Accessibility failures aren’t a British problem

From Madrid, a reader explains how weak laws and poor enforcement make independence even more fragile for disabled people elsewhere in Europe

Sir,

Matthew Kayne’s article ‘New Year, same question: will I be able to leave the house today?’ struck a real chord with me, perhaps because the failures he describes are unfortunately familiar well beyond the UK. Living in a country where accessibility laws are weaker and enforcement is inconsistent, I recognised the gap he exposes between promises on paper and reality on the ground.

What struck me most was how fragile independence can be. In systems like ours, there is often no backup, no escalation, and little expectation that services will respond quickly. Even where standards do exist, they mean little without trained staff, clear accountability and urgency when things go wrong.

It means disabled people must learn early to lower expectations and build their lives around unreliable systems. What a sad indictment that is for the modern world.

Yours faithfully,

Ana Rodríguez

Madrid, Spain