Access Denied

There are a few places trying to make life easier, like the city of Arhus in Denmark. City authorities offer newly disabled Arhus residents wheelchair-accessible housing; if that's not possible, they get help in adapting their homes. Local trains are equipped with same-level access, space for wheelchairs and disabled-friendly toilets. A 2003 policy requires all new and renovated buildings to be accessible, and retailers are instructed by city building authorities on how to improve shop layouts for the disabled. "We are unrelenting when owners — both private and public — apply for building permission for buildings with public access," [an error occurred while processing this directive] says the city's chief building inspector, Thorkild Kjaer. "They don't get it unless they meet the requirements for accessibility. Our aim is to make Arhus a city for all."

In Berlin, one new structure looks set to remain difficult for the disabled. The Holocaust memorial — a 19,000-sq-m installation of 2,700 concrete blocks — officially opens on May 10, but wheelchair users will find their visits tricky. Many of the blocks are spaced just 95 cm apart along paths with gradients of up to 25%; many wheelchair users can't navigate the corners, and they and other disabled people find the slopes too steep. "I want to be able to remember — without barriers — my Jewish ancestors who were murdered in a concentration camp," says wheelchair user Sigrid Arnade, 48. "I don't want to be annoyed by barriers that are again being put up for disadvantaged groups in the 21st century, barriers that bar access to me." A disabled-rights group sued Berlin's Department for City Development to demand revisions, on the basis that the design breached the state's law on equal opportunities — and that disabled people had been persecuted during the Holocaust. A German court rejected the suit, arguing that the changes would injure "the nature of the artistic conception."

Europe's disabled people complain that their concerns about access have been dismissed for too long. "We simply cannot be refused access to places because of disabilities," Michel says. Many like her are no longer willing to accept what they see as second-class treatment.