Melbourne 37° 48' S 144° 57' E

As the most populous city in Australia, Melbourne is very barrier-free in most areas. Often to always there are ramps on sidewalks, elevators in train stations or even barrier-free public toilets. Of course, there are also, as in most big cities, places where there are problems. In Melbourne, this is, among other things, the streetcar, which is actually impossible to use by wheelchair users, because there are only two very steep stairs leading in.

Once when Alex was walking alone in Melbourne, he only made it onto the streetcar with the help of two men who carried him. Other than that, though, we rarely reached our limits. Overall, we have found Melbourne to be a multicultural and inclusive city whose residents are already very familiar with disability. People are understanding and happy to help when asked, but without being as proactively accommodating as people in Asia or South America. Our assumption is that this could be due to the fact that, on the one hand, people with a disability are represented much more frequently in everyday life and people have therefore already become much more accustomed to the topic. People with disabilities are no longer seen as exotic and therefore do not receive undivided attention. On the other hand, disabled people also receive much more support from the state than in Asian or South American countries, which is why society perhaps feels it has to support them less than in countries where people with a disability are really heavily dependent on help from family or strangers.