John Lewis store shamed by parents forced to change disabled children on floor
Parents have shamed John Lewis for failing to provide changing areas for disabled children - forcing them to change their kids on the floor.
Mum Laura Moore shared a photo of a young girl on the floor of a toilet cubicle in John Lewis to highlight what many families and carers are having to do.
The parents of the girl don't want to be identified but allowed Laura, whose own eight-year-old son William is disabled, to share it on their behalf at the Horsham John Lewis store.
In a tweet to the retailer Laura said: "While everyone is swooning over how wonderful the new @johnlewisretail advert is... just take a moment to look at this photo which was taken in one of their stores because they don't provide #changingplaces for severely disabled people and refuse to do so. Priorities."
Laura, from West Sussex, is one of the biggest voices behind the Changing Places campaign which is calling on retailers and businesses to provide fully equipped spaces with the necessary height adjustable changing benches and a hoists to change their loved ones.
Her tweet has clearly struck a chord as it's since been retweeted almost 1,200 times.
It's an issue affecting parents across the country, including Cheadle mum Nicole McClean, who is backing the campaign and urging people to support its Christmas song 'All I Want For Christmas Is A Loo'.
Nicole is mum to her severely brain damaged daughter Olivia, five, and often resorts to changing her on the floor when they are out and about.The situation has become so difficult that she launched her own petition calling for Stockport to become 'more inclusive for disabled people with Changing Places'.
She says she has only come across one local facility in the council's Fred Perry House, but even that is closed at weekends.
Nicole, who is also mum to Sofiya, two, has had to lie her coat down to change Olivia on a 'filthy and wet' supermarket floor and when she once used a baby change and breastfeeding area in Mothercare she was shouted at by another customer.
The 26-year-old, who shares her experiences on her parenting blog , said:
William's mum Laura says she's angry that John Lewis spends huge amounts of money on its festive advert but says it's unable to find the space to help customers in need.
She said: "I watched the advert and thought it's convenient that they can scrape £7m together for their Christmas advert but don't want to spend any money to put Changing Places toilets in their stores.
"The real monster in John Lewis isn't just one under the bed, there are 77,000 of them on their toilet floors and they expect disabled children to lay down there with them when they need to use the toilet."
A spokesman for John Lewis said: