Disabled athlete Natasha Price made to crawl in filthy toilet

A prominent Queensland disabled athlete says she was made to crawl on a dirty toilet floor to access the bathroom at her local athletic track after the local council closed toilet facilities.

Competitive wheelchair racer Natasha Price, 42, took to social media to share her experience, lambasting City of Gold Coast Council as “disgraceful”.

Ms Price was training at Luke Harrop Memorial Criterium track when the incident occurred.

She wrote that she was unable to flush the toilet or wash her hands due to problems with access.

Ms Price told news.com.au that she felt “undignified” throughout the experience.

“It was disgusting,” she said.

“No human being should have to be put in that situation … every person deserves the right to toilet in dignity. 

“Especially in a highly used area like this, if you are making sure you have provided toilets for the able-bodied users, then you should also provide an alternative for the disabled patrons too.”

City of Gold Coast Council told news.com.au that they “unreservedly apologise” for what they labelled as an “oversight”.

“Late last week, the City became aware that demolition works of a nearby building would impact the sewerage tanks at the toilets in this area, and they would require temporary disconnection,” a spokesman said.

“This was not planned and in organising the temporary facilities at short notice, ensuring an accessible toilet was available was overlooked. We are reviewing our processes to ensure it does not happen again.”

Inspirational story

Ms Price developed a neurological disorder in 2007, age 28, that left her blind and in a wheelchair.

She said that in 2017 she had an epiphany after watching Kurt Fearnley race on television.

“I kind of got to a point where I was like, ‘I really don’t want to continue living life this way,’” Ms Price said.

“I was sick of just accepting what I’d been told was my fate.

“One day, my mother sat on the couch next to me and I said, ‘I really want to do a marathon.’ She said, ‘you’re crazy, you can’t even get yourself out of bed.’

“One year later, I did my first marathon.”

She said the hardest thing was resisting the advice of those who “don’t think you can have big dreams and goals”.

”I allowed the thoughts and opinions of medical staff that I couldn’t be more than I was for too long,” she said.

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In 2019 Ms Price won the Auckland Marathon and was selected to represent Queensland in the 2020 National Track and Field Championships in Sydney. It would be postponed due to Covid-19.

She is currently the Gold Coast Woman of the Year and recently won the Brisbane Marathon and broke the 100m and 400m records in January.

Ms Price is currently training for the Paris Paralympic Games later this year.

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