It occurred to me, on a recent visit to a couple of northern European states, that, to mash up the much quoted opening to Tolstoy’s great novel Anna Karenina, all countries are accessible in the same way, each country is inaccessible in its own way.
I found Hamburg a challenge. It is a city that is reinventing itself and there fore it has a great opportunity to organize itself with an eye to the difficulties of that part of the human race that have extra challenges; people with disabilities. However, I saw little sign that they had given it much thought. The Pavements are well maintained but as confusing there as they are anywhere else in Europe – random hazards proliferated, citizens seemed unprepared to deal with issues of accessibility, and I didn’t see many fellow disabled travelers (which is, in my opinion, a bad sign).
Whilst I admit that this is a limited exposure to German culture one might expect a major airport to have made some sort of effort! But Hamburg airport was as much of a challenge as any other modern airport – confusing layout, poor signage, unprepared staff at security. An example of the thoughtless way the place is organized was the departure gate we were directed towards. The signs telling one which Gate was which were dwarfed by a sign telling one where the BAR was! Now I like a beer as much as the next traveler (possibly even more), and I did order one whilst I waited for the flight to be called, but being at the correct Gate was the main issue.
“I think a lot of people … panic about disability,” says Dr Amy Kavanagh, a visually impaired campaigner in a recent BBC interview. “It makes them feel awkward and we know a lot of people don’t want to interact with disabled people very much so they panic and their natural instinct is to use their hands and not their words.” She continued – and I find this quite odd. Peoples inability to clearly explain what they want you to do (or their frustration at the hassle you are causing them) results in them grabbing and shoving. Imagine how you would feel if someone took hold of you, uninvited, and imposed their own demands on you. It’s very annoying. I try to remain meek and malleable, apologizing repeatedly and explaining the difficulties I’m having in patient tones, but sometimes you just want to confront them and release some of the frustration and humiliation you are bottling up.
One incident in a small town in northern Denmark (Frederikshavn) illustrated another difficulty for people with disabilities. I was looking for the toilets in a concert venue. It was a large multipurpose arena with several large rooms and curved corridors. Someone spotted that I was having difficulties and insisted on taking me to the disabled toilets, I thanked them and went to the regular toilets (next to the disabled ones) as I can usually manage okay. I figure that there are limited options for wheelchair users (and others that need the space and facilities provided) and if I can find the regular toilets I’ll bluff it out in there – it’s not easy, and I’m often viewed with suspicion and probably appear clumsy (or drunk, or worse) as I scout around for the wash hand basins and the paper towels or the hand dryer, but I persist because I don’t want to take the other option away from someone who needs it more than me. Later on in the evening, as I returned to the toilets (much more confident now that I had learned the layout of the place) I noticed a queue of wheelchair users outside the one disabled toilet and reflected on the fact that some people that don’t need these specially designed facilities will ‘nip in’ and use them because the regular ones are quite busy, or a bit further away.
It wouldn’t take much to improve things, for example; make signs larger, make passageways more obvious (floor markings, clear away clutter etcetera), improve lighting, train staff to help people with disabilities, don’t use facilities provided for people with disables unless absolutely necessary, and think abut how easy it is for young able bodied travelers (the ‘temporary able’, because most of us will be disabled at some point in our lives) and how much of a struggle it might be if you couldn’t see or hear or walk.
I’m beginning to sound grumpy and I don’t mean to. The point of this Blog is to highlight some of the issues I’ve faced, not to complain. I want to demonstrate that life isn’t over once you become disabled. And I want to be helpful and let people I encounter learn that there isn’t a ‘one size fits all’ person with disabilities. I’m convinced that the more that people encounter some one like me the easier it will be for the next person they encounter.
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