'Getting in and going': Access to onboard toilets for fat and disabled people on commercial aircraft

Evans, Bethan; Colls, Rachel; Bias, Stacy

Abstract

In this paper we explore the accessibility of toilets onboard commercial aircraft for passengers who identify as fat or fat and disabled. Drawing on qualitative survey and interview data, we discuss people's experiences of inaccessible onboard toilet spaces including getting to and into the toilet, managing bodily matter, anticipating a lack of accessible toilets, and the (il)legitimacy of fat and disabled air passengers within commercial aircraft regulations. Our data illustrate that current provision of onboard toilets is wholly inadequate for fat and disabled passengers, requiring strategies to manage bodily matter which are detrimental to health. We further 'fat ge-ographies' research and relational understandings of embodiment that attend to spatial and temporal contingency by drawing together insights from disability, crip, gender, queer and trans theory, in particular conceptualisations of 'misfit(ting)', crip time, and (il)legitimate lives.

Citation

Evans, B., Colls, R., & Bias, S. (2024). 'Getting in and going': Access to onboard toilets for fat and disabled people on commercial aircraft. Geoforum, 148, Article 103908. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103908

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 8, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Dec 14, 2023
• Publication Date: 2024-01
• Deposit Date: Dec 14, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 14, 2023
• Journal: Geoforum
• Print ISSN: 0016-7185
• Electronic ISSN: 1872-9398
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 148
• Article Number: 103908
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.geoforum.2023.103908
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/2025944