Ms. Wheelchair Minnesota Fights for More Accessible Bathrooms

Linda Hood, a clinical scientist who has worked at the Olympics since 1984, contracted a rare autoimmune disease — Guillain-Barré syndrome – in 2018, and now uses a wheelchair. Earlier this year, Hood was crowned Ms. Wheelchair Minnesota, and is using her position to advocate for increased accessibility in public bathrooms.

Many wheelchair users, Linda included, require an adult-sized changing table in order to use the bathroom. Few businesses offer such an accommodation, and Linda’s husband Richard Smith strongly supports her advocacy. He said, “I have literally changed Linda on hospital floors, bathroom floors, many airport floors, bathroom floors and many other places, many times and it’s not comfortable,” Smith said.

Hood told CBS that “I just hope that some of the powers that be will hear me and say, ‘I wanna help, I wanna show her when she comes to US Bank Stadium to cheer on the Vikings that look, there’s a bathroom for her.’ And not just for me but for everyone in this situation.”

John Morris, founder of WheelchairTravel.org, has been tracking the installation of adult changing tables in U.S. airports. As of March 2022, only 12 airports offered the accessibility feature, so there is still a great deal of opportunity for airports and businesses to make their bathrooms accessible.

To read more about Linda’s mission, see the news report from CBS Minnesota.