Inspired by the other threat (but not TAAT) my teen is a fairly recent full time wheelchair user. On holiday abroad we visited hill towns and the entrance to every tiny shop and kiosk had a ramp. Sometimes the shops were too small to get around once in, and sometimes there was a step within the shop, however my teen could always get in, so felt part of things.
The ease of Europe has really made me look at our nation in a different way. In our town there is one cafe which is accessible - it’s a former chain. Every other cafe has a high step. Almost every shop has a high step. And hairdressers, and nail salons. Meaning that our local town (quaint, no chains) is closed to her and she can’t get simple things like her mono brow waxed.
This isn’t about ‘understanding that our nation is old’ or disabled users needing to understand that they have to call ahead. It is about having a polarised society and it isn’t right. It could be easily addressed with a ramp to every shop. This is cheap to achieve, and is a reasonable adjustment.
Beaches in the UK are inaccessible - there are (I think) 5 accessible beaches. We would have to travel 3 hours to get to an accessible beach-two hours further. Also if you Google accessible beaches in the UK, so many beaches advertise themselves as accessible, but actually they mean step free access to the top of the sand. No means of getting close to the shore so they can sit on the sand with the rest of their family, or actually get in the sea. In France and Spain accessible beaches they are everywhere, and they mean accessible; boarded walks and beach buggies so a wheelchair user can actually get in the sea. And pretty much every walk in nature is inaccessible too. That’s nature, it’s one of those things, but I think it’s important to consider how small the world of a wheelchair user is - when you take away places which could accommodate them easily, they really have nothing left. Just the homes of friends who don’t have townhouses. Or a step. Yes you guessed it, we always host now.
And if you want to roll back even further, our pavements are a nightmare. Massive lack of dropped kerbs (I mean properly dropped. Round here they are lowered but not dropped) and the camber means it’s insanely difficult to push a teen/adult on a wheelchair. Impossible to self propel. Crossings are dangerous - even those designed to be accessible! Not every wheelchair user can travel in a car, not every wheelchair user needs a carer.
So to those posters who thought the other poster should just be calling ahead and ensuring restaurants are accessible - why is the default inaccessibility? Why can’t wheelchair users enjoy a carefree day shopping and then dropping into a nearby cafe for a drink or lunch when they tire? Why do wheelchair users have to awkwardly enquire whether there is a ramp?
Hopefully this hasn’t come across as a rant. I don’t mean it to be. I just wanted to share some of my observations as newly into the world of disability, in the hope that it makes some able bodied people think.