I'm an American and I've lived with a disability my whole life. It's a little surreal to hear the US lauded for the ADA when, in 2024, many neighborhoods don't even have sidewalks, let alone curb cuts for wheelchairs. I think the takeaway here is that every place in every country needs to do better and that disabled people in general are still second class citizens. The fight goes on.
I wish every crosswalk would be elevated to the level of the sidewalk (and of course have sidewalks everywhere!). That would be such a simple solution with so many benefits for people with disabilities, people with strollers, and people who have just walked for miles and whose legs are too tired to climb the curb. Not to mention the benefit of slowing down the cars so they don't hit pedestrians. And also not having to go through puddles that accumulate at the crosswalk ramps after the rain.
And a lot of the sidewalks that do exist are falling apart and are no longer accessible due to damage. And replacing them is only going to get more expensive if people keep parking heavy Amazon trucks on them.
you clearly dont know a lot about the world .... "I think the takeaway here is that every place in every country needs to do better " we cover about 80 % of the disability challenges !! and some places you just cant because of the age of the building / street /park ecc ! plz learn about "the world "and "other countries " before writing something that does not make sense or just use "most countries "
The worst part is when elevators at the train station don't work. Sometimes for months. Disabled people can't get to work or visit relatives. Disgusting
The train station in my town had rather bad accessibility, with one platform barrier free and the other had a really steep ramp. Then the station was completely rebuilt to be more accessible... But that meant 2 years of no accessibility at all while the construction work was in progress! I saw the construction workers occasionally stop working to help a disabled person or a parent with a pram up or down the stairs.
I found that out when my son was born. even simple things like getting a buggy up a flight of steps become not impossible but add to the challenge of getting about.
Yeah, and when it's "accessible" it is often done as an afterthought. Impractical, slow, distant... Sometimes non functional and often considered low priority. The example shown of Freiburg's train station with elevators in maintenance for the whole summer is anything but a rarity. In Paris, they've made all new stations on M11's extension accessible, and also 2 of the existing stations. But one of these existing stations, which is quite deep and an important connection hub with the fully accessible circular tramway, has seen its elevator system in maintenance and construction for months. It is only expected to reopen mid September, after something like 6 or 7 months of downtime. On the other hand, major "crowd flow" equipment like escalators and some elevators in mega hubs like Auber - Haussmann Saint-Lazare or Châtelet les Halles stations are maintained and reopened in hours or minutes. But when it comes to real accessibility, it seems to be low priority. I have been told by SNCF or RATP agents that I should always check if escalators and elevators are working before traveling. And that I should not travel if I can't ensure that such equipment are indeed working, because otherwise I'd put "unnecessary complexity and responsibilities on agents' shoulders that have other things to do"... 😱 As if my mobility had no value or importance whatsoever, and that it was trivial at best.
Most of my experience is in the Netherlands and Utrecht specifically and Belgium and Germany when it comes to "foreign"countries. I am not in a wheelchair myself but I have had the honor to wheel around my wife in the last 15 years of her live. I can say that the Netherlands has made great progress in accesibility for disabled. IS it perfect... heck no. My hometown of Utrecht had it's start in the Roman era. There is but so much you can do. Many of the buildings in my city are on a monument list, you can't just add things to them. Converting a 200 year old building to be disabled friendly is not easy to do, especially when it needs to be basically "invisible". But, especially with official government/municipality buildings they have done some good modifications. Everything build new in the Netherlands is build with accesibility in mind. I really noticed that it isn't all that bad in the Netherlands when I visit my neighbors Belgium and Germany. They make progress sure, but imho not as quick as we did here. tbf my wife passed away 5 years ago so my current experiences are not up to date when it comes to other EU countries. And also to be fair, my wife had me, many disabled people have to face these things alone, at least most of the time. They often don't have someone to push them anywhere they wanna go and tip them to get onto a sidewalk and such. So I can understand if someone disabled would totally disagree with me. A "single" is significantly more difficult than "a pair" when it comes to navigating a city in a chair. What Josephine says about perception that "it is mostly the elderly" shows another problem. It somehow makes it a less important and pressing issue for many (especially those making the decisions) than when it would be affecting predominantly the younger generations.
I live in The Netherlands and I sold my apartment of two stories, the ground floor where the living room was and the first floor where the kitchen, dining room, bathroom, 2 bedrooms and front door are. When I bought it, my mother wasn’t in a wheelchair, so I didn’t think about accessibility of the apartment. When my mother did end up in a wheelchair, the visits were difficult. When the family came for dinner and gathered in the living room afterwards, I had to wheel my mother out of the apartment into the elevator to the ground floor, out of the building to the gated parking lot where I had a back door to my living room. If she had to use the toilet, someone had to wheel her the whole way back. And my apartment was built in 2012, so after the disability law for accessibility. It was a beautiful apartment, but visits were such a nuisance for my mother that I decided to sell my apartment and buy a bungalow. A lot has changed but poor situations and circumstances are an unnecessary burden for disabled people.
Beter als in Nederland wordt t niet, in andere landen is het 1000 keer slechter en ja ik heb ook ervaring met deze problemen ruclips.net/video/xSGx3HSjKDo/видео.html
You bring up a lot of great points, but one thing I would say as a legally blind person is that the ADA, while important and useful, is not magically better because it is hard law. As someone who is legally blind, I feel more locked out of society in the US than in the EU, without a doubt. In the US, even the disabled are expected to drive using modifications (wheelchair users and prosthetics alike), public transit and para-transit are virtually nonexistent and certainly not something you can utilize to get to work on a regular basis. I agree, the EU has a long way to go to making things accessible to all people under universal design principles and it's a good thing, but the ADA has not had as great of an impact on the built environment at scale as its other pillars.
yeah, think the ada probably did much for wheelchairs and the blind. but as a epileptic you would be absolutely discriminated against. Car, cycle, in many places even walk would be unsafe. You would be absolutely dependent on someone driving you around.
I was severely visually impaired for several years and prohibited from driving. I nevertheless easily travelled independently around Britain and Europe. Public transport is a wonderful thing - as is are currencies that ensure all notes and coins are easily differentiated from each other in colour, size, shape, weight and so on. How do the blind and severely visually impaired manage to live full, independent lives in the USA? In fact, that question is valid for every person who is unable to drive through no fault of their own - even if they might never think of themselves as disabled, a person who is unable to drive for some medical or physical reason is, effectively, _made_ disabled for all practical purposex in the USA.
@@beyondEV A relative of mine has epilepsy and was never able to drive.. but they live in Central Europe. Even in their small-ish town close to a regional centre there are busses and trains and other infrastructure that help them live an independent normal life. Had they been born in the US, I don't know.
I'm in the US and have finally healed up from having a knee replacement last year. (A bad ski accident in my 40s led to damage that just would not heal properly.) The years leading to that surgery were eye-opening. Africa was easier to navigate with a walker and / or cane than most of Europe was. I can not imagine having to get around in a wheelchair. I became deeply grateful that I am in the US, where wide doors and ramps are normal. Now, with a new knee that functions properly, I still see just how handy and useful ramps and wide doorways are in everyday life. That one commenter was right - we are all one bad injury away from disability.
Yes Europe fails in accessibility. My daughter had to go to Physical Therapy when she was a baby. This was in Switzerland and the building had 6 steps to get to the door of the building. There was a small ramp for a bike, but s stroller or wheelchair couldn't use it because you would have to tip the wheelchair or stroller to one side to get up or down. The building was built in the very early 2000's. To me this isn't an "old" building. The Physical Therapist had to fight and threaten leaving the building for the owner put in a wheelchair ramp. In my brain this is something that should be required by the government.
1000% it should be required. In 2022, 27% of the EU population over the age of 16 had some form of disability. According to Eurostat estimates, that equals to 101 million people or one in four people adults in the EU. Mobility issues can affect anyone at anytime and yet, so many spaces are wholly inaccessible.
@@TypeAshton Well question is what kind of disability, not all of them do nessesarily require help with accessibility. Narrowing it down to such disabilities would make more sense as a figure. In Cologne, where I live, there have been massive improvement regarding accessibility in recent years. The KVB (local publish transportation company) has bought buses with ramps and unilaterally lowerable suspension to accomodate wheelchairs. Nearly all tram stations are now fully accessible via ramps and escalators. I think this very much differs from town to town, depending how much the local authorities focused on this in recent years. An other very important (and often forgotten aspect) regarding disabilities is war, because if there is a war you have lots of physically disabled people afterwards. So this discussion is not merely a social topic, but also to some degree a question of national defense precaution to be able to keep the economy going, even when a lot of your workforce has some sort of disability.
@@TypeAshtongiven their definition of a handicap and breaking it up by country is so much more important. Do you have those stats and the definition by any chance?
@@TypeAshton 27% ? i guess at the core its a visibility or awareness problem in that case. I dont remember having seen anyone in a wheelchair the last week or otherwise unable to use stairs
The relevant Law only came into effect in 2004. Still, in this case: "How can a physical therapist be so stupid to rent into a non-accessible building?" Almost certainly, the answer is: That was bad development to begin with, the had to go cheap on rent to find anyone. hence also why the "modify the building or i leave" actually worked, which it normally wouldn't. The Law has some very good aspects: Any organization (10 years in existence + representing disabled, there is one for about any group) can launch civil action to enforce it. That is for free (unless it goes all the way up to the highest court or it is considered "fraudulent claim"). Any building undergoing major renovation has to be modified as well (caveats, see disadvantages). Public Transport has to become fully accessible (without aid). Unfortunately, stations are behind schedule. Trains, Trams and Buses are mostly accessible. It also covers private entities (Apartments, Services). Downsides: Exemptions for: Smaller Buildings: < 8 apartment in the building, less than 50 work spaces Historical / Environmental Protection: no clear specifications. Case to case bases. Economy (Building, not Public Transport, not Public Offices): If making the changes costs more than 5% of the insurance value / new value of the building or more than 20% of the Renovation Costs. Safety: If the changes would negatively impact Operations / Traffic safety. Generally, Progress is more Rapid in Cities. E.g. my City, Bern, sends the old only 70% accessible trams to ukraine and replaces them with 100% accessible ones (they technically are at the end of their service life). But in rural areas it's much more complicated, as the public transport network is extremely widespread. Given the service-life of buildings in-between major renovation is somewhere in the 20-60 years, it will take along time to get things done. Some architects in the 1960-90 period, also really did their best to make apartments as inaccessible as possible (to a degree, to circumvent some zoning laws or they just wanted to save costs). Many of those can't be made accessible without going over the economic limit (e.g. the have a elevator, but the elevator stops at the in-between platforms of the staircase. Can't fix that, without spending so much, you're better of to tear it down). The only good news is: Since 2000 we went from 3.5 mio Apartments up to 4.7 mio. Most of the increase will be accessible. Public Transport can't realistically ever become fully autonomous accessible. If you make the ramps with as little gradient as possible, you also make them so long, they are going to be of limited use.) Some Gap / Height difference can not be avoided at all times (maintenance issues mainly, can replace the rails all the time, if the settle just a little) . But you can give disabled better mobility help, like self driving, if they lack the strength to move up the somewhat stepper ramps. elevators do solve the problem, but are considered only a solution, where ramps are not possible (limited capacity, can be out of order).
Thank you very much for this video. Fun fact: In Germany's fast trains (IC and ICE) there is no space at all for wheelchairs in 1st class coaches, there are only a few spaces in some of the 2nd class coaches. To Deutsche Bahn, disabled people are second class only. Besides what you mentioned, there is not only a huge gap regarding accessibility between public and private buildings and spaces, but also between (larger) cities and rural areas. Generally, the more rural, the less accessible.
But there is also kind of a misconception about rural spaces. They are a primum infrastructure wise to begin with. In most of europe, take away the tax income of the cities, they would immediately collapse. Spread and modern infrastructure is bankruptcy. Now combine that, with making it very well accessible in all that spread out area and you really leave the realm of reasonable accommodation. If you also work in that rural area that makes sense. But many working in cities move out into rural areas, then use a unholy amount of infrastructure.
I'm really glad you touched on this topic. I recently started being more aware of my surroundings, wondering what it would be like being disabled. Would I even be able to pass this sidewalk if people park cars on it without thinking? How would I get to underground passage if only stairs lead to it? It's honestly infuriating. Especially since I had to visit a government facility in my city, which is located in the middle of nowhere, around big construction is happening so the way from public transport is long and impossible for someone disabled and this facility DARES to put up posters about promoting "employement for disabled people"??? Only LAST MONTH they installed wheelchair ramp to even get inside. Like be for real rn.
In Austria, especially in Vienna, accessibility is a top priority. Elevators and ramps have long been standard, particularly in public transportation. This focus is not just on wheelchair users but also, for example, on mothers with strollers and elderly people who have difficulty walking. Accessibility concerns not only the access to buildings and stations but also restrooms and even the language and visibility of signage. Since 1991, Vienna’s building regulations have mandated accessibility in all public buildings. Accessibility is also being realised in older buildings. As you said, that is no excuse. However, it must be noted that some renovations take an extremely long time, which can result in elevators being out of service. Fortunately, this happens rather rarely.
I really don't know why such a woman like yourself has not been snapped up by a big nationl TV company, eg; ARD, France 1, BBC etc for their Docu dept. What you are doing with Type Ashton is incredible..., imagine what would be possible with the resources of a big company. I'm so glad I found you and this channel, and wanna say thanks for all your work so far, viel Erfolg.
The PAM system in Paris was brilliant when I had to take my wheelchair-bound mother around town. I never expected the metro to be accessible since it was built 100 years ago.
Initially thought you might be referring to the REM, but services like PAM are a mere band-aid - especially in congested areas where they cannot come close to matching the rapid service a metro provides in places where PAM vehicles get stuck in traffic. The age of the metro is Zero excuse to not at least make a significant chunk of it accessible. I come from a city with a Metro whose earliest segments date from 1892, and aside from segments that have been constructed in the last 40 years, the most accessible portions of the system are on routes built from 1892 to 1907. Also, it's Wheelchair User, not Wheelchair-Bound. A good wheelchair gives its users freedom, it does not inherently inhibit them. As a man with paraplegia, the only time I'm "Wheelchair-Bound" is when I'm behind closed doors with a woman doing something too kinky to talk about openly on RUclips. 😃
@@wheeliebeast7679 You mean the RER ? The REM is Montreal's version of Paris RER. The Paris region and transit authority's president recently did a complete, vocal, and historic 180 about accessibility in the historical lines of the Paris metro. She announced that she now strongly supports a full accessibility adaptation of all 15 historical lines, after years saying that it would be too expensive and too complicated. Though, it really is very expensive and complicated, and the issue I mentioned in the video remains (I'm the first interviewee) : the Paris metro's DNA is to be a short dwell times, fast passenger exchange rapid transit system with a good load of overcrowding. Having "physical accessibility" from street to train would only solve one side of the issue. I've often found myself unable to board in time or to alight from the train at the desired station due to the very short dwell times when frequency between departures is set to anything between 80-85 seconds and 2 minutes. Especially on automated lines, which are also the 3 busiest ones, and where you sometimes feel as if HAL, the slightly misanthropic "computer" from the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey, was in control of the train and the platform screen doors... Leaving only mere seconds to enter or exit the train before being crushed by the doors because the next one, packed to the brim, is approaching at speed, only a couple dozen seconds away. Having only 8 or 10 seconds of dwell times with open doors is a frequent occurrence... Let alone when there's "congestion piling" on a line at rush hour and the system only lets enough time for fit people to alight, but none to board, in order to regulate train spacing. In its very foundation the Paris metro, like several others in mega cities (and even small ones that operate on small but high frequency trains), is made for people fit enough to board and deboard in seconds. I've often seen wheelchair users that simply couldn't board on line 14, despite having no problems getting from the street to the platform. The "reorganization" of on-board passengers, the instant a wheelchair user appears when the doors open, often takes longer than the dwell time itself... so the person usually has to wait for the next or several next trains. Sometimes they have to wait for rush hours to be over before attempting to board... Even in Rennes, a midsized French city equipped with a great and fully accessible metro system that has 2 fully automated lines and high frequency, it can be difficult to board and deboard in time if it's a little busy. Extending dwell times is unthinkable, it would severely decrease capacity on lines that carry 750k to a million daily riders each... That's not even mentioning the daily overcrowding and subsequent lack of space for a wheelchair user to squeeze on the train. This issue isn't a small one, and even some accessibility advocates do not support spending billions to adapt the historical metro for this reason. I myself feels quite uneasy when delaying thousands of people by blocking the doors.... Ethically speaking it's a conundrum : can we delay an extremely busy line, and thus reduce its hourly capacity, just for accessibility's sake when other much cheaper but imperfect solutions are available? I really don't have the answer... PAM is a good solution for this, as they use bus lanes and can bypass a lot if traffic, but it recently had a lot of problems when they chose to externalize / privatize PAM operations. The service took a nosedive and users were beyond upset, understandably so... The RER, albeit also overcrowded, has slightly longer dwell times than the metro (especially compared to automated lines), and is easier to board / alight with reduced mobility. Though it still is quite "sporty"... and finding a place, even if recent rolling stocks have ample and well marked wheelchair spots and PRM reserved seating, can be a struggle. Same for tramway lines : they have exceptionally good accessibility and large wheelchair areas but squeezing into the tram is often mission impossible... Especially on lines like the circular T3a or T3b that each carry daily the equivalent of all 6 lines of the LA Metro system combined. The tram segments where the wheelchair spaces are located usually end up full of standing passengers who all prefer to think that the wheelchair user on the platform can wait a few minutes for the next one (that will be just as packed). So a dedicated service like PAM is a necessity, very useful and practical. "Practical" is the operating word here, because good physical accessibility in busy systems designed for quick passengers transfers remains very theoretical instead of practical. The humongous Grand Paris Express metro expansion will be entirely accessible, from street to train, with all the bells and whistles of modern accessibility. But in reality and practice, short dwell times and large crowds will remain a very practical issue as they've already revised expected daily ridership from 2 to over 3 million...
As a Ukrainian I was actually very pleasantly surprised by accessible infrastructure in Köln and a small city nearby where I live. I see people using wheelchairs, walking aids af all sorts, and of course moms with strollers in public transport and spaces all the time. It is not the case in my country, although considering how many disabled veterans we are going to have because of the war, I hope it will be just as a big shift in societal point of view, as in US after Vietnam war. It's sad that it had to come to this point to see some change of course.
While the progress the U.S. has made is real, I think it's a bit exaggerated. Sure, if a disabled person's lifestyle involves driving (or being driven) to single-story suburban sprawl McDonalds, Starbucks, Walmarts, and Dollar Generals with electronic sliding doors and no stairs, then old European cities and towns are inconvenient by comparison. But as soon as you start trying to use a sidewalk or use public transit or visit vibrant places with lots of small businesses, suddenly the U.S. looks a lot like Europe in terms of accessibility. Ironically, I have heard people argue against pedestrianizing streets because they associate disabled mobility with cars. The problem is, the current sidewalks are too narrow for a wheelchair.
My perception is that in Europe, or at least in Barcelona, you see a lot of people with disabilities going about their lives, just not people on wheelchairs (blind people, people with downs syndrome, very old people). Buses and the Metro have some sort accessibility, although perhaps not the best, but when it comes to buildings, that's where it's lacking). I think in the US, on the other hand, people with non-wheelchair disabilities disabilities can't go on to have normal lives without depending on other people to drive them around, etc. And this includes all the old people who are not fit to drive anymore, which is a huge chunk of the population.
The accessibility vs historical preservation question seems very tricky and I'm not sure there's a clear answer to it. New buildings though? Yeah, there are no excuses to not make them accessible.
Maurits Huis in Den Haag was a museum that was utterly inaccessible. As part of a major multi year overhaul back in the 2000's it is now totally accessible. They put elevators in some really cool places. You can't see i until they get used. It's a small museum, but it has an amazing collection. Well worth a visit and right next to the central Dutch government buildings.
Another aspect about all this is that, most of the time, accessibility only is implemented for physical disabilities. Despite all the issues in society, wheelchair users, blind people etc get a lot of accomodations compared to less visible disabilities.
This is something that I think about from time to time and wonder how to improve accessibility for disabled and wheelchair using Europeans. As an American, we have the ADA but while countries like Nordic countries, The Netherlands and Belgium have made great strides in being more accessible other countries seem to seriously be lacking and there's practically no accessibility (Italy, parts of Frances, etc...) Another tricky part is making older buildings (that are hundreds of years old) accessible.
