Around the toilet: Co-creating intersectional understandings of gender, disability and access

虽然厕所通常被认为是一个平凡的空间，但对于那些缺乏足够或可使用的厕所设施是日常生活中一个关键的实际问题的人来说，厕所是“最大的必需品”(George，2011)。对于一些人来说，缺乏足够或可用的厕所设施是日常生活中的一个关键实际问题。例如，残疾人经常报告说，无障碍厕所“不够方便”(可能太少，或者对于较大的轮椅来说可能太小，或者没有升降器或改变空间)(Change Place，2013)，而其他研究表明，减少公共厕所的数量可以阻止老年人离开家(Knight和Bichard，2011年，社区和地方政府部，2008年)。围绕厕所及其作为物质和社会文化环境的功能进行思考，提供了一个以多方面方式思考身份形式的机会。厕所通常呈现出鲜明的视觉和物质上的性别二元化(男性厕所、女性厕所、女士厕所)，对于那些不认同出生时被分配的性别的跨性别者、性别酷儿或非双性恋者来说，这可能是问题所在。相反，提供中性空间的往往是“无障碍”(残障人士)厕所。对于一些残疾人来说，这可以作为一个例子，反映在建筑环境中，他们是无性别和无性恋者的压迫性假设(Kafer，2013)。认识到厕所的社会问题是实际使用和个人影响的事实，该项目使用基于艺术和实践的方法来试验“厕所谈话”，将其作为调查与性别和残疾有关的“使用”和“身份”问题的一种方法。虽然研究和活动将侧重于性别和残疾，但我们也寻求考虑其他身份的交叉，包括种族、民族、年龄、宗教和信仰。2015年4月至9月，将与以下三个社区合作伙伴合作，举办五个研究讲习班：大曼彻斯特残疾人联盟(GMCDP)、未知的酷儿(表演艺术集体)和跨健康行动。在这些研讨会之后，想法和思考将成为谢菲尔德大学建筑学硕士学生开展的建筑现场项目的一部分，导致一些装置/挑衅。这些装置将在曼彻斯特的公共空间展出，旨在刺激城市用户反思社交空间的准入和身份问题。这些活动和装置将以创新的视觉和物质形式捕捉，并将在项目活动结束时展示，对象是城市规划师、建筑师和其他城市专业人员。该项目的目的是探索和颠覆已被接受的“访问”和“身份”的概念，并找到阐明“小便是政治的”这一概念的方法(Molotoch，2010，2)。

While toilets are often thought to be a mundane space, for those for whom a lack of adequate or accessible toilet provision is a crucial practical issue on a daily basis, toilets are 'the big necessity' (George, 2011). For some, a lack of adequate or accessible toilet provision is a crucial practical issue on a daily basis. Disabled people, for example, frequently report that accessible toilets are 'not accessible enough' (there may be too few, or they may be too small for larger wheelchairs, or not have a hoist or changing space) (Changing Places, 2013), while other studies show that diminishing numbers of public toilets can prevent older people leaving the house (Knight and Bichard, 2011, Department for Communities and Local Government, 2008). Thinking around toilets, and their function as material as well as socio-cultural environments, presents an opportunity to think in multi-faceted ways about forms of identity. Toilets often present a stark visual and material enactment of a gender binary ('Men's Toilets', 'Women's Toilets', 'the Ladies') in ways that can be problematic for trans, genderqueer, or non-binary people who do not identify with the gender they were assigned at birth. Conversely, it is often the 'accessible' (disabled) toilet that provides a gender-neutral space. For some disabled people, this can serve as an example, reflected in the built environment, of the oppressive assumption that they are genderless and asexual (Kafer, 2013).In recognition of the fact that the social issue of toilets is about practical access and personal affect, this project uses arts- and practice-based approaches to experiment with 'toilet talk' as a method of investigating issues of 'access' and 'identity' in relation to gender and disability. While the research and activities will focus around gender and disability, we also seek to consider additional intersections of identity including race, ethnicity, age, religion and faith. Five research workshops based around the arts practices of reflective storytelling, making/creating and performance, will take place between April and September 2015, in collaboration with three community partners: Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People (GMCDP), Queer of the Unknown (a performing arts collective) and Action for Trans* Health. Following these workshops, ideas and reflections will form part of an Architecture Live Project undertaken by MA Architecture students at the University of Sheffield, resulting in a number of installations/provocations. These installations will be displayed in public spaces in Manchester with the intention of stimulating city users to reflect on issues of access and identity in social spaces. The activities and installations will be captured in innovative visual and material forms that will be displayed at an end of project event targeting urban planners, architects and other city professionals. The aim of the project is to explore and disrupt received notions of 'access' and 'identity' and to find ways of articulating the idea that 'peeing is political' (Molotoch, 2010, 2).