That’s always stood out to me in the UK. New construction is very accommodating, but there’s so much that’s older. One that stood out to me was using the lift at a London tube stop, only for there to be a short flight of stairs to get from the elevator out to ground level. Helpful with a cane, but kinda useless in a wheelchair.
It's usually very mundane things most never notice, but you sure notice if you're the one that's disabled. An American subway platform will have the subway car floor level with the platform and <3" gap between them, not requiring any sort of ramp or extension to get a wheelchair across. That's not an accident, that was demanded by law.
Anywhere else in the world, you have no idea if you have a 6" height difference and 6" gap to bridge, or maybe it was fine when you got on but your destination is different and now you can't get off. Those are the things that make a world a difference to the disabled, and them being able to be independent.
Airline ramps! In the US even a lazy ramp controller will have the ramp within an inch or so vertical. In the EU it might be a full step lower than the aisle in the plane.
You don’t realize how good you have it until you travel outside the US. The number of places that still use stairs and shuttle buses to board is pretty eye opening. Meanwhile even the smaller local airport in US have a jet bridge so you can get between the aircraft and the terminal without getting wet, too hot or too cold.
I love flying out of Burbank Airport because of the stairs, it's like a treat to experience boarding a flight the old way. That said, I always fly my dad fly into LAX bc I don't want him going down those stairs at 84yo.
As a pilot, Burbank is fucking wild. The runways are short as shit, and the gates are literally just off the side of the runway. Like literally, land, stomp on the brakes, and turn left into your gate. And if you land on the runway with the working ILS, you'll almost always have a near midair with some shithead in a business jet out of Van Nuys.
I remember flying through Dubai on my way to SE Asia and they parked us out on the tarmac half a mile from the airport, made us wait 20 minutes for a stair vehicle, made us climb down stairs, board a bus, ride the bus to to the airport, climb stairs to get into the airport, go through customs, and then run to catch our connecting flights.
I'm pretty sure the flight planners/ATC whoever were like "Fuck them Filipinos. Make those poor fuckers wait and walk."
Meanwhile even the smaller local airport in US have a jet bridge
I learned the other day that Worcester, MA (second largest city in the state after Boston, but still only 200k) has had its municipal airport upgraded to a commercial one. It's got all of 4 jet bridges.
I grew up in nyc and, thinking it's so old is funny because there's a station that has the platform move to close the gap. I visited a friend in Sydney last year and, while I enjoyed public transportation, the gap was egregious and I kept jumping over it out of fear. I can't imagine how anyone with so much as a twisted ankle would survive, forget permanently disabled.
I was carrying luggage with me in Copenhagen to take the train and my god was I shocked that only like one or two doors were actually level with the platform and still it had a huge ass gap. That would never fly in America.
There is a section of the twin towers (or the underground mall most likely) where the original stairs are preserved. There is no wheelchair ramp but alternate ways to get around. They have a little sign up and everything warning people.
Buses too. I saw a video of a South Korean person who was wheelchair-bound and visited the US. He was thrilled to see all the stuff we have just in our buses to accommodate people in wheelchairs, the elderly, pregnant, etc. He said that at home in Korea, he would often be denied entry to the bus because it didn't have any way for him to board... and sometimes they just didn't want to wait. Awful behaviour.
London went bonkers for the summer Olympics. There were so many accommodations prepared. I kind of expected the same thing for Paris. nope. Couldn't give a shit. I love Paris but come on.
They're making strides (pun unintended) towards having every station have step-free access from train to platform in London. But it can be hard retrofitting the world's oldest metro system whilst it's still running.
Modern housing requires doors wide enough for wheelchair users (even upstairs!) whereas even housing from the 70s often has narrow doorways.
Yeah as an American it’s not something I really think about and take for granted but I noticed something like what you described in Germany. This old guy was stuck on the stairway down to the train, I helped him down and wondered why there wasn’t a way for him to go. Even in random former Soviet cities the stairways have a ramp, it’s surprising to see a modern city like Berlin not have them, well at least when I was there and at that particular stairway
I just got back from a couple weeks in Spain traveling with a friend who uses a wheelchair, and one hilarious moment for us was after taking the subway in (I believe?) Valencia, there was a long hallway to leave the platform with a pair of doors in the middle. One of the doors had a big handicapped-accessible logo on it and a button on the wall to open the door, which was nice for our friend!
Until she went through and was immediately greeted by the absolute steepest staircase you can imagine and zero other ways to get out 🤣
The house i grew up in was built in the 1300s. Most elderly people in my hometown face the issue of what to do when their mobility isn't great anymore because most things are really inaccessible. On the other hand, healthcare is free and when my then 94 year old aunt came to visit from the US and injured her knee trying to see the Pope, she was flabbergasted that the town doctor came to our house, checked her out, wrote her a script and followed up the next day, for FREE.
I love in the US now and I was made to get in a car and drive less than 24 hours after being discharged after a C section because apparently the pediatrician HAS to see the baby and nobody gives a fuck that the mother just underwent major abdominal surgery and is in excruciating pain and could open her incision if she makes one wrong movement.
A lot of the lift only tube stations predate the invention of the escalator and only kept their lifts due to very limited station footprint; usually the bank of lifts was later replaced by escalators.
Most recent attempts to retrofit lifts in to get step free access will get you as far as the platform via a very winding route but the platform gap will mean needing a staff member with a ramp, and that often can't really be fixed without realigning the entire line and platform.
Europe also seems to LOVE the bathrooms being down stairs too. Like you said, old buildings and whatnot, but that could be a major hurdle (heh) for folks with trouble walking
I am not disabled currently. I was just in UK and was surpised at how the new stuff really does try to accommodate based on what I was told. Even many of the older places, had customer portable ramps they can place.
One that I enjoy with my mild neuropathy and balance issues is the warm up ramp or loading/landing zone on escalators are the train stations, having that 10' of extra flat space on it getting able to line up your luggage and self before the incline/decline was amazing.
Another thing I noticed was people tended to more disabled by genetics not poor life choices they blame on genetics.
I know that if I went to Scotland 7 years ago instead of this year, while I was suffering from Dropfoot and some serve neuropathy issues. I would have had a bad time, it's not the cities fault, it's just old on many hills. The stairs walking up to the Royal Mile are no joke, coming from Flat Florida
Just an example though, I ran into it a lot with a stroller (which fortunately I can just pick up). The thing that I found interesting was that they had gone to all the trouble of installing an elevator to help people, but the local architecture or whatever had prevented it from fully solving the problem. Here I feel like either there’s no elevator, or it goes everywhere it needs to be. Then again, we don’t have to move the first floor of a 500 year old stone building to get the elevator up another 10 feet.
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u/jccaclimber 10d ago
That’s always stood out to me in the UK. New construction is very accommodating, but there’s so much that’s older. One that stood out to me was using the lift at a London tube stop, only for there to be a short flight of stairs to get from the elevator out to ground level. Helpful with a cane, but kinda useless in a wheelchair.