Disability query
 

Our family is doing a RTW trip later this year. One of our party, for mobility reasons, is registered disabled. They will have full EU proof of this with them on tour.

Part of tour takes us to New Zealand, Fiji and Sydney.

I'm keen to find out what concessions are available (transport etc) for person's registered as disabled and those travelling with them. (web pointers would be great)

Trying to get any info from UK official sources is a nightmare!

If you have any tips (the person isn't severely disabled and is not wheelchair bound)I'd be really grateful.

PJKeay, I think it would be helpful if you could be a bit more specific about the nature of the support that the disabled person requires. If they don't use a wheelchair, then I'm a bit puzzled as to the assistance they might require.

Just to give you an example of the support that is available, my elderly mother who is mobile but finds it difficult to walk the long corridors in airport terminals, has arranged for various Australian airports to give her rides in those little "cars" that carry elderly and disabled people around airports. (Mind you she has received that service in airports around the world, not just Australia.)

As a general statement, and without knowing the exact nature of your travel companion's disability, I'll mention that I found Australia to be just about the most disabled-friendly country I'd ever been (and that includes North America, Latin America, Europe and Africa).

I've never been to New Zealand and Fiji, so cannot comment on them.

Hi, PJKeay,

Certainly as far as Sydney is concerned, this is a question that is coming up more and more frequently on this forum, so a search at the top might come up with some valuable information. Meanwhile, there are a host of sites on the world-wide-web regarding assistance for disabled travellers in Sydney, though I don't know if your specific question about transport concessions is answered on any of them. Have a look at these, and if you still don't find out what you need to know, get back onto this forum and I will telephone the bus and rail people and ask them (my own feeling is that registrered disabled people will be treated the same as seniors and pensioners, which means, at present, that you pay $1.10 for a one-day ticket that is useful as many times as you like on all trains, ferries, and government buses. However, this may not be so, so do not take it as certain).

Anyway, here are the sites:
http://www.gdaysydney.com/disabled.html
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/s...2/faq_aged.htm
http://www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/c...d_services.asp
http://www.sydney-hotel-rates.com/au...ciety/Disabled
http://www.auto-rent.com.au/disable.html
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1502/travelbooks.html
http://www.geocities.com/Paris/1502/...ey%20Australia

Hope this is of some help.

Hi, PJKeay
My husband and I spent 1 week in Sydney and 3 weeks in New Zealand last year about this time. My husband travels by wheelchair and is also in the "senior" age group so the concessions which we received were based on age from my recollection.

On out trips to London, there are a multitude of concessions available from theatre tickets to transportation with me as his caretaker not having to pay at all! We did not find the same in Sydney and New Zealand.

In Sydney, we were given concessions at the Aquarium and the Zoo but it may have been at the discression of the customer service persons with whom we had rather lengthy conversations as I did not recall anything posted.

If you will be hiring a car in New Zealand and have proof of disability, I can look up the number to obtain a temporary disabled person's parking hang tag.

That being said, Sydney and most parts of New Zealand are very accessible to wheelchair travel. Not knowing the nature of the challenge, it would be hard to be more specific. If it would help, a wheelchair could be rented upon arrival.

We also found people in both places to be exceptionally helpfull and kind -helping my husband anytime there was an obstacle.

Perhaps if you could elaborate a bit more some of us, especially Alan who has helped many, may be able to be a bit more helpful. Thanks, Alan!

Aloha

I think that PJKeay wants to know more about discounts for disabled people and their carers I think.
Can't help you here but I presume it is on a reciprocal basis, which would mean that unless you are an Australian citizen then you are not entitled to anything. That is what the EU provides people with a disability from Australia as I found out only a year or so ago when in the UK. Not even when the person was a UK born disabled person of senior age.