When I went to school in Denmark in the seventies, there was not one single disabled pupil, although we were almost 2000 cramped into the way too small school. In Denmark disabled citizens and children were kept away from society. In 1975, I moved to the UK for one year to work as a volunteer for spastic disabled adults and noticed for the first time all the problems you face in a wheelchair or on crutches. Now we live in Germany and my wife is in a wheelchair. Every time we go out, we have to plan where to go, where to park, where to cross the road, and where to enter a building.
I think, (and may be wrong) but Europe still has a negative view of disabilities and still try to hide them away because why else would new buildings (built in the early 2000's) still have poor accessibility? It's sad and shouldn't be that way. Also, it can't be hard to just make ramps, right?
In Germany they were also hiding people with disabilities. I remember very well during our first vacation in the Netherlands, I was 6 years old, and I saw someone in a bed on wheels being pushed by another person right on the sidewalk through all the tourists. I was totally stunned and asked my parents what this is about. I don't have the impression that people in wheelchairs, for example, still need to "hide" nowadays, but I totally agree about poor accessibility, especially on railway stations in small towns. Some have neither escalators nor elevators, and I have to carry my 20 kg suitcase up the stairs which is not fun. The worst was in Belgium where the whole platform was under construction, and that heavy suitcase needed to be carried up a VERY high stair. And nobody helps, and people in charge simply don't care.
@@dux_bellorum For economic reasons. Facilities for the disabled cost money. It's cheaper to build without it. Out of laziness? You have to think about HOW to do it. I wrote further that I met people who protested against facilities for the disabled. Theoretically for economic reasons -- that it is not worth it. Of course, I don't sympathize with this, but you might be surprised how many people have this attitude.
@@PKowalski2009 Everyone who thinks this way needs to be constantly reminded that almost all of us only get to be temporarily abled-bodied, and that the vast majority of us will not live our entire lives without acquiring some form of disability before it's over. Every time someone with attitudes like this ends up isolated in an nursing home as through geezerdom or earlier acquisition of a disability, they've merely brought karma upon themselves.
Thanks for this rare comparative overview of a very complex topic! As a father in a family living with some severe disabilities in Germany, I can say the discrepancy between paper laws and lived reality is stark. Some things have improved, but more often than not, it is a real struggle to enforce rights. A struggle for which we often just lack the time and the energy because.... living in a society full of barriers takes up so much time and energy. But mostly, it is a simple lack of awareness that slows Germany (and surely many countries) down. Hence: thanks for this video 🎉
I can only hope that the message in your comment and the visibility of this video helps to improve your quality of life and accessibility opportunities. Thank you so very much for the support ❤️❤️
sidenote: 2:55 the funny thing is: these tiny elevators were'nt even built by the Deutsche Bahn. They were built by the VAG to provide access to the tram bridge, not to change platform. Since a few years they get replaced by much larger ones one by another while the Deutsche Bahn is planing to build new elevators in the northern part of the station as well as modernising the platforms starting in late 2026.
That's interesting because even the "out order" signs posted up on the tram bridge (not the platform) have Deutsche Bahn's Logo on them. I guess they figured the VAG's "solution" was good enough for them to do nothing up until now (or well, late 2026).
I'm an American living in Mexico. Mexico isn't even accessible for able-bodied people. I'm 5'2" and 115 lbs. It is very common for me to BARELY fit down an aisle at a store or into a bathroom. The sidewalks have random drop offs, huge holes, trees or posts in the middle of them, etc. There are also lots of businesses that are on the 2nd floor, with the only way to get there being a very steep staircase. I've even seen unaccessible medical facilities.
Great video. I have mobility problems, but I don't use a chair. Steps are a killer for me. Here in London, we have some great accessible spaces and services, but the thing that gets me most Is when they're not maintained. A lift can be out of order for days with little thought, which can affect my ability to get into my office amongst other things. I sometimes think everyone should be made to spend a week in a chair in their local area just to experience all those things they never consider important.
It deserves so much more attention. For stations: I think accessibility guidelines by now should feature escalators AND elevators as a default, because stairs are so hard for so many people. Escalators help a lot - if you sprain your ankle, you have heart problems, carry a large pack (or bikes), several people with mobility aids can use them - and it keeps the elevators from being overcrowded as their capacity is limited. Elevators only are not a solution. And I like the setup in some Swiss stations where there is also a common ramp as well. So even with a large power failure, there are still options. (But also, maintain the escalators and elevators, get spare parts, design them better, do something because when they fail for months on end, that's not an acceptable outcome, period.)
Agreed. One grandchild in Finland suddenly ended up wheelchair bound by their 17th birthday. While Finland does pretty well on many things it can do better.
Although I agree on many points made in this video, I'm not so sure the US has done a better job. The public and private places are probably more accessible, but from what I get from some friends in the US, getting there in the first place is the issue. Hope we as humans will improve on including everyone, but I'm not sure that is the way the politics are working out in the world right now.
I think the main problem is simply awareness. Unless they personally know someone who is disabled, the average shop owner probably doesn't consider if their store is accessible. Educating the general public would probably go a long way (though I'd still prefer if shop owners were legally required to make their stores accessible). This truly is the most baffling form of discrimination, precisely because most people will require accessibility at some point in their lives - not just when they're old or after an accident; every parent of a small child would benefit from more accessible spaces
If their shop it’s known to be inaccessible, people will just to go to a shop that is,go to a shopping mall or order online. In this way big companies usually do a better job, now with the tourism boom most probably don’t have much to complain about, but before it they all were complaining ,that were going out of business and that they couldn’t compete with shopping malls and chain stores ect
I live in North Rhein Westphalen and here the toilets in the restaurants are so inaccessible. Almost every time it is located in the basement. I am a mom with a baby and I can’t take my baby to the toilet with me if I am using a stroller.
Accessibility in the USA? You. Need. Car. If you don't have a car, or can't drive... You're dependent. What's the point of ADA, if you need someone to drive you to any damn f-in place?
Because there's still the importance of making the places one drives to in the USA (as well even the crappiest bus-only transit systems) accessible too? People with disabilities that can't drive still can be passengers in cars - and the existence of hand controls ensures that many with paralyzed or otherwise impaired legs can drive too. Also, before the ADA, the handful of cities with urban rail systems had very little accessibility in vehicles and stations. Thanks to the ADA, nowadays NYC remains as the only city that doesn't have a majority of its rail stations accessible in 2024. Even the other cities with legacy rail systems are well on their way to fixing this problem.
Wow, ich habe wieder eine neue Perspektive kennen gelernt mit der ich die Welt betrachten kann. Vielen Dank. Wow, I got to know a new perspective with which I can look at the world. Thank you very much.
Great video. I looked at some stats and according to all ratings I found Germany ranked higher than USA - my best guess is that lacking/poor public transport in the US is a large part of the reason? As a Swede I found it's rating interesting.. because it jumped around a lot. I'm guessing that these surveys take different aspects into account and many countries may be good in some areas but sadly lacking in others. For example I think Sweden ranks pretty high on access to public transport and official buildings and museums but a lot lower on access to private shops and businesses.. but that's just based on my experiences and I don't have a physical disability, so I could be way off.
Yes, it most probably comes from different kinds of accessibility for different kinds of disabilities. Europe is probably rated much higher on anything related to visual or cognitive impairment. Simply because having walkable cities with sidewalks, public transit, and much denser cities, really help on that front. It's the physical accessibility related to mobility aids, etc., in Europe that is rated much lower than the US. In the US, people using wheelchairs or walkers have better access to buildings, shops, etc. Europe is quite far behind on these issues. But to get from one's home to said building, if you cannot drive and aren't accompanied by someone who can, then the building's accessibility becomes irrelevant because you simply can't reach it. It's the other way around in Europe : there's much much much more public transportation, far from being fully accessible but it has improved a lot, and people with physical mobility issues or visual or cognitive impairment can more easily move around without a car. I've recently had a couple visits in Rennes, France, where public transportation accessibility is pretty great. So much that I saw some athletes from the Paralympic Team NL that were staying and training there before the Paralympic games. They were riding the small but fantastic metro network of this city (2 fully automated lines that cover a great deal of the city and excellent connectivity with bus and BRT lines). There were also several people with different kinds of visible disabilities and mobility aids (crutch, wheelchair, walker, scooter) riding this metro system and connecting with buses. Much more than I had ever seen in the Paris transit system. There were also many mothers and fathers with strollers happily riding the metro. A city like Paris, as said in the video, still isn't great on physical accessibility despite massive improvements. But for people with visual, auditory, or cognitive impairment, it's much better on accessibility. There's specific equipment for auditory aids on metro ticket machines, tactile or braille ramps and rails for the visually impaired, etc. People with visual disabilities are a common sight (no pun intended) in the Paris transportation system. One great thing about public transportation accessibility : the Olympics and Paralympics really boosted accessibility in Paris, and the region's and transit authority president recently announced that she clearly supports adapting the entire historical metro for full accessibility, which is a first. Before, she used to say that it would be too expensive and too complicated to adapt all 15 historical lines and that only new extensions would be accessible. This complete and very vocal 180 on the subject really is a great surprise. Though, we've yet to see this implemented in the foreseeable future. Will it be an empty promise? We'll see.
Yeah I'm totally with you on this. I loved living in Germany as a kid but when I visited in 2015 with a friend from the UK who uses a wheelchair, I realised all my German friends live in apartment buildings that don't have lifts or single family homes where the ground floor is actually like a kind of floor 0.5 that you have to climb stairs to get into. In the UK, we have this in pre-war apartment buildings and old town areas in hilly seaside towns but in Germany, this was even the case in modern buildings from the 60s. This is probably why I have disabled friends in the UK, but not in Germany. Where are they supposed to make friends if they can't get inside anywhere? Even my school in Germany had no wheelchair users at all, despite having a lift. It's as if they live in a completely parallel society. All this was embarrassing after telling my friend about how much I loved living in Germany and I imagine life can get a bit lonely if you can't even get into your friends houses. We also saw a record store in Essen (Andrä) that has a silly ramp with built-in steps to get into the shop on the ground floor and most of the shop was on basement level with no lift. I think in the UK, they introduced a law in the early 00's that made it illegal to commercially use spaces that didn't have step free access and shops had to either install a lift or only use the ground floor. I thought it was an EU incentive so I'm surprised Germany hasn't also done that. I do find local rail in German cities is a lot more accessible than in London, where only about half the stations have lifts as the underground network opened its first line in 1863 and at many of the stations that did have lifts, they drilled through the lift shaft at 45° when the escalator was invented. In Essen, I think they've now installed lifts in almost all of the underground stations and many of the regional trains have built-in ramps that pop out the side of the train at every single door so you don't have to ask platform staff to go and fetch a ramp, which you almost always have to do in the UK. Essen did still have a lot of high-floor trams with fold out steps in 2015, which I believe have now thankfully been replaced with low-floor trams but strangers on the platform were often willing to help my friend climb those steps while I carried his wheelchair.
@@lazrseagull54 Most apartment buildings in Germany have elevators in Germany. But not in old towns. In the building where I live, there are 3 floors and 6 apartments, without an elevator but with a stair lift, as most of them are for senior citizens.
Finland has a decent situation, as every apartment is made accessable by default (and even when renting, the landlord will remodel according to needs). But the public transportation, especially trains, can be tricky. If a long-distance train is cancelled, you will need to take the bus instead. If you cannot access it...the that's that. And since there is quite a lot of older trains still in use in the cities, those are inaccessable for both wheelchairs and strollers (insanely high steps!). I have no idea why they still use them.
So much accessible design ends up helping so many other people than intended. Ramps allow Deaf people to continue their conversation signing as they navigate elevation changes. A visit to Gallaudet University’s building designed for full functionality for D/deaf folks is also accessible to chair users, the visually impaired, claustrophobic people, and even many folks with PTSD. It’s refreshing to see how freeing accessible spaces can be. It’s a shame these principles aren’t the societal default yet.
Accessible design is great for all. Especially ramps or less steps. This is easier for bike users, people pushing strollers or small shopping carts, people using walkers, canes, crutches or wheelchairs. Old and young. Also, everyone benefits from a less cramped bathroom. In many cases having a larger single toilet space makes it easier for parents with young kids, people with Mobility needs, people who require assistance, etc. It also is more inclusive for people who have different gender identities. Seriously, if a restaurant had two bathrooms one for men and one for women that are sub divided into two tiny stalls, it is less convenient and accessible if they just had two private single toilet bathrooms that could be used by whomever. If they are built as a single toilet room who cares if it is labeled for men or women.
Gender separated toilets are basically a safety design, to restrict opportune access to you when isolated and exposed. And when accessible along a corridor, the women's bathroom is usually past the men's so that there's an observable dead zone in the corridor to discourage being followed. We don't double up on infrastructure for fun.
As an able blue collar working guy, ramps are very good for me, because on occasion, I have to move large and heavy things and equipment into and out of buildings and ramps are a lifesaver. Here in the US, there are a lot of places that don't have sidewalks, so if you are in a wheelchair , or have a stroller, or use a walker, or just walking, or going for a jog, it's just dangerous to walk along the side of the road as cars drive by. The world needs to do much better than this. Fixing these deficiencies will make everyone's lives better.
My late husband was in a wheelchair and it was a struggle to go out, because of accessibility. Things in Germany at least are better than they were 25 years ago, but as we say: Es gibt Luft nach oben ( there is enough air above) , while public tranportation is better niw, not all trains andxzrain stations are accessible. I don't let me begin with restaurant visits: even if the restaurants are accessible, the toilets aren't, sad to say that a fast food chain is better at this than a normal restaurants. Appartments are still built without having accesibility most of the time. And the list can go for ever.
I am delighted that as a wheelchair user, my home city, Den Haag is reasonably accessible. As a younger woman 30 years ago I had to push my friends wheelchair around in Leicester, England. That was not fun. I still recall vividly that she wanted to go to her bank, and the bank listed itself as disabled accessible. Yet when we got there the accessible door was up 3 large stone steps. Things have gotten better, and as I say Den Haag is great, mostly. But there are still too many places that don't think. Trams in Den Haag are accessible, unless you need lines 1, 6, or 12. Busses are totally NOT accessible. So whenever I come across an issue I post a review on google saying so. But perhaps if we could all get together we could do more.
The point regarding the elevators at (German) train stations is so true. I am not disabled , but I sometimes travel with amounts of luggage that make it hard to do without an elevator. I even went to Rock am Ring with train and bus last year. I have never seen a platform with more than one elevator. It feels like an audacity that there is only one for all the groups needing it to share. It takes ages even if it works. It is one of the aspects that certainly makes travelling by train hardly accessible, but is really so bad that it does that for many without disabilities, too.
Lack of elevators was one of the first thing I noticed when I moved to Germany. Not (just) in railway stations, but office buildings, appartment buildings, multi-story stores...
Sure, and priorities are also rarely respected by the people using elevators. In France, but I guess it's the same in Germany or elsewhere, there are stickers and signs clearly stating that persons with disabilities and permanent or temporary mobility issues have priority to use elevators. But in reality, I've rarely seen people letting me ride first when there's a queue, whether it was in France, Germany, Belgium, or elsewhere. I've missed trains for this reason, because people with luggage didn't let me ride first and forced me to wait in the queue for several elevator rides back and forth. Given my slow pace walking with a crutch, I could have used the elevator first, and yet they'd have reached the train before me, but we would all have been able to board... Instead, having to wait for the elevator just adds to the slow walking pace and makes train connection very difficult.
I'm curious, how could USA be better at this when you are dependent on cars for mostly everything? Ok, maybe the buildings are up to standard, but if you can't get there?
It's a double edged sword. One could also argue that the fact that the US is so car dependent is also an asset depending on your needs. One of the critiques of walkable city centers like we have in Freiburg is that there aren't enough accessible parking spaces in close proximity to where people want to go (they really need to add more). Asking people to park in garages and walk is great for many, many reasons (and I love them!) - but it also makes life much more difficult if you experience mobility problems.
@@TypeAshtonMobility problems are very far from being the sole disability faced by people. How does the USA score at providing access for people who, through no fault of their own, are unable to/prohibited from driving? Is there, for example, useful, accessible public transport, safe, traffic-free pathways beside roads to walk on, and currency where the differing values of notes and coins are easy to identify visually (colour) or by touch (size, weight, shape, tactile markings). Is it usual to have dropped kerbs at crossing points marked by tactile paving? Do controlled crossings offer audible as well as visual information?
The USA might be better at integration in society and workforce because even among migrants they are good with that but I’m not convinced they have better access if they don’t drive even if they drive is because besides nyc most buildings are sparce , remember building in the USA on average are bigger than Europe. In my European country we have requirements for disabled parking and in recent years they have increased the number of them idk if it’s a recent law, most recent and a few old buildings have wheelchairs accessible although we still need to improve, most new buildings also have elevators although I think we need to impose bigger one because I don’t think some wheelchairs fits in some of them, besides religious buildings most in city centers are small and cramped af so it’s almost impossible to retrofit without tearing them down no matter what people say, sidewalks aren’t just a problem for disabled but even normal people complain because they are neglected in a lot of places and in other cars park in them, decades ago they have white “braille” things on crosswalks and a lot of have sound to warn when to cross, every euro note and coins have disabilities feature by touch ect We have a lot to improve and I mean a lot especially with a growing aging population but I’m not convinced the usa does it that much better,it’s just different problems. In the USA they even have restrictions on much money they can have in the bank or they cut their benefits,here in Europe we don’t or the limit is 30x larger, people with disabilities can get a better loan term for buying housing although most don’t earn enough but it’s something, if you want a new car you don’t pay vat ect, you can require new disability “aid” although it depends a lot on the percentage of the disabilities and to be sincere the system is quite in shumbles since the pandemic. I saw a “tiny” dude (idk the correct term because of usa politic correction) on yt shorts in a lift up truck 😂that i can say with 100% certain I would never see that in Europe.
@@TypeAshton I see your point, but if people depend on cars and someone has a disability I think in many cases this will prevent them from using a normal car on their own and here I'm referring to people in wheelchairs. They would need someone to drive them or a special car. And in Germany in most cases they take can the bus or the train. I know that there train stations with bad design, but I guess most of them are fine. But I'm also aware that as an able person I don't take notice at the difficulties people with mobility disabilities could have with the German system / infrastructure
I did my European traveling years ago when I was physically able to climb stairs and navigate uneven and narrow spaces. But now I'm 85 and wouldn't be able to visit as many places there easily. I've warned my friends to explore Europe while they're younger! A physical disability can affect any of us as we age.
Challenges are an individual thing, but disability is a social construct, created and maintained by public/political decisions. I, personally, only have to wear glasses/contacts/contacts _and_ glasses to participate in everyday life, but when I got a knee injury, then a baby, I found out just how limiting all those stairs, steps, narrow streets... can be. Also, how wrong it feels for a guy to have to get into the women's bathroom to change your baby daughter's nappies, btw. When there's a ramp, I rarely use the stairs these days -and on not-so-bad days, I don't feel my knee at all unless I try to run. Plus, wider doorways make me feel less constrained -and I'm pretty slim and rather short, nimble on my feet when walking not running. Not to mention the sense of security against fire a wider doorway brings with it. It's time to adopt the ADA or something like it here in Europe.
The ADA has done wonders for many of our public and semi-public spaces in the US, but I was surprised that you didn't at least briefly bring up how isolating the US largely is for anyone who cannot drive. Anyone with a disability is significantly more likely to be included in the non-driving population. How isolating being stranded and reliant on rides, public transit, etc. can be as a non-driver is frustrating for anyone physically unable to or who is priced out of driving. Additionally, my anecdotal experience is that public walking facilities (sidewalks, crosswalks, etc.) are far less likely to be up to current ADA code than private and government buildings with the amount of old and outdated infrastructure that exists in much of the US. Many of the maintenance problems you found in Germany, such as the elevators mirrors my experience living in the San Francisco Bay Area with the public transit elevators there as well...they were always broken in several places throughout the system at any one time. Even in the US, many ADA accomodations are added, but as an afterthought by architects, business owners, planners, engineers, etc. As someone in the architecture and planning realm, we all need to do better incorporating accessibility early in the design stage, rather than applied at the end of the design process. Too often, in both the US and Europe, able-bodied professionals and the organizations building the facilities seem to see accessibility requirements as an inconvenience/cost rather than a necessity. That is not to say that I am not surprised to realize how weak accessibility requirements and accommodations have been in the EU up to this point, but in many ways the US can be as, if not more, isolating for people with disabilities as the EU, albeit for different reasons.
