May 29, 2019

Today’s visit to the Arc de Triomphe brings to light a topic that much of France seems to have skirted around or gave minimal effort to. The topic is Accessibility. Paris, itself claims that it has made improvements to accessibility accommodations. While this may be true, it wasn’t anything to give accolades for. It is still lacking in many ways. I would be curious to know what they think would be considered an improvement.

During this trip, I have noticed that elevators in general are hard to come by. There might be an escalator, but it’s still not sufficient for someone in a wheelchair. To get to most attractions, the person also needs to plan way in advance. This could mean planning for an Uber, but even that isn’t guaranteed. The Uber drivers could often be seen driving past and not stopping.

The following pictures show exactly what a person in a wheelchair must deal with just to get to the Arc de Triomphe. The tunnel to walk under the road is not wheelchair accessible. They must cross about 4 lanes of traffic. To get into the structure itself, the staff must pull out a ramp to get the wheelchair into the building. (It’s also best to have someone help hold it in place, as it can shift when in use.). There is an elevator that can be used to get to a level where there is a gift shop, but there is no outside access at the top for wheelchairs. There are only steps. If you look at the pictures though, you will notice that there are ramps on top of the building. I’m not quite sure what that is for, as there are steps on the top to get to the ledge you can stand on. The pictures really do speak for themselves.