Sydney 33° 52′ S 151° 12′ E

Sydney, one of the most famous cities in the world, is Australia's poster child for accessibility. The city's accessibility has benefited particularly from the hosting of the Summer Olympics in 2000, which ensured that large parts of the infrastructure were modernized and made barrier-free. For example, the rail system is largely barrier-free, many sidewalks have ramps, there are barrier-free public toilets, and many buildings are also easily accessible without steps. The ferry system in Sydney is also designed to be partially barrier-free. The biggest problem that Sydney has in terms of easy locomotion are the many hills and inclines in the city, making ramps from sidewalks sometimes too steep or making easy locomotion for wheelchair users or even for Alex very exhausting.
As in Melbourne and New Zealand, the issues of disability and inclusion are being discussed publicly, both politically and socially. Disabled people are clearly part of the everyday cityscape. The contact to these topics for the population has already become more or less normality. Again, we were helped very nicely when we asked for help, while people were less proactive in approaching us. In our opinion, this has a similar reason as we see in Melbourne and New Zealand. People with a disability are no longer seen as exotic here and therefore do not get the undivided attention. On the other hand, disabled people also get 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 heavily rely on help from family or strangers.