It's a double edged sword. The lack of public transit in the USA is an issue and one that Dylan talked about in his section of the video. Public transit like we have in Germany is one of the main reasons why he wants to move here because it gives so much autonomy, particularly for those who cannot drive. However, it isn't a perfect solution all of the time. Being car-centric is advantageous for those in power wheelchairs or with reduced mobility can also be an advantage because you can pull up and parking a handicap parking spot to nearly any establishment you wish (pharmacy, restaurant, etc.). However, many cities like where I live in Freiburg have opted for a pedestrian only city center. You park in one of the garages on the ring road and then walk into the city center (or take one of two tram lines that cross through it). Don't get me wrong, it is awesome for a NUMBER of reasons. But there are very, very limited parking options even for those with a disability plaque (and they are often not friendly for vans with side entry ramps such as for electric wheelchairs). And even if you do take the tram you might still have a long, long walk to your final destination.
Great video. First, nowadays there is no excuse not to design it without accessibility in mind. You showed some neat examples how this can be achieved even in old buildings. A lot of people bash on Regulations in general, overcomplicating things, but some are necessary to nudge shop owners. A lot of them think they can make enough profit without these minority groups. But anybody can fall into that category. I wonder why the US are ahead in this? Is it of Veterans Affairs. I learned from a person in a wheelchair that’s easy to rent a car with a hand shift device. It’s like having children chairs in restaurants, you simply provide one.
I think the biggest "win" is that the ADA in the US is hard law and the people have the ability to sue when they aren't given "reasonable" accommodations. This doesn't mean that every building is 100 percent accessible, but shop owners are legally obligated to do the best they can.
April 11, 2023 I broke my right ankle. Spent four months with my foot up in the air, and needing every single ADA building accommodation. Five operations and over a year later I am limping my way to getting better (July 2024). It really drove home for me the point(s) you made in this video. Also resulted in canceling travel to Europe. Still not sure I am ready to walk on cobblestones, let alone deal with lack of accessibility. Thank you so much for your videos and excellent research that goes into each one.
Ashton! My family just traveled to Montreal this past week. I had noted several universal design elements to my husband as we walked around the city. I also noticed that the currency has tactile bumps (not braille) for recognizing the value of different paper money ❤ how cool is that?!
The big problem is that people without disabilities (generally spoken) lack "sight". They look at their environment, they see what's important for them but they don't see the problems for people with disabilities. A step at the entrance is nothing to young able persons, it is an inconvenience for people using a walking aid, and it can be the denial of entrance for a wheelchair user. If you don't see the problem you don't look for solutions to get rid of it. There should be a mandate for participation of disabled persons when planning public buildings and buildings with customer traffic, imho. Don't get me wrong, I include myself in the group of ignorant people. I didn't look out for such barriers until my husband landed in a wheelchair and I still feel embarrassed because of it. But the moment you have a disability or you're in close contact with a person with a disability you start to see the shortcomings of your surroundings. From ramps that are too steep, too narrow, and/or too "angly" (sharp and narrow corners) to move comfortably with a wheelchair, over elevators that may fit a slim sports wheelchair for a 100lb kid but is too narrow to fit in an electric wheelchair for 250lb man. Or even more ridiculous: The elevator is big enough for the electric wheelchair but the doors of said elevator don't open up enough to get in/out. All this happened to my husband in our village in Germany and the big city nearby. And it devastates you piece by piece. You don't go out as often because you're limited to specific places and it's such a hustle to even get there. Then there are the majority of traffic lights that are not equipped with sound signals for visually impaired people and there are still pedestrian crossings that are not wheelchair proof (even a curb of 1cm can be a barrier). Accessibility is an afterthought. My husband was always politically active and was a member of our village's "Bauausschuss" (building committee) for about 10 years (1990s to 2000s - before he was a wheelchair user). Here's just one story of many. The indoor/outdoor pools in our area belong to the county. We have one at the border of our village to the next one. The county as owner wanted to remodel the sauna and entrance areas as the gate machines were ending their life cycles. They hired an architect to work out the necessary changes and the new look. They presented this to an assembly of both the village councils and certain committees with a slide show and plans to examine, all in all about 100 people from the two villages. Everything looked pretty awesome - until my husband asked where they put the wheelchair ramp or elevator to reach the entrance (12 steps high). They didn't! The whole construction had to be revamped. And some things are pretty stupid, too. The courthouse in our big city is protected (Denkmalschutz) and because of the protected status, the administration didn't allow the construction of a ramp (while there was more than enough space for the ramp and to cover it up with hedges) and it forced the city to install an elevator that can be used either by a special key (Euro-key for 30+ Euro) or by alerting the staff. Plus, the mailbox for the court is on the upper level. After hours without a key - unreachable. The elevator to the S-Bahn station in the big city was broken for months, working for a few days and broken again for more than a year - and often were the escalators too. Reliability is something else.
Even if you have two healthy legs: Try to walk from A to B in the US. As long as you don't use a car, accessibility in the US is far far far far far worse than in Europe. And even then, it's not better with all the long ways. "Old cities" - what a shitty framing.
I had the same impression. Either frogger across a six lane road or walk half a mile to a traffic light and walk back on the other side. All in the Texas heat. A wheelchair user with a car has it better than a pedestrian.
While this is true it’s a separate issue from addressing disabled people accessible. If you think about it, disabled people, like the pedestrians you cite, without cars, are affected as well.
@@barryhaley7430 I agree, but the thing is, that if you just don't build pedestrian infrastructure at all, you can very easily evade the ADA for outdoor spaces.
@@woodywoodverchecker The purpose of the ADA is to avoid discrimination against disabled people. You are not avoiding the ADA when you don’t build any infrastructure at all. There’s no ADA requirement to be met because there isn’t any infrastructure.
@@barryhaley7430 The question is, whether that piece of infrastructure would exist otherwise. It's a race to the bottom if you comply with the ADA by just taking everything away that could be discriminating. Imagine a smaller train stop that's not wheelchair accessible and closing it down is cheaper than adding an elevator. Great, no discrimination anymore, but everyone now has to walk further. That includes disabled people who can climb stairs, but not walk very far, like a lot of elderly people.
Hello, at first, thank you for raising awareness about the (in)accessibility in Europe. I'm a wheelchair user from Slovakia and what I often see is that I find European people with disability more creative when it comes to overcome barriers. They're used to the situation in their area so they know, that if there is a problem, they take someone with them, who is gonna help them. Or, if they're able to solve any issue on their own, they do what they can. (ofc if there is a bunch of stairs, obviously it's not possible for them to use it on their own) But what I see (mostly online on various accessibility groups on social medias), is that people from North America (I'll refer to them as Americans for this purpose) just see something that is not 100% accessible and just complain about it and refuse to use it. No matter that it's, let's say 80% accessible with a little help. If it's not 100% compatible with ADA (Accessibility for Disabled Act, I suppose) standards, they just complain and are so stubborn to not use it that seems almost ridiculous to me. For example, let's talk about the situation in the beginning of this video, describing the train station in Freiburg: Except of elevators out of order, I find the functionality of that station perfectly ok. Is there elevator? Yes. Can I get from point A to point B, if the elevator is working? Yes. No need to complain. European will use it with no further questions. Yet, some people from America, used to very high standards regarding accessibility, will complain anyway. I mean, I get that but it also seems ridiculous to me. The functionality is what matter the most to me.
Disability laws in Germany actually go back all the way to the foundation of the country after WW2. But... it was always easy to get out of compliance by paying a fee. In fact, the government made a pretty penny from that. So there was an incentive to look the other way, rather than enforcing the laws and regulations.
"No matter that it's, let's say 80% accessible with a little help" And what does that matter if no one is available to give that person help when said person needs it? Not everyone has the ability to "take someone with them," and as a wheelchair user with paraplegia myself, sometimes I just want to travel somewhere by myself without having to be burdened with the wants and needs of other folks while there (or on the way) - especially if that person himself (or herself) isn't enthused about going where I want to. How often do you personally need or use public transport? Btw "taking someone with you" is a complete non-option when the reason for travel is a regular commute to one's job. Such circumstances would make it extremely difficult to hold down that job if WFH was a non-option and one needed a helper daily, which would become a job in and of itself. What about wheelchair users who might need an elevator in that Freiburg station regularly working in order to keep their job?
P.S. A big reason for militant insistence on 100% ADA compliance - I've often dealt with employees being rude (rooted in a fear of litigation if someone gets hurt) when I want to use a non-ADA compliant method of using a transport facility or vehicle, be it faster, or if it is my only way of accessing a transport facility (e.g. taking the escalator when the elevator is non-existent or out of service, and no accessible station on that same route is within 1 km of it). Without full compliance, being given what should be a basic human right to use the facility is often not permitted. "Except of elevators out of order, I find the functionality of that station perfectly ok" If the elevator is out for months at a time without an adequate alternative - speaking as someone who dealt with this very same problem with the nearest metro station in my hometown when I still lived with my parents (Chicago - Orange Line, Pułaski station) - its functionality is NOT ok. I cannot comprehend how you could possibly feel otherwise.
It’s the one thing that the US does really well. Even when you’re not disabled, you can appreciate all of the wheelchair accessible places when you’re pushing a stroller around. I always notice the stark difference when I’m in Europe, because I like to travel with a carry-on suitcase. While not having access to an elevator or escalator with a carry-on is an inconvenience, I always wonder what does a person with a disability do in a situation like this. It’s nonsense that Europe is too old to make these changes. They’ve managed to put the majority of the ugly electrical lines underground (which the US is doing a very poor job at). If Europe can do that, then they can make areas more accessible for the disabled.
Living in the Netherlands since 200 8and previously in Poland, I received a kick when experiencing the blissful flatness of the terrain, encountering many innovations unavailable in my country of birth at that time, including ease of access (when at certain times of our lives we do not have access everywhere). I appreciate this country for its oceanic climate (which supposedly is healthy), but more so for changing my perspective on the world and its desire to bring out the happiness in people during times of loneliness and alienation. Greenery and diversity neutralize non-functional aspects. This country may not only be the best for children (even at age 40, I still feel that way), but also for people with disabilities in a broad sense. They are treated like full members of society and a large amount of social capital and empathy is devoted to them too.
A very interesting and important topic. I remember giving a hand to carry an electric wheelchair up a narrow staircase to a music club. That was a hell of a job. 4-5 guys where involved to get the job done. It's a mirror of society how well disabled people are integrated into it. Giving a hand with a stroller to get into the tram, pushing an elderly in a wheelchair up a slight incline, walking a few steps into a brighter area with someone who has poor eyesight in the dark, that's all easy tasks to help we all can do.
Thank you for being the guy to give a hand to get a stroller on the Tram. One time I went for my monthly shopping in Germany from Switzerland. Coming home one stop where I had to get on from street level. I kept getting the back wheel stuck on the Tram because I'm short. I couldn't lift the stroller high enough to clear the wheels because the stroller was to heavy with all the stuff I bought, and I was a brand new mom who didn't know how to get around with a stroller yet. People just looked at me getting in even though I asked for help. It was a woman in her 80s who got up to help me. She didn't help much. People only jumped into action when the Tram doors were closing.
Hi Ashton, you can't imagine how many times I missed trains because of the layout of Freiburg Hbf. My daughter uses a wheelchair. But there are even train stations that are far worse! Imagine, Basel Bad Bhf doesn't have ANY elevators or ramps!
Thank you for this great video. Many people do not realize how different it might be just living with disabilities. In Germany for example, if you want to use the trains for long distances, like the Intercity (IC) or Intercity Express (ICE), you actually must register the whole route at the Deutsche Bahn with their mobility service (Mobilitätszentrale) at least 24 hours in advance and they need to check if there will be accessibility, informing the train personnel about you. With train lifts often not working or personnel which never used this or was trained with it, things get really complicated, even without disruptions on your train ride. There are no spontaneous rides with the long distance trains, if you are in a wheelchair. Sometimes the ride is registered, but there is nobody to help you, although you registered your ride there. Or the whole train is delayed or has to chnge the platform, and you hardly get off there. Also the trains are not designed for wheelchairs, small passages, not many wheelchair places with enough space, and even there, people will leave their luggage there. Better hope the toilet works there, too.
As on of the contributors to this (I'm the architect) its really good to see the debate that this has started. To add to my comments during the video, Id like to note that in my working life (I started out in the mid 80's) the improvements since that time to regulations etc.. have made things measurably and significantly better, at least in terms of buildings and infrastructure. For non-domestic buildings in Scotland this means accessible parking and access into and through buildings. What this means are suitably wide doors throughout the building, level or ramped entries, and elevators. Suitably placed facilities including WC;s and parking. There needs to be contrasting colours around key areas (such as doors or the top of stairs). Accessible controls for lighting etc. These are pretty much mandatory in all new buildings. Domestic buildings need to have level access, a WC (with a shower option) and the ability for one room to be converted to a bedroom. This didn't really happen pre 1990. One of the big differences was a change from the concept of a disability space to an accessible space. What I mean by that is that spaces are now designed to be able to be used by everyone, irrespective of their ability level. So for example, a WC that is meant for a wheelchair user can also be used by a person who does not need a wheelchair, and the whole spectrum between those two ends. Its far from perfect, and old buildings and cities are hard to adapt. Inevitably there is a trade off, and some things aren't fully accessible. Sometimes its aesthetics, but more usually its a simple trade-off in terms of money and what's technically possible. UK legislation is full of the word "reasonable", but what is reasonable is a very wide interpretation One project we had was to make a community building more accessible and it involved either a ramp which looked like a queuing system for a theme park ride or an elevator. We went with the elevator, but had we went with the ramp that would have qualified under the term "reasonable". For myself, what's "reasonable" is the actual focus of the debate.
An example from where I live, which is near Aachen: We have a railway station, the platforms can be reached by an elevator. You reach the tunnel with those elevator from the front the station, where you also find the short term parking. And there’s a park&ride parking house in the road on the back of the station. It even has handicapped parking. BUT: you can only leave that facility by stairs. And the only way to reach the elevators is going down a steep staircase with about 20 steps. There’s no direct connection between the road in Theban’s and the one in front of the station. So for me as someone who needs a Rollator it’s impossible to park there.
I'm not sure what is more mind blowing, the stairs themselves or the fact that the architect, engineers, city planning office who approved the plans, and/or Deutsche Bahn officials (basically anyone who came into contact with the drawings) didn't notice the issue and correct it.
I noticed this in EU (Spain, Portugal,France,Germany, Austria, Belgium) places I have visited. Taking public transportation with my carry on luggage I was glad I was quite fit as many times in the Metro system there were no elevators and sometimes escalators were stopped. Lots of stairs,no elevators while hauling luggage up and down. If I begin to lose mobility as I age this will impact what public transport I choose when travelling in the cities. I know due to the much older architecture in EU there are many design challenges in accommodating those with disabilities, but in this respect some NA cities really have done a good job.
Agreed... and often times, fixing the infrastructure that is existing to aid with those with reduced mobility isn't prioritized when it breaks down. I don't want to give too much away before the video airs, but in one example which I filmed, the *only* elevator at my local train station to get on/off the platform and into the city has been broken since February.... and isn't scheduled to be fixed until August 2024. Your only option if you can't take the stairs is to call a phone number with Deutsche Bahn and make an appointment to have an aid carry you. There is no ramp. There is no one after hours/late nights. And this has been this way for 5 months now, with 2 more to go.
Dear Ashton, I am disabeld....but I ca n still use Stairs I need crutches to walk. So II noticed that the elevators in the U-- Bahn has a QR Code and Telefon Number there is a pictogram with a van so if you are stuck infront of a nun working Elevator there is a service to help you. That is the BVG. ( I will find out ) I have a girlfriend that trys to travel with buses. But you can see on your Smartphone wich elevators are not working.....greetings Christiane Berlin Germany 😊😊
Your comment is very general and inaccurate. While it is true that there is a problem, as Ashton demonstrated, it is not in every country or in every place in each country. It is problematic when very old systems, like London and Paris, but other places in the country are in far better shape. Spain, on the other hand, is one of the most accessible countries and public transport is accessible in very high percentage or up to 100%. Elevators are not always available in all entrances so if you need one just look at the other entrance. In Vienna most trams and almost all U-Bahn are fully accessible. As I said, it's not perfect but it's also not as bad as you tried to make it.
@@TypeAshton Think this is kind of a DB Problem. They generally can't seems to get things built in a reasonable timeframe. or run things reliable. or repair things in a reasonable timeframe. It took Switzerland 16 Jahrs to built the longest rail tunnel in the world, DB now hopes to finish the Karlsruhe-Basel 4 track improvement by 2029 (30 years). Both are part of NEAT, which the countries agreed upon. If it was a parts issues, they couldn't tell, when it will be fixed. And even replacing one completely, shouldn't take more than 3 weeks.
luckily I don't have to use a wheelchair but I'm quite restricted in terms of mobility and stairs without handrails are always a problem. I spent countless hours walking around barriers. the question that pops into my head here in Germany frequently is: why? why did you put stairs there? a ramp would have been cheaper instead of those 2-3 steps and it would have even been more convenient for non disabled people. I think it's not bad intention but the "we've always done it like that" mindset. btw: the main train station in Karlsruhe is worse than Freiburg if you want to get to the tram
I went to Munich for a concert in July, with a friend in a wheelchair. We stayed in Assheim and came by train from The Netherlands. The tickets were booked four months in advance. And DB decided to inform us a week before the journey that they could not organize transfer assistance because our transfer would be at 4am. Before you say “that’s the middle of the night, of course they can’t,” we specifically asked if that was possible. If they had informed us while booking that it’s not possible, we would have booked an earlier or later train. But we were assured that they would definitely be able to organize assistance at that time. So we booked, because it would mean only one transfer to get to Munich hbf. With later or earlier trains, it would mean 2 or 3 transfers. And with a wheelchair, even with assistance, that’s pretty cumbersome. You can’t simply run to make a tight connection. And if the elevator is slow, like it was in Karlsruhe (where our transfer was), it caused some major sweating. Our transfer was supposed to be 50 minutes. But it’s Deutsche Bahn….. Our actual transfer ended up being just 5 minutes. And each elevator took 2 minutes. One to get to the platform, one to get to the underpass. That left just one minute to get off the train, and into the next one, including walking to the elevator. Thankfully the conductor contacted the crew of the other train, and they were waiting for us. From Munich, we had to take the S-Bahn to Feldkirchen. A Tiny station, which is advertised as wheelchair accessible. Which it would have been…. If the elevator had been working. But it was out of order. Calling the DB mobility hotline didn’t help at all. Firstly, they didn’t speak English. I didn’t expect them to, but upon my inquiry if they did, they transferred me 3 times to an “English speaking colleague”, only to disconnect me after the 3rd “transfer.” So I had to call again, and try in my best broken German to explain the situation. Their only solution was to go one station further, to Heimstetten and take the bus from there. The problem however was that our gruppenticket for the weekend wouldn’t be valid to Heimstetten. We would have had to get a more expensive one. Again, not a problem if we had known about this before hand. But I already paid €47 for a ticket valid between Munich itself and Feldkirchen (which is called zone M, so in a way the “local Munich zone”). Heimstetten is one zone over. We would have had to buy a whole nother ticket, at €67 or so. Thankfully, we had an incredible AirBnB host. He came to the station in Heimstetten and picked us up. He even called DB and inquired if the station at Ismaning would be within the right zone (it was). And that station had a better public transport connection to Ashheim, so that was great. All in all, that really made me appreciate all the crap people with disabilities have to go through daily. I only had to experience it for 4 days and was already sick of it. Let alone when you have to deal with it all your life. I fully understand that a lot of buildings are historical, and can’t be made accessible. Or only partly. It’s impossible to make these changes to a building that’s 200/300 years old and very compactly build. But there is absolutely no excuse when designing a completely new building. Or when redesigning a building that was build in the last 50/75 years.
What about volunteer repair people? In the USA, volunteer repairs to public facilities are often illegal or prohibited because of liabilities. Does Europe suffer from the same problem?
Very nice video, but what about accessibility for people with hearing loss? Announcements of train arrivals, departures, delays, etc only via speakers, no written information, tv shows and movies (on public tv) without subtitles, theatre without subtitles, etc...
