Barrier -free Christmas market in Gifhorn: an outcry by those affected!

Barrier -free Christmas market in Gifhorn: an outcry by those affected!

Gifhorn, Deutschland - The Christmas market in Gifhorn, which provides a festive atmosphere with colorful stalls on December 26, 2024, is confronted with serious accessibility problems. Silke Ehrhoff plans a visit to the market with her mother in need of care, who lives in the nursing home. During her visit, she realizes that the floor is designed on two large areas of the market with bark mulch. This makes access to wheelchair users, walkers and strollers considerably more difficult. Due to these circumstances, Silke and her mother cannot get to the mulled wine.

After her disappointing experience, Silke expresses her resentment on social media, where she receives a lot of encouragement in the comments. The spokesman for the district's advisory board confirms the lawsuits regarding the wood-chipping floor and informs that the advisory board plans to speak to the city responsible to reduce barriers. This is not the first time that such challenges occur, since other Christmas markets in the region also have similar problems in relation to accessibility.

demand for barrier -free markets

The problem of accessibility on Christmas markets is a widespread topic in Germany. According to an article by Barrierefreierleben.de, it is about making the festive joy of Christmas accessible to everyone. Barrier -free Christmas markets offer an inclusive experience and take into account visitors with physical restrictions. The design elements include ground -level accesses, enough space for wheelchair users, tactile guidelines for visually impaired people and calm areas for people with sensory hypersensitivity.

The city of Mainz is mentioned as a positive example where the Christmas market was designed with a circular route without cable bridges and wider, less steep cable bridges. Further measures include barrier -free booths and toilets, lowered tables in restaurants and menus in braille. General tips for barrier -free Christmas markets contain, among other things, continuously infinitely variable and visibly marked entrances, marked parking spaces for people with severe walking disabilities and at least a barrier -free toilet.

The problem of accessibility on Christmas markets remains an important and pressing topic that needs more attention.