Access considerations

[Tom Morgan]

I'd like to ask Pals' views on any aspects of battlefield visiting which have repercussions for those with mobility problems. In particular I'm interested in considering the difficulties faced by visitors whose mobility is more or less restricted to wheelchairs.

I have guided some wheelchair-bound visitors so I know some of the problems but I'd be interested in a discussion of any aspect of this kind of visit, to see what others think.

It's amazing how many practical aspects there are, when you start to look closely. (Gravel paths, unneccesary steps added as architectural features to cemeteries and memorials, and so on.) I know that the CWGC is trying to address this problem where it can and some cemetery details on their site refer to disabled access.

When you think about it, you also find that there are lots of restaurants which have toilets up one or more flights of stairs, and disabled toilets are often unknown.

So - access to sites, hotels which can or can't cater for wheelchair-bound visitors, problems which Pals can foresee or which they might have actually encountered - I'd be interested in all views.

Tom

[Paul Reed]

Novotel in Ypres is totally wheel-chair friendly; with good loos and lifts throughout, with no steps at all. But of course it is a modern purpose built hotel, so one would expect that of it.

On the Somme I know few, if any hotels, which compare - the nearest one being the Mercure in Arras.

On the Somme itself I have found the Newfoundland Park to be difficult enough access wise for mobile groups - those with mobility problems would find most of it unreachable these days, I suspect.

[Dragon]

This is a very valid question, Tom and one which merits discussion.

I have taken an elderly disabled person to parts of France and Switzerland and in my experience, awareness of the needs of people with impaired mobility is poor compared with the level of provision in the UK. This is compounded by inadequate awareness of the needs of people with low vision.

I was very sad to find that often, rooms provided for disabled guests were in the worst part of the accommodation, with obscured views, or above noisy areas, or next to the service works for the building such as the AC units, or near the kitchen ventilators. Sometimes it was as if a disabled person had no need of pleasant, restful room with a chair to sit by the window and enjoy the view.

I found it hard to find an hotel which was accessible, because many did not have lifts; eventually it was necessary to request a first floor room as the best available option. In some areas there seemed to be little consistency in the siting of disabled parking places; for example, they might be at the foot of a hill while the shops or restaurant were at the top.

I also insisted that my elderly person took her own supplies of TNG sprays and (I know this sounds paranoid) I would wish to know where a defibrillator was provided. I feel this is relevant if visitors to battlefield areas are perhaps infirm or elderly, as many are.

I had a lot of information from Radar; and our local hospital was able to source disabled aids so that accessibility could be improved, such as lightweight, portable seats for the bath. However, transporting these on a plane is difficult.

I was taken to France for recuperation after surgery which left me pretty immobile for a while. In the light of that experience, I would be looking for – in no particular order:

- baths with handles

- a shower without a deep well which needs climbing into

- lifts, or stairs with handrails

- simple instructions translated into English for calling for emergency help or phoning a doctor from the hotel room, with large print option

- easy access to fire escape or emergency exit

- clear, large diagrams of where the emergency exit is

- ample provision of seats or benches in the area one proposed to walk, including the very small cemeteries

- ground-floor toilets in restaurants and cafes, and in visitor centres

- female toilets with seats and not holes in the floor – it is impossible to use these if you can’t bend your legs or abdomen

- hard paths for wheelchair users

- availability of cafes for breaks and rest

I visit Alsace and the Vosges more than the Somme or Ieper. I would say that this area is virtually impassable unless you have a good level of fitness and most of the interesting areas are totally inaccessible to anyone in a wheelchair. The main visitor sites, Le Linge and Hartmannswillerkopf, do have limited provision by the car parks, but beyond that, anyone whose mobility was limited would be very restricted in what they could see. However, hotels are much more plentiful and the ones I’ve stayed in have relatively good accessibility provision.

In fairness, I should add that it isn't universally bleak and the hotel I eventually used was extremely kind.

Gwyn

[garyem1]

Hi Tom,

I would just like to add this, If you are not disabled, (and I don`t mean you Tom) Please stay out of (do not use) the disabled toilets and parking bays.

gary.

[Dragon]

The policy in some towns of allowing parking half on the road, half on the pavement, makes it hard for wheelchairs to pass and is troublesome for partially sighted people.

Similarly, objects on the pavements or paths are problems - bins, displays promoting shops or other attractions...

Gwyn

[gem22]

Tom

What a wonderful question. Although I'm not disabled I'm finding, as the years pass, that I am not as mobile as I used to be. I'm becoming more aware of how difficult it must be for disabled people to get around the popular sites on the Western Front; let alone the old battlefields themselves.

Simple matters such as transport, accomodation and feeding, must be a nightmare to organise for some one who needs assistance to get around. If you look at any of the threads on this forum regarding places to eat at, or stay at, or museums etc. to visit, you will be hard pushed to find anywhere that is even walking stick friendly, let alone wheelchair friendly; amongst the list of places that pals recommend.