The issue does not only extend to architecture. Software, for example, is highly inaccessible for disabled people, although great efforts have been made to improve it. It is a question of money and priorities. When it comes to software, for example, we would also come back to the question of money when it comes to security: in a system geared towards competition, you have disadvantages if you do not only provide for the top priorities. (In Germany in particular, you often see the opposite: so many publicly funded projects fail because the core of the project was missed.)
Especially in Germany, the lack of inclusion and the deficient accessibility infrastructure, can't be understood without looking at the eugenics and euthanasia movements in the first half of the last century. People with disabilities are still widely seen as a burden to society, not as full members with equal rights but special needs. That's why accessibility features are perceived as an expensive "on top", not as something essential like windows, doors or heating. We need a change in paradigm: All infrastructure needs to be accessible. The on-top are special features, like shortcuts with stairs, for able-bodied people, which can be added later. Such a shift of paradigm, changes the whole design process.
Austrian here. I feel like I should have made my master thesis about accessibility in vienna. It didn't even occur to me, because I don't need it. Everybody should be aware of this, because it can happen to everybody.
Wow, I was surprised at this. Accessibility is law in Australia for new buildings and for old buildings that have a renovation, and there are still accessibility problems.
We tried using the wheelchair elevator to the Akropolis in the Easter holiday. The phone number for information was no help. The person maybe didn’t speak English? At least they hung up or didn’t answer, when we tried calling. Trying to ask the ticket booth personnel how to access the elevator also didn’t work. They had no idea, had no idea what we were talking about. There were no signs. We ended up giving up.
Ages ago in the US when I was studying interior design, we had a class where we had to adopt a disability for a day, then navigate our normal lives, including all over campus. It was rather eye-opening - I don’t know that any of us had given ever given any thought to the impact of even a broken arm, let alone a more severe and/or permanent disability. That was when the ADA was really beginning to be imple, and once we were in the profession, boy did we ever whine about commercial bathroom remodels, ramps, signage, etc. 40 years later, living in Germany now, I see the difference it made - especially when it comes to restaurant bathrooms down a set of twisty, dark stairs. I’m lucky enough to be fit and in good health despite my age, but I often think about 10 or 20 years from now when might not be the case. Not to mention that sometimes I can’t tell the ladies from the gents due to humorous, but not necessarily clear, signage. Thanks for another fabulous video, on a topic that is so important!
This video hit a bit harder for me than many others you've made. I couldn't agree more with the idea that our environment can be what's "disabled". As an example of this in my own life, my mobility and other symptoms I experience are affected by the heat, so when I lived in southern California, I needed to use a disabled parking permit. However, since moving to a cooler climate, I haven't really needed one. For many people with disabilities, it is the *environment* that determines what challenges and limitations they face, not the disability, itself. The US may be doing a lot better in some ways than much of Europe, but it still has a long way to go (check out the video _Zach Anner & The Quest for a Rainbow Bagel_ as an example). I am so grateful to you for making this video and bringing more attention to this issue!
Here in Nijmegen (NL), the municipality wanted to build a new pedestrian bridge so pedestrians could easily cross between the Waalkade and the VASIM lot, two popular areas with bars, restaurants etc, without having to make a long detour around the port. The proposed new bridge was... NOT wheelchair accessible. According to the city government, the new bridge didn't need to be wheelchair accessible because wheelchair users could "just" take the long way around. Like, seriously? Luckily, some local organisations and political parties made lots of noise, demanding that the bridge be either redesigned to be wheelchair accessible, or not built at all. In the end, the bridge /is/ going to be wheelchair accessible. But it took quite some effort to achieve that, which shouldn't have been necessary in the first place.
There is one more aspect why it should be important to everyone: We are social animals and like to do things and go places with others. If places are not accessible, we exclude people with Handicaps, strollers or the elderly or at least make them feel like they're making life harder for everyone else. And who said that the elderly don't have the drive or need to go out like a 23yo? Maybe it's partially the struggles with the inaccessibilities of their environment?
thank you for this video.en drawing attention to the problems disabled people have with accessibility and inclusion in daily life. me being disabled, i have ms which results in restriction in using my left extremeties, i can still walk (with difficulty) make me experience this regularly. like going to a restaurant after asking if they are accessible and have an accessible bathroom, which they confirmed resulted in me having to go through an obstacle course to get to the perfect disabled bathroom. i could reach the bathroom with great difficulty.when i pointed this out to the staff that because i could walk i could reach the bathroom but would i've been in a wheelchair there was no possibility i could have reached it, they looked at me as if i spoke chinese i had to lead them through the way and point out the problems that they realised they weren't that accessible at all and they thanked me for pointing out the problems. and how frustrating is it that you can take a train and find out you can't leave the platform because the only elevater is broken down or when you need to get to another platform you can leave but can't get to the other platform because that elevator isn't working and you have to ask for assistance and the station employee doesn't want to help until after a heated discussion that almost get you into tears they do the minimum possible with a big sigh. to than find out that on your destination where you need to transfer to a bus, the elevator there is broken too and you have to use a very steep and very fast going escalator. these problems and the reaction of the general public (sorry this is generalisation, many people do care) makes you feel youre a second class citizen not worth the needed effort to accommedate you. also the use of political correctnes that changes your status from disabled to less worth ( one of the 2 meanings of the dutch term 'minder valide' the second is less abled) really affects quality of life (its harder to enjoy going out or travel so you choose to stay home to avoid all the fuss and in doing so missing out on a lot of fun).
I am surprised that there is no equivalent to the ADA here in Europe. I understand that conditions may differ from country, but no overall guidelines? There seems to be an EU rule for everything else and wonder how this has not happened. Where I live, Spain, there is pretty good accessibility to most public places. All buses are equipped with deployable ramps and have areas inside the bus for wheelchairs and strollers. The trams are a bit different by having platforms level with the doors, but still have the same reserved spaces. Intercity trains all have special cars with wheelchair lifts. We even have special taxis that accommodate wheelchairs and are on call throughout the city. There are ramps most places and tactile strips in the sidewalks everywhere. Bathrooms are another matter. Most public bathrooms in bars or restaurants are tiny 2.5m X 2.5m and accessibility is a problem. One thing that may contribute to Spain being more friendly is an organization called ONCE. It was founded in 1938 to provide support and assistance to the blind. It has since started to branch out to people with other disabilities. Their influence can be seen all over the country. Braille, audible announcements on transit and barrier removal is pretty universal here. It helps a lot that they are funded by being able to run their own government sanctioned lottery that has sellers everywhere. Changes are coming, but slowly. My building recently enlarged one of the elevators to accommodate electric wheelchairs and other mobility devices (we already had a ramp in the lobby). It is something that people don't give much thought to, but like the woman who was injured in the auto accident said, it is a group that anyone can suddenly find themselves part of. Great video and a very interesting topic, keep it up.
Ive once spent a week on holiday with someone using a wheelchair, it has really opened my eyes for these issues. Having a ramp to a tunnel underneath a four lane road, and at the end of the tunnel there is three steps and then more ramp to get back up. Sometimes it really feels like they design this wrong on purpose. I was quite angry when I saw this, but the person using the wheelchair shrugged it of as a daily occurence.
Yes, thats the sad truth. I can only repeat like a mantra: accessible solutions are like vegan food - good for everyone. Its often a challenge to get accessibility at work, in companies. Sometimes it helps to tell the bosses that provisions are needed for customers, and then they are available (technically) to employees as well. An example not related to disability, but to matters often overlooked by: in the workers council we advised the employers to provide period products free in all womens toilets. The whish succeded only when we argued that customers might need that as well. The same storyline works with problems regarding to accessibility: customers can also have the demand to have easy to use the environment.
Why is there a comparison between one country and a group of countries? I am sure there is also a country in Europe with a very good way of treating and integrating all disabled people, I think of the Netherlands, as it is done in the US. At least in my smaller town over the last years, every bus station is now available for wheel chair drivery and has this touchable line the blind person talked about. And I saw in the UK at any shop you had to enter through stairs, had a bell, so employees came out to serve. Big chains may have the money to renovate the buildings, but family run businesses barely have that.
Because there's no sollution for that group of countries only "guidelines to do better", where that "one country" the US has done better with their ADA that applies to all states, apparently. If only, they would do better on the other terrains, you might actually reccomend someone living there.
I pointed out to my hairdresser (in the Netherlands) some of the hurdles some of his disabled and senior customers had to make to visit him. He thanked me and implemented some changes to make life easier. He just didn't thought of it and even said he thought het was kind of stupid as many of his customers have trouble entering his shop and he always helps them but that had became such a second nature to him that he didn't think about it.. I myself am disabled and understand that some old buildings due to costs can't be easily changed, I'm okay with that, but lets start with new buildings and put regulations in place. What also is a hurdle is handicap parking. Not one city in the Netherlands has the same rules. Some you can park for free on a handicap spot (sometimes limed to 2 hours), some you have to pay on handicap parking locations, some you can park your car on public parking locations for free, other once you need to pay (parking garages are never free as they are privately owned). Some cities you need to go online and make sure your car is in a local database in you want to park in such a spot (but you don't need to do that for handicap parking spots location). In short, it's confusing, not clear and you can't just drive to a city and park your car.
What really irritates me in germany are tram platforms. BoStraB MANDATES a step into the tram by making it illegal for the platform to be any higher than the entrance. This results in all the brand new "accessible" stations having a 5cm step into the tram. So irritating
and 1 problem you forgot is even if a country is good at providing accessibility options they only work for the most common disabilities that can be seen like mobility impairment and visual impairment. so than you get an app for planning your trip on public transport with a handicap option and it dumps you a 20 minute walk away because that's the wheelchair accessible bus stop, that's very nice if your longs don't carry you that far. or there is a revolving door with a button for wheelchair acces but you can't move or controle your arm far or well enough to push that button. the problem is that common options help a lot of people with a handicap but they will never help all.
It is mostly how permits work and a cost thing. Just like new fire codes. If you pass a new law, there is almost always saying the code is applicable from that time frame and new permits. It means that if you have a building permit, you only have to adjust all elements you need a new permit (like renovation). So if you say well we make the building accessible for wheelchair. You need a new permit. But that means that all "new" regulation is applicable. So you need to be in line with latest fire code, energy code, etc. You cannot only renovate for accessibility. So if your cost is 20 000 euros for accessibility you could say OK, is practical. But then the permits says, you also need to be energy efficient, need extra parking lots (because that standard also changed), fire code, etc, and then you get so a high cost that all work will not be done.
The only city I have ever visited in Europe that was excellent all around for someone traveling with a partner that has mobility issues was Vienna. It was the only city where every station we ever used had WORKING and CLEAN elevators. The Tram stops were designed to be slightly raised from street level. That allowed for a near level entrance. The "step up" to the main entrance was maybe 2" easily accommodated by stroller or rollators. for wheel chair users a platform can slide out for perfect entrance. Every time we took a bus, tram or subway we saw people with strollers making good use for the accommodations. The elevators at the stations were used by young people with strollers, older people that didn't feel stable on an escalator, people with bikes or people using an adaptive device (rollator / wheel chair). Paris probably is the worst. Even the RER train is a nightmare. You can get to the platform by elevator, but the train entrance is 2 feet up from the platform level... who designed that! Very few subway stations have elevators. Busses are really the best way to get around Paris if you can't climb stairs. Americans underestimate the amount of buildings that have been improved thanks the ADA. It's FAR from perfect. Loads could be done to be better. We visited NYC last fall and only around 1/2 the stations have an elevator. At least Google maps has an accessibility search option so it will show what subway stations work and where you need to take surface transportation. Historically the elevators in NYC are nasty. They were not too bad this time. Maybe they have found a better way to hose them down regularly.
I largely agree with you where it comes to public buildings, public transport etc. But the moment it enters the private domain, it should be left to the private individuals. If my Bar or Store is inaccessible, I loose out on the disabled clients, but that should be my choice! If the cost of making my Store accessible is higher than the profit I can make on the disabled, then it's just bad business.
"If the cost of making my Store accessible is higher than the profit I can make on the disabled, then it's just bad business" So it's bad business to treat the value of people solely on the basis of how much money you can make off them? Ok Douchenozzle Attitudes like this are why in the US, the ADA applies not only to public buildings and transport, but also any business with a public accomodation like stores, bars, etc.
In Deutschland ist es auch so, weil es so gewollt ist. Die Bahn empfindet das sogar als vorbildlich. Es gibt z.B nicht ueberall solche kleinen Aufzuege. Oft _muss_ man einfach die umstaendlicheren Treppen nehmen, da nichts anderes verfuegbar ist. Ich habe allerdings auch schon Zuege verpasst, da die Schlange vor dem winzigen Aufzug zu lang war, da einfach zu viele Menschen auf einmal, auch schnell umsteigen mussten.. In gewisser Weise verschlechtert sich dieses Thema Oeffentlicher Verkehr in Deutschland sogar. Alles was irgendwie alternativ zum Auto sein koennte, wird in Deutschland angegriffen und verschlechtert. Alternative und andere Minderheiten werden in Deutschland sowieso benachteiligt. Das hat Tradition in diesem Land.
Oh, just thought about it, in Lausanne (Switzerland) we have an amazing exemple of blind friendly streets, because we have "l'hôpital des aveugles" (a hospital specialised in eye and view treatments, where people come from all over the world). If you want to learn about it I think I can find documentation, don't hesitate to ask!
To me accessibility features are everywhere, often to a very annoying level. But I get that for a disabled person it could be difficult even with running into an obstacle once during a day commute or trip...
Another great video. A few things are missing. First of all, as usual Spain is overlooked, regardless of the subject and especially with this subject as it's one of the most accessible countries in Europe and the European Disability Forum has a pretty good opinion (far from perfect but on the right track). As for private businesses, forcing small businesses to adapt their location is not a viable solution. In this case I believe that the government should encourage them to do so by financial aid in the adaptation process of tax reductions for a specific period. As for the US, it is definitely a very positive and important thing that they did what many other countries don't - making it into an enforceable law but there are two things you've ignored or brushed of a bit. 1. The old building thing is a major different as the US is a young country with very few old buildings and with a tradition of demolishing even recently built building for a new one. 2. As you said, the law mostly expects the citizens to uphold the law which is problematic. 3. The US as a huge mobility and discriminatory problem that affects anyone who does not drive. It's easy to adapt public transport when you hardly have public transport.
33:18 I wonder if this would be still up to code of monument protection because I think this is the main reason so many historic buildings don't get disabled-friendly modifications. It's the same with historic cars. As soon as you replace an original part with a modern one, no matter how "original" it looks, your car loses its historic status and therefore all benefits like being freed from taxes. I'm afraid that's what is holding back so many building owners to modernize.
as a european, who doesn't use a wheelchair but due to other conditions I have, I need elevators and escalators if I want to have a good time, and for the most part in new buildings this is being covered at least in my country. But when it comes to wheelchair access ANYWHERE outside, and the blind lines, it's atrocious and it has to do with ppl's understanding and respect. Im not sure about the law in my country, but I suspect there is something that forces new building having accessibility in multiple levels, because everything that is made nowadays whether public property or private, they are made with accessibility in mind. but the sad truth is, most don't care to make those things correctly and to last. for example I was working on a project for a public building, that had those HUGE ramps running from one side of the building to the other, and they were supposed to be both a wheelchair ramps, AND decorative, but they ended up cutting corners so much so, that the ramps ended up too steep to be safe for wheelchair use. thankfully the building has many elevators too, but that was such a mind blowing lack of care on the architects' part. in my country disabled people used to be hidden, and sadly the culture has not yet grown mentally to accept that disabled people have the right to exist in public. that is most shown with how cars and motorcycles are parked, they block sidewalk ramps, and blind lines. even if the city has upgraded its infrastructure, the people have not upgraded their brains. as for historical buildings, there are always ways as long as people think a little about those issues. and sure might not be fixable in all historical sights, or smaller size buildings but as of now, they dont even try fix those that can be fixed.
Well, here in Germany accessibility definitly is a requirement when building or remodelling public/governmental buildings. But our cities are old. If you have buildings 100-200 years old, ist will take time.
"Our cities are old!" excuse was addressed in this video. Didn't you watch it? It's a BS excuse; buildings get renovated and even lots of new constructions are often horrible in Germany. The video also told about some examples (Britain / Scotland for an example) where accessibility is considered, despite them having as old cities as Germany have.
@@antred11 I dunno. Buildings I've lived in in London usually had a lift if they were built after the war and no lift if they were built before the war but I guess you're correct that this probably wasn't done with wheelchair access in mind, but so that residents don't have to walk all the way upstairs.
@@fl4shi238 Actually, checking for flats to rent in London and Berlin. Berlin i found something like 4383 flat of which 592 where accessible ( listed as: stufenlos). London most agencies didn't even list it as a filter option (or didn't provide the actual number when over 1000). the one which did had 764 out of which where only 76 wheelchair accessible. So i'm not so sure, that germany is actually doing so much worse. But there is surely much potential to improve everywhere.
What angers me is that after WWII, governments did nothing to help the many war veterans get out and about. It didn't matter if you were in the UK, EU, USA or even in Russia, disabled access was ignored for almost two generations. In the US starting in the 70s and depending on which state one lived in, the law mandated equal access and many businesses, public buildings and national/state parks were accommodating. That said, older cities like New York, London, Paris, St. Petersburg, and even Oslo struggled to get disabled access. I know this because I have visited these cities with a pram or had a broken leg. Getting about, especially on public transportation was pure torture with local people not helping me because, I'm going to be blunt here, they don't like people of African descent and will help a European or even Asian mother with a pram before an African or Black mother. Sad but true. I once had a Chanel suit on and needed help with my pram and was ignored! But I digress. I currently reside in Germany, where things didn't improve in Cologne until the Pope visited Cologne in 2006 for World Youth Day. If the year rings a bell, it was also the year FIFA World Cup was held in Germany. Because of these two events, improvement in the rail system came about with all participating cities such as Düsseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Berlin. Had it not been for the Pope and FIFA, I believe Germany would have dragged their heals. Now, most stops have working elevators. The exceptions are those in very rural areas or where there is only service a few times a day. Imagine: if you live rurally, are wheelchair bond, have a pram, or have vision or hearing problems, you have to call in advance to make arrangements to get yourself onto the train. Sometimes, the train stops in the middle of the track to offload a disabled person! It's horrible thing which I have seen often in my life. That's why my head shakes and I get angry because I was also offloaded with an infant in the early 2000s in both Niedersachsen and Thüringen! Now, things are much improved, but it took my lifetime. I'm almost 60 now and spent my child's formative years struggling and begging for help that most passerbys refused to give. What's worse: now Germans themselves are treated with the same disrespect that I felt was only reserved for foreigners. Rude and uncaring people, some with bikes, now take up the disabled/pram/wheelchair seats. These horrible citizens won't move or exit designated spots despite a blind person losing their footing because they are standing and can't see what the driver or traffic is doing to keep their balance. Just horrible situations! I'm not excited about becoming older because I know how society treats its elderly, infirmed and disabled.
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I'm an American and I've lived with a disability my whole life. It's a little surreal to hear the US lauded for the ADA when, in 2024, many neighborhoods don't even have sidewalks, let alone curb cuts for wheelchairs. I think the takeaway here is that every place in every country needs to do better and that disabled people in general are still second class citizens. The fight goes on.
I traveled through Georgia and Florida last autumn. I use a Rollator and was impressed by the accessibility.
I wish every crosswalk would be elevated to the level of the sidewalk (and of course have sidewalks everywhere!). That would be such a simple solution with so many benefits for people with disabilities, people with strollers, and people who have just walked for miles and whose legs are too tired to climb the curb. Not to mention the benefit of slowing down the cars so they don't hit pedestrians. And also not having to go through puddles that accumulate at the crosswalk ramps after the rain.
And a lot of the sidewalks that do exist are falling apart and are no longer accessible due to damage.
And replacing them is only going to get more expensive if people keep parking heavy Amazon trucks on them.
In a lot of Europe there are sidewalks and they're crammed full of parked cars. Even in the Netherlands, which should know better.
you clearly dont know a lot about the world .... "I think the takeaway here is that every place in every country needs to do better " we cover about 80 % of the disability challenges !! and some places you just cant because of the age of the building / street /park ecc ! plz learn about "the world "and "other countries " before writing something that does not make sense or just use "most countries "
The worst part is when elevators at the train station don't work. Sometimes for months. Disabled people can't get to work or visit relatives. Disgusting
Agreed. The elevator in Freiburg as shown in the video has been down since February, and won't be "fixed" until sometime this August. Outrageous.
