User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in Hong Kong

Public toilets in Hong Kong are found at a rate of around eleven per 100,000 people. People with visual impairments have faced challenges when trying to use them.

Public toilets
A 2021 study found there were eleven public toilets per 100,000 people. Hong Kong has two public toilets. One is managed by the government of Hong Kong or someone the government of Hong Kong has contracted out to. The second is a public accommodation found in private businesses like shopping malls.

In 2020, the  Airport Authority Hong Kong (AA) trialed spreading an invisible antimicrobial coating in public toilets on high-touch surfaces. This was part of a broader pilot involving all such toilets in public spaces in the airport. Intelligent Sterilisation Robots were already in use in public toilets at the airport.

Accessible toilets
Most accessible toilets in Hong Kong are designed for people with physical disabilities, like being a wheelchair user, and not for people with other kinds of disabilities like being visually impaired. Some entrances to public toilets and elevators in shopping centers in Hong Kong have automatic soft-voice announcements to let visually impaired users be aware of that while trying not to be overly intrusive for other types of users of those spaces. Notices that public toilet stalls are closed are almost always provided in such a way that people without visual impairments can use them; those with visual impairments cannot find out such information. To deal with issues of toilets being out of service or dangers of wet floors, some folding caution signs have motion activated audio warnings and flashing lights. This is to help prevent accidents on the part of those who cannot see the sign itself or the danger they are trying to prevent.

A number of improvements were made to public toilets in the early 2000s in Hong Kong to make them more accessible. These were largely not used because they did not meet the needs and wants of potential local public toilet users with disabilities.

A study was conducted in 2004 in Hong Kong to better understand the difficulties faced by people with vision impairments in public toilets. It found that public toilets in the region were almost impossible for people with vision impairments to use. The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Hong Kong Toilet Association have been working on a project together since 2005 to improve public toilet access for people with vision impairments. They found that the major difference between people with and without visual impairments is people with visual impairments prefer not to use places they are not familiar with. Changes to facilities occurred frequently and the government rarely shared news about these changes with public toilet users. Some improvements made though included braille signage pointing to the location of public toilets and tactile guide paths in some places leading to public toilets. These had issues in some places as designers did not distinguish between "warning tiles" and "positional tiles". Some outdoor tiles also used stainless steel, which could become very slippery when wet. Other guide tiles were often in colors that matched the surrounding environment, which was confusing for some people with limited vision as they could not easily identify guide tiles from surrounding walkways. Another problem faced by visually impaired people in Hong Kong was that the folding handrails and cords for calling for help for wheelchair users often ended up trapping these users,  One design that was helpful was door gap protection covers, which prevented fingers from being hurt in gaps by doors. This had an added benefit of also helping the elderly and children from avoiding similar injuries. Braille only signs are not common, and in many cases not very useful as many younger people with visual impairments have not been taught to read braille and many older people with visual impairments cannot read it as easily as a result of loss of touch sensation. Some uses of braille though are useful and non-intrusive for other users, like having braille information included on hand rails. Sometimes though, this braille signage does not include information like which entrance is for men and which is for women.