Accessibility in Milan

Accessibility in Milan

Accessibility in Milan did not seem to be a problem when we researched on the Internet ahead of time. Travelling with PMA/ALS can be a challenge at the best of times but as this disease progresses, the challenges become ever greater. We recently took a weekend trip from Lausanne, Switzerland to Milan, Italy and I had no idea what to expect!

Firstly, we booked a self-pronounced ‘accessible’ hotel and even called in advance to ensure that they were set up for my wheelchair. Next, we booked our train tickets, also ensuring that they could accommodate said chair. Finally, we checked on the web for places and things to see and do that would be accessible. There were a couple of websites dedicated to accessibility in Milan. By all indications, we were well-prepared!

Travel by Train

We set out very early on that Saturday morning (5:30 AM). Our first challenge that although SBB (Swiss Rail) was aware of our situation, once we boarded the train we found that the accessible carriage was attached to the 1st Class section with space for only one other passenger (caregiver). The other 3 members of our group were to be seated 3 carriages away. Fortunately, the train was not full and the conductor allowed us to stay together in unoccupied seats. For many trains in Switzerland, you must give at least an hour’s notice of your intent to travel. The problems with this are threefold as we were to discover.

1. You must specify the exact train that you wish to use. If anything occurs that you end up on an earlier or later train, you will lose assistance at either embarkation and/or debarkation.
2. Sometimes a train marked as accessible turns out not to be. There is small print in the app that explains that accessibility is NOT guaranteed since the railway is sometimes forced to change equipment.
3. The accessibility telephone number is only available during weekday business hours. If you need to travel outside these hours without notice, you will be dependent on the app (see 2 above) whose accuracy is not guaranteed.

Our ‘Accessible’ Hotel

As you can well imagine, finding a reasonably priced hotel in Milan, even outside of the main tourist season is not an easy matter. To find one that is also ‘accessible’ makes it even more difficult. We settled on Hotel Manin, a well-situated, four-star hotel that had offered a reasonable family package. The hotel entrance was accessible, the rooms however not quite so much. Although there were guest elevators, they were not large enough to accommodate my much smaller than average power wheelchair! I had to travel up and down in the service elevator, which still required some fancy maneuvering to fit in.

The room itself was really comfortable and well-appointed. The supposed accessible bathroom, however, was much less so. At least the hotel responded when I  told them that I needed something to sit on for the shower. They somewhere dug up a strange,  plastic cube, which was clearly not designed for this particular task but it did the trick. At that time, I had enough mobility left in my legs to handle the toilet but today, it would be out of the question!

Getting Around Milan

Busses were officially accessible but we did not get to test them. The hotel arranged an ‘accessible taxi’ when we needed one. It had room to fit my wheelchair in without a problem but had no means to help mount into the high seats. Again, only because I have full upper body strength was I able to hoist myself in. I can’t imagine how they might have handled a quadriplegic individual. The metro, again we didn’t try it out, has only a single line that is fully accessible. Public transit ranks a C- at best for accessibility in Milan!

Streets, Stores & Restaurants

First, the good news: Milan has obviously taken great pains (and expense) to make the city core more accessible in recent times. At most street crossings, it is apparent that work has been done, at almost all pedestrian crossing points, to remove, re-engineer or shave down curbs.

The bad news is that at almost all other places, accessibility is a joke. I would estimate that only 20% of restaurants and 10% of stores were accessible to anyone in a wheelchair.  The photo above shows a typical store or mall entrance. There is no gap in the curbstone for a wheelchair, scooter or walker. There are three steps to navigate to enter. The sidewalk itself looks better than most. Many are constructed with small cobblestones which makes for a lumpy ride. In many cases, when I went on the sidewalk for a long distance, there would be no way to get down which would mean that the entire family would have to retrace its steps.

Public Washrooms

These were a crapshoot (sic). On the whole, one would be better off by assuming that any public washroom is NOT accessible unless clearly signed as such. Local accessibility by-laws are either not in place or not enforced. In other cases, lip-service is given to accessibility with no real thought given to how it is implemented, a bit like our hotel but on a wider scale. In one establishment, I actually became trapped in a washroom and had to shout until a staff member came to help! 😮

All in all, I was very glad to have made the trip but, on aggregate, I could not say that Milan ranks as very accessible in my book.

You can check out some of our other travel adventures here