It would be nice to think that attitudes to the disabled are changing and that matters will improve; but I suspect that that is a naieve hope. I cannot see any of the older establishments in Ieper, or elsewhere, making any serious effort to change; simply because of the cost. Everything comes down to either money or some draconian lawmaker who insists on change.

Garth

[Dragon]

I cannot see any of the older establishments in Ieper, or elsewhere, making any serious effort to change

However, the newer Ariane is accessible. It's also a very pleasant hotel.

Gwyn

[Christina Holstein]

This is a question that I have often thought about in relation to Verdun. If you are disabled it is impossible to visit the two forts that are open to the public. The ground floor of the Memorial and the Ossuary would be possible but not the lower floors and not the Ossuary tower (although now I think about it, I suppose that one could access the lower floor at the Memorial by leaving the building, going down the ramp into the car park and back inside again - that would be a long way). I'm not even sure whether there is wheelchair access to the Ossuary chapel (despite having been there two days ago with non-disabled Pals). I'll check next time.

What's more, parking in central Verdun is very difficult for visitors, who are required by new parking restrictions to park some distance from the hotel. There are four out of town that have parking close by. Not sure if they have lifts though ..... in fact, I'm pretty sure that three of them don't. It would make access to a hotel very difficult for an elderly or disabled visitor.

Christina

[paul guthrie]

Chrisatina, sounds like one can't park by the Hotel St Paul anymore? Right?

[Christina Holstein]

You can still park in the street outside but you have to pay. The car park close by the hotel (by the old town gate) that used to be free is now also paying. In fact, you have to pay to park anywhere in the centre of Verdun between 9am and 7pm these days . If you want to park free, you have to go over the other side of the river or right up by the Cathedral. Not much use to visitors with luggage or elderly/disabled visitors. But then, not too many of the hotels are geared for elderly/disabled visitors either.

Christina

[Tom Morgan]

Thanks to everyone for their replies so far. My own view of the difficulties faced by those with mobility problems has been widened a great deal, and this has been a help.

It's surprising how many of the constructed battlefield sites - by which I mean cemeteries and memorials - have built-in difficulties. I suppose this shows the historical attitude to the disabled. The architects and builders must have seen themselves as preparing these important sites of remembrance to receive visitors. (Even in those days when foreign travel was more difficult than it is today.) I'm sure that they expected many of those visitors to be ex-servicemen, but they do not seem to have noticed that some of the ex-servicemen would be disabled as a result of their war service. Just an attitude of the times, I expect, when the world was designed for the able-bodied only. Many of the public buildings built at the same time, during the 20s and 30s (cinemas, town halls, shops, libraries, schools) are similarly exclusive.

Tom

[Mark A]

Sadly, I think you're right Tom, it was an attitude of the time and one that continued. My wife's grandfather had one leg (lost the other one to a tram when he was young). He won a silver medal at the 1948 Olympics (he coxed one of the British rowing crews) yet he wasn't allowed to parade with the rest of the team for fear of "offending sensibilities" .

[dycer]

Whilst I fully support the premise of full access to the disabled I think we have a problem here.

I was reading the Pals visit to Verdun and clearly the most enjoyable part of the visit(apart from the beer) was being able to crawl through tunnels,trenches,etc.By there very nature presumably these are "off-limits" to the disabled?

I agree that Accomodation,car-parking,Cemeteries,etc should be accessible to all(Is the Disability Discrimination Act only UK Legislation or is it an EU Directive?)

The actual Battlefields I would suggest are somewhat different .They were created by the able-bodied(I agree many were maimed in the process) and to retain their character will remain restricted.

Am I being too contentious?

George

[Christina Holstein]

As regards Verdun, a distinction could perhaps be made between the memorials and forts that are open to the public and the battlefield itself. I think that disabled access is right in public buildings. It would be impossible to make the battlefield itself accessible to wheelchairs except by preserving certain small areas in such a way as to make it possible. It would be impossible to make Vauquois accessible to the disabled, although the Kaiser Tunnel might be accessible.

Christina

[Graham-McAdam]

I realise this is an oldish thread, but, on a first visit I realise that the Beatus in Cambrai which I often visit is very wheelchair friendly. They have a ramp to get over the first doorstep then the whole ground floor - rooms, bar, restaurant - is completely flat

[healdav]

OK, you can expect hotels in this day and age to have disabled access, but the battlefields! Please.

I take groups around trenches in the forest and I always have to make it clear before we go that if you can't walk reasonably well, don't bother. The trenches are pristine and there's no way I or anyone else is going to put in a genuine WW1 concrete wheelchair path.

I did once take a group around when I was on a crutch, and it wasn't too difficult, but that's the limit.

I used to play rugby, but at 60 I have to accept that those days are long over. If you are in a wheelchair, well, sorry, you can't play rugby, you can't go up and down the trenches.

It's called life.