Disability activist unable to collect award as organisers forget ramp

Anna Landre left fighting back tears at London ceremony after stage was not wheelchair-accessible

A disability campaigner who won the Freedom of the City of London was unable to collect her award from the Lord Mayor on stage because it was not wheelchair-accessible.
The City of London Corporation (CLC) has apologised after Anna Landre was left fighting back tears at the ceremony at Mansion House in London last month.
The 25-year-old was due to be given the ancient honour for her work promoting the rights of disabled people.
But the temporary stage had not been constructed with wheelchair access, which meant that she had to receive her award from the main floor, in contrast to the other recipients.
She has now spoken out about the “absurd” incident, citing it as an example of the “access roulette” disabled people are forced to face in everyday life.
Writing in The Big Issue, she said: “I suppose I was worthy of being granted the Freedom of the City, but not the freedom of the room.
“The stage itself was not a historic feature and sat barely half a metre off the floor.
“The organisers knew I was coming and had assured me of wheelchair access. So why did this happen?”
Ms Landre said that although the Disability Discrimination Act and the Equality Act should prevent situations like the Mansion House debacle from taking place, she and fellow disabled people routinely faced an “implementation gap”.
“The gap is wide, and we have no choice but to mind it every day,” she said.
“I quietly accepted my Freedom of the City from the floor beneath the stage, knowing that despite the legal obligation for disabled people to be granted ‘reasonable adjustments’ like a ramp to ensure access, if I made a scene it would be I who was branded ‘unreasonable’.”
The Freedom of the City of London is one of the City’s oldest traditions and it is believed they have been handed out since 1237.
They are awarded to individuals for their contribution to London or public life or to celebrate significant achievement, according to CLC.
Ms Landre, who moved to the UK three years ago from Washington DC, received the award for her contributions both to disability campaigning and computer science.
She said: “As an activist, whenever this happens it’s an opportunity to fix it for the next person because if I don’t, it will happen to the next person.”
The current legislation makes it illegal for employers and public places to discriminate against someone because they are disabled.
In practice, this means they are obliged to make adjustments to ensure disabled people have access.
A CLC spokesman said: “The City of London Corporation would like to offer our sincerest apologies to Anna Landre for the inaccessible stage upon receiving her Freedom award.
“The City of London Corporation is fully committed to equity, diversity and inclusion and we are undertaking an urgent review to ensure accessibility at our buildings, facilities and events.
“Again, we want to make clear our unreserved apology to Anna Landre and we are making every effort to ensure this doesn’t happen again.”