Something else I'd like to add.

Whatever you decide, I wish you the best. You're there, I'm here. You know the situation far better than I ever will.

Good luck,
Patti

I agree with Patti, and hope that we give you hope and positive direction to heal the wounds you are carrying. And as Patti mentions, look at your circumstances through the perspective of the medical condition.

Here's what was written on one of the incident reports for me. Individual #1 is diagnosed medically with "extreme startle response" and requires a secure restroom alone at all locations. Individual #2 is diagnosed medically with PTSD paranoia with locked doors and enclosed spaces. Individual #3 is a young white male on psychotic medication forgot to take his medications on this date. #3 mentioned to #2 that there were strangers in the building. #1 was using the locked facilities (both outside door and restroom door along with bathroom stall were locked) to clean up an accident from a previous encounter with #2 & #3 on same date. The supervisor (new) opened the door, allowed entry to everyone to search the building. #2 and #3 started pounding on restroom door. #1 (me) started screaming at top of their lungs, leave me alone, I will be out as soon as I finish. The supervisor (new) wrote me up for having the building locked and secure. The incident report made its way up the chain to corporate office, where they just shook their heads and sent a notice to local management. The first encounter with #2 and #3 was when they blocked the bathroom door handle so #1 couldn't get out, and turned off the lights (the switch is on the outside). The new supervisor did nothing, no write-up. Local management got the #2 and #3 to admit what all they had done after an internal investigation .

In the end, the written adjustment to allow me to have secure location to use bathroom in private was solved with the use of a passkey for a secure single stall bathroom. The building we were in had three stalls, three urinals, one sink, and all the lockers for securing personal items. Which is why I am saying to take the time to resolve every single feeling you have and approach it from a valid legal standpoint to make it easier to state the facts in a calm, positive, and concise manner. When I used the bathroom in the building, there were always two people on watch when others were in the building after that incident was resolved.

I share this to give you a better idea of what happened before I was treated for the extreme startle response. It took me a couple of more years before I found a doctor I was comfortable enough to trust, and learned the techniques to reduce the extreme startle response to a more balanced level.

Know we support you and wish you safety and comfort throughout this experience. You're much stronger than you realize!

In this situation it's in my best interests to try to remain anonymous. I do not have any kind of documentation from any doctors about my problem yet (part of the reason is it is too expensive for me at this time, and another reason relates to the need to keep my problem a secret from family). I would also prefer that as few people as possible know about my problem.

With regards to the single person restrooms: they are a fair distance from the area I work in and are actually part of a different department, so I can't exactly get a key for them due to not working in that department. Even if I could get a key those restrooms would be problematic to travel all the way to and from as frequently as I usually need to use the restroom. This is why I'd prefer if the university only converts some of the restrooms in each building to be gender neutral.

Here's one way to do this anonymously. I agree with what details you've added (distance is important with my medical condition, so I know exactly that that is not a working solution).

You can ask as an interested individual ... neutral questions, which allow you to obtain general information, and more importantly, information as to specifics for their options in general. This will give you a chance to approach your audience with a positive outlook.

By positive outlook, the public perception of options...and you can be simply asking to clarify a specific option.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head, know we support you, encourage you, and value your perspective, it gives us a way to help each other by sharing!

Thanks for the advice. That sounds like it could be a safer way for me to approach this.