Arcadia England

By Brianna Rodriguez 

American woman tries to find a medium in a city full of past, frustrating present and unforeseeable future for those with disabilities.

When I was ten, I was in a wheelchair. 

I had a surgery that left me wheelchair-bound for months. Ever since I search for how feasible it is for other people to maneuver in the world.

After spending an entire week in the city, I’m finding that London is wildly disappointing in its accessibility.

As a disclaimer, I 1) fully recognize that I have a lot of privilege in writing about this because I’m seeing this from two perspectives, someone who was once in a wheelchair and someone who no longer is and 2) do believe that we should listen to accounts of people still experiencing the lack of accessibility in London, like that of James Moore and others who kept diary-like entries for a piece for The Guardian, and in no way mean to eclipse their voices.

Don’t get me wrong -- I love the city. I’ve enjoyed the weather, food, people, accents. But I can’t shake the voices in my head asking how hard it is for someone to make his or her way on the slanted cobblestone paths, walk up the many flights of creaking stairs and make the precarious trip up/down the many hills. Is the city’s albeit famous past more important than its future in advancement for disabilities?

My go-with-the-flow attitude of the first five days here made me think back to the city’s accessibility. I had to be prepared to go to this coffee shop or that shopping area, depending on what the others in my group wanted spontaneously. But I would often think back to the planning that would go into my traveling with my chair and how anything impulsive would scare me into not wanting to occupy space in any public area.

One of the things I was most looking forward to was the tube. Since my arrival, I’ve been lost on it, got my ankle trapped in the closing doors and nearly dropped my shopping bag onto the tracks from being pushed by passersby. And I’m lucky for it. I wanted the full experience of a bustling Londoner trying to get where I need to go on time.

But in 2014, only 24 percent of London’s tube stations were accessible for wheelchairs. The city’s 151-year-old transportation system, while chock-full of history, is outdated for those with disabilities.  

But the city has made improvements. I see lifts in more modern places, construction workers hammering at some of the harsh infrastructure and signs leading people to safer and more accessible areas. The Transport of London (TfL) has an accessibility guide for those in need of it.

The rush and clamor of the perennially busy city is what drew me to London, but it’s also what keeps me in a constant state of worry for those in situations like I once was. I made it a personal goal of mine to be committed to inclusivity, and I wish the city that I am falling in love with had more drive to do the same.