As we have traveled throughout Dublin this past week one of the most striking things is the amount of history embedded in this city. I really appreciate the amount of wonderful sights there are to see, and they tell a rich story about how Ireland has come to be the country we see today.

However, I have also noticed how almost none of these sites are totally disability friendly. Whether it is the Dublin Castle, Trinity College, or Kilmainham Goal I found some accommodation attempts, but generally it would be inaccessible to wheelchair users and people with visual impairments. I understand that there are very strict laws about preserving historical sites here in Ireland and I respect that, yet it makes me uneasy to accept that people cannot have a similar enriching historical experience of the city that I am having simply because they do not have my same physical abilities.

This brings up a question that definitely does not have a correct answer to it: how much should a city be responsible to making public historical sites accessible, while understanding that if certain accommodations are created some of the “historical accuracy” is destroyed? Although there is no right answer to this question I, obviously, have my own opinions about this subject. I personally believe that there could be better accommodations made in creative ways than the current status. Elevators (or as they call them here lifts) or ramps can be tucked into stair cases, museum display tables should to be at a proper viewing height for someone using a wheelchair and I think that braille should be more prevalent in museum settings. I have absolutely loved learning about Irish history and I hope that in the future more people will have the ability to experience what I have in the future.