The train station in my town had rather bad accessibility, with one platform barrier free and the other had a really steep ramp. Then the station was completely rebuilt to be more accessible... But that meant 2 years of no accessibility at all while the construction work was in progress! I saw the construction workers occasionally stop working to help a disabled person or a parent with a pram up or down the stairs.
I realized how much my country France was inaccessible, when I became a mom. Suddenly, I couldnt access the city center via public transport
I found that out when my son was born. even simple things like getting a buggy up a flight of steps become not impossible but add to the challenge of getting about.
Yeah, and when it's "accessible" it is often done as an afterthought. Impractical, slow, distant...
Sometimes non functional and often considered low priority.
The example shown of Freiburg's train station with elevators in maintenance for the whole summer is anything but a rarity.
In Paris, they've made all new stations on M11's extension accessible, and also 2 of the existing stations.
But one of these existing stations, which is quite deep and an important connection hub with the fully accessible circular tramway, has seen its elevator system in maintenance and construction for months. It is only expected to reopen mid September, after something like 6 or 7 months of downtime.
On the other hand, major "crowd flow" equipment like escalators and some elevators in mega hubs like Auber - Haussmann Saint-Lazare or Châtelet les Halles stations are maintained and reopened in hours or minutes.
But when it comes to real accessibility, it seems to be low priority.
I have been told by SNCF or RATP agents that I should always check if escalators and elevators are working before traveling.
And that I should not travel if I can't ensure that such equipment are indeed working, because otherwise I'd put "unnecessary complexity and responsibilities on agents' shoulders that have other things to do"... 😱
As if my mobility had no value or importance whatsoever, and that it was trivial at best.
Most of my experience is in the Netherlands and Utrecht specifically and Belgium and Germany when it comes to "foreign"countries. I am not in a wheelchair myself but I have had the honor to wheel around my wife in the last 15 years of her live. I can say that the Netherlands has made great progress in accesibility for disabled. IS it perfect... heck no. My hometown of Utrecht had it's start in the Roman era. There is but so much you can do.
Many of the buildings in my city are on a monument list, you can't just add things to them. Converting a 200 year old building to be disabled friendly is not easy to do, especially when it needs to be basically "invisible". But, especially with official government/municipality buildings they have done some good modifications.
Everything build new in the Netherlands is build with accesibility in mind. I really noticed that it isn't all that bad in the Netherlands when I visit my neighbors Belgium and Germany. They make progress sure, but imho not as quick as we did here. tbf my wife passed away 5 years ago so my current experiences are not up to date when it comes to other EU countries.
And also to be fair, my wife had me, many disabled people have to face these things alone, at least most of the time. They often don't have someone to push them anywhere they wanna go and tip them to get onto a sidewalk and such. So I can understand if someone disabled would totally disagree with me. A "single" is significantly more difficult than "a pair" when it comes to navigating a city in a chair.
What Josephine says about perception that "it is mostly the elderly" shows another problem. It somehow makes it a less important and pressing issue for many (especially those making the decisions) than when it would be affecting predominantly the younger generations.
I live in The Netherlands and I sold my apartment of two stories, the ground floor where the living room was and the first floor where the kitchen, dining room, bathroom, 2 bedrooms and front door are. When I bought it, my mother wasn’t in a wheelchair, so I didn’t think about accessibility of the apartment. When my mother did end up in a wheelchair, the visits were difficult. When the family came for dinner and gathered in the living room afterwards, I had to wheel my mother out of the apartment into the elevator to the ground floor, out of the building to the gated parking lot where I had a back door to my living room. If she had to use the toilet, someone had to wheel her the whole way back. And my apartment was built in 2012, so after the disability law for accessibility. It was a beautiful apartment, but visits were such a nuisance for my mother that I decided to sell my apartment and buy a bungalow. A lot has changed but poor situations and circumstances are an unnecessary burden for disabled people.
Beter als in Nederland wordt t niet, in andere landen is het 1000 keer slechter en ja ik heb ook ervaring met deze problemen
ruclips.net/video/xSGx3HSjKDo/видео.html
You bring up a lot of great points, but one thing I would say as a legally blind person is that the ADA, while important and useful, is not magically better because it is hard law. As someone who is legally blind, I feel more locked out of society in the US than in the EU, without a doubt. In the US, even the disabled are expected to drive using modifications (wheelchair users and prosthetics alike), public transit and para-transit are virtually nonexistent and certainly not something you can utilize to get to work on a regular basis. I agree, the EU has a long way to go to making things accessible to all people under universal design principles and it's a good thing, but the ADA has not had as great of an impact on the built environment at scale as its other pillars.
yeah, think the ada probably did much for wheelchairs and the blind. but as a epileptic you would be absolutely discriminated against. Car, cycle, in many places even walk would be unsafe. You would be absolutely dependent on someone driving you around.
I was severely visually impaired for several years and prohibited from driving. I nevertheless easily travelled independently around Britain and Europe. Public transport is a wonderful thing - as is are currencies that ensure all notes and coins are easily differentiated from each other in colour, size, shape, weight and so on.
How do the blind and severely visually impaired manage to live full, independent lives in the USA? In fact, that question is valid for every person who is unable to drive through no fault of their own - even if they might never think of themselves as disabled, a person who is unable to drive for some medical or physical reason is, effectively, _made_ disabled for all practical purposex in the USA.
@@beyondEV A relative of mine has epilepsy and was never able to drive.. but they live in Central Europe. Even in their small-ish town close to a regional centre there are busses and trains and other infrastructure that help them live an independent normal life. Had they been born in the US, I don't know.
I'm in the US and have finally healed up from having a knee replacement last year. (A bad ski accident in my 40s led to damage that just would not heal properly.) The years leading to that surgery were eye-opening. Africa was easier to navigate with a walker and / or cane than most of Europe was. I can not imagine having to get around in a wheelchair. I became deeply grateful that I am in the US, where wide doors and ramps are normal. Now, with a new knee that functions properly, I still see just how handy and useful ramps and wide doorways are in everyday life. That one commenter was right - we are all one bad injury away from disability.
Yes Europe fails in accessibility. My daughter had to go to Physical Therapy when she was a baby. This was in Switzerland and the building had 6 steps to get to the door of the building. There was a small ramp for a bike, but s stroller or wheelchair couldn't use it because you would have to tip the wheelchair or stroller to one side to get up or down. The building was built in the very early 2000's. To me this isn't an "old" building. The Physical Therapist had to fight and threaten leaving the building for the owner put in a wheelchair ramp. In my brain this is something that should be required by the government.
1000% it should be required. In 2022, 27% of the EU population over the age of 16 had some form of disability. According to Eurostat estimates, that equals to 101 million people or one in four people adults in the EU. Mobility issues can affect anyone at anytime and yet, so many spaces are wholly inaccessible.
@@TypeAshton Well question is what kind of disability, not all of them do nessesarily require help with accessibility. Narrowing it down to such disabilities would make more sense as a figure.
In Cologne, where I live, there have been massive improvement regarding accessibility in recent years. The KVB (local publish transportation company) has bought buses with ramps and unilaterally lowerable suspension to accomodate wheelchairs. Nearly all tram stations are now fully accessible via ramps and escalators. I think this very much differs from town to town, depending how much the local authorities focused on this in recent years.
An other very important (and often forgotten aspect) regarding disabilities is war, because if there is a war you have lots of physically disabled people afterwards. So this discussion is not merely a social topic, but also to some degree a question of national defense precaution to be able to keep the economy going, even when a lot of your workforce has some sort of disability.
@@TypeAshtongiven their definition of a handicap and breaking it up by country is so much more important. Do you have those stats and the definition by any chance?
@@TypeAshton 27% ? i guess at the core its a visibility or awareness problem in that case. I dont remember having seen anyone in a wheelchair the last week or otherwise unable to use stairs
The relevant Law only came into effect in 2004. Still, in this case: "How can a physical therapist be so stupid to rent into a non-accessible building?" Almost certainly, the answer is: That was bad development to begin with, the had to go cheap on rent to find anyone. hence also why the "modify the building or i leave" actually worked, which it normally wouldn't.
The Law has some very good aspects:
Any organization (10 years in existence + representing disabled, there is one for about any group) can launch civil action to enforce it. That is for free (unless it goes all the way up to the highest court or it is considered "fraudulent claim").
Any building undergoing major renovation has to be modified as well (caveats, see disadvantages).
Public Transport has to become fully accessible (without aid). Unfortunately, stations are behind schedule. Trains, Trams and Buses are mostly accessible.
It also covers private entities (Apartments, Services).
Downsides:
Exemptions for:
Smaller Buildings: < 8 apartment in the building, less than 50 work spaces
Historical / Environmental Protection: no clear specifications. Case to case bases.
Economy (Building, not Public Transport, not Public Offices): If making the changes costs more than 5% of the insurance value / new value of the building or more than 20% of the Renovation Costs.
Safety: If the changes would negatively impact Operations / Traffic safety.
Generally, Progress is more Rapid in Cities. E.g. my City, Bern, sends the old only 70% accessible trams to ukraine and replaces them with 100% accessible ones (they technically are at the end of their service life). But in rural areas it's much more complicated, as the public transport network is extremely widespread.
Given the service-life of buildings in-between major renovation is somewhere in the 20-60 years, it will take along time to get things done.
Some architects in the 1960-90 period, also really did their best to make apartments as inaccessible as possible (to a degree, to circumvent some zoning laws or they just wanted to save costs). Many of those can't be made accessible without going over the economic limit (e.g. the have a elevator, but the elevator stops at the in-between platforms of the staircase. Can't fix that, without spending so much, you're better of to tear it down).
The only good news is: Since 2000 we went from 3.5 mio Apartments up to 4.7 mio. Most of the increase will be accessible.
Public Transport can't realistically ever become fully autonomous accessible. If you make the ramps with as little gradient as possible, you also make them so long, they are going to be of limited use.) Some Gap / Height difference can not be avoided at all times (maintenance issues mainly, can replace the rails all the time, if the settle just a little) . But you can give disabled better mobility help, like self driving, if they lack the strength to move up the somewhat stepper ramps. elevators do solve the problem, but are considered only a solution, where ramps are not possible (limited capacity, can be out of order).
Thank you very much for this video. Fun fact: In Germany's fast trains (IC and ICE) there is no space at all for wheelchairs in 1st class coaches, there are only a few spaces in some of the 2nd class coaches. To Deutsche Bahn, disabled people are second class only.
Besides what you mentioned, there is not only a huge gap regarding accessibility between public and private buildings and spaces, but also between (larger) cities and rural areas. Generally, the more rural, the less accessible.
But there is also kind of a misconception about rural spaces. They are a primum infrastructure wise to begin with. In most of europe, take away the tax income of the cities, they would immediately collapse. Spread and modern infrastructure is bankruptcy. Now combine that, with making it very well accessible in all that spread out area and you really leave the realm of reasonable accommodation. If you also work in that rural area that makes sense. But many working in cities move out into rural areas, then use a unholy amount of infrastructure.
I'm really glad you touched on this topic. I recently started being more aware of my surroundings, wondering what it would be like being disabled. Would I even be able to pass this sidewalk if people park cars on it without thinking? How would I get to underground passage if only stairs lead to it? It's honestly infuriating. Especially since I had to visit a government facility in my city, which is located in the middle of nowhere, around big construction is happening so the way from public transport is long and impossible for someone disabled and this facility DARES to put up posters about promoting "employement for disabled people"??? Only LAST MONTH they installed wheelchair ramp to even get inside. Like be for real rn.
In Austria, especially in Vienna, accessibility is a top priority. Elevators and ramps have long been standard, particularly in public transportation. This focus is not just on wheelchair users but also, for example, on mothers with strollers and elderly people who have difficulty walking.
Accessibility concerns not only the access to buildings and stations but also restrooms and even the language and visibility of signage. Since 1991, Vienna’s building regulations have mandated accessibility in all public buildings.
Accessibility is also being realised in older buildings.
As you said, that is no excuse.
However, it must be noted that some renovations take an extremely long time, which can result in elevators being out of service. Fortunately, this happens rather rarely.
I really don't know why such a woman like yourself has not been snapped up by a big nationl TV company, eg; ARD, France 1, BBC etc for their Docu dept.
What you are doing with Type Ashton is incredible..., imagine what would be possible with the resources of a big company.
I'm so glad I found you and this channel, and wanna say thanks for all your work so far, viel Erfolg.
Because her research is not good enough.
@@carolinebergh4126 It's pretty impressive for a one-person-business with two kids.
The PAM system in Paris was brilliant when I had to take my wheelchair-bound mother around town. I never expected the metro to be accessible since it was built 100 years ago.
Initially thought you might be referring to the REM, but services like PAM are a mere band-aid - especially in congested areas where they cannot come close to matching the rapid service a metro provides in places where PAM vehicles get stuck in traffic.
The age of the metro is Zero excuse to not at least make a significant chunk of it accessible. I come from a city with a Metro whose earliest segments date from 1892, and aside from segments that have been constructed in the last 40 years, the most accessible portions of the system are on routes built from 1892 to 1907.
Also, it's Wheelchair User, not Wheelchair-Bound. A good wheelchair gives its users freedom, it does not inherently inhibit them.
As a man with paraplegia, the only time I'm "Wheelchair-Bound" is when I'm behind closed doors with a woman doing something too kinky to talk about openly on RUclips. 😃
@@wheeliebeast7679 You mean the RER ? The REM is Montreal's version of Paris RER.
The Paris region and transit authority's president recently did a complete, vocal, and historic 180 about accessibility in the historical lines of the Paris metro.
She announced that she now strongly supports a full accessibility adaptation of all 15 historical lines, after years saying that it would be too expensive and too complicated.
Though, it really is very expensive and complicated, and the issue I mentioned in the video remains (I'm the first interviewee) : the Paris metro's DNA is to be a short dwell times, fast passenger exchange rapid transit system with a good load of overcrowding.
Having "physical accessibility" from street to train would only solve one side of the issue.
I've often found myself unable to board in time or to alight from the train at the desired station due to the very short dwell times when frequency between departures is set to anything between 80-85 seconds and 2 minutes.
Especially on automated lines, which are also the 3 busiest ones, and where you sometimes feel as if HAL, the slightly misanthropic "computer" from the movie 2001 a Space Odyssey, was in control of the train and the platform screen doors...
Leaving only mere seconds to enter or exit the train before being crushed by the doors because the next one, packed to the brim, is approaching at speed, only a couple dozen seconds away.
Having only 8 or 10 seconds of dwell times with open doors is a frequent occurrence... Let alone when there's "congestion piling" on a line at rush hour and the system only lets enough time for fit people to alight, but none to board, in order to regulate train spacing.
In its very foundation the Paris metro, like several others in mega cities (and even small ones that operate on small but high frequency trains), is made for people fit enough to board and deboard in seconds.
I've often seen wheelchair users that simply couldn't board on line 14, despite having no problems getting from the street to the platform.
The "reorganization" of on-board passengers, the instant a wheelchair user appears when the doors open, often takes longer than the dwell time itself... so the person usually has to wait for the next or several next trains. Sometimes they have to wait for rush hours to be over before attempting to board...
Even in Rennes, a midsized French city equipped with a great and fully accessible metro system that has 2 fully automated lines and high frequency, it can be difficult to board and deboard in time if it's a little busy.
Extending dwell times is unthinkable, it would severely decrease capacity on lines that carry 750k to a million daily riders each...
That's not even mentioning the daily overcrowding and subsequent lack of space for a wheelchair user to squeeze on the train.
This issue isn't a small one, and even some accessibility advocates do not support spending billions to adapt the historical metro for this reason. I myself feels quite uneasy when delaying thousands of people by blocking the doors....
Ethically speaking it's a conundrum : can we delay an extremely busy line, and thus reduce its hourly capacity, just for accessibility's sake when other much cheaper but imperfect solutions are available?
I really don't have the answer...
PAM is a good solution for this, as they use bus lanes and can bypass a lot if traffic, but it recently had a lot of problems when they chose to externalize / privatize PAM operations. The service took a nosedive and users were beyond upset, understandably so...
The RER, albeit also overcrowded, has slightly longer dwell times than the metro (especially compared to automated lines), and is easier to board / alight with reduced mobility.
Though it still is quite "sporty"... and finding a place, even if recent rolling stocks have ample and well marked wheelchair spots and PRM reserved seating, can be a struggle.
Same for tramway lines : they have exceptionally good accessibility and large wheelchair areas but squeezing into the tram is often mission impossible... Especially on lines like the circular T3a or T3b that each carry daily the equivalent of all 6 lines of the LA Metro system combined.
The tram segments where the wheelchair spaces are located usually end up full of standing passengers who all prefer to think that the wheelchair user on the platform can wait a few minutes for the next one (that will be just as packed).
So a dedicated service like PAM is a necessity, very useful and practical.
"Practical" is the operating word here, because good physical accessibility in busy systems designed for quick passengers transfers remains very theoretical instead of practical.
The humongous Grand Paris Express metro expansion will be entirely accessible, from street to train, with all the bells and whistles of modern accessibility. But in reality and practice, short dwell times and large crowds will remain a very practical issue as they've already revised expected daily ridership from 2 to over 3 million...
As a Ukrainian I was actually very pleasantly surprised by accessible infrastructure in Köln and a small city nearby where I live. I see people using wheelchairs, walking aids af all sorts, and of course moms with strollers in public transport and spaces all the time.
It is not the case in my country, although considering how many disabled veterans we are going to have because of the war, I hope it will be just as a big shift in societal point of view, as in US after Vietnam war. It's sad that it had to come to this point to see some change of course.
While the progress the U.S. has made is real, I think it's a bit exaggerated. Sure, if a disabled person's lifestyle involves driving (or being driven) to single-story suburban sprawl McDonalds, Starbucks, Walmarts, and Dollar Generals with electronic sliding doors and no stairs, then old European cities and towns are inconvenient by comparison. But as soon as you start trying to use a sidewalk or use public transit or visit vibrant places with lots of small businesses, suddenly the U.S. looks a lot like Europe in terms of accessibility.
Ironically, I have heard people argue against pedestrianizing streets because they associate disabled mobility with cars. The problem is, the current sidewalks are too narrow for a wheelchair.
My perception is that in Europe, or at least in Barcelona, you see a lot of people with disabilities going about their lives, just not people on wheelchairs (blind people, people with downs syndrome, very old people).
Buses and the Metro have some sort accessibility, although perhaps not the best, but when it comes to buildings, that's where it's lacking).
I think in the US, on the other hand, people with non-wheelchair disabilities disabilities can't go on to have normal lives without depending on other people to drive them around, etc. And this includes all the old people who are not fit to drive anymore, which is a huge chunk of the population.
The accessibility vs historical preservation question seems very tricky and I'm not sure there's a clear answer to it. New buildings though? Yeah, there are no excuses to not make them accessible.
Maurits Huis in Den Haag was a museum that was utterly inaccessible. As part of a major multi year overhaul back in the 2000's it is now totally accessible. They put elevators in some really cool places. You can't see i until they get used. It's a small museum, but it has an amazing collection. Well worth a visit and right next to the central Dutch government buildings.
Another aspect about all this is that, most of the time, accessibility only is implemented for physical disabilities.
Despite all the issues in society, wheelchair users, blind people etc get a lot of accomodations compared to less visible disabilities.
This is something that I think about from time to time and wonder how to improve accessibility for disabled and wheelchair using Europeans. As an American, we have the ADA but while countries like Nordic countries, The Netherlands and Belgium have made great strides in being more accessible other countries seem to seriously be lacking and there's practically no accessibility (Italy, parts of Frances, etc...) Another tricky part is making older buildings (that are hundreds of years old) accessible.
When I went to school in Denmark in the seventies, there was not one single disabled pupil, although we were almost 2000 cramped into the way too small school. In Denmark disabled citizens and children were kept away from society.
In 1975, I moved to the UK for one year to work as a volunteer for spastic disabled adults and noticed for the first time all the problems you face in a wheelchair or on crutches.
Now we live in Germany and my wife is in a wheelchair. Every time we go out, we have to plan where to go, where to park, where to cross the road, and where to enter a building.
I think, (and may be wrong) but Europe still has a negative view of disabilities and still try to hide them away because why else would new buildings (built in the early 2000's) still have poor accessibility? It's sad and shouldn't be that way. Also, it can't be hard to just make ramps, right?
