make more restrooms available to patients with urgent bathroom needs, whatever the cause may be. Partnering alongside leading healthcare organizations, the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation launched this Movement to encourage businesses and municipalities to address the problem of inadequate restroom access. A primary objective is to expand the Movement, recruiting more companies and municipalities to support our efforts and make their facilities available to patients with continence issues and anyone else in urgent need. For someone in urgent need of a restroom, denied access can lead to unnecessary stress and potentially humiliating accidents. Restroom access is a basic human need, which can only be addressed by human kindness. The Foundation believes in the better nature of municipalities and business owners to do the right thing and permit public access to their restrooms. Businesses are rooted in our neighborhoods, welcoming and interacting with thousands of people every day. As part of our neighborhoods, they hold a shared responsibility to support healthy communities, even if not everyone who walks in the door will become a customer. Business owners can positively impact their communities with a simple act of human kindness: opening their doors to those who need to use a restroom. One leading initiative of the Movement is We Can’t Wait – a restroom finder app launched by the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation. Built with patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) in mind, the app provides users with an interactive map of accessible nearby restrooms across the U.S. In addition to user-crowdsourced restroom locations, the Foundation is continuing to expand partnerships with major U.S. retailers and restaurants to list their restrooms. Individuals can request specific businesses to join the app, share their own restroom access story, and sign our petition to support the cause. Future implementation methodologies include coordinating with local municipalities to create financial incentives for businesses, such as tax credits for businesses that open their restrooms to the public.