CCNZ provides "I Can't Wait" cards identifying those with documented medical conditions, but many businesses will not honour the cards and there is no law requiring them to do so.
In January 2017 12-year-old Nicole Thornton petitioned Parliament, seeking access to workplace toilets for people with medical conditions when no public toilet was available.
Nicole's petition went to Health Select Committee, but a bill mandating businesses provide toilet access to those with medical problems was not recommended.
If businesses adopt the posters designed for the new campaign, people with these diseases will be able to see where they can go if they have an emergency, and will feel "free to leave home without the fear of having an accident in public", Nicole said.
"They will see that businesses care."
Chairman of CCNZ Richard Stein said many businesses did not support a law change due to not wanting further regulations, and an unfounded and "offensive" fear that people with these conditions would create a "cleanliness" issue.
"A lot of people literally will not leave their home," he said.
Most people would "map out" where the available bathrooms were if they went out of town, he said.
With these posters, they could comfortably walk down the street and know where they could go in an urgent situation.
"It's just something that really, really would make a difference in these people's lives.
"I hope this is the start of something that will spread throughout New Zealand."
He emphasised that both the posters and the "I Can't Wait" cards are available at no cost.
General manager of the Lower Hutt Events Centre Gert Venter said the initiative was "wonderful".
"I can't believe what I read , that some people wouldn't make a bathroom available for somebody that's desperately needing a bathroom."
He said it was about "decency and compassion" and should be extended to all people who needed it.
"I would just encourage all businesses to not even think about it, just tell them to put themselves in a position where if you need a bathroom and you can't find one, you know how uncomfortable it is."
Participating business will be recognised on the CCNZ webpage, crohnsandcolitis.org.nz.
Window posters and "I Can't Wait" cards can be obtained by emailing Belinda Brown at info@crohnsandcolitis.org.nz.
Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis
• Crohn's and ulcerative colitis are chronic, incurable, inflammatory diseases collectively known as Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD).
• Over 20,000 New Zealanders have IBD.
• New Zealand has the third highest IBD rate in the world.
• Most people are diagnosed in childhood, their teens or early adulthood, and suffer with these illnesses their entire lives. Children in particular are impacted in their most formative years.
• Symptoms are severe, urgent, bloody diarrhoea, bowel blockages, abdominal pain, perforated intestines, and abscesses and inflammation in the anal area.
• "Flares" of the disease are common and frequently involve emergency hospitalisation, and repeated irreversible surgeries to remove sections of the bowel.
• Many patients are forced to live with a permanent ostomy (bag).
• IBD has an array of other symptoms including arthritis, diseases of the spine, the liver, diseases of the eyes, skin lesions, and an increased risk of bowel cancer.
• NZ has one of the highest per capita rates of IBD in the world, and it is growing at more than 5 per cent per year.
• IBD costs NZ an estimated $245 million in healthcare costs and lost productivity.
