Chronically Excluded? Public Toilet Access for Youth with Gastrointestinal Illnesses

Abstract

This thesis explores the intersection between public infrastructure, health and youth geographies, time geography, and sensuous and emotional embodiments to highlight public toilets as a critical yet often overlooked urban space. Through these intersections, this thesis not only spotlights public toilets as central nodes in everyday life, but also the differential ways these spaces impact populations who rely on them most for medical needs. Through a feminist methodological approach that employs semi-structured interviews and space-time diaries, this thesis asks: How do the daily mobility patterns of youth with chronic gastrointestinal illnesses depend on the spatial and temporal availability and accessibility of public and private toilet facilities? This thesis investigates the constraints to mobility and wellness that these individuals face when met with inadequate and inaccessible toilet infrastructure, with a case study in the Greater Toronto Area. Encompassing both suburbs and city centre, the research sample illustrates the infrastructural disparities between dense and sparse landscapes. From the ‘in-betweens’ from one toilet to the next, to the sensuous and emotional experiences felt within these spaces themselves, this research investigates how the everyday lifeworlds of chronically ill youth – through work, school, and play – can be enabled and disabled by the quality of infrastructure they are met with, and the coping mechanisms they employ to aid their journeys and experiences, attributing to overall wellness.