In Germany they were also hiding people with disabilities. I remember very well during our first vacation in the Netherlands, I was 6 years old, and I saw someone in a bed on wheels being pushed by another person right on the sidewalk through all the tourists. I was totally stunned and asked my parents what this is about. I don't have the impression that people in wheelchairs, for example, still need to "hide" nowadays, but I totally agree about poor accessibility, especially on railway stations in small towns. Some have neither escalators nor elevators, and I have to carry my 20 kg suitcase up the stairs which is not fun. The worst was in Belgium where the whole platform was under construction, and that heavy suitcase needed to be carried up a VERY high stair. And nobody helps, and people in charge simply don't care.
@@dux_bellorum For economic reasons. Facilities for the disabled cost money. It's cheaper to build without it.
Out of laziness? You have to think about HOW to do it.
I wrote further that I met people who protested against facilities for the disabled. Theoretically for economic reasons -- that it is not worth it. Of course, I don't sympathize with this, but you might be surprised how many people have this attitude.
@@PKowalski2009 Everyone who thinks this way needs to be constantly reminded that almost all of us only get to be temporarily abled-bodied, and that the vast majority
of us will not live our entire lives without acquiring some form of disability before it's over.
Every time someone with attitudes like this ends up isolated in an nursing home as through geezerdom or earlier acquisition of a disability, they've merely brought karma upon themselves.
Thanks for this rare comparative overview of a very complex topic! As a father in a family living with some severe disabilities in Germany, I can say the discrepancy between paper laws and lived reality is stark. Some things have improved, but more often than not, it is a real struggle to enforce rights. A struggle for which we often just lack the time and the energy because.... living in a society full of barriers takes up so much time and energy.
But mostly, it is a simple lack of awareness that slows Germany (and surely many countries) down. Hence: thanks for this video 🎉
I can only hope that the message in your comment and the visibility of this video helps to improve your quality of life and accessibility opportunities. Thank you so very much for the support ❤️❤️
sidenote: 2:55 the funny thing is: these tiny elevators were'nt even built by the Deutsche Bahn. They were built by the VAG to provide access to the tram bridge, not to change platform. Since a few years they get replaced by much larger ones one by another while the Deutsche Bahn is planing to build new elevators in the northern part of the station as well as modernising the platforms starting in late 2026.
That's interesting because even the "out order" signs posted up on the tram bridge (not the platform) have Deutsche Bahn's Logo on them. I guess they figured the VAG's "solution" was good enough for them to do nothing up until now (or well, late 2026).
I'm an American living in Mexico. Mexico isn't even accessible for able-bodied people. I'm 5'2" and 115 lbs. It is very common for me to BARELY fit down an aisle at a store or into a bathroom. The sidewalks have random drop offs, huge holes, trees or posts in the middle of them, etc. There are also lots of businesses that are on the 2nd floor, with the only way to get there being a very steep staircase. I've even seen unaccessible medical facilities.
Great video. I have mobility problems, but I don't use a chair. Steps are a killer for me. Here in London, we have some great accessible spaces and services, but the thing that gets me most Is when they're not maintained. A lift can be out of order for days with little thought, which can affect my ability to get into my office amongst other things. I sometimes think everyone should be made to spend a week in a chair in their local area just to experience all those things they never consider important.
It deserves so much more attention. For stations: I think accessibility guidelines by now should feature escalators AND elevators as a default, because stairs are so hard for so many people. Escalators help a lot - if you sprain your ankle, you have heart problems, carry a large pack (or bikes), several people with mobility aids can use them - and it keeps the elevators from being overcrowded as their capacity is limited. Elevators only are not a solution.
And I like the setup in some Swiss stations where there is also a common ramp as well. So even with a large power failure, there are still options. (But also, maintain the escalators and elevators, get spare parts, design them better, do something because when they fail for months on end, that's not an acceptable outcome, period.)
Agreed. One grandchild in Finland suddenly ended up wheelchair bound by their 17th birthday. While Finland does pretty well on many things it can do better.
Although I agree on many points made in this video, I'm not so sure the US has done a better job. The public and private places are probably more accessible, but from what I get from some friends in the US, getting there in the first place is the issue. Hope we as humans will improve on including everyone, but I'm not sure that is the way the politics are working out in the world right now.
Thanks for this video, repeat it from time to time so we don't forget... Because for us that don't need it, it's easy to forget...
I think the main problem is simply awareness. Unless they personally know someone who is disabled, the average shop owner probably doesn't consider if their store is accessible. Educating the general public would probably go a long way (though I'd still prefer if shop owners were legally required to make their stores accessible).
This truly is the most baffling form of discrimination, precisely because most people will require accessibility at some point in their lives - not just when they're old or after an accident; every parent of a small child would benefit from more accessible spaces
Why should they think about accessability? After all there is never anyone who is in a wheelchair in their shop...
Yeah, awareness is a big part imho.
If their shop it’s known to be inaccessible, people will just to go to a shop that is,go to a shopping mall or order online.
In this way big companies usually do a better job, now with the tourism boom most probably don’t have much to complain about, but before it they all were complaining ,that were going out of business and that they couldn’t compete with shopping malls and chain stores ect
I live in North Rhein Westphalen and here the toilets in the restaurants are so inaccessible. Almost every time it is located in the basement. I am a mom with a baby and I can’t take my baby to the toilet with me if I am using a stroller.
FINALLY A VIDEO ABOUT THIS IMPORTANT TOPIC!! THANK YOU!
Glad you liked it!
The quality of both your videos and the content is amazing. It makes even the occasional 2 weeks wait absolutely worth it :)
Good Sunday morning :)
Wow, thank you!
Accessibility in the USA? You. Need. Car. If you don't have a car, or can't drive... You're dependent. What's the point of ADA, if you need someone to drive you to any damn f-in place?
It's really bad in Uranus too
Because there's still the importance of making the places one drives to in the USA (as well even the crappiest bus-only transit systems) accessible too? People with disabilities that can't drive still can be passengers in cars - and the existence of hand controls ensures that many with paralyzed or otherwise impaired legs can drive too.
Also, before the ADA, the handful of cities with urban rail systems had very little accessibility in vehicles and stations. Thanks to the ADA, nowadays NYC remains as the only city that doesn't have a majority of its rail stations accessible in 2024. Even the other cities with legacy rail systems are well on their way to fixing this problem.
This was also my impression in London in 1995. There were no curb cuts or wheelchair ramps anywhere. I think it's better now.
Wow, ich habe wieder eine neue Perspektive kennen gelernt mit der ich die Welt betrachten kann. Vielen Dank.
Wow, I got to know a new perspective with which I can look at the world. Thank you very much.
Great video. I looked at some stats and according to all ratings I found Germany ranked higher than USA - my best guess is that lacking/poor public transport in the US is a large part of the reason? As a Swede I found it's rating interesting.. because it jumped around a lot. I'm guessing that these surveys take different aspects into account and many countries may be good in some areas but sadly lacking in others. For example I think Sweden ranks pretty high on access to public transport and official buildings and museums but a lot lower on access to private shops and businesses.. but that's just based on my experiences and I don't have a physical disability, so I could be way off.
Yes, it most probably comes from different kinds of accessibility for different kinds of disabilities.
Europe is probably rated much higher on anything related to visual or cognitive impairment. Simply because having walkable cities with sidewalks, public transit, and much denser cities, really help on that front.
It's the physical accessibility related to mobility aids, etc., in Europe that is rated much lower than the US.
In the US, people using wheelchairs or walkers have better access to buildings, shops, etc.
Europe is quite far behind on these issues.
But to get from one's home to said building, if you cannot drive and aren't accompanied by someone who can, then the building's accessibility becomes irrelevant because you simply can't reach it.
It's the other way around in Europe : there's much much much more public transportation, far from being fully accessible but it has improved a lot, and people with physical mobility issues or visual or cognitive impairment can more easily move around without a car.
I've recently had a couple visits in Rennes, France, where public transportation accessibility is pretty great. So much that I saw some athletes from the Paralympic Team NL that were staying and training there before the Paralympic games.
They were riding the small but fantastic metro network of this city (2 fully automated lines that cover a great deal of the city and excellent connectivity with bus and BRT lines).
There were also several people with different kinds of visible disabilities and mobility aids (crutch, wheelchair, walker, scooter) riding this metro system and connecting with buses.
Much more than I had ever seen in the Paris transit system.
There were also many mothers and fathers with strollers happily riding the metro.
A city like Paris, as said in the video, still isn't great on physical accessibility despite massive improvements. But for people with visual, auditory, or cognitive impairment, it's much better on accessibility.
There's specific equipment for auditory aids on metro ticket machines, tactile or braille ramps and rails for the visually impaired, etc.
People with visual disabilities are a common sight (no pun intended) in the Paris transportation system.
One great thing about public transportation accessibility : the Olympics and Paralympics really boosted accessibility in Paris, and the region's and transit authority president recently announced that she clearly supports adapting the entire historical metro for full accessibility, which is a first.
Before, she used to say that it would be too expensive and too complicated to adapt all 15 historical lines and that only new extensions would be accessible.
This complete and very vocal 180 on the subject really is a great surprise.
Though, we've yet to see this implemented in the foreseeable future. Will it be an empty promise? We'll see.
Yeah I'm totally with you on this. I loved living in Germany as a kid but when I visited in 2015 with a friend from the UK who uses a wheelchair, I realised all my German friends live in apartment buildings that don't have lifts or single family homes where the ground floor is actually like a kind of floor 0.5 that you have to climb stairs to get into. In the UK, we have this in pre-war apartment buildings and old town areas in hilly seaside towns but in Germany, this was even the case in modern buildings from the 60s.
This is probably why I have disabled friends in the UK, but not in Germany. Where are they supposed to make friends if they can't get inside anywhere? Even my school in Germany had no wheelchair users at all, despite having a lift. It's as if they live in a completely parallel society. All this was embarrassing after telling my friend about how much I loved living in Germany and I imagine life can get a bit lonely if you can't even get into your friends houses. We also saw a record store in Essen (Andrä) that has a silly ramp with built-in steps to get into the shop on the ground floor and most of the shop was on basement level with no lift. I think in the UK, they introduced a law in the early 00's that made it illegal to commercially use spaces that didn't have step free access and shops had to either install a lift or only use the ground floor. I thought it was an EU incentive so I'm surprised Germany hasn't also done that.
I do find local rail in German cities is a lot more accessible than in London, where only about half the stations have lifts as the underground network opened its first line in 1863 and at many of the stations that did have lifts, they drilled through the lift shaft at 45° when the escalator was invented. In Essen, I think they've now installed lifts in almost all of the underground stations and many of the regional trains have built-in ramps that pop out the side of the train at every single door so you don't have to ask platform staff to go and fetch a ramp, which you almost always have to do in the UK. Essen did still have a lot of high-floor trams with fold out steps in 2015, which I believe have now thankfully been replaced with low-floor trams but strangers on the platform were often willing to help my friend climb those steps while I carried his wheelchair.
So every newer private house in the UK has an elevator, even if they only have 2 floors? Just curious.
@@arnodobler1096 of course not. Just in buildings with flats.
@@lazrseagull54 Most apartment buildings in Germany have elevators in Germany.
But not in old towns.
In the building where I live, there are 3 floors and 6 apartments, without an elevator but with a stair lift, as most of them are for senior citizens.
Finland has a decent situation, as every apartment is made accessable by default (and even when renting, the landlord will remodel according to needs). But the public transportation, especially trains, can be tricky. If a long-distance train is cancelled, you will need to take the bus instead. If you cannot access it...the that's that. And since there is quite a lot of older trains still in use in the cities, those are inaccessable for both wheelchairs and strollers (insanely high steps!). I have no idea why they still use them.
So much accessible design ends up helping so many other people than intended. Ramps allow Deaf people to continue their conversation signing as they navigate elevation changes.
A visit to Gallaudet University’s building designed for full functionality for D/deaf folks is also accessible to chair users, the visually impaired, claustrophobic people, and even many folks with PTSD. It’s refreshing to see how freeing accessible spaces can be. It’s a shame these principles aren’t the societal default yet.
Accessible design is great for all. Especially ramps or less steps. This is easier for bike users, people pushing strollers or small shopping carts, people using walkers, canes, crutches or wheelchairs. Old and young. Also, everyone benefits from a less cramped bathroom. In many cases having a larger single toilet space makes it easier for parents with young kids, people with Mobility needs, people who require assistance, etc. It also is more inclusive for people who have different gender identities. Seriously, if a restaurant had two bathrooms one for men and one for women that are sub divided into two tiny stalls, it is less convenient and accessible if they just had two private single toilet bathrooms that could be used by whomever. If they are built as a single toilet room who cares if it is labeled for men or women.
This what gets me too. Accessible design really benefits loads of people even if they weren't the specific target.
Gender separated toilets are basically a safety design, to restrict opportune access to you when isolated and exposed. And when accessible along a corridor, the women's bathroom is usually past the men's so that there's an observable dead zone in the corridor to discourage being followed. We don't double up on infrastructure for fun.
As an able blue collar working guy, ramps are very good for me, because on occasion, I have to move large and heavy things and equipment into and out of buildings and ramps are a lifesaver. Here in the US, there are a lot of places that don't have sidewalks, so if you are in a wheelchair , or have a stroller, or use a walker, or just walking, or going for a jog, it's just dangerous to walk along the side of the road as cars drive by. The world needs to do much better than this. Fixing these deficiencies will make everyone's lives better.
My late husband was in a wheelchair and it was a struggle to go out, because of accessibility. Things in Germany at least are better than they were 25 years ago, but as we say: Es gibt Luft nach oben ( there is enough air above) , while public tranportation is better niw, not all trains andxzrain stations are accessible. I don't let me begin with restaurant visits: even if the restaurants are accessible, the toilets aren't, sad to say that a fast food chain is better at this than a normal restaurants. Appartments are still built without having accesibility most of the time. And the list can go for ever.
I am delighted that as a wheelchair user, my home city, Den Haag is reasonably accessible. As a younger woman 30 years ago I had to push my friends wheelchair around in Leicester, England. That was not fun. I still recall vividly that she wanted to go to her bank, and the bank listed itself as disabled accessible. Yet when we got there the accessible door was up 3 large stone steps.
Things have gotten better, and as I say Den Haag is great, mostly. But there are still too many places that don't think. Trams in Den Haag are accessible, unless you need lines 1, 6, or 12. Busses are totally NOT accessible.
So whenever I come across an issue I post a review on google saying so. But perhaps if we could all get together we could do more.
The point regarding the elevators at (German) train stations is so true. I am not disabled , but I sometimes travel with amounts of luggage that make it hard to do without an elevator. I even went to Rock am Ring with train and bus last year. I have never seen a platform with more than one elevator. It feels like an audacity that there is only one for all the groups needing it to share. It takes ages even if it works. It is one of the aspects that certainly makes travelling by train hardly accessible, but is really so bad that it does that for many without disabilities, too.
Lack of elevators was one of the first thing I noticed when I moved to Germany. Not (just) in railway stations, but office buildings, appartment buildings, multi-story stores...
@@fl4shi238 It's like they stayed in the Middle Ages. Add bureaucracy and many places without reception.
Sure, and priorities are also rarely respected by the people using elevators.
In France, but I guess it's the same in Germany or elsewhere, there are stickers and signs clearly stating that persons with disabilities and permanent or temporary mobility issues have priority to use elevators.
But in reality, I've rarely seen people letting me ride first when there's a queue, whether it was in France, Germany, Belgium, or elsewhere.
I've missed trains for this reason, because people with luggage didn't let me ride first and forced me to wait in the queue for several elevator rides back and forth. Given my slow pace walking with a crutch, I could have used the elevator first, and yet they'd have reached the train before me, but we would all have been able to board...
Instead, having to wait for the elevator just adds to the slow walking pace and makes train connection very difficult.
@@KyrilPG Sorry to hear that. People should not behave like that.
I'm curious, how could USA be better at this when you are dependent on cars for mostly everything? Ok, maybe the buildings are up to standard, but if you can't get there?
It's a double edged sword. One could also argue that the fact that the US is so car dependent is also an asset depending on your needs. One of the critiques of walkable city centers like we have in Freiburg is that there aren't enough accessible parking spaces in close proximity to where people want to go (they really need to add more). Asking people to park in garages and walk is great for many, many reasons (and I love them!) - but it also makes life much more difficult if you experience mobility problems.
@@TypeAshtonMobility problems are very far from being the sole disability faced by people. How does the USA score at providing access for people who, through no fault of their own, are unable to/prohibited from driving? Is there, for example, useful, accessible public transport, safe, traffic-free pathways beside roads to walk on, and currency where the differing values of notes and coins are easy to identify visually (colour) or by touch (size, weight, shape, tactile markings). Is it usual to have dropped kerbs at crossing points marked by tactile paving? Do controlled crossings offer audible as well as visual information?
@@Sine-gl9ly US dollar is not easily identifiable by touch, except for new bills.
The USA might be better at integration in society and workforce because even among migrants they are good with that but I’m not convinced they have better access if they don’t drive even if they drive is because besides nyc most buildings are sparce , remember building in the USA on average are bigger than Europe.
In my European country we have requirements for disabled parking and in recent years they have increased the number of them idk if it’s a recent law, most recent and a few old buildings have wheelchairs accessible although we still need to improve, most new buildings also have elevators although I think we need to impose bigger one because I don’t think some wheelchairs fits in some of them, besides religious buildings most in city centers are small and cramped af so it’s almost impossible to retrofit without tearing them down no matter what people say, sidewalks aren’t just a problem for disabled but even normal people complain because they are neglected in a lot of places and in other cars park in them, decades ago they have white “braille” things on crosswalks and a lot of have sound to warn when to cross, every euro note and coins have disabilities feature by touch ect
We have a lot to improve and I mean a lot especially with a growing aging population but I’m not convinced the usa does it that much better,it’s just different problems.
In the USA they even have restrictions on much money they can have in the bank or they cut their benefits,here in Europe we don’t or the limit is 30x larger, people with disabilities can get a better loan term for buying housing although most don’t earn enough but it’s something, if you want a new car you don’t pay vat ect, you can require new disability “aid” although it depends a lot on the percentage of the disabilities and to be sincere the system is quite in shumbles since the pandemic.
I saw a “tiny” dude (idk the correct term because of usa politic correction) on yt shorts in a lift up truck 😂that i can say with 100% certain I would never see that in Europe.
@@TypeAshton I see your point, but if people depend on cars and someone has a disability I think in many cases this will prevent them from using a normal car on their own and here I'm referring to people in wheelchairs. They would need someone to drive them or a special car.
And in Germany in most cases they take can the bus or the train. I know that there train stations with bad design, but I guess most of them are fine.
But I'm also aware that as an able person I don't take notice at the difficulties people with mobility disabilities could have with the German system / infrastructure
I did my European traveling years ago when I was physically able to climb stairs and navigate uneven and narrow spaces. But now I'm 85 and wouldn't be able to visit as many places there easily. I've warned my friends to explore Europe while they're younger! A physical disability can affect any of us as we age.
Challenges are an individual thing, but disability is a social construct, created and maintained by public/political decisions.
I, personally, only have to wear glasses/contacts/contacts _and_ glasses to participate in everyday life, but when I got a knee injury, then a baby, I found out just how limiting all those stairs, steps, narrow streets... can be. Also, how wrong it feels for a guy to have to get into the women's bathroom to change your baby daughter's nappies, btw.
When there's a ramp, I rarely use the stairs these days -and on not-so-bad days, I don't feel my knee at all unless I try to run. Plus, wider doorways make me feel less constrained -and I'm pretty slim and rather short, nimble on my feet when walking not running. Not to mention the sense of security against fire a wider doorway brings with it.
It's time to adopt the ADA or something like it here in Europe.
The ADA has done wonders for many of our public and semi-public spaces in the US, but I was surprised that you didn't at least briefly bring up how isolating the US largely is for anyone who cannot drive. Anyone with a disability is significantly more likely to be included in the non-driving population. How isolating being stranded and reliant on rides, public transit, etc. can be as a non-driver is frustrating for anyone physically unable to or who is priced out of driving. Additionally, my anecdotal experience is that public walking facilities (sidewalks, crosswalks, etc.) are far less likely to be up to current ADA code than private and government buildings with the amount of old and outdated infrastructure that exists in much of the US.
