Our Work
Current Advocacy
Restroom Access
The American Restroom Association seeks to have more, better, and more usable public restrooms in America’s communities. We aim for:
- easy access within walking or wheeling distance to a safe and accessible public restroom in every public space
- funding and legislation to support access to public restrooms
- unimpeded access to public restrooms for people who need them
- mandates to ensure public restrooms are available in places of public accommodation
Currently, the United States only has between 8 and 13 public toilets per 100,000 residents. Other developed nations have up to four times as many toilets per capita. Public restrooms are also unevenly distributed; many large cities have fewer per capita. Those that are available are often behind barriers that prevent many people from accessing the restroom. Other public restrooms are inaccessible, badly maintained, or unsafe.
The ARA advocates for:
- funding and mandates for public restrooms in places of public accommodations
- building codes with increased provision of public restrooms
- support for keeping public restrooms open and usable in parks, transportation facilities, and other public spaces
You can learn more about what drives our advocacy from the pages under About Restroom Access.
Single-Occupancy, All-Gender Restrooms (SOAG)
The ARA advocates for single-occupancy, all-gender restrooms wherever possible. These are restrooms meant for one user, with or without help, with full walls and a door separating the facility from other people.
These restrooms are essential for many people:
- Those who are pregnant
- People with dietary or digestive disabilities
- People with paruresis, or shy bladder syndrome, who often cannot use shared public restrooms
- People with disabilities who need help using the restroom, often from a care partner of a different gender
- People with chronic illnesses who need privacy to administer medications or change ostomy bags
- Parents who need to help their children use the restroom
- People for whom a shared restroom may be unsafe
The lack of single-occupancy all-gender restrooms means that people are less able to move around and participate in the public sphere.
Everyone also benefits: studies show that members of the public prefer single-user restrooms.
These restrooms also benefit facilities and their owners and operators. Single-occupancy, all-gender restrooms:
- cost less to install, clean, and maintain than public, separated restrooms
- meet disability access requirements more easily
- allow for flexibility when a space has different gender makeups throughout the day – such as a concert venue or exercise studio
- support a modular design that can be replicated across a large facility
Plumbing and building codes often mandate shared restrooms, or single-gender restrooms. The ARA advocates for:
- codes that allow for single-occupancy, all-gender restrooms
- funding to support single-occupancy, all-gender restrooms in public spaces
- regulations and incentives that support single-occupancy, all-gender restrooms
- planning for single-occupancy, all-gender restrooms in public buildings and facilities
Take a look at an example layout for single-user restrooms (PDF) that provides equal access for people, provided by ARA Board Member Bruce Pitts and Flock & Ply Architects.
Ally’s Law and Other Specific Laws
Ally’s Law requires businesses and other commercial establishments to allow people with certain medical conditions to access a private restroom if no public facilities are available and they have an urgent need. This law is named after Ally Bain, an advocate in Illinois, who worked to craft this law after she had an accident when denied access to a restroom in a store.
A number of states have such laws, including:
- California
- Colorado
- Illinois
- Louisiana
- Maryland
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Washington
- Wisconsin
The ARA believes that this law is particularly important for helping people with dietary and digestive disabilities access restrooms. While we believe more public provision of restrooms is an important long-term solution, we also believe that these laws help people with urgent needs now.
The ARA works with policymakers, professionals, and advocates to push for the passage of this and other laws in states across the country.
The ARA is currently working to expand lessons from its advocacy for Ally’s Law to support advocacy for universal changing tables to support adults with disabilities and their care partners who need a safe place to change continence products.
Potty Parity
“Potty Parity” refers to advocacy efforts and actual legislation that addresses the longer lines for women often seen at public restrooms.
Women’s queues are often seen at venues where the toilet fixtures were allocated according to out-of-date building codes. These codes mandate a minimum number of toilet fixtures for various occupancies, which are based on complex formulas and tables.
The code used in older buildings typically mandates an equal number of toilet fixtures for women and men rather than the ‘necessary’ number of fixtures for all users. Many states have sought to solve this by mandating specific gender ratios, which have often led to reduced restroom access for everyone. This has partly informed the ARA’s focus on single-occupancy, all-gender restrooms.
The ARA has also advocated for the following changes to codes and application to support equal access to restrooms:
- focusing on a “minimum number of toilet fixtures” for everyone.
- using the 2009 or later versions of the International Plumbing Code and the Uniform Plumbing Code.
- focusing on bringing older buildings up to these standards.
- increasing the use of single-occupancy all-gender restrooms where feasible.
Recommendations the ARA provided for the 2009 IPC are available in the archive and by contacting us.
Past Advocacy
Federal Public Policy Initiative
In the 2000s and 2010s, the American Restroom Association encouraged volunteers and members of the public to advocate for national restroom access regulations and legislation issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. This effort included:
- Encouraging members to write to Senators and Representatives to request restroom access legislation
- Encouraging members to request Senators and Representatives to call on the Department of Health and Human Services to issue toilet access regulations
- Providing sample language and scripts to encourage this work
As of now, the ARA is currently focusing on local-level advocacy across the country, but will be building support for federal advocacy in the near future.
American Toilet Tour
In 2023 and 2024, ARA Staff toured the United States to document the state of public restroom access across the country and potential areas for improvement and advocacy, and to hear stories from people working on restroom access and who rely on access to reliable, usable public restrooms. This tour is documented on our blog and informs our current work.
COVID-19
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the American Restroom Association advocated for keeping public restrooms open to allow for sanitation and essential access needs, including handwashing. The Association provided support to public entities and non-profit organizations in keeping restrooms open.