Wisconsin mom pushing for more adult-sized changing tables across the state 

Sarah Knowles still remembers the moment that catapulted her from an onlooker to an advocate. 

In 2016, the Brookfield mother had a hospital appointment for her son Matthew, who has cerebral palsy and a chromosomal abnormality. That means normal trips to the doctors office or grocery store can be tricky, since Matthew requires an adult-sized changing table. 

While at the hospital, she was forced to change her son’s diaper on the floor of a bathroom because the hospital didn’t have a larger changing table available. 

“I just thought there must be a better solution than this for the disabled population,” Knowles said.

Fast forward eight years, Knowles is the lead of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Changing Spaces Campaign, which seeks to get more adult-sized changing tables and stations installed across the nation and world. 

“Without somewhere safe, private and hygienic to take care of those [incontinence] needs, a portion of the disabled population, including Matthew, is excluded from being part of our communities,” Knowles said.

For what some people might consider an every day trip, Knowles — who is her son’s caretaker — has to consider if she’ll be able to change him when they’re out and about. 

“Basically, your choices are, you could stay home, or you could go out and know that you’re going to need to lay your loved one on a bathroom floor, or maybe in the back of a van,” Knowles said. “But neither of those options are good.”

The tables are also called universal changing tables. They can be used by any age person, from a baby to an elderly person, and they make it easier for a caretaker to change someone with a disability. 

If someone is in a wheelchair, the table can be lowered down. The tables have a safety rail to prevent falls. Sometimes they also fold into the wall, while others even have a mattress. 

According to a map from the Changing Spaces Campaign, there are currently around 20 universal changing tables in Wisconsin. That number has grown since Knowles started bringing attention to the issue.

Sites like Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, the Wisconsin State Fair Exposition Center in West Allis and the Dahl Family YMCA in La Crosse now offer them.

Last year, the Wisconsin State Capitol got an adult-sized changing table. Earlier this year, the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced they had installed a universal changing station at Peninsula State Park in Door County. 

But Knowles said there’s more work to be done. 

“Until we get something where I can almost guarantee we can go somewhere, and there’ll be a table, I think I’ll be doing this,” Knowles said.

Knowles said she plans to ask for a grant program to be started in Wisconsin to incentivize more spaces to get the tables. That’s something she said has worked in other states. 

“If we get a cash injection, maybe that will encourage a lot more places to step up and install tables,” she said.

State Rep. Robyn Vining, D-Wauwatosa, introduced a bill in 2019 to get more of the tables across Wisconsin.

“When the buildings don’t work for the people, the people are not going to the buildings,” Vining said.

Vining said for her, it’s a public health issue and also a “human decency issue.”

“People deserve to have private places to change, that’s important,” she said.

The bill would have required newly built businesses that serve more than 3,000 people a day, or “high-capacity buildings,” to get the tables. The bill also would have created an “income and franchise tax credit for small businesses that install universal changing stations.”

State Sen. Jeff Smith,  D-Brunswick, was also in support of the measure.

“It’s something that a lot of people are in need of that get overlooked,” Smith said.

The bill was introduced in 2019, 2021 and 2023 but didn’t pass the Republican-controlled Legislature. Whether it is reintroduced remains to be seen.

In the meantime, Knowles said she’ll continue to work to get more tables across the state.

“Every table, even though things don’t seem to go very quickly here, but just even one more table, opens that place up for more people to visit,” Knowles said.