Many of the maintenance problems you found in Germany, such as the elevators mirrors my experience living in the San Francisco Bay Area with the public transit elevators there as well...they were always broken in several places throughout the system at any one time. Even in the US, many ADA accomodations are added, but as an afterthought by architects, business owners, planners, engineers, etc. As someone in the architecture and planning realm, we all need to do better incorporating accessibility early in the design stage, rather than applied at the end of the design process. Too often, in both the US and Europe, able-bodied professionals and the organizations building the facilities seem to see accessibility requirements as an inconvenience/cost rather than a necessity.
That is not to say that I am not surprised to realize how weak accessibility requirements and accommodations have been in the EU up to this point, but in many ways the US can be as, if not more, isolating for people with disabilities as the EU, albeit for different reasons.
It's a double edged sword. The lack of public transit in the USA is an issue and one that Dylan talked about in his section of the video. Public transit like we have in Germany is one of the main reasons why he wants to move here because it gives so much autonomy, particularly for those who cannot drive. However, it isn't a perfect solution all of the time. Being car-centric is advantageous for those in power wheelchairs or with reduced mobility can also be an advantage because you can pull up and parking a handicap parking spot to nearly any establishment you wish (pharmacy, restaurant, etc.).
However, many cities like where I live in Freiburg have opted for a pedestrian only city center. You park in one of the garages on the ring road and then walk into the city center (or take one of two tram lines that cross through it). Don't get me wrong, it is awesome for a NUMBER of reasons. But there are very, very limited parking options even for those with a disability plaque (and they are often not friendly for vans with side entry ramps such as for electric wheelchairs). And even if you do take the tram you might still have a long, long walk to your final destination.
Great video. First, nowadays there is no excuse not to design it without accessibility in mind. You showed some neat examples how this can be achieved even in old buildings. A lot of people bash on Regulations in general, overcomplicating things, but some are necessary to nudge shop owners. A lot of them think they can make enough profit without these minority groups. But anybody can fall into that category. I wonder why the US are ahead in this? Is it of Veterans Affairs. I learned from a person in a wheelchair that’s easy to rent a car with a hand shift device. It’s like having children chairs in restaurants, you simply provide one.
I think the biggest "win" is that the ADA in the US is hard law and the people have the ability to sue when they aren't given "reasonable" accommodations. This doesn't mean that every building is 100 percent accessible, but shop owners are legally obligated to do the best they can.
This video was amazing, Ashton. It should have so many more views. Keep up the great work!
April 11, 2023 I broke my right ankle. Spent four months with my foot up in the air, and needing every single ADA building accommodation. Five operations and over a year later I am limping my way to getting better (July 2024). It really drove home for me the point(s) you made in this video. Also resulted in canceling travel to Europe. Still not sure I am ready to walk on cobblestones, let alone deal with lack of accessibility. Thank you so much for your videos and excellent research that goes into each one.
Ashton! My family just traveled to Montreal this past week. I had noted several universal design elements to my husband as we walked around the city. I also noticed that the currency has tactile bumps (not braille) for recognizing the value of different paper money ❤ how cool is that?!
The big problem is that people without disabilities (generally spoken) lack "sight". They look at their environment, they see what's important for them but they don't see the problems for people with disabilities. A step at the entrance is nothing to young able persons, it is an inconvenience for people using a walking aid, and it can be the denial of entrance for a wheelchair user. If you don't see the problem you don't look for solutions to get rid of it. There should be a mandate for participation of disabled persons when planning public buildings and buildings with customer traffic, imho.
Don't get me wrong, I include myself in the group of ignorant people. I didn't look out for such barriers until my husband landed in a wheelchair and I still feel embarrassed because of it. But the moment you have a disability or you're in close contact with a person with a disability you start to see the shortcomings of your surroundings. From ramps that are too steep, too narrow, and/or too "angly" (sharp and narrow corners) to move comfortably with a wheelchair, over elevators that may fit a slim sports wheelchair for a 100lb kid but is too narrow to fit in an electric wheelchair for 250lb man. Or even more ridiculous: The elevator is big enough for the electric wheelchair but the doors of said elevator don't open up enough to get in/out. All this happened to my husband in our village in Germany and the big city nearby. And it devastates you piece by piece. You don't go out as often because you're limited to specific places and it's such a hustle to even get there. Then there are the majority of traffic lights that are not equipped with sound signals for visually impaired people and there are still pedestrian crossings that are not wheelchair proof (even a curb of 1cm can be a barrier).
Accessibility is an afterthought. My husband was always politically active and was a member of our village's "Bauausschuss" (building committee) for about 10 years (1990s to 2000s - before he was a wheelchair user). Here's just one story of many. The indoor/outdoor pools in our area belong to the county. We have one at the border of our village to the next one. The county as owner wanted to remodel the sauna and entrance areas as the gate machines were ending their life cycles. They hired an architect to work out the necessary changes and the new look. They presented this to an assembly of both the village councils and certain committees with a slide show and plans to examine, all in all about 100 people from the two villages. Everything looked pretty awesome - until my husband asked where they put the wheelchair ramp or elevator to reach the entrance (12 steps high). They didn't! The whole construction had to be revamped.
And some things are pretty stupid, too. The courthouse in our big city is protected (Denkmalschutz) and because of the protected status, the administration didn't allow the construction of a ramp (while there was more than enough space for the ramp and to cover it up with hedges) and it forced the city to install an elevator that can be used either by a special key (Euro-key for 30+ Euro) or by alerting the staff. Plus, the mailbox for the court is on the upper level. After hours without a key - unreachable.
The elevator to the S-Bahn station in the big city was broken for months, working for a few days and broken again for more than a year - and often were the escalators too. Reliability is something else.
Even if you have two healthy legs: Try to walk from A to B in the US.
As long as you don't use a car, accessibility in the US is far far far far far worse than in Europe. And even then, it's not better with all the long ways.
"Old cities" - what a shitty framing.
I had the same impression. Either frogger across a six lane road or walk half a mile to a traffic light and walk back on the other side. All in the Texas heat. A wheelchair user with a car has it better than a pedestrian.
While this is true it’s a separate issue from addressing disabled people accessible.
If you think about it, disabled people, like the pedestrians you cite, without cars, are affected as well.
@@barryhaley7430 I agree, but the thing is, that if you just don't build pedestrian infrastructure at all, you can very easily evade the ADA for outdoor spaces.
@@woodywoodverchecker The purpose of the ADA is to avoid discrimination against disabled people. You are not avoiding the ADA when you don’t build any infrastructure at all. There’s no ADA requirement to be met because there isn’t any infrastructure.
@@barryhaley7430 The question is, whether that piece of infrastructure would exist otherwise. It's a race to the bottom if you comply with the ADA by just taking everything away that could be discriminating. Imagine a smaller train stop that's not wheelchair accessible and closing it down is cheaper than adding an elevator. Great, no discrimination anymore, but everyone now has to walk further. That includes disabled people who can climb stairs, but not walk very far, like a lot of elderly people.
Hello, at first, thank you for raising awareness about the (in)accessibility in Europe. I'm a wheelchair user from Slovakia and what I often see is that I find European people with disability more creative when it comes to overcome barriers. They're used to the situation in their area so they know, that if there is a problem, they take someone with them, who is gonna help them. Or, if they're able to solve any issue on their own, they do what they can. (ofc if there is a bunch of stairs, obviously it's not possible for them to use it on their own)
But what I see (mostly online on various accessibility groups on social medias), is that people from North America (I'll refer to them as Americans for this purpose) just see something that is not 100% accessible and just complain about it and refuse to use it. No matter that it's, let's say 80% accessible with a little help. If it's not 100% compatible with ADA (Accessibility for Disabled Act, I suppose) standards, they just complain and are so stubborn to not use it that seems almost ridiculous to me.
For example, let's talk about the situation in the beginning of this video, describing the train station in Freiburg: Except of elevators out of order, I find the functionality of that station perfectly ok. Is there elevator? Yes. Can I get from point A to point B, if the elevator is working? Yes. No need to complain. European will use it with no further questions. Yet, some people from America, used to very high standards regarding accessibility, will complain anyway. I mean, I get that but it also seems ridiculous to me. The functionality is what matter the most to me.
Disability laws in Germany actually go back all the way to the foundation of the country after WW2.
But... it was always easy to get out of compliance by paying a fee. In fact, the government made a pretty penny from that. So there was an incentive to look the other way, rather than enforcing the laws and regulations.
"No matter that it's, let's say 80% accessible with a little help"
And what does that matter if no one is available to give that person help when said person needs it? Not everyone has the ability to "take someone with them," and as a wheelchair user with paraplegia myself, sometimes I just want to travel somewhere by myself without having to be burdened with the wants and needs of other folks while there (or on the way) - especially if that person himself (or herself) isn't enthused about going where I want to.
How often do you personally need or use public transport?
Btw "taking someone with you" is a complete non-option when the reason for travel is a regular commute to one's job. Such circumstances would make it extremely difficult to hold down that job if WFH was a non-option and one needed a helper daily, which would become a job in and of itself.
What about wheelchair users who might need an elevator in that Freiburg station regularly working in order to keep their job?
P.S. A big reason for militant insistence on 100% ADA compliance - I've often dealt with employees being rude (rooted in a fear of litigation if someone gets hurt) when I want to use a non-ADA compliant method of using a transport facility or vehicle, be it faster, or if it is my only way of accessing a transport facility (e.g. taking the escalator when the elevator is non-existent or out of service, and no accessible station on that same route is within 1 km of it). Without full compliance, being given what should be a basic human right to use the facility is often not permitted.
"Except of elevators out of order, I find the functionality of that station perfectly ok"
If the elevator is out for months at a time without an adequate alternative - speaking as someone who dealt with this very same problem with the nearest metro station in my hometown when I still lived with my parents (Chicago - Orange Line, Pułaski station) - its functionality is NOT ok. I cannot comprehend how you could possibly feel otherwise.
It’s the one thing that the US does really well. Even when you’re not disabled, you can appreciate all of the wheelchair accessible places when you’re pushing a stroller around. I always notice the stark difference when I’m in Europe, because I like to travel with a carry-on suitcase. While not having access to an elevator or escalator with a carry-on is an inconvenience, I always wonder what does a person with a disability do in a situation like this. It’s nonsense that Europe is too old to make these changes. They’ve managed to put the majority of the ugly electrical lines underground (which the US is doing a very poor job at). If Europe can do that, then they can make areas more accessible for the disabled.
Agreed. Are there some places which are too historic to make significant changes? Sure. But this applies in a very, very select number of places.
Living in the Netherlands since 200 8and previously in Poland, I received a kick when experiencing the blissful flatness of the terrain, encountering many innovations unavailable in my country of birth at that time, including ease of access (when at certain times of our lives we do not have access everywhere). I appreciate this country for its oceanic climate (which supposedly is healthy), but more so for changing my perspective on the world and its desire to bring out the happiness in people during times of loneliness and alienation. Greenery and diversity neutralize non-functional aspects. This country may not only be the best for children (even at age 40, I still feel that way), but also for people with disabilities in a broad sense. They are treated like full members of society and a large amount of social capital and empathy is devoted to them too.
A very interesting and important topic.
I remember giving a hand to carry an electric wheelchair up a narrow staircase to a music club. That was a hell of a job. 4-5 guys where involved to get the job done.
It's a mirror of society how well disabled people are integrated into it.
Giving a hand with a stroller to get into the tram, pushing an elderly in a wheelchair up a slight incline, walking a few steps into a brighter area with someone who has poor eyesight in the dark, that's all easy tasks to help we all can do.
Thank you for being the guy to give a hand to get a stroller on the Tram. One time I went for my monthly shopping in Germany from Switzerland. Coming home one stop where I had to get on from street level. I kept getting the back wheel stuck on the Tram because I'm short. I couldn't lift the stroller high enough to clear the wheels because the stroller was to heavy with all the stuff I bought, and I was a brand new mom who didn't know how to get around with a stroller yet. People just looked at me getting in even though I asked for help. It was a woman in her 80s who got up to help me. She didn't help much. People only jumped into action when the Tram doors were closing.
Hi Ashton, you can't imagine how many times I missed trains because of the layout of Freiburg Hbf. My daughter uses a wheelchair. But there are even train stations that are far worse! Imagine, Basel Bad Bhf doesn't have ANY elevators or ramps!
Thank you for this great video. Many people do not realize how different it might be just living with disabilities.
In Germany for example, if you want to use the trains for long distances, like the Intercity (IC) or Intercity Express (ICE), you actually must register the whole route at the Deutsche Bahn with their mobility service (Mobilitätszentrale) at least 24 hours in advance and they need to check if there will be accessibility, informing the train personnel about you. With train lifts often not working or personnel which never used this or was trained with it, things get really complicated, even without disruptions on your train ride. There are no spontaneous rides with the long distance trains, if you are in a wheelchair. Sometimes the ride is registered, but there is nobody to help you, although you registered your ride there. Or the whole train is delayed or has to chnge the platform, and you hardly get off there. Also the trains are not designed for wheelchairs, small passages, not many wheelchair places with enough space, and even there, people will leave their luggage there. Better hope the toilet works there, too.
As on of the contributors to this (I'm the architect) its really good to see the debate that this has started.
To add to my comments during the video, Id like to note that in my working life (I started out in the mid 80's) the improvements since that time to regulations etc.. have made things measurably and significantly better, at least in terms of buildings and infrastructure. For non-domestic buildings in Scotland this means accessible parking and access into and through buildings. What this means are suitably wide doors throughout the building, level or ramped entries, and elevators. Suitably placed facilities including WC;s and parking. There needs to be contrasting colours around key areas (such as doors or the top of stairs). Accessible controls for lighting etc. These are pretty much mandatory in all new buildings. Domestic buildings need to have level access, a WC (with a shower option) and the ability for one room to be converted to a bedroom. This didn't really happen pre 1990.
One of the big differences was a change from the concept of a disability space to an accessible space. What I mean by that is that spaces are now designed to be able to be used by everyone, irrespective of their ability level. So for example, a WC that is meant for a wheelchair user can also be used by a person who does not need a wheelchair, and the whole spectrum between those two ends.
Its far from perfect, and old buildings and cities are hard to adapt. Inevitably there is a trade off, and some things aren't fully accessible. Sometimes its aesthetics, but more usually its a simple trade-off in terms of money and what's technically possible. UK legislation is full of the word "reasonable", but what is reasonable is a very wide interpretation One project we had was to make a community building more accessible and it involved either a ramp which looked like a queuing system for a theme park ride or an elevator. We went with the elevator, but had we went with the ramp that would have qualified under the term "reasonable".
For myself, what's "reasonable" is the actual focus of the debate.
An example from where I live, which is near Aachen:
We have a railway station, the platforms can be reached by an elevator. You reach the tunnel with those elevator from the front the station, where you also find the short term parking.
And there’s a park&ride parking house in the road on the back of the station. It even has handicapped parking.
BUT: you can only leave that facility by stairs.
And the only way to reach the elevators is going down a steep staircase with about 20 steps.
There’s no direct connection between the road in Theban’s and the one in front of the station.
So for me as someone who needs a Rollator it’s impossible to park there.
I'm not sure what is more mind blowing, the stairs themselves or the fact that the architect, engineers, city planning office who approved the plans, and/or Deutsche Bahn officials (basically anyone who came into contact with the drawings) didn't notice the issue and correct it.
I noticed this in EU (Spain, Portugal,France,Germany, Austria, Belgium) places I have visited. Taking public transportation with my carry on luggage I was glad I was quite fit as many times in the Metro system there were no elevators and sometimes escalators were stopped. Lots of stairs,no elevators while hauling luggage up and down. If I begin to lose mobility as I age this will impact what public transport I choose when travelling in the cities. I know due to the much older architecture in EU there are many design challenges in accommodating those with disabilities, but in this respect some NA cities really have done a good job.
Agreed... and often times, fixing the infrastructure that is existing to aid with those with reduced mobility isn't prioritized when it breaks down. I don't want to give too much away before the video airs, but in one example which I filmed, the *only* elevator at my local train station to get on/off the platform and into the city has been broken since February.... and isn't scheduled to be fixed until August 2024. Your only option if you can't take the stairs is to call a phone number with Deutsche Bahn and make an appointment to have an aid carry you. There is no ramp. There is no one after hours/late nights. And this has been this way for 5 months now, with 2 more to go.
Dear Ashton, I am disabeld....but I ca n still use Stairs I need crutches to walk.
So II noticed that the elevators in the U-- Bahn has a QR Code and Telefon Number there is a pictogram with a van so if you are stuck infront of a nun working Elevator there is a service to help you. That is the BVG. ( I will find out ) I have a girlfriend that trys to travel with buses. But you can see on your Smartphone wich elevators are not working.....greetings Christiane Berlin Germany 😊😊
Your comment is very general and inaccurate.
While it is true that there is a problem, as Ashton demonstrated, it is not in every country or in every place in each country. It is problematic when very old systems, like London and Paris, but other places in the country are in far better shape. Spain, on the other hand, is one of the most accessible countries and public transport is accessible in very high percentage or up to 100%. Elevators are not always available in all entrances so if you need one just look at the other entrance. In Vienna most trams and almost all U-Bahn are fully accessible.
As I said, it's not perfect but it's also not as bad as you tried to make it.
@@TypeAshton Think this is kind of a DB Problem. They generally can't seems to get things built in a reasonable timeframe. or run things reliable. or repair things in a reasonable timeframe. It took Switzerland 16 Jahrs to built the longest rail tunnel in the world, DB now hopes to finish the Karlsruhe-Basel 4 track improvement by 2029 (30 years). Both are part of NEAT, which the countries agreed upon. If it was a parts issues, they couldn't tell, when it will be fixed. And even replacing one completely, shouldn't take more than 3 weeks.
luckily I don't have to use a wheelchair but I'm quite restricted in terms of mobility and stairs without handrails are always a problem. I spent countless hours walking around barriers. the question that pops into my head here in Germany frequently is: why? why did you put stairs there? a ramp would have been cheaper instead of those 2-3 steps and it would have even been more convenient for non disabled people. I think it's not bad intention but the "we've always done it like that" mindset. btw: the main train station in Karlsruhe is worse than Freiburg if you want to get to the tram
I went to Munich for a concert in July, with a friend in a wheelchair. We stayed in Assheim and came by train from The Netherlands. The tickets were booked four months in advance. And DB decided to inform us a week before the journey that they could not organize transfer assistance because our transfer would be at 4am.
Before you say “that’s the middle of the night, of course they can’t,” we specifically asked if that was possible. If they had informed us while booking that it’s not possible, we would have booked an earlier or later train. But we were assured that they would definitely be able to organize assistance at that time. So we booked, because it would mean only one transfer to get to Munich hbf. With later or earlier trains, it would mean 2 or 3 transfers. And with a wheelchair, even with assistance, that’s pretty cumbersome. You can’t simply run to make a tight connection. And if the elevator is slow, like it was in Karlsruhe (where our transfer was), it caused some major sweating. Our transfer was supposed to be 50 minutes. But it’s Deutsche Bahn….. Our actual transfer ended up being just 5 minutes. And each elevator took 2 minutes. One to get to the platform, one to get to the underpass. That left just one minute to get off the train, and into the next one, including walking to the elevator. Thankfully the conductor contacted the crew of the other train, and they were waiting for us.
From Munich, we had to take the S-Bahn to Feldkirchen. A Tiny station, which is advertised as wheelchair accessible. Which it would have been…. If the elevator had been working. But it was out of order. Calling the DB mobility hotline didn’t help at all. Firstly, they didn’t speak English. I didn’t expect them to, but upon my inquiry if they did, they transferred me 3 times to an “English speaking colleague”, only to disconnect me after the 3rd “transfer.” So I had to call again, and try in my best broken German to explain the situation. Their only solution was to go one station further, to Heimstetten and take the bus from there. The problem however was that our gruppenticket for the weekend wouldn’t be valid to Heimstetten. We would have had to get a more expensive one. Again, not a problem if we had known about this before hand. But I already paid €47 for a ticket valid between Munich itself and Feldkirchen (which is called zone M, so in a way the “local Munich zone”). Heimstetten is one zone over. We would have had to buy a whole nother ticket, at €67 or so.
Thankfully, we had an incredible AirBnB host. He came to the station in Heimstetten and picked us up. He even called DB and inquired if the station at Ismaning would be within the right zone (it was). And that station had a better public transport connection to Ashheim, so that was great.
All in all, that really made me appreciate all the crap people with disabilities have to go through daily. I only had to experience it for 4 days and was already sick of it. Let alone when you have to deal with it all your life.
