Mayor Accepts Wheelchair Challenge

In response to a wheelchair-bound Icelander’s challenge, Reykjavík mayor Dagur B. Eggertsson will attempt to navigate downtown in a wheelchair by the end of the summer.

RÚV reports that the challenge came from Jón Gunnar Benjamínsson who, frustrated with his mixed success at navigating downtown in a wheelchair, called upon the mayor to try navigating Laugavegur alone in a wheelchair. The mayor has accepted the challenge, and will make the attempt by the end of the summer.

As Grapevine has reported attempting to navigate downtown Reykjavík in a wheelchair is a roll of the dice. Not all streets are wheelchair-friendly, and many places have no wheelchair access at all.

Even if one does manage to get inside a place of business, the interior might not be accommodating to wheelchairs, although some places have gone a long ways towards making changes.

In fact, despite the calls over the years for greater wheelchair access from mayors of different party affiliations, some locations in Reykjavík remain mostly or completely inaccessible to the wheelchair-bound.