The only first hand testimony I heard about the card came from a Minnesota resident at work a while back around the start of the year I believe, a client. She said that her daughter has Crohns badly, as does she, her daughter has a card, and she told me there in MN, it's mandatory by law to allow the carrier to access the restroom, employee or not. She said her daughter recently had visited the state of NY and only had to use it once, to a shopkeeper of a mom and pop place, the guy hadn't seen one, but was nice and just said sure, and told her where it was. I wish if the state had such a card it'd be mandatory under almost any condition (obviously as long as there aren't other problems involved, like a non-functioning toilet or if there's temporarily no access to it or someone's in there etc...)...giving the manager a choice can make him just "not feel like" letting you in there out of fear, ignorance, or because it's a Tuesday. I understand they have some rights etc.. too, but c'mon....Why even have the card if it's just an option, you could just as well explain the same information about your disease/condition and give him a choice, just like an optional card would too? I don't get that, other than discretion, at least with a card it isn't said aloud (and also would get redundant explaining your issue over and over and over)...
I've been at like a Gamestop or something, a smaller boutique-esque joint, and had a depends on, and been thankful for that, but would have loved to whip out a card and just use a bathroom, if present. That "feeling" not knowing if you're going to have a 45 minute cleanup when you get home, and possibly have to trash another portion of your wardrobe from messes....sucks. Plus Depends are expensive, even generic.
