Steven Soifer, an associate professor at the University of Maryland School of Social Work in Baltimore, is co-founder of the American Restroom Association, a city-based nonprofit that advocates for private, comfortable and sanitary bathrooms.
What are the best and worst bathrooms in the Baltimore region?
Some of the best bathrooms in the area? Dave and Buster?s. Part of it has to do with the design of the men?s restroom ? they have floor-to-ceiling dividers at the urinals, which is very unusual.
The new Southwest terminal at the [Baltimore-Washington International Thurgood Marshall] airport has low bowl urinals with no dividers. That?s one of the worst I?ve used. It?s very small for the traffic, and there?s no privacy.
You refer to people with shy bladder syndrome, a social anxiety disorder that prevents them from urinating in front of others. Do many people avoid going to places without private bathrooms?
It?s hard to have exact numbers. We know 7 percent of the population has shy bladder syndrome, but the reason we formed this organization is because we?re also dealing with people who are incontinent … When they gotta go, they have to go.
Anything on the horizon to help?
In the new plumbing codes, which municipalities will adopt, there will have to be directional signs pointing customers to the bathroom. … We tried to get that passed in the Maryland legislature, but failed.
What?s the ideal public restroom?
Men and women have different needs. Men need dividers. In the bathroom stall for women, there is usually not enough toilet paper or disposal containers or shelf space. We are working on a book about how establishments can design the perfect bathroom. Many businesses don?t think about how much business they can lose with poorly designed bathrooms.
