Last week, I introduced you to my friend Ally Bain, who became an advocate for people with Crohn’s and colitis at the age of 14. When faced with a most embarrassing situation, she made the best of it and changed laws for people who live with IBD… while she was still in high school! What began as the Illinois Restroom Access Act has now passed in eleven states thanks to lots of hard work and dedication on the part of many people. But it all began with one girl. Thanks to Ally for sharing the story of how this law came to be.
Over the last ten years, my Crohn’s disease has presented many hardships, but I never could have imagined at the time of my diagnosis that one of those negative experiences would give me the opportunity to use my voice and help write legislation to further secure the rights of people with chronic illnesses.
When I was 14 years old, my mom and I were shopping at a large retail store outside Chicago when my Crohn’s disease began to flare. I knew I only had a matter of minutes to find a restroom. After a fitting room employee told my mom and me that the store did not have public restrooms, we asked to speak with the manager.
Although the manager said he knew about Crohn’s, he continuously denied me access to the employee-only restroom. He said we could cross the four-lane highway to another shopping plaza or walk a couple blocks to a restaurant. He clearly did not understand the time constraint. Despite me crying and bending over due to the severe abdominal pain, he stated he was making a “managerial decision.” Turning back towards his office, he waved as he wished for us to “Have a nice day.”
Only minutes after he said that, my day got much worse as my body gave up and my digestive system erupted. I felt humiliated and helpless. Walking out of the store, my mom promised this would never happen to me or anyone else again. Soon after, I knew just who to call: Illinois State Representative Kathy Ryg who I had met just two months earlier while on an eighth grade class field trip to the state capital.
State Representative Kathy Ryg and Ally Bain
Within a matter of months, I was helping her write legislation that stated that anyone with a medical emergency must be allowed access to an employee-only restroom. In 2005, my mom and I traveled to the state capital to testify in front of a committee. The bill passed unanimously through the committee and also through the Illinois House and Senate. In August 2005, former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich signed it into law as the Restroom Access Act, also known as Ally’s Law.
Since the passage of the Restroom Access Act, or Ally’s Law, in Illinois in 2005, the legislation has passed in 11 other states (thanks to the efforts of people around the country!): Minnesota, Texas, Kentucky, Tennessee, Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, Washington, Oregon, Wisconsin, and Connecticut. It is also pending in several more. To see whether your state is seeking its passage, visit your state’s legislature or general assembly website and search by keyword such as “restroom.”
Ally hopes to see the Restroom Access Act passed nationally.
I am also working on getting it introduced and passed on a federal level so that none of the estimated 1.4 million Americans with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis will have to be denied the right of restroom access.
If you want to get in touch with Ally about working to get the Restroom Access Act passed in your state, feel free to contact me at forwardisapace@gmail.com. I’d love to connect you!
Have you ever turned an embarrassing moment into something positive? Tell me about it!
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[...] out Ally’s Glamour article as well as her posts here about living with Crohn’s and the Restroom Access Act, or Ally’s Law. This is Ally. And me. And Charlotte. We're all rad, but Ally is the raddest. (My spell check [...]
Hi Ally, I read your story in October, 2011 Glamour Mag. with intense interest. I live in the state of California and my husband is battling cancer which requires radiation treatments 5 times a week. The radiation causes incontinence. He has to travel from Newark to Oakland (about 40 miles) round-trip five days a week. He too has been denied access to restrooms in emergency situations and … Although I do not know you…I am very proud that someone in your situation has taken such a bold stance benefitting people like my family. You got my attention and my support! A shout out to you!
[...] to ask for access and they are hidden in the employee only area. I’m also well-versed in the legislation that exists in Illinois (and eleven other states!) to protect people like me when we’re out and about. I always know [...]
I have Interstitial Cystitis/Painful Bladder Syndrome and also urinary retention so “peeing in a pad” is not an option for me. I have been denied restroom access several times in spite of the fact that I am disabled. I would love to see this law passed in Indiana to help those with ALL medical needs.
no offense ally, as the owner of a retail store, if you buy something in my shop, i will let you use the bathroom. but if you just want to come in and drop a deuce, forget you. you are cognizent of your medical condition, they do have adult diapers. you and your family seem over litigious, so letting me use your restroom and you fall down and poop your pants, i am liable. then the expense of hiring someone to clean your mess, the water bill, toilet paper, you want it all for free. you are not entitled young lady. the law is bogus. have a nice day.
I’m sorry that you feel that way. Please know that Ally and her family did not sue the retail store at which this happened. You’ll note that she doesn’t even mention the store in the article. There are provisions in the law to protect retailers as well.
Forget the adult diapers…just don’t shop in stores like Chris owns. I was in a store like that once with a cart full of items ready to purchase and they denied me use of their bathroom. They thought I would have time to go across the highway to a service station to wait for a key then go use their restroom then go back to make my purchase of over $100. Are you kidding me? If they won’t let me use their bathroom, I certainly won’t shop there. I have not been back to that store. People like Chris don’t get how serious this illness is and wouldn’t last a day living through what we endure on a daily basis. In addition, if you truly can’t afford an extra flush once in awhile and a couple pieces of toilet paper, times are really tough.