I fully understand that a lot of buildings are historical, and can’t be made accessible. Or only partly. It’s impossible to make these changes to a building that’s 200/300 years old and very compactly build. But there is absolutely no excuse when designing a completely new building. Or when redesigning a building that was build in the last 50/75 years.
What about volunteer repair people? In the USA, volunteer repairs to public facilities are often illegal or prohibited because of liabilities. Does Europe suffer from the same problem?
Very nice video, but what about accessibility for people with hearing loss? Announcements of train arrivals, departures, delays, etc only via speakers, no written information, tv shows and movies (on public tv) without subtitles, theatre without subtitles, etc...
The issue does not only extend to architecture. Software, for example, is highly inaccessible for disabled people, although great efforts have been made to improve it.
It is a question of money and priorities. When it comes to software, for example, we would also come back to the question of money when it comes to security: in a system geared towards competition, you have disadvantages if you do not only provide for the top priorities.
(In Germany in particular, you often see the opposite: so many publicly funded projects fail because the core of the project was missed.)
Especially in Germany, the lack of inclusion and the deficient accessibility infrastructure, can't be understood without looking at the eugenics and euthanasia movements in the first half of the last century.
People with disabilities are still widely seen as a burden to society, not as full members with equal rights but special needs. That's why accessibility features are perceived as an expensive "on top", not as something essential like windows, doors or heating.
We need a change in paradigm: All infrastructure needs to be accessible. The on-top are special features, like shortcuts with stairs, for able-bodied people, which can be added later. Such a shift of paradigm, changes the whole design process.
Austrian here. I feel like I should have made my master thesis about accessibility in vienna. It didn't even occur to me, because I don't need it. Everybody should be aware of this, because it can happen to everybody.
Wow, I was surprised at this. Accessibility is law in Australia for new buildings and for old buildings that have a renovation, and there are still accessibility problems.
We tried using the wheelchair elevator to the Akropolis in the Easter holiday. The phone number for information was no help. The person maybe didn’t speak English? At least they hung up or didn’t answer, when we tried calling. Trying to ask the ticket booth personnel how to access the elevator also didn’t work. They had no idea, had no idea what we were talking about. There were no signs. We ended up giving up.
Ages ago in the US when I was studying interior design, we had a class where we had to adopt a disability for a day, then navigate our normal lives, including all over campus. It was rather eye-opening - I don’t know that any of us had given ever given any thought to the impact of even a broken arm, let alone a more severe and/or permanent disability. That was when the ADA was really beginning to be imple, and once we were in the profession, boy did we ever whine about commercial bathroom remodels, ramps, signage, etc. 40 years later, living in Germany now, I see the difference it made - especially when it comes to restaurant bathrooms down a set of twisty, dark stairs. I’m lucky enough to be fit and in good health despite my age, but I often think about 10 or 20 years from now when might not be the case. Not to mention that sometimes I can’t tell the ladies from the gents due to humorous, but not necessarily clear, signage. Thanks for another fabulous video, on a topic that is so important!
This video hit a bit harder for me than many others you've made. I couldn't agree more with the idea that our environment can be what's "disabled". As an example of this in my own life, my mobility and other symptoms I experience are affected by the heat, so when I lived in southern California, I needed to use a disabled parking permit. However, since moving to a cooler climate, I haven't really needed one. For many people with disabilities, it is the *environment* that determines what challenges and limitations they face, not the disability, itself. The US may be doing a lot better in some ways than much of Europe, but it still has a long way to go (check out the video _Zach Anner & The Quest for a Rainbow Bagel_ as an example). I am so grateful to you for making this video and bringing more attention to this issue!
Here in Nijmegen (NL), the municipality wanted to build a new pedestrian bridge so pedestrians could easily cross between the Waalkade and the VASIM lot, two popular areas with bars, restaurants etc, without having to make a long detour around the port. The proposed new bridge was... NOT wheelchair accessible. According to the city government, the new bridge didn't need to be wheelchair accessible because wheelchair users could "just" take the long way around. Like, seriously? Luckily, some local organisations and political parties made lots of noise, demanding that the bridge be either redesigned to be wheelchair accessible, or not built at all. In the end, the bridge /is/ going to be wheelchair accessible. But it took quite some effort to achieve that, which shouldn't have been necessary in the first place.
There is one more aspect why it should be important to everyone: We are social animals and like to do things and go places with others. If places are not accessible, we exclude people with Handicaps, strollers or the elderly or at least make them feel like they're making life harder for everyone else. And who said that the elderly don't have the drive or need to go out like a 23yo? Maybe it's partially the struggles with the inaccessibilities of their environment?
Refreshing and constructive! Criticism on Europe. I am here for it. And I am European, btw.
thank you for this video.en drawing attention to the problems disabled people have with accessibility and inclusion in daily life. me being disabled, i have ms which results in restriction in using my left extremeties, i can still walk (with difficulty) make me experience this regularly.
like going to a restaurant after asking if they are accessible and have an accessible bathroom, which they confirmed resulted in me having to go through an obstacle course to get to the perfect disabled bathroom. i could reach the bathroom with great difficulty.when i pointed this out to the staff that because i could walk i could reach the bathroom but would i've been in a wheelchair there was no possibility i could have reached it, they looked at me as if i spoke chinese i had to lead them through the way and point out the problems that they realised they weren't that accessible at all and they thanked me for pointing out the problems.
and how frustrating is it that you can take a train and find out you can't leave the platform because the only elevater is broken down or when you need to get to another platform you can leave but can't get to the other platform because that elevator isn't working and you have to ask for assistance and the station employee doesn't want to help until after a heated discussion that almost get you into tears they do the minimum possible with a big sigh. to than find out that on your destination where you need to transfer to a bus, the elevator there is broken too and you have to use a very steep and very fast going escalator.
these problems and the reaction of the general public (sorry this is generalisation, many people do care) makes you feel youre a second class citizen not worth the needed effort to accommedate you. also the use of political correctnes that changes your status from disabled to less worth ( one of the 2 meanings of the dutch term 'minder valide' the second is less abled) really affects quality of life (its harder to enjoy going out or travel so you choose to stay home to avoid all the fuss and in doing so missing out on a lot of fun).
I am surprised that there is no equivalent to the ADA here in Europe. I understand that conditions may differ from country, but no overall guidelines? There seems to be an EU rule for everything else and wonder how this has not happened. Where I live, Spain, there is pretty good accessibility to most public places. All buses are equipped with deployable ramps and have areas inside the bus for wheelchairs and strollers. The trams are a bit different by having platforms level with the doors, but still have the same reserved spaces. Intercity trains all have special cars with wheelchair lifts. We even have special taxis that accommodate wheelchairs and are on call throughout the city. There are ramps most places and tactile strips in the sidewalks everywhere. Bathrooms are another matter. Most public bathrooms in bars or restaurants are tiny 2.5m X 2.5m and accessibility is a problem. One thing that may contribute to Spain being more friendly is an organization called ONCE. It was founded in 1938 to provide support and assistance to the blind. It has since started to branch out to people with other disabilities. Their influence can be seen all over the country. Braille, audible announcements on transit and barrier removal is pretty universal here. It helps a lot that they are funded by being able to run their own government sanctioned lottery that has sellers everywhere. Changes are coming, but slowly. My building recently enlarged one of the elevators to accommodate electric wheelchairs and other mobility devices (we already had a ramp in the lobby). It is something that people don't give much thought to, but like the woman who was injured in the auto accident said, it is a group that anyone can suddenly find themselves part of. Great video and a very interesting topic, keep it up.
Ive once spent a week on holiday with someone using a wheelchair, it has really opened my eyes for these issues.
Having a ramp to a tunnel underneath a four lane road, and at the end of the tunnel there is three steps and then more ramp to get back up.
Sometimes it really feels like they design this wrong on purpose. I was quite angry when I saw this, but the person using the wheelchair shrugged it of as a daily occurence.
Such a great point that’s overlooked!
Yes, thats the sad truth. I can only repeat like a mantra: accessible solutions are like vegan food - good for everyone. Its often a challenge to get accessibility at work, in companies. Sometimes it helps to tell the bosses that provisions are needed for customers, and then they are available (technically) to employees as well. An example not related to disability, but to matters often overlooked by: in the workers council we advised the employers to provide period products free in all womens toilets. The whish succeded only when we argued that customers might need that as well. The same storyline works with problems regarding to accessibility: customers can also have the demand to have easy to use the environment.
Why is there a comparison between one country and a group of countries?
I am sure there is also a country in Europe with a very good way of treating and integrating all disabled people, I think of the Netherlands, as it is done in the US.
At least in my smaller town over the last years, every bus station is now available for wheel chair drivery and has this touchable line the blind person talked about.
And I saw in the UK at any shop you had to enter through stairs, had a bell, so employees came out to serve.
Big chains may have the money to renovate the buildings, but family run businesses barely have that.
Because there's no sollution for that group of countries only "guidelines to do better", where that "one country" the US has done better with their ADA that applies to all states, apparently. If only, they would do better on the other terrains, you might actually reccomend someone living there.
I pointed out to my hairdresser (in the Netherlands) some of the hurdles some of his disabled and senior customers had to make to visit him.
He thanked me and implemented some changes to make life easier. He just didn't thought of it and even said he thought het was kind of stupid as many of his customers have trouble entering his shop and he always helps them but that had became such a second nature to him that he didn't think about it..
I myself am disabled and understand that some old buildings due to costs can't be easily changed, I'm okay with that, but lets start with new buildings and put regulations in place.
What also is a hurdle is handicap parking. Not one city in the Netherlands has the same rules. Some you can park for free on a handicap spot (sometimes limed to 2 hours), some you have to pay on handicap parking locations, some you can park your car on public parking locations for free, other once you need to pay (parking garages are never free as they are privately owned). Some cities you need to go online and make sure your car is in a local database in you want to park in such a spot (but you don't need to do that for handicap parking spots location). In short, it's confusing, not clear and you can't just drive to a city and park your car.
What really irritates me in germany are tram platforms. BoStraB MANDATES a step into the tram by making it illegal for the platform to be any higher than the entrance. This results in all the brand new "accessible" stations having a 5cm step into the tram. So irritating
and 1 problem you forgot is even if a country is good at providing accessibility options they only work for the most common disabilities that can be seen like mobility impairment and visual impairment. so than you get an app for planning your trip on public transport with a handicap option and it dumps you a 20 minute walk away because that's the wheelchair accessible bus stop, that's very nice if your longs don't carry you that far. or there is a revolving door with a button for wheelchair acces but you can't move or controle your arm far or well enough to push that button.
the problem is that common options help a lot of people with a handicap but they will never help all.
It is mostly how permits work and a cost thing. Just like new fire codes. If you pass a new law, there is almost always saying the code is applicable from that time frame and new permits. It means that if you have a building permit, you only have to adjust all elements you need a new permit (like renovation). So if you say well we make the building accessible for wheelchair. You need a new permit. But that means that all "new" regulation is applicable. So you need to be in line with latest fire code, energy code, etc.
You cannot only renovate for accessibility. So if your cost is 20 000 euros for accessibility you could say OK, is practical. But then the permits says, you also need to be energy efficient, need extra parking lots (because that standard also changed), fire code, etc, and then you get so a high cost that all work will not be done.
The only city I have ever visited in Europe that was excellent all around for someone traveling with a partner that has mobility issues was Vienna. It was the only city where every station we ever used had WORKING and CLEAN elevators. The Tram stops were designed to be slightly raised from street level. That allowed for a near level entrance. The "step up" to the main entrance was maybe 2" easily accommodated by stroller or rollators. for wheel chair users a platform can slide out for perfect entrance. Every time we took a bus, tram or subway we saw people with strollers making good use for the accommodations. The elevators at the stations were used by young people with strollers, older people that didn't feel stable on an escalator, people with bikes or people using an adaptive device (rollator / wheel chair). Paris probably is the worst. Even the RER train is a nightmare. You can get to the platform by elevator, but the train entrance is 2 feet up from the platform level... who designed that! Very few subway stations have elevators. Busses are really the best way to get around Paris if you can't climb stairs. Americans underestimate the amount of buildings that have been improved thanks the ADA. It's FAR from perfect. Loads could be done to be better. We visited NYC last fall and only around 1/2 the stations have an elevator. At least Google maps has an accessibility search option so it will show what subway stations work and where you need to take surface transportation. Historically the elevators in NYC are nasty. They were not too bad this time. Maybe they have found a better way to hose them down regularly.
I largely agree with you where it comes to public buildings, public transport etc. But the moment it enters the private domain, it should be left to the private individuals. If my Bar or Store is inaccessible, I loose out on the disabled clients, but that should be my choice! If the cost of making my Store accessible is higher than the profit I can make on the disabled, then it's just bad business.
"If the cost of making my Store accessible is higher than the profit I can make on the disabled, then it's just bad business"
So it's bad business to treat the value of people solely on the basis of how much money you can make off them?
Ok Douchenozzle
Attitudes like this are why in the US, the ADA applies not only to public buildings and transport, but also any business with a public accomodation like stores, bars, etc.
In Deutschland ist es auch so, weil es so gewollt ist. Die Bahn empfindet das sogar als vorbildlich. Es gibt z.B nicht ueberall solche kleinen Aufzuege. Oft _muss_ man einfach die umstaendlicheren Treppen nehmen, da nichts anderes verfuegbar ist.
Ich habe allerdings auch schon Zuege verpasst, da die Schlange vor dem winzigen Aufzug zu lang war, da einfach zu viele Menschen auf einmal, auch schnell umsteigen mussten.. In gewisser Weise verschlechtert sich dieses Thema Oeffentlicher Verkehr in Deutschland sogar. Alles was irgendwie alternativ zum Auto sein koennte, wird in Deutschland angegriffen und verschlechtert. Alternative und andere Minderheiten werden in Deutschland sowieso benachteiligt. Das hat Tradition in diesem Land.
Thank you so much. I am not really sure about those laws in Switzerland I will investigate.
Oh, just thought about it, in Lausanne (Switzerland) we have an amazing exemple of blind friendly streets, because we have "l'hôpital des aveugles" (a hospital specialised in eye and view treatments, where people come from all over the world). If you want to learn about it I think I can find documentation, don't hesitate to ask!
Very thoughtful and well done report!
To me accessibility features are everywhere, often to a very annoying level. But I get that for a disabled person it could be difficult even with running into an obstacle once during a day commute or trip...
Building code is one thing, what about ARIA on websites and subtitle or sign language in videos?
Thanks for another great video!
Another great video.
A few things are missing.
First of all, as usual Spain is overlooked, regardless of the subject and especially with this subject as it's one of the most accessible countries in Europe and the European Disability Forum has a pretty good opinion (far from perfect but on the right track).
As for private businesses, forcing small businesses to adapt their location is not a viable solution. In this case I believe that the government should encourage them to do so by financial aid in the adaptation process of tax reductions for a specific period.
As for the US, it is definitely a very positive and important thing that they did what many other countries don't - making it into an enforceable law but there are two things you've ignored or brushed of a bit.
1. The old building thing is a major different as the US is a young country with very few old buildings and with a tradition of demolishing even recently built building for a new one.
2. As you said, the law mostly expects the citizens to uphold the law which is problematic.
3. The US as a huge mobility and discriminatory problem that affects anyone who does not drive. It's easy to adapt public transport when you hardly have public transport.
33:18 I wonder if this would be still up to code of monument protection because I think this is the main reason so many historic buildings don't get disabled-friendly modifications. It's the same with historic cars. As soon as you replace an original part with a modern one, no matter how "original" it looks, your car loses its historic status and therefore all benefits like being freed from taxes. I'm afraid that's what is holding back so many building owners to modernize.
as a european, who doesn't use a wheelchair but due to other conditions I have, I need elevators and escalators if I want to have a good time, and for the most part in new buildings this is being covered at least in my country. But when it comes to wheelchair access ANYWHERE outside, and the blind lines, it's atrocious and it has to do with ppl's understanding and respect.
Im not sure about the law in my country, but I suspect there is something that forces new building having accessibility in multiple levels, because everything that is made nowadays whether public property or private, they are made with accessibility in mind. but the sad truth is, most don't care to make those things correctly and to last.
for example I was working on a project for a public building, that had those HUGE ramps running from one side of the building to the other, and they were supposed to be both a wheelchair ramps, AND decorative, but they ended up cutting corners so much so, that the ramps ended up too steep to be safe for wheelchair use. thankfully the building has many elevators too, but that was such a mind blowing lack of care on the architects' part.
in my country disabled people used to be hidden, and sadly the culture has not yet grown mentally to accept that disabled people have the right to exist in public. that is most shown with how cars and motorcycles are parked, they block sidewalk ramps, and blind lines. even if the city has upgraded its infrastructure, the people have not upgraded their brains.
as for historical buildings, there are always ways as long as people think a little about those issues. and sure might not be fixable in all historical sights, or smaller size buildings but as of now, they dont even try fix those that can be fixed.
Well, here in Germany accessibility definitly is a requirement when building or remodelling public/governmental buildings.
But our cities are old. If you have buildings 100-200 years old, ist will take time.
I find in Germany, even many modern buildings from the 60s have steps, just for accessing the ground floor.
@@lazrseagull54 I wouldn't call buildings from the 60s modern. Back then, accessability for the disabled was barely on anyone's RADAR.
"Our cities are old!" excuse was addressed in this video. Didn't you watch it? It's a BS excuse; buildings get renovated and even lots of new constructions are often horrible in Germany.
The video also told about some examples (Britain / Scotland for an example) where accessibility is considered, despite them having as old cities as Germany have.
@@antred11 I dunno. Buildings I've lived in in London usually had a lift if they were built after the war and no lift if they were built before the war but I guess you're correct that this probably wasn't done with wheelchair access in mind, but so that residents don't have to walk all the way upstairs.
@@fl4shi238 Actually, checking for flats to rent in London and Berlin. Berlin i found something like 4383 flat of which 592 where accessible ( listed as: stufenlos). London most agencies didn't even list it as a filter option (or didn't provide the actual number when over 1000). the one which did had 764 out of which where only 76 wheelchair accessible.
So i'm not so sure, that germany is actually doing so much worse. But there is surely much potential to improve everywhere.
In the disability camp myself with a neuromuscular disability that likely will worsen over time
What angers me is that after WWII, governments did nothing to help the many war veterans get out and about. It didn't matter if you were in the UK, EU, USA or even in Russia, disabled access was ignored for almost two generations. In the US starting in the 70s and depending on which state one lived in, the law mandated equal access and many businesses, public buildings and national/state parks were accommodating. That said, older cities like New York, London, Paris, St. Petersburg, and even Oslo struggled to get disabled access. I know this because I have visited these cities with a pram or had a broken leg. Getting about, especially on public transportation was pure torture with local people not helping me because, I'm going to be blunt here, they don't like people of African descent and will help a European or even Asian mother with a pram before an African or Black mother. Sad but true. I once had a Chanel suit on and needed help with my pram and was ignored! But I digress.
I currently reside in Germany, where things didn't improve in Cologne until the Pope visited Cologne in 2006 for World Youth Day. If the year rings a bell, it was also the year FIFA World Cup was held in Germany. Because of these two events, improvement in the rail system came about with all participating cities such as Düsseldorf, Munich, Stuttgart, Hamburg and Berlin. Had it not been for the Pope and FIFA, I believe Germany would have dragged their heals. Now, most stops have working elevators. The exceptions are those in very rural areas or where there is only service a few times a day. Imagine: if you live rurally, are wheelchair bond, have a pram, or have vision or hearing problems, you have to call in advance to make arrangements to get yourself onto the train. Sometimes, the train stops in the middle of the track to offload a disabled person! It's horrible thing which I have seen often in my life. That's why my head shakes and I get angry because I was also offloaded with an infant in the early 2000s in both Niedersachsen and Thüringen!
Now, things are much improved, but it took my lifetime. I'm almost 60 now and spent my child's formative years struggling and begging for help that most passerbys refused to give. What's worse: now Germans themselves are treated with the same disrespect that I felt was only reserved for foreigners. Rude and uncaring people, some with bikes, now take up the disabled/pram/wheelchair seats. These horrible citizens won't move or exit designated spots despite a blind person losing their footing because they are standing and can't see what the driver or traffic is doing to keep their balance. Just horrible situations! I'm not excited about becoming older because I know how society treats its elderly, infirmed and disabled.