Now, as much as I disliked needing to change my own diaper in a bathroom stall – the cramped space provided little room to maneuver while taping on a diaper – using the toilet in a so-called normal way was no less embarrassing. I had never had the chance to get used to performing my bodily functions around others. Hearing the splash of urine into the toilet bowl while someone was in an adjacent stall was enough to make my face turn beet red. A toilet trip that should have only lasted several minutes might take much longer, as I worked up the courage to go.

I waited a couple minutes until my neighbor in the stall to my left flushed her toilet, using that noise to disguise the sound of quickly ripping off the two tapes. I kept the diaper between my knees, making sure not to lower it all the way to the floor, where it might be visible to someone looking